TREMENDOUS STORM. 
375 
cane. The yards, sustaining no other canvas but 
two topsails, reduced to the smallest possible com¬ 
pass by four reefs, quivered under the pressure ; 
and the ship was forced almost on her “ beam- 
ends We were not only exposed to the over¬ 
whelming violence of this fearful storm (by far 
the heaviest I ever encountered), and to the ac¬ 
tion of a mountainous sea, rendered awfully heavy 
and cross by the sudden changing of the wind; 
but to all the anxieties attendant on a situation 
so near a lee-sliore. 
At first it appeared to me the most practicable 
measure, to attempt to double the Butt of the 
Lewis, as there seemed little hope of being able 
to clear the land, standing to the south-westward. 
With this view, therefore, after taking in the 
main-topsail, and employing every other practi¬ 
cal means of assisting the ship to wear, we got her 
head round to the NE.; but, notwithstanding 
our critical situation, we were unable to spread a 
stitch of canvas excepting a reefed try-sail, for 
nearly two hours. 
No water had yet been shipped, though the 
tremendous sea that was running, was received 
upon the ship’s quarter, or beam, being in a di- 
* The state of a ship when inclining dangerously to 
one side. 
