Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 2.djvu/20

 ships disappeared in the intense darkness, I thought of Dante's inscription over the portals:—" You who enter here, leave hope behind."

Our orders were to lay the vessel on the boom which the French had moored to the outer anchors of their ships of the line. In a few minutes after passing the frigates, we were close to it; our boat was towing astern, with three men in it—one to hold the rope ready to let go, one to steer, and one to bail the water out, which, from our rapid motion, would otherwise have swamped her. The officer who accompanied me, steered the vessel, and I held the match in my hand. We came upon the boom with a horrid crash: he put the helm down, and laid her broadside to it. The force of the tide acting on the hull, and the wind upon the foresail, made her heel gunwhale to, and it was with difficulty I could keep my legs: at this. moment, the boat was very near being swamped alongside. They had shifted her astern, and