ng to clear
it, I was tripped up, and fell with my right knee on a spike, which
entered deep, putting me to excruciating pain, and laming me
completely. I was obliged to sit down abaft, for I nearly fainted
away. In the mean time the sail was set, and the boat stood well up to
it. She proved to be very stiff under canvas, which was a source of
great congratulation. My knee became so painful and stiff that I could
not move it; I took one of my shirts out of my bundle, tore it up into
bandages, and put them on. We had resolved to attempt to make New
Providence, the largest of the Bahama group, where we knew that there
was a town called Nassau, and from whence we hoped to obtain some
conveyance to Europe; but we knew nothing of the port, or the
inhabitants, or what trade was carried on with them.

For several hours our little bark went gaily over the water, but
towards nightfall the wind shifted, and the weather looked
threatening. We hardly knew how to steer, as we did not know the
position of the island which we had left, and now the wind heading us,
we hauled up on the larboard tack, with our head to the northward and
eastward. As the sun went down, the wind increased, and the sea ran
fast. Our boat behaved well, till it began to blow very hard, and
then it took in so much water, that we were forced to bale.

We had reefed our sail, and made every thing as snug as we could, but
the sea rising fast, and the boat taking in more water, we considered
it prudent to lighten her, which we did by throwing overboard all the
turtle. This we did without regret, as we were tired of eating them
for so long a while. The day broke, and there appeared every sign of
bad weather, and the waves now tossed and foamed too much for such a
small craft as we were in. About noon we saw a vessel on a wind to
leeward of us, which was a source of great delight to us all, and we
bore down to her. We soon made her out to be an hermaphrodite brig,
under her close-reefed topsails and trysails. We ran under her counter
and hailed. We perceived several men standing abaft, and apparently
they suspected us for a rover, for they had muskets and other weapons
in their hands. We told them that we had been shipwrecked, and the
boat was sinking in the gale, and then we rounded to under her lee.

There we remained for four or five hours, during which the wind and
the sea went down very fast, and the boat no longer took in water; but
we had been all too much