THE KURIL ISLANDS 
11 
had increased to a heavy gale, so we took in the 
mainsail, and ran before the wind through the strait 
under the double-reefed foresail alone. 
It was now pitch-dark, but, knowing the coast 
well, we decided to skirt the rocky shore quite close, 
and make for the anchorage at “ The Stake.” With 
are liable man at the wheel, and two of us lying out 
over the bows of the schooner in order to keep in 
sight the line of breakers (it was so dark the land 
could not be distinguished), word was passed aft 
how to steer. The distance we had to run was about 
eight miles, or a little more, which we were covering 
at a great rate; had we hit anything, the schooner 
would have certainly ripped her bottom out. Sud¬ 
denly the line of breakers ceased, and we knew we 
had arrived at the point. The course was quickly 
altered, when we soon got into smooth water and 
out of the direct force of the gale. A mile or so 
farther up we sounded, and found we were in 
8 fathoms of water, whereupon we brought the 
vessel to and anchored, not knowing exactly where, 
except that we were in smooth water, with the 
gale blowing as hard as ever over our heads, and 
occasionally sweeping down the mountain-side in 
“ woollies ” of hurricane force. 
After anchoring and making things comfortable 
(about midnight), the shipkeeper, an old deep-water 
skipper, pulled himself together (he had been in a 
highly nervous state whilst we were running for 
the anchorage), and exclaimed : “ Well, this kind of 
thing is more than I can stand. No wonder my 
hair is turning grey; it will be white before this 
trip is over.” At daybreak we found we had 
anchored very near the place we had run for, but 
