Page:Castaway on the Auckland Isles (IA castawayonauckla01musg).pdf/138

122

Friday, September 1.—At about ten o'clock last night the wind came from S.W., and blew with very great violence till midnight, and it rained heavily: as the sailors say, it came 'butt-end foremost.' After midnight the gale moderated considerably, and at daylight had moderated to a strong breeze, with clear weather, broken detached clouds (wind S.W.); but Captain Cross was afraid there would be too much sea outside, and hung on till 10, at which time we shipped the anchor, and are now (11 ) bundling out of the Bosom (Sarah's Bosom) in whose folds I have experienced the greatest misery of my life; but I fear much that the wind will haul to the N.W. again. At noon we cleared the heads. I brought the seal on board that I am skinning, but the vessel is too unsteady to admit of my finishing it till we get into port again; I hope it will not spoil. From the S.E. point of the island—where the entrance of our late 'prison house' is—to its N.E. extreme, the direct line is about N. by W. and S. by E., and the distance about 25 miles; while the land, from about five miles north of the former up to the latter point (the coast line), falls back to the westward, forming a bight about seven miles deep, along which are the numerous indentations and gullies, described in my former journal, with here and there a small sand or shingle beach. Shelter from westerly winds might, probably, be