230 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
weather became thicker than ever and quite dark. 
I had the mate, S., and two men on the look¬ 
out in the bows, but they could only see for a 
short distance. Suddenly S. yelled out, “ Heavy 
breakers right ahead ! My God ! here we are right 
on top of it!” And the next minute, before any¬ 
thing could be done, we were into them. It was 
not the reef, fortunately, but the tide-rip which 
extends off it right across the strait, the combers in 
which are sometimes enormous. 
I then knew where I was—between the two 
islands, heading through into the Pacific. With 
land four or five thousand feet high on both sides, 
the wind blew through the strait with hurricane 
force, and every bit of sail had to be taken off the 
vessel. We ran under bare poles, making 10 knots 
by the log between seven and eight o’clock that 
night. A heavy black mass, which I took to be 
the land of the south-west end of Yetorup, hung on 
our port beam. For a while I thought there must 
be a very strong current against us (it sometimes 
runs 5 knots in these straits), as we did not appear 
to be able to pass it; but at nine o’clock I concluded 
we must be well through into the Pacific, and that 
what I took for the land was cloud, so hove the 
vessel to. At daylight the wind moderated slightly, 
and we kept on our course again. The gale lasted 
four days, we alternately running and heaving to, 
as it increased or moderated. As may be imagined, 
the wear and tear on a vessel’s sails and gear during 
a six or seven months’ cruise in this part of the 
world is something considerable; a double suit of 
sails, and plenty of spare gear for repairs and re¬ 
newals, are a necessity. Even so, at the end of the 
