130 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



other lumber belonging to the dead, and which had providentially 

 been washed ashore. It was examined by the known latitude 

 of the island of Tinian, and answered in a manner which con- 

 vinced Anson that, though very bad, it was at least better than 

 nothing, 



On the 9th of October — the seventeenth day from the depar 

 ture of the ship — matters were in such a state of forwardness 

 that Anson was able to fix the 5th of November as the date of 

 their putting to sea upon their voyage of two thousand miles. 

 But a happier lot was in store for them. On the 11th, a man 

 working upon a hill suddenly cried out, in great ecstasy, "The 

 ship! the ship!" The commodore threw down his axe and 

 rushed with his men — all of them in a state of mind bordering 

 on frenzy — to the beach. By five in the afternoon the Cen- 

 turion — for it was she — was visible in the offing : a boat with 

 eighteen men to reinforce her, and with meat and refreshments 

 for the crew, was sent off to her. She came happily to anchor 

 in the roads the next day, and the commodore went on board, 

 where he was received with the heartiest acclamations. The 

 vessel had, during this interval of nineteen days, been the sport 

 of storms, currents, leakages, and false reckonings; she had but 

 one-fourth of her complement of men ; and when, by a happy 

 accident of driftage, she came in sight of the island, the crew 

 were so weak they could with difficulty put the ship about. 

 The reinforcement of eighteen men was sent at the very moment 

 when, in sight of the long wished-for haven, the exhausted 

 sailors were on the point of abandoning themselves to despair. 



Fifty casks of water, and a large quantity of oranges, lemons, 

 and cocoanuts were now hastily put on board the Centurion. 

 On the 21st of October, the bark (so lately the object of all the 

 commodore's hopes and fears) was set on fire and destroyed. 

 The vessel then weighed anchor, and took leave of the island of 

 Tinian, — an island which, in the language of Anson, " whether 

 we consider the excellence of its productions, the beauty of its 



