aylight sufficient to land, and
seek assistance for the ship, in the event of the island being
inhabited.

All being of the same opinion, the boat's head was turned towards
Galita, and they took a last look of the Avenger, which appeared to be
firmly fixed, and likely to hold together for some time.

The weather grew worse and worse; the boat, under a close-reefed mizen
on the bumpkin stepped as a foremast, was steered with an oar by the
second master. When they had arrived within about two miles of the
island, the wind shifted to a very severe squall, accompanied with
lightning, thunder, and a heavy hail-storm. Mr. Larcom, the gunner,
now took the place of the second master in steering the boat, which
was scarcely got round, before the wind caught her with such violence,
that it seemed impossible the boat could live.

The squall continued without intermission for two hours and a half,
when the moon again emerged from the clouds, and the Island of Galita
was discovered on the port quarter. Some in the boat exclaimed, 'That
is the island!' which, at the time, they supposed to be long out of
sight, as the boat appeared to be going rapidly through the water;
this naturally led to a conjecture that a strong current set to the
northward and eastward. The wind still continued to veer about, and at
one time they thought that they must have passed the ship, but the
night was too dark to enable them to discern anything clearly many
yards beyond the boat.

In this manner they passed the long hours of night, exposed to cold,
hunger, and exhaustion; and, as Lieutenant Rooke afterwards observed,
with the full expectation that they would be unable to survive until
morning. The second master appeared to have lost all reason. Upon
being questioned as to whereabouts they were, or in what direction it
was necessary to steer, he seemed to be scarcely aware that he was
addressed. The doctor, the master's assistant, and the boy Morley,
were lying at the bottom of the boat during the whole night, and the
stoker, John Owen, was wrapped in his jacket, and appeared, if
possible, in a worse condition than the second master. When asked to
do anything, he only replied by vacant answers, and before morning
became an idiot. At last the wished-for day broke, and the coast of
Africa was discerned about eight or nine miles distant. As Lieutenant
Rooke considered that the boat could not be kept above water much
longer, he determined upon attempting