A GUN ESCAPES FROM ITS FASTENINGS. 
5 
By four o’clock in the afternoon it blew a perfect hur- 
ricane, and the vessel was lying-to under a close-reefed 
main-topsail. The ports were all fastened down, and 
the guns drawn in upon the quarter-deck. The hatches 
were well secured, and every precaution taken which 
the most vigilant foresight could suggest against the 
probable devastations of the storm. 
While we were seated in the cuddy, not quietly 
but very uneasily taking our tea, the vessel appeared 
of a sudden to leap over a gigantic billow, and the 
moment she had recovered her libration, she rolled so 
heavily that her bulwarks were nearly under water. 
The tables were forced from their stays, overturned, 
and all the tea-things shattered to pieces ; we were 
thrown from our chairs, and for a minute or two the 
utmost confusion prevailed. Scarcely had we resumed 
some degree of composure, before one of the guns 
broke from its lashings, and rolled from side to side 
of the quarter-deck each time the ship yielded to the 
fierce impulse of the waters, threatening with every 
shock, as it dashed against the bulwarks, to force its 
way through into the deep, to the positive danger of 
the vessel. In one of its furious migrations, it struck 
a dripstone, which had been secured in a corner near 
the cabins, released it from the strong wooden case in 
which it was confined, and sent it bounding upon the 
deck, placing in great peril those who were engaged 
in the necessary duties of the ship. The noise oc- 
casioned by these huge masses dashing from side 
to side, added to the howling of the wind and the 
fierce lashing of the waters, was painful in the ex- 
treme. The Lascars were afraid to oppose themselves 
b 3 
