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Show 4'20 TRAVELS THROUGH UPPER CANADA: below. The rcadieft w.1y of going up was through the hatchway, and I h,tJ jufl: got my foo t upon the ladder, in order to afcend, when the veffd {huck with great force upon the ro ks. The women 01rit ki 1g now flo ked r und me, begging for God' fake that I would ftay by them; at the fame time IllY companions urged me from above to come up with all pofi1ble fpeed. To my latefl: hour I 01all never forget the emotions which I felt at that moment; to have ftaid below would ha.ve been ufclefs; I endeavoured, therefore, to comfort the poor creatures that clung to me, and then difengaging myfclf from them, forced my way 'Upon deck, where I was no fooner arrived than the ha.tchcs were infiantly Omt down upon the wretched female , whofe 01rieks rdoun.ded through the vefiel, notwithfl:anding all the bufl:lc of the fcamen, and the tremendous roaring of the breakers amongft the adjacent rocks. Before two minutes had paffed over, the veifel ftruck a fecond time~ but with a fiill greater iliock; and at the end of a quarter of an hour, during which period 01e had gradually approached nearer towards the fuorc, 01e began to fhike with the fall of every wave. The general opinion now feemed to be in favour of cutting away the mafts, in order to lighten the ve!fel; and the axes were actually upraifed for that purpofe, when one of my companions, who po!fe!fed a confiderable 01are of nautical knowledge from having been in the navy, oppofed the meafure. It appeared to him, that as the pump~ · were fl:ill free, and as the veffel had not yet made more water than could be eafily got under, the cutting away of the mafl:s would only be to deprive ourfelves of the means of getting off the rock if the wind 01ould veer ab.out; but he advifed the captain to have the yards and topmafl:s cut away. The mafts were fpared, and his advice was in every other refpeCl attended to. The wind unfortunately, however, fiill continued to blow from the fame point, and the only alteration obfervable in it was its blowing with ftill greater force than ever. As the ftorm increafed, the waves began to roll with greater turbulence than before; and with fuch impetuofity did they break over the bows of the veifel, that it was with the very utmoft difficulty that I, and half a dozen more who had taken our ftation on the forecaftle, could hold S T 0 R M A B A T E S. hold by our hands fait enough to fave ourfelves from being carried overboar~. For up w:trds of four hours did we remain in this fi tuation, cxpetbng every inllant that the ve!fel would go to pieces, and expofed ev ry three or four minutes to the 01ock of one of the tremendous breakers which came rolling towards us. Many of thc billows appeared to be half as h1gh as the foretop, and fomc::timcs, when they buril: over us, our breath was nearly taken away by the violence of the Q1ock. At lail:, finding ourfelves fo ben umbed with cold that it would be impoffible for us to make any exe1 tions in the water to fave ourfclves if the veffel was wrecked, we determined to go below, there to remain until we il1oulcl be again forced up y the waves. Some of the paffcnr; n now began to write their wills on [craps of paper, and to inclofe them in wlmt they imagined would be moft likely _to preferve them from the water; others h.1d begun to take from their trunks what they deemed moll va1mble; and one unfortunate thoughtl~ fs man, w.ho was moving with his family from the upper country, we d1fcovered m the very aCt of loading h;m[elf with dollars from head to foot, fo that had he fallen into the water in the ftate we found him, he mull: inevitably have been carried to the bottom. Words can convey no ide<: of the wilduefs that reigned in the countenance of ·dmoft every pc1-fon as the night ap proached; and many, terrified· with the apprehenfions of a nightly 01ipwreck, began to lament that the cable had not been at once cut, fo as to have let the veilel go on fhore whilft day-light remained: this indeed had been propofcd a few hours after the veffel began to firike; but it ·.vas overruled by the captain, who very properly refufed to adopt a meafure tending to the immediate ~nd certain detl:ruCtion of his veffi 1, whilft a poffibility remained that il1e might cfcape. Till nine o'clock at night the veifel kept ftriking every minute, during which time we were kept in a fiate of the moil: dreadful fufpence about our fate; but then happily the wind fhifted one or two points in our favour, which occafioned the vefiel to roll infiead of fuiking. At midnight the gale grew fomewhat more moderate; and at three in the morning it was fo f<U' abated, that the men were enabled to haul on th~ a.Q.thora~. |