of more than one sea-blessing invoked upon the
heads of the crew, who ought to have seen us, but apparently did not.
It was useless, however, to cry over spilt milk, or to murmur against
the mysterious decrees of Providence. Our business now was to do all
that lay in our power to keep the boat afloat and enable her to ride out
the gale; so we baled her dry, trimmed her a trifle more by the stern to
enable her to present a bolder bow to the sea, and then piped to dinner.

And now arose fresh cause for distress and apprehension, for when we
came to look into the state of our provisions, it was found that pretty
nearly everything that was spoilable had been ruined by the salt-water
that we had shipped, our bread especially being almost reduced to pulp.
We picked out the least damaged portions, however, and ate them, with
some chunks of raw salt beef, washing down the whole with a sparing
libation of weak grog, after which we felt in somewhat better spirits.

But, oh! the cold and misery of it all! We were drenched to the skin,
and the wind seemed to penetrate to our very marrow. Moreover, there
was no hope whatever of the slightest improvement so long as the gale
continued, for even though the rain had ceased, the air was full of
spindrift and scud-water that fell upon us in drenching showers; while,
cooped up as we were within the circumscribed dimensions of a small
boat, there was no possibility of warming ourselves by exercise or
active movement of any sort. The sea was running too dangerously high
to admit of our taking to the oars and keeping ourselves warm by that
expedient, and all that we could do to mitigate our misery was to huddle
closely together in the bottom of the boat, and so shield ourselves as
far as possible from the piercing wind and the drenching spray. Had we
been able to smoke, matters would not have been so bad with us, but we
had no means of obtaining a light; so there we crouched, hour after
hour, our teeth clenched or chattering with cold, our drenched clothing
clinging to our shivering bodies, and the gale howling over our heads
with ever-increasing fury, while the sheets of salt spray lashed us
relentlessly like whips of steel. So utterly miserable did we become
that at length we even ceased to rise occasionally to take a look round,
to see whether, perchance, another sail might have hove in sight. I
believe that some of my companions in suffering found a temporary refuge
from their wret