120 LOSS OF AN ENGLISH SLOOP. 
whose course she checked, returned with fury and broke orer" 
the deck. The cabin, in which we had again taken refuge, 
afforded a feeble protection against the howUng tempest, and 
scarcely sheltered us from the icy waves. We were every 
moment apprehensive of seeing our rudder carried away, and 
our mast go by the board. The gulls and wild ducks which 
hovered around us, testified, it is true, that the land could not 
be far distant ; but the very approach to it was a new subject 
of terror. How were we to escape the breakers with which 
it might be surrounded, unable as we were to avoid, or even 
to perceive them through the cloud of snow in which we were 
enveloped ? Such, for a few hours, was our deplorable situa- 
tion, when the weather having suddenly cleared, we at length 
perceived land at the distance of three leagues. 
The sentiment of joy with which the first sight of it iiv 
spired us was much abated upon a more distinct view of the 
enormous rocks which appeared to rise perpendicularly along 
the coast in order to repel us. The vessel, beside, shipped 
such heavy seas as would have sunk her had she been deep- 
ly laden. At each successive shock we were afraid of seeing 
the ship go to pieces. Our boat was too small to contain the 
whole of the crew, and the sea too rough to trust to such a 
frail support. It appeared as if we had made this fatal land 
only to render it a witness of our loss. 
Meanwhile we continued to approach it. We were not 
above a mile distant, when we discovered with transport, 
around the menacing rocks, a sandy beach, toward which 
our course w^as directed, while the water decreased so fast in 
depth as to prevent our approaching within fifty or sixty yards, 
when the ship struck. The fate of our lives w^as now about 
to be decided in a few minutes. 
At length the vessel struck upon the sand with great vio- 
lence. At the first shock the mainmast went by the board 
and the tiller was unshipped with such force that the bar al- 
most killed one of the seamen. The furious seas Avhich 
dashed against the ship on every side stove in the stern, so 
that having no longer any shelter in the cabin, we w^ere obli- 
ged to go upon deck, and to hold fast by the rigging, for fear 
of being Avashed overboard. In a few minutes the vessel 
righted a little, but the keel was broken, and the body of the 
ship seemed ready to go to pieces. Thus all our hopes were 
reduced to the boat, which I had infinite trouble to get over- 
board, being so covered, within and without, with lumps of 
ice, of which it was necessary to clear her. Most of the 
