achy
Head, while her jib-boom knocked down the steeple of Calais church and
killed the sexton. Cruising on this Siberian ground was horribly
monotonous work. We sincerely wished the French fleet alongside of us, or
in a warmer place. On one dark night we were caught in a heavy gale from
the westward. We were under close-reefed main and foretop-sails and
mizzen. The ship was settling down on Ushant rapidly, and we expected to
strike every moment. The rebound of the water from the rocks caused the
spray to fly half-way over the decks from to leeward. A rock called La
Jument was on our lee bow. Luckily we saw the sea breaking over it. "Port
the helm!" called out one of the pilots, "or the ship's lost. She must
bear the main-sail, captain," added he, "or we shall not weather the
island, and she will strike in less than half an hour." The main-sail was
cast loose, and after a severe contest, its unwilling tack and sheet were
belayed. The ship was literally buried in the foam, and I expected to see
the main-mast go by the board every instant. Orders had been given, in
case of such an event, to have all the axes ready. Providentially the wind
veered two points to the southward, which saved the ship and her crew. Had
she struck, she must instantly have gone to pieces. The rocks were so
perpendicular that in all probability the whole of us must have made food
for fishes. In a quarter of an hour we were clear of the island. Had we
been under sentence of death, and suddenly reprieved, the effect on our
minds could not have been greater. Long, anxious faces coiled themselves
up to half their length and became brighter. The captain, who had been
pacing the quarter-deck in quick time, brought himself up all standing,
and I could perceive his lips move, and, if I mistake not, he was offering
up a mental prayer of thankfulness for our hair-breadth escape. At
daylight the gale abated, when, on examining the masts, the maintop-mast
was found sprung in the cap. The following evening we captured two French
brigs from Martinique, laden with sugar and coffee, and the day after a
Dutch ship from Smyrna bound to Amsterdam, laden with silks and cotton, in
which I went as prize-master. On our arrival at Plymouth we were put into
quarantine. The boat which came out to us kept on her oars. I could not
forbear smiling when I requested our letters might be sent on shore by her
to see the great and certainly necessary precautions taken by these
cunning