1834,] Remarks on the Marine Barometer, 



176 



one of peculiar excitement, painful feelinp^s, anrl of heavy responsi- 

 bility. Well may the Psalmist say. *' These men see the works of 

 the Lord, and his wonders in the deep." But, to return from this 

 digression. At the close of the third day of this awful hurricane^ 

 the cabins below bein^ no lon2:er hahitabie, the passengers were 

 crowded into one side of the round-house, as beirn^ the ovdy cabin 

 from which the water could be efFe tuallv exclu led. Here, then, 

 a scene of woe was exhibited which btffles description, and was 

 sufficiently appallin^: to rend the stoutest heart in twain, more, es- 

 pecially of his on whom all eyes were turned ibr consolation or as- 

 sistance, neither of which was it 'n his power to offer, even to her 

 who had the strongest of all claims on him for both, and whose 

 peculiarly Liter-^stin;'- situation demanded the uUnost stretch of his 

 sympathy. The ship, if not absolutely water- lo;igerl, wa^; now ob- 

 served to be settling fast forward. Every countenance exhibited a 

 picture of despair ; when, at this critical moment, the wind rapidly 

 began to su')side, which was no sooner announced to the people at 

 the pump*, than their labours, which, from a feeling of despondency, 

 had previously lan^ruished, were resumed with renewed vigor ; and 

 such was the rapi Hty of the change in our favor, that one of the 

 most dreadful of all storms was speedily lulled into a perfect calm, 

 the ship once more rose freely to the sea, and by day-light on the 

 following morning all the water was discharged from her. 



The scene wh ch now presented itself was of a very different 

 description, but still it was not without its alloy, and under any 

 other circumstances might have excited feelings of despondency, 

 instead of excess of joy. The ship lay a helpless wreck on the 

 water, exposed to every surge of the sea, which had not subsided so 

 rapidly as the wind, and which occasioned her to roil most awfully; 

 and now, as she rose on the mountainous billow, every eye eagerly 

 swept the horizon in search of the fleet, but all in vain, for not a 

 ship could be seen ; we therefore trembled for their fate. The 

 bowsprit, fore-mast, mizen-mast, and main-top- mast, as before 

 intimated, were all gone by the board, the whole of the live stock, 

 (with a trifling exception,) consisting of 150 sheep, 30 pigs, 4 cows, 

 3 calves, 8 goats, and many hundred head of poultry, were washed 

 ©ver-board, or otherwise destroyed ; nearly all the captain's stores, 

 the medicine chest, and the seamen's chests, with their contents, 

 were in the same predicament. After an anxious scrutiny of the 

 charts : no friendly port was found to be within reach of us; the 



