four watches, and all
but the watch on deck were sent below to sleep. Never did weary seamen
turn in with a greater good-will, or more require rest.

All hands had ample occupation the next day in unbending the remnants of
our tattered canvas from the yards and in replacing it with a new suit
of sails fore and aft, in reeving new running rigging, and in repairing
the stern frame. All this was done with a tolerably fresh breeze
blowing and a pretty heavy sea running, though moderate in comparison to
what we had had and to what we were to encounter. This sort of weather
continued till the 15th, during which interval we contrived to get
things a little to rights. Gale number three now sprung up, and during
the whole of it we lay under a balanced mizen. We did not escape,
however, without damage, losing the bumkins and the remaining part of
the carlings and rails of the head, and a part of the starboard
quarter-gallery. The wind lulled again in the evening and continued
moderate till the 19th, when it breezed up once more for the fourth
time, and by the 21st we were in the centre of a perfect hurricane.
Still nothing would induce our captain to run back or to endeavour to
make his way across the Atlantic in a more southerly latitude. He had
made up his mind that this northerly route was the right one to take,
and he was not a man to be diverted from his purpose. The gale had been
blowing for some hours, when at about one o'clock in the morning watch,
the night being dark as Erebus, the ship pitching heavily into the seas
and straining terrifically, Delisle and I were on deck together,
endeavouring to pierce with our eyes the thick obscurity into which we
were driving. It was much of a time for moralising, considering the
showers of snow which ever and anon beat into our faces, the sheets of
spray which came aboard and froze as it fell over us, and the biting
wind which blew down our throats.

"No unapt picture this, of the life of many of us, Hurry," said my
companion. "Here have we been knocking about for some weeks very much
the worse for wear--no nearer our voyage's end, and utterly unable to
say whither we are driving. I doubt much that we have seen the worst
yet." Scarcely had he spoken when a gust stronger than ever struck the
ship. We felt her quiver and shake all over, and at the same instant
there was a terrific crash forward. I hurried to see what had occurred.
The foremast had been carried away abo