AT SEA* 
293 
ward: the nights were rapidly lengthening, and 
time hung heavily upon our hands: it was im¬ 
possible to forbear contrasting the wretchedness 
and poverty of every thing about us with the 
comfort of our happy homes; and, in addition to 
these and similar considerations, our stay at Rei- 
kevig had been in many instances rendered un¬ 
pleasant by political squabbles, by commercial 
misfortunes, and, above all, by the ill conduct of 
some of the persons employed by Mr. Phelps in 
an inferior capacity. A delightful wind now 
added to our happiness, and we congratulated 
each other on the prospect of a short and pros- 
Sunday, perous voyage to our native shores; but 
August27. thg nex t morning what different ideas 
crowded upon our minds, when about six or 
seven o’clock we were awakened by a smoke and a 
strong smell of burning, that issued from the dif¬ 
ferent hatchways, especially from that in the fore 
part of the ship, and left us no room to doubt but 
that the vessel was on fire, and that the flames 
would soon burst out! No one who has not been 
in a similar situation can have an idea what we 
felt. We were then twenty leagues distant from 
the nearest shore, a barren and inhospitable coast, 
and the wind was blowing from that quarter, so 
that to gain even this was impossible. We were 
also unprovided with boats sufficient to have con- 
