considerable damage as we
were hoisting her in. She had on board ten of my people, who informed
me, that when they were first driven from the shore, they had some
fire-wood on board, but that they were obliged to throw that, and every
thing else, into the sea, to lighten the boat. As we had yet seen
nothing of the cutter, and had reason to fear that she also, with the
tents, and the other eighteen people, besides the lieutenant, had been
driven off the island, I gave her up for lost; knowing that if the
night, which was now at hand, should overtake her in such a storm, she
must inevitably perish. It was however possible that the people might be
ashore, and therefore that, if the boat should be lost, they might still
be preserved; for this reason I determined to regain the land as soon as
possible. At midnight the weather became more moderate, so that we could
carry our courses and topsails, and at four o'clock in the morning we
crowded all the sail we could make. At ten o'clock, we were very near
the shore; to our great concern, we saw nothing of the cutter, yet we
continued to stand on till about noon, when we happily discovered her at
a grappling, close under the land: We immediately ran to our glasses, by
the help of which we saw the people getting into her; and about three
o'clock, to our mutual and inexpressible joy, she came safe on board
with all her people: They were however so exhausted with fatigue, that
they could scarcely get up the ship's side. The lieutenant told me, that
the night before he had attempted to come off, but that as soon as he
had left the shore, a sudden squall so nearly filled the boat with
water, that she was very near going to the bottom; but that all hands
bailing with the utmost diligence and activity, they happily cleared
her: That he then made for the land again, which, with the utmost
difficulty, he regained, and having left a sufficient number on board
the boat, to watch her, and keep her free from water, he with the rest
of the people went on shore. That having passed the night in a state of
inexpressible anxiety and distress, they looked out for the ship with
the first dawn of the morning, and seeing nothing of her, concluded that
she had perished in the storm, which they had never seen exceeded. They
did not, however, sit down torpid in despair, but began immediately to
clear the ground near the beach of brushes and weeds, and cut down
several trees of which they made rollers to as