SHIPWRECKS. 
13 
watch was obliged to use the most summary methods 
to induce them to perform their necessary duties : they 
crawled about with an apathy and indifference which 
a smart application of the rope's-end, occasionally 
administered by a very muscular arm, could scarcely 
dissipate. 
Although I had remained so long upon the poop, 
drenched to the skin, with nothing on but the dress 
in which I slept, in the very teeth of that terrific 
hurricane, yet I had not felt in the slightest degree 
chilled; on the contrary, the excitement from utter 
hopelessness to the apparent certainty of escape from 
threatened destruction, produced a glow all over my 
body, and I continued upon deck, amid the rush of 
waters and the roar of elements, without the least 
desire to retire again to my cabin. The officer of the 
watch, who was a rough sailor, a Newcastle man, 
about the middle age, and the best portion- of whose 
life had been passed at sea, entertained me with dole- 
ful stories of his numerous escapes, and the vessels 
he had seen go down, describing the cries of the 
drowning with a melancholy minuteness of detail- 
all but realizing to my excited mind the horrors by 
which such dreadful calamities are accompanied. I 
listened to him with painful interest, which continued 
until he was relieved, when I quitted the deck and 
retired to my cot, where I soon fell into a refreshing 
sleep. 
By sunrise the wind had much abated, the foresail 
was set, and the ship resumed her course. Still there 
was occasional rain and thunder at intervals : 
c 
