ANXIOUS MOMENTS. 
155 
in vain to make itself heard over the battle of the ele- 
ments. Nor was this all: the thick sheets of descending 
rain, the heavy seas which now often broke over half the 
length of the ship, and the visible dai’kness, whose gloom, 
as I have said, seemed only increased by the flitting lights 
that danced ax’ound the decks, combined to render the 
whole afiliir any thing but pleasant, and promised us an 
anxious night. 
“The men, too, became frightened, and Russell, who, 
as second lieutenant, had his station on the forecastle, find- 
ing them afraid to ascend even to the foreyard, sprang 
into the rigging in the hope of shaming them into bold- 
ness. The device succeeded, and in twenty minutes 
from the commencement every thing was ready. The 
captain now took his position near the wheel, while I 
climbed into the weather mizzen-rigging and commenced 
to watch anxiously the towering seas as they rolled by, 
partly under our keel, partly over our decks. Those 
were some of the most anxious moments of my whole 
life, as we thus awaited the arrival of a period of com- 
parative quiet to enable the helm to be put up with safety. 
It was so dark that we could not see the seas until they 
were nearly upon us, and we could only hope to feel, by 
the change in the ship’s motion, when the proper time 
was arriving. Finally, I judged it at hand, and, as the old 
ship recovered herself after a more than usually heavy 
lurch and dive, gave the orders, ^Hard up the helm! Go 
ahead strong with the engine ! Brace in the after yards ! 
Haul aboard the fore tack!” And then every thing was 
done that loe could do. It now became the turn of the 
head sails, of the helm, and of the propeller, to do the 
