Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/15

 dismal and uninteresting, as we drifted with every change of wind or current over a trackless ocean; except that astronomy having been rather a passion than a study from my earliest youth, I carefully noted every day at noon, by my quadrant and time-piece, our forlorn position; a precaution which I shall always consider as the most fortunate circumstance of my life. The particulars, however, are omitted: a seaman's log-book would, I suppose, have but an indifferent sale in Bond Street.

On the 16th of March, after full day had risen upon us, we found ourselves as it were overtaken by a second night.—The sea was convulsed into whirlpools all around us, by the obstruction of innumerable rocks, and we were soon afterwards hurried on by a current, in no way resembling any which navigators have recorded. We felt its influence under the shadow of a dark cloud, between two tremendous precipices overhanging and seemingly almost closing up the entrance which received us. Its Rh