it appear to
leeward, under circumstances that would allow of her reaching it. The
line of breakers was now very distinctly visible, and each minute did it
not only appear to be, but it was in fact nearer and nearer. Anchors were
cleared away, and ranges of cable over-hauled, anchoring being an
expedient that a seaman felt bound to resort to, previously to going
ashore, though it would be with very little hope of ground-tackles
holding.

The schooner had been described by Hazard as 'jumping' into the sea. This
expression is not a bad one, as applied to small vessels in short seas,
and it was particularly apt on this occasion. Although constructed with
great care forward as to buoyancy, this vessel made plunges into the waves
she met that nearly buried her; and, once or twice, the shocks were so
great, that those on board her could with difficulty persuade themselves
they had not struck the bottom. The lead, nevertheless, still gave water
sufficient, though it was shoaling fast, and with a most ominous
regularity. Such was the actual state of things when the schooner made one
of her mad plunges, and was met by a force that seemed to check her
forward movement as effectually as if she had hit a rock. The main-mast
was a good spar in some respects, but it wanted wood. An inch or two more
in diameter might have saved it; but the deacon had been induced to buy it
to save his money, though remonstrated with at the time. This spar now
snapped in two, a few feet from the deck, and falling to leeward, it
dragged after it the head of the foremast, leaving the Sea Lion, of Oyster
Pond, actually in a worse situation, just at that moment, than if she had
no spars at all.

Roswell Gardiner now appeared in a new character. Hitherto he had been
silent, but observant: issuing his orders in a way not to excite the men,
and with an air of unconcern that really had the effect to mislead most of
them on the subject of his estimate of the danger they were in.
Concealment, however, was no longer possible, and our young master came
out as active as circumstances required, foremost in every exertion, and
issuing his orders amid the gale trumpet-tongued. His manner, so full of
animation, resolution and exertion, probably prevented despair from
getting the ascendancy at that important moment. He was nobly sustained by
both his mates: and three or four of the older seamen now showed
themselves men to be relied on to the last.

The first step w