Fire of St. 
Elmo. 
Another 
tempest. 
The 
Scuppers & 
Hawse- 
holes of a 
Vessel are 
the holes & 
channels by 
which is 
empty'd the 
water 
which 
enters into 
a Ship. 
Castor dr 5 
Pollux. 
104 Relation [1672 
tinuation of one of the most furious Gales which Ships 
have ever encountered at sea, we let our Vessel drift at 
the mercy of God, of the Sea, of the Winds, & of the 
Storms ; our most hardy Navigators were the first who 
show’d the apprehension which they had of death which 
seemed inevitable. ’Twas therefore resolv’d to implore 
the Divine assistance & to ask of God that which was 
necessary in the pressing need in which we were, by the in¬ 
tercession of Saint Anne, Mother of the Virgin, & we made 
a general vow to that glorious Holy Protectress of poor 
Navigators, whose frequent miracles are sufficiently known. 
Our prayers made, we recognis’d a favourable assistance 
from Heaven, & the tempest diminish’d a little. We were 
four days & four nights thus expos’d to the mercy of the 
Elements, without power to manage our Vessel, during 
which time the tumultuous Sea toss’d it about incessantly, 
& with such violence that if our Vessel had not been one 
of the best & strongest it would have been torn asunder 
& broken more than a thousand times by the heavy seas 
which struck against her. 
The last day of December & of the year, the tempest 
having ceas’d, we repair’d our Rigging & bent on other 
sails in order to continue our voyage, & to put it in 
order to arrive quickly in France, but our misfortunes 
were not yet finish’d ; for the next day, in the evening of 
the first of January 1673, whilst walking on the Deck, I 
saw some fire in the Scuppers & Hawse-Holes of our 
Vessel, & having perceiv’d it I remark’d on it to the 
Sailors who watch’d at their Chart, from which we pre¬ 
saged a sure indication of a great & imminent tempest, 
which did not fail to occur twenty-four hours afterwards. 
Such Fire is oft seen in Vessels when great storms 
approach. They call this fire the Fire of Saint Elme , & 
the Navigators & Sailors hold for certain that when they 
see this Fire in the lower part of a ship, ’tis an infallible 
