sight. The sea or waves appeared to be ten or fifteen feet
in height of unbroken water, and every approaching billow seemed as if
it would overwhelm our vessel, but she continued to rise upon the waves
and to fall between the seas in a very wonderful manner. It seemed to be
only those seas which caught her in the act of rising which struck her
with so much violence and threw such quantities of water aft. On deck
there was only one solitary individual looking out, to give the alarm in
the event of the ship breaking from her moorings. The seaman on watch
continued only two hours; he who kept watch at this time was a tall,
slender man of a black complexion; he had no greatcoat nor over-all of
any kind, but was simply dressed in his ordinary jacket and trousers;
his hat was tied under his chin with a napkin, and he stood aft the
foremast, to which he had lashed himself with a gasket or small rope
round his waist, to prevent his falling upon deck or being washed
overboard. When the writer looked up, he appeared to smile, which
afforded a further symptom of the confidence of the crew in their ship.
This person on watch was as completely wetted as if he had been drawn
through the sea, which was given as a reason for his not putting on a
greatcoat, that he might wet as few of his clothes as possible, and have
a dry shift when he went below. Upon deck everything that was movable
was out of sight, having either been stowed below, previous to the gale,
or been washed overboard. Some trifling parts of the quarter boards were
damaged by the breach of the sea; and one of the boats upon deck was
about one-third full of water, the oyle-hole or drain having been
accidentally stopped up, and part of her gunwale had received
considerable injury. These observations were hastily made, and not
without occasionally shutting the companion, to avoid being wetted by
the successive seas which broke over the bows and fell upon different
parts of the deck according to the impetus with which the waves struck
the vessel. By this time it was about three o'clock in the afternoon,
and the gale, which had now continued with unabated force for
twenty-seven hours, had not the least appearance of going off.

In the dismal prospect of undergoing another night like the last, and
being in imminent hazard of parting from our cable, the writer thought
it necessary to advise with the master and officers of the ship as to
the probable event of the vessel's drifting