come home; upon which our master ordered out
the sheet-anchor, so that we rode with two anchors ahead, and the cables
veered out to the bitter end.

By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see
terror and amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves. The
master, though vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet as he
went in and out of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself
say, several times, "Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost! we
shall be all undone!" and the like. During these first hurries I was
stupid, lying still in my cabin, which was in the steerage, and cannot
describe my temper: I could ill resume the first penitence which I had so
apparently trampled upon and hardened myself against: I thought the
bitterness of death had been past, and that this would be nothing like
the first; but when the master himself came by me, as I said just now,
and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully frighted. I got up out
of my cabin and looked out; but such a dismal sight I never saw: the sea
ran mountains high, and broke upon us every three or four minutes; when I
could look about, I could see nothing but distress round us; two ships
that rode near us, we found, had cut their masts by the board, being deep
laden; and our men cried out that a ship which rode about a mile ahead of
us was foundered. Two more ships, being driven from their anchors, were
run out of the Roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with not a mast
standing. The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring in
the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running
away with only their spritsail out before the wind.

Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to
let them cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do; but
the boatswain protesting to him that if he did not the ship would
founder, he consented; and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the
main-mast stood so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged
to cut that away also, and make a clear deck.

Any one may judge what a condition I must be in at all this, who was but
a young sailor, and who had been in such a fright before at but a little.
But if I can express at this distance the thoughts I had about me at that
time, I was in tenfold more horror of mind upon account of my former
convictions, and the having returned from them to the resolutions