uring the hurricane, numbers of land-birds were driven on board--a
case not uncommon during storms--and an owl and a hawk were observed
perched on the swinging table on the poop, without shewing any alarm
at the presence of the ship's company. It was not noticed what became
of them. This circumstance tended to shew the intensity of the tempest
on shore, which must have forced these birds out to sea, a distance
not much less than two hundred miles from any land.

_Monday, 11th._--The hurricane was equally severe, the wind
south-east, and the barometer as low as 28 deg. 0". The gusts were so
terrific, mixed with drift and rain, that none of the people could
stand on the deck. Advantage was therefore taken of the lulls to draw
the ship out, and clear away the wreck of the masts. As the starboard
bower-anchor was hanging only by the shank-painter, and its stock,
which was of iron, was working into the ship's side, the chain-cable
was unshackled, and the anchor was cut away from the bows. At noon,
latitude, per log, 11 deg. 6" north longitude 95 deg. 20" east, the
barometer apparently rose a little. No observations had been able to be
made since the 7th. The hurricane was equally severe in gusts, and the
ship perfectly unmanageable from her crippled state, but rode all the
time like a sea-bird on the waves, notwithstanding the sea was apparently
running from every point of the compass. The crew observed a large
barque ahead of them which had lost its topmast and mainyard. They
feared at first that she would not go clear of them. Happily,
however, she drifted past ahead of them. This vessel afterwards proved
to have been the Briton, of which we shall presently have occasion to
speak. They also saw a brig to leeward, totally dismasted. From her
appearance it was judged that she must soon have foundered, and every
soul on board perished. At 4 in the afternoon the barometer fell to
27 deg. 70", and Cummin's mineral sympiesometer left the index.

The hurricane was now most terrific; the part of the poop to leeward
and the cabin-doors and the skylights were literally torn away, and
every moment they expected the poop itself to be carried off. None but
those who have witnessed so awful a tempest at sea could form an idea
of the weight and destructive power of the wind, crushing and beating
every thing to pieces, as if it had been done with a heavy metallic
body. At 8 P. M. the soldiers and sailors could not stand at the
pumps, but