Page:Melancholy consequences of two sea storms.pdf/4

(4) yield to those united impressions, and determine to proceed.

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

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

"About seven o'clock on the morning of the