LOSS OF THE CENTAUR. 157 
ourselves, having fired guns of distress ; and before night 1 
was told her fore mast was gone. 
The Centaur labored so much, that I had scarcely a hope 
she could swim till morning. However, by great exertion of 
the chain-pumps and bailing, we held our own, but our suf- 
ferings for want of water were very great, and many of the 
people could not be restrained from drinking salt water. 
At daylight (the 19th) there was no vessel in sight; and 
flashes from guns having been seen in the night, we feared 
the ship we had seen the preceding day had foundered. To- 
ward ten o'clock in the forenoon the weather grew more mo- 
derate, the water diminished in the hold, and the people Avere 
encouraged to redouble their efforts to get the water low 
enough to break a cask of fresh water out of the ground tier; 
and some of the most resolute of the seamen were employed 
in the attempt. At noon we succeeded with one cask, which 
though little, was a seasonable relief All the officers, pas- 
sengers and boys, who were not of the profession of seamen, 
had" been employed thrumming a sail, which was passed un- 
der the ship's bottom, and I thought it had some effect. The 
shears were raised for the fore-mast; the weather looked 
promising, the sea fell, and at night we were able to relieve 
at the pumps and bailing every two hours. By the morning 
of the 20th the fore-hold was cleared of the water, and we had 
the comfortable promise of a fine day. It proved so, and I 
w^as determined to make use of it with every possible exer- 
tion. I divided the ship's company, with the officers attend- 
ing them, into parties, to raise the jury foremast; to heave 
over the lower-deck guns; to clear the wrecks of the fore 
and after holds ; to prepare the machine for steering the ship, 
and to work the pumps. By night the after-hold was as clear 
as when the ship was launched; for, to our astonishment, 
there was not a shovel of coals remaining, twenty chaldrons 
having been pumped out since the commencement of the gale. 
What I have called the wreck of the hold, was the bulk-heads 
of the after-hold, fish-room, and spirit-rooms. The standards 
of the cock-pit, and an immense quantity of staves and wood, 
and part of the lining of the ship, were thrown over-board, 
that if the water should appear again in the hold, we might 
have no impediment in bailing. All the guns were over- 
board, the fore-mast secured, and the machine, which was to 
be similar to that with Avhichthe Ipswich was steered, was in 
great forwardness; so that I was in hopes, the moderate wea- 
ther continuing, that I should be able to steer the ship by noon 
14 
