upon the unfortunate
passengers, as it did, indeed, into all the standing bed-places both of
officers and men, and soon made everybody in a most wretched condition.
Neither the captain nor Mr Grimes seemed to care about the matter. Mr
Henley and I, therefore, accompanied the surgeon round the between-decks
to try and assist the suffering passengers. Never had I seen any set of
people more thoroughly wretched. The deck was in some places an inch or
more deep in water, the bedding was saturated, and the women's
petticoats and shoes and stockings were wet through and through, while
all sorts of articles were floating about amid a mass of dirt.

"We shall have fever break out among these poor people before long,"
observed Dr Cuff to the second mate. "I must represent the state of
the case to the captain, and advise him to put back to Plymouth."

"I am glad to hear you say so, as I have thought the same," said Mr
Henley. "The cargo, too, which I have to think about, will be damaged,
if not destroyed; and the ship, from being overloaded, steers so badly,
that it is a work to get her about, and if she was caught on a lee shore
with a heavy sea, so that we could not tack, but had to wear, the
chances are that we should run aground before we could do it. It would
require two or three miles to wear this ship with any sea on in her
present state."

This was unpleasant information. I had learned enough seamanship by
this time fully to comprehend what Mr Henley meant. Tacking and
wearing are both manoeuvres to get a ship's head round so as to have the
wind on the side opposite to what it was at first. In tacking, the helm
is put down, and the head comes up close to the wind, and then is forced
round by it till it strikes the sails on the opposite side. Wearing, on
the contrary, is performed by putting the helm up and keeping the ship's
head away from the wind, gradually squaring the yards till she is
directly before it. Then the helm is put down, and the yards are braced
up till she is once more brought as close to the wind as she will lie.
As she must be kept moving all this time, and as, in a gale, the ship
moves very rapidly, it may be conceived that a great extent of ground
must be run over before the whole manoeuvre can be completed. I thought
to myself, I hope that we shall not have to tack or wear ship on a lee
shore in a dark night,--for although a shipwreck is a very interesting
incident to read about, it is a