173 



JRanurks on the Marine Barometer. [April 



they ^vill yield their consolation tVom the icflecuoii that the greater 

 the danger, and the more awful the consequenees, the more essv n- 

 tial il is that all such pHiticukxrs should be faithfully recorded as a 

 beacon for the guidance of others under similar trials; knowing, 

 too, as they nuist, that in traversing the wide expanse of ocean, 

 comprised between England and India, ships will be safe in ])ropor' 

 tion as the dangers they may have to encounter are acrurately 

 described. Under such ciicumstances, then, to withhold from 

 publication a narrative of la-cts, however painful its perusal, the 

 object of which is to prevent a recurrence of the misfortunes it 

 details, would be no less inconsistent than to hurl the Barometer 

 into the seo as a useless appendage to a ship, merely because, 

 through idleness or folly, it may sometimes fail to point out the 

 danger, or at other times prove a source of needless alarm. 



It was in October of the year 1808, that I left Madras on board 

 one of the East India Company's ships, with eight others under the 

 convoy of a seventy-four gun-ship. On reaching the latitude of 10° 

 south, and the longitude of 78° east, we unfortunately encountered 

 one of the most tremendous hurricanes that was, perhaps, ever ex- 

 perienced by a ship that did not actually founder. It is impossible 

 to convey to the minds of those who have never w itnessed such a 

 storm, any adequate idea of the fury with which it blew during the 

 three days and ni hts of its continuance, the sound resembling more 

 a succession of peals of thunder, or the roaring of cannon, than of 

 wind ; whilst the sea formed one continued breach over the ship, 

 sweeping every thing moveable before it. During nearly the whole 

 of this period, the passengers, officers, and crew were, without dis- 

 tinction of persons, employed in pumping or bailing, cutting away 

 masts, securing guns, or in other work essential to the safety 

 of the ship ; whilst, owing to the impracticability of getting into the 

 hold through the body of water always lodged on the gun-deck, the 

 chief part of the period was passed without food, or even a drop of 

 water to allay the thirst of the men at the pumps, who were with 

 difficulty, and occasionally could not be prevented from swallowing 

 the bilge water as it ascended from the well. And had it not been 

 for the fortunate circumstances of a quantity of this precious bever- 

 age being found in the lockers of the great cabin, which had been 

 bottled and placed there by one of the cabin passengers, which was 

 latterly served out at the pumps in wine-glasses, the probability is 

 that we should have literally perished through the want of a liquid, 

 of which there was aa abundance in the hold. Our distress, too, 



