154 LOSS OF THE CENTAUR. 
haul the mainsail up, the ship being then under bare poles. 
This was scarcely done, when a gust of wind, exceeding in 
violence any thing of the kind I had ever seen or had any 
conception of, laid the ship upon her beam ends. The water 
forsook the hold and appeared between decks, so as to fill 
the men's hammocks to leeward; the ship lay motionless, 
and to all appearance irrecoverably overset. The water in- 
creasing fast, forced through the cells of the ports, and scut- 
tled in the ports from the pressure of the ship. I gave im- 
mediate directions to cut away the main and mizen masts, 
hoping, when the ship righted, to wear her. The mizen-mast 
v/ent first, upon cutting one or two of the lanyards, without 
the smallest effect upon the ship; the main-mast followed, 
upon cutting the lanyard of one shroud ; and I had the disap- 
pointment to see the foremast and bowsprit follow. The ship 
upon this immediately righted, but with great violence ; and 
the motion was so quick, that it was difficult for the people 
to work the pumps. Three guns broke loose upon the main- 
deck, and it was some time before they were secured. Seve- 
ral men being maimed in this attempt, every moveable was 
destroyed, either from the shot thrown loose from the lock- 
ers, or the wreck of the deck. The officers who had left 
their beds naked when the ship overset in the morning, had 
not an article of clothes to put on, nor could their friends 
supply them. 
The masts had not been over the sides ten minutes before 
I was informed the tiller had broken short in the rudder-head ; 
and before the chocks could be placed, the rudder itself was 
gone. Thus we were as much disastered as it was possible, 
lying at the mercy of the wind and sea : yet I had one com- 
fort, that the pumps, if any thing, reduced the water in the 
hold; and as the morning came on (the 17th) the weather 
grew more moderate, the wind having shifted, in the gale, to 
north-west. 
At daylight I saw two line of battle ships to leeward ; one 
had lost her foremast and bowsprit, the other her mainmast. 
It was the general opinion on board the Centaur, that the 
former was the Canada, the other the Glorieux. The Ramil- 
lies was not in sight, nor more than fifteen sail of merchant 
ships. 
About seven in the morning I saw another line of battle 
ship ahead of us, which I soon distinguished to be the Ville 
de Paris, with all her masts standing. I immediately gave 
orders to make the signal of distress, hoisting the ensign on 
