32 
WANDERINGS IN CHINA. 
Chap. III. 
In a day or two our cargo was got out and put into 
another vessel, in which I also embarked, and we again 
proceeded on our voyage. This attempt was even more 
disastrous than the last, for, after being out for several 
days, and having got nearly through the Formosa Channel, 
we met one of those deadful gales so well kno\vn to the 
navigators of these seas. Our newest and strongest sails 
were split to pieces, the bulwarks washed away, and in 
spite of the best seamanship, and every exertion, we 
were driven back far below the bay from which we 
started about a week before. I shall long remember 
one of these fearful nights. The poor Lascar crew were 
huddled together under the long-boat, to shelter them- 
selves from the wind : the sea was running very high, 
and washing our decks fore and aft, as if we had been 
a narrow plank tossing on the waves. I had gone below, 
and the Captain had come down for a second to look at 
the barometer, when we felt a sea strike the vessel 
with terrible force, and heard a crash which sounded as 
if her sides had been driven in ; at the same moment 
the glass of the skylight came down about our ears, and 
the sea forced its way into the cabin. I certainly 
thought the little schooner had gone to pieces ; but 
Captain La,nders rushed on deck to ascertain the damage 
which had been done, and to try to repair it. The 
night was very dark ; but he soon found that our wea- 
ther bulwarks had been stove in, and the long-boat car- 
ried over to leeward from its place in midships, where 
it was fixed. Luckily the lee bulwarks held it fast, 
otherwise the boat and the whole of our crew would 
have been swept together into the angry foaming ocean, 
