sprit-sail, and stood by
to hand the foresail; but making foul weather, we looked the guns were
all fast, and handed the mizzen.

[Illustration]

The ship lay very broad off, so we thought it better spooning before
the sea, than trying, or hulling. We reefed the foresail and set him, we
hauled aft the foresheet: the helm was hard-a-weather. The ship wore
bravely. We belayed the fore down-haul; but the sail was split, and we
hauled down the yard, and got the sail into the ship, and unbound all
the things clear of it. It was a very fierce storm; the sea broke
strange and dangerous. We hauled off the laniard of the whipstaff, and
helped the man at the helm. We could not get down our topmast, but let
all stand, because she scudded before the sea very well, and we knew
that the topmast being aloft, the ship was the wholesomer, and made
better way through the sea, seeing we had sea-room. When the storm was
over, we set foresail and mainsail, and brought the ship to. Then we set
the mizzen, main-top-sail, and the fore-top-sail. Our course was east
north east, the wind was at southwest. We got the starboard tacks
aboard, we cast off our weather braces and lifts; we set in the lee
braces, and hauled forward by the weather bowlings, and hauled them
tight and belayed them, and hauled over the mizzen tack to wind-ward and
kept her full and by, as near as she could lie.

During this storm, which was followed by a strong wind, west southwest,
we were carried, by my computation, about five hundred leagues to the
east, so that the oldest sailor on board could not tell in what part of
the world we were. Our provisions held out well, our ship was staunch,
and our crew all in good health; but we lay in the utmost distress for
water. We thought it best to hold on the same course, rather than turn
more northerly, which might have brought us to the northwest parts of
Great Tartary, and into the Frozen Sea.

On the sixteenth day of June, 1703, a boy on the topmast discovered
land. On the seventeenth, we came in full view of a great island or
continent (for we knew not which), on the south side whereof was a small
neck of land, jutting out into the sea, and a creek too shallow to hold
a ship of above one hundred tons. We cast anchor within a league of this
creek, and our captain sent a dozen of his men well armed in the
long-boat, with vessels for water, if any could be found. I desired his
leave to go with them, that I might see the count