Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 3.djvu/178

168 being possible, and the ship at the mercy of the wind.

Just at twelve o'clock of the third night, as the deck watch was turning in and the lower watch coming up to take their place, the vessel struck. The waves were rolling high and were coming with the speed of the storm, so that one barely receded before another struck, and the ship was evidently on the reef of an island. The night was intensely dark, and though the wind itself was moderating, the situation was sufficiently perilous.

Mr. Holden dwells with great detail upon the circumstances of the wreck which followed, having thought them over so many times and arranged them in succession. At the third wave the ship, which had been lifted up and dropped down on the reef, w.as so far driven ashore as to stick fast at the bow, and was then almost instantly swung around broadside to the sea and moved on her beam ends onto the shore, and then every comber lifted her up, and she was let down with a smash. Holden 's berth was aft, and as soon as the trouble began he turned out, and got as quickly as possible into his breeches, and rushed on deck. He found all excitement, and the ship so far canted over as to make movement difficult. At the quarter deck, however, the first mate and ten men were lowering a boat, under the fear that the ship would soon break up, and that they must as quickly as possible get clear, hoping, probably, also to reach the calmer water of the lagoon, which must be just over the reef. This w r as ill-advised, however, as the boat and men had hardly cleared away and dropped into the darkness before the boat was capsized and nothing ever again seen of them.

In the mean time, in order to lighten the ship and lessen the danger of its keeling entirely over, the masts were ordered cut away, and when the weather lanyards