FROM LONDON TO NEW YORK, 229 



of the vessel like immense sledge hammers, beginning 

 away up toward the bows and quickly running down 

 her whole length, jarring, raking, and venting their 

 wrath in a very audible manner ; or a wave would rake 

 along the side with a sharp, ringing, metallic sound, 

 like a huge spear point seeking a vulnerable place, or 

 some hard-backed monster would rise up from the deep 

 and grate and bump the whole length of the keel, 

 forcibly suggesting hidden rocks and consequent wreck 

 and ruin. 



Then it seems there is always some biggish wave to 

 be met with somewhere on the voyage, a monster bil- 

 low that engulfs disabled vessels and sometimes car- 

 ries away parts of the rigging of the stanchest. This 

 big wave struck us the third day out about midnight, 

 and nearly threw us all out of our berths, and careened 

 the ship over so far that it seemed to take her last 

 pound of strength to right herself up again. There 

 was a slamming of doors, a rush of crockery, and a 

 screaming of women, heard above the general din and 

 confusion, while the steerage passengers thought their 

 last hour had come. The vessel before us encountered 

 this giant wave during a storm in mid ocean, and was 

 completely buried beneath it ; one of the officers was 

 swept overboard, the engines suddenly stopped, and 

 there was a terrible moment during which it seemed 

 uncertain whether the vessel would shake off the sea 

 or go to the bottom. 



Besides observing the oscillations of my coat, I had 



