WHALING VOYAGE* 
281 
left her-— for things had entirely altered-— the face of 
nature had changed— the wind had shifted, and blew 
much stronger ; instead of being now on the lee side of 
the land, the wind was blowing along the shore. The 
ship had been driven to leeward in consequence of the 
change in the wind and the strong current that sets to 
the westward. 
Not a moment was lost in putting the boat’s head in 
the direction of the ship, and we kept that course as well 
as we could by the aid of a star, which now appeared in 
the dark firmament. The boat was steered by the mate, 
as is usual on all such occasions, he being considered, and 
with propriety, the most proper person to do so. It now 
became quite dark, and we had continued our course for 
some time, and nothing further had been seen of the 
ship — nothing heard except the breaking of the “ sea-” 
caps*’ and the distant roaring of the surf, with now and 
then an ejaculation from the mate to the New Zealander 
to “look out,” when in a moment three or four of us 
saw a light quite on our beam, but at a very great 
distance ; it appeared even with the surface of the ocean. 
We soon discovered it to be a blue light, which the cap- 
tain had no doubt ordered to be burnt to apprize us of 
the situation of the ship, but from that moment a feeling 
of hopelessness ran through us of reaching her. 
The wind was freshening every moment ; it was blow- 
ing a stiff breeze — the ship was too far off for us to see 
a lantern suspended in her rigging, and we knew that 
there were only one or two more blue lights on board. 
The sea began to run higher and higher every moment ; 
