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darkness. The waves which resembled mountains, 
covered us with water. From time to time, torrents 
of rain fell, mixed with hail. The lightning illuminat- 
ed this scene of horror. We could not hear the thun- 
der for the noibe of the waves, which resembling the 
roarings of thousands of lions and bulls, deafened our 
ears. To add to our misery, the ship was almost 
overpowered with water, and deserted by her captain 
and crew. 
I was in a state of extreme weakness, but thinking 
my last hour was come, the reflection of twenty years 
more or less of life appeared to me as a dream, and 
this as well as all other considerations, tranquillized my 
mind, and made me so indifferent about whether I 
lived or died, that I waited with calm resignation the 
fatal moment. 
The hurricane continued unabated. I observed the 
thunder several times fall near to us, and I thought I 
also saw an ascending thunder as it were leap from the 
sea, a thunderbolt ascending as it were towards the 
clouds. I succeeded however in rousing the second 
captain, and some sailors; these began to work at the 
pumps; the former who was a colossal man, took the 
helm, and put the ship to the tremendous waves. These 
two operations considerably assisted the ship. At two 
in the morning I observed a globe of fire shining before 
the brow of the vessel; it appeared about three feet in 
diameter, but as I could not calculate its distance, I 
could not ascertain its true size. It appeared to me to 
be at a little height from the surface of the sea, its ex- 
plosion took place without noise, and without any ap- 
parent movement. This light, brilliant as the sun, 
