o tow, which, by the
help of our sweeps abaft, got the ship's head round to the northward;
which, if it could not prevent our destruction, might at least delay it.
But it was six o'clock before this was effected, and we were not then a
hundred yards from the rock upon which the same billow which washed the
side of the ship, broke to a tremendous height the very next time it
rose; so that between us and destruction there was only a dreary valley,
no wider than the base of one wave, and even now the sea under us was
unfathomable, at least no bottom was to be found with a hundred and
twenty fathom. During this scene of distress the carpenter had found
means to patch up the pinnace, so that she was hoisted out, and sent
a-head, in aid of the other boats, to tow; but all our efforts would
have been ineffectual, if, just at this crisis of our fate, a light air
of wind had not sprung up, so light, that at any other time we should
not have observed it, but which was enough to turn the scale in our
favour, and, in conjunction with the assistance which was afforded us by
the boats, to give the ship a perceptible motion obliquely from the
reef. Our hopes now revived; but in less than ten minutes it was again a
dead calm, and the ship was again driven towards the breakers, which
were not now two hundred yards distant. The same light breeze, however,
returned before we had lost all the ground it had enabled us to gain,
and lasted about ten minutes more. During this time we discovered a
small opening in the reef, at about the distance of a quarter of a mile:
I immediately sent one of the mates to examine it, who reported that its
breadth was not more than the length of the ship, but that within it
there was smooth water: This discovery seemed to render our escape
possible, and that was all, by pushing the ship through the opening,
which was immediately attempted. It was uncertain indeed whether we
could reach it; but if we should succeed thus far, we made no doubt of
being able to get through: In this however we were disappointed, for
having reached it by the joint assistance of our boats and the breeze,
we found that in the mean time it had become high water, and to our
great surprise we met the tide of ebb rushing out of it like a
mill-stream. We gained, however, some advantage, though in a manner
directly contrary to our expectations: We found it impossible to go
through the opening, but the stream that prevented us, carried us out