Page:Awful phenomena of nature (2).pdf/56

 yield to thoſe unite impreſſions, and determine to proceed.

"On the nineteenth, the ſky was obſcured immenſe fleeces of clouds, ſurcharged with inflammable matter; and in the evening, the rain  in torrents, the firmament darkened apace,  night came on, and the horrors or extreme  were rendered ſtill more horrible be the peals  thunder which rent the air, and the frequent flaſhes of lightning, which ſerved only to ſhew  horror of our ſituation, and leave us in  darkneſs mean time the wind came more  blowing on the ſhore; and a heavy ſea, raiſed  its force, united with it to make our ſtate more

"By day light on the morning of the the gale had increaſed to a furious tempeſt; and  ſea, keeping pace with it, ran mountain high;  at it kept invariably to the ſame point, the  and officers became ſeriouſly alarmed, and alſo perſuaded that the ſouth-weſt monſoon had ſ which, if it were ſo, would render it  impoſſible for us to weather the coaſt. All  day, however, we kept as cloſe as the violence  the weather would allow us to the wind; but  ſea canted her head ſo to leeward, that ſhe  more lee than head-way; and the rigging was ſtrained with the work, that we had little hope  keeping off the ſhore, unleſs the wind charged, which there was not now the ſmalleſt  During the night there was no intermiſſion of  ſtorm: many of the ſails blew into ribbonds;  of the rigging was carried away, and ſuch  were made, that, before morning, every  that could poſſibly be ſtruck was down upon  deck.

"About ſeven o'clock on the morning of