Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/302

288 which again separated her from the rest of the fleet, and after a fine voyage of seven weeks she made the land of the Cape of Good Hope. Having just doubled the Cape, a new departure was taken from de Agulhas on the 8th of July; and the vessel having steered eastward about twenty-four hours, between the latitude of 35 d. 30 m. and 36 d. the captain ordered her to be kept E. N. E.

In this course she continued till about a quarter before one in the morning of Thursday, July 17, when she struck: the officer from whose journal this account is taken, was then asleep in his cabbin, but being suddenly awaked by the shock, he started up in the utmost confternation, and made all the haste he could to get upon deck; here all the terrors of his situation rushed upon him at once; he saw the men dashed to and fro by the violence of the sea that rolled over them, and the ship breaking to pieces at every stroke of the surge; he crawled over, with great difficulty, to the larboard side of the quarter-deck, which lay the highest out of water, and there he found the captain, who said very little more than they must all perish; in a few minutes a sea parted them, and he saw him no more. He made a shift to get back to the quarter-deck, but he was very much bruised, and the small bone of his left arm was broken: all the rest of the ship was under water, and shattered to pieces. In this dreadful situation, expecting every moment to be swallowed up, he heard somebody cry out, Land! upon this he looked eagerly about him, but though he saw something which he supposed was taken for land, he believed it only the range of the sea on the other side of the breakers; at the same moment the sea broke over him with great violence, and not only forced him from his hold, but stunned him by a violent blow upon his eye. Though from this time he lay insensible till after day-light, yet he continued upon the wreck, and when he recovered he found himself made fast to a plank by a nail that had been forced into his shoulder. Besides the pain that he felt from his wounds and bruises, he was now benumbed with cold, that he could scarce move either hand or foot: he called out as loud as he could, and was heard by the people on the rocks, but they could give no assistance, so that it was a considerable time before he could disengage himself, and crawl on shore.

This shore was a barren uninhabited rock, in the latitude of 33 d. 44 m. South, and distance about 250 leagues East of the Cape of Good Hope. Here were now met Mr. Evan Jones, chief mate, Mr. John Collet 2d, Mr. William Webb 3d, and Mr. S. Powell 5th mate; Richard Topping, carpenter; Neal Bothwell and Nathaniel Chisholm, quarter masters; Daniel Ladova, the captain's steward; Henry Sharp, the surgeon's servant; Thomas Arnold, a black, and John Mackdowal, servants to the captain; Robert Beaseley, John King, Gilbert Chain, Terence Mole, Jonas Rosenbury, John Glass, Taylor, and Hendrick Scantz, seamen; John Yets, midshipman; and John Lister, Ralph Smith, and Edward Dyfoy, matrosses. These persons, being 23 in number, were all that remained of 270 souls that were on board when the ship struck.

Their first care was to search among the things which had been