aroused from the
sleep of the living, only to experience the last agony as I passed away
into the sleep of the dead. I cannot describe the sensation that came over
me, as I gazed around, and found myself on the broad ocean, floating on a
little deck that was only ten feet square, and which was raised less than
two feet above the surface of the waters. It was now that I felt the true
frailty of my position, and comprehended all its dangers. Before, it had
been shaded by the ship, as it might be, and I had found a species of
protection in her presence. But, the whole truth now stood before me. Even
a moderate breeze would raise a sea that could not fail to break over the
staging, and which must sweep everything away. The spars had a specific
lightness, it is true, and they would never sink; or, if they did sink, it
would only be at the end of ages, when saturated with water and covered
with barnacles; but, on the other hand, they possessed none of the
buoyancy of a vessel, and could riot rise above the rolling waters,
sufficiently to clear their breakers.

These were not comfortable reflections; they pressed on my mind even while
engaged at my morning devotions. After performing, in the best manner I
could, this never-ceasing duty, I ate a little, though I must admit it was
with a small appetite. Then I made the best stowage I could of my effects,
and rigged and stepped the mast, hoisting the sail, as a signal to any
vessel that might appear. I expected wind ere long; nor was I
disappointed; a moderate breeze springing up from the north-west, about
nine o'clock. This air was an immense relief to me, in more ways than one.
It cooled my person, which was suffering from the intense heat of a
summer's sun beating directly on a boundless expanse of water, and it
varied a scene that otherwise possessed an oppressively wearisome
sameness. Unfortunately this breeze met me in the bows; for I had stepped
my mast in the foremast, lashed it against the bottom of the top, which it
will be remembered was now perpendicular, and stayed it to the mast-heads
and dead-eyes of the top-mast rigging, all of which remained as when
erect, though now floating on the water. I intended the fractured part of
the foremast for my cut-water, and, of course, had to ware ship before I
could gather any way. This single manoeuvre occupied a quarter of an hour,
my braces, tacks, and sheets not working particularly well. At the end of
that time, however, I go