Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/132

 At twelve o’clock the weather began to thicken, and the breeze to freshen, when we stood out of the bay.

At five o’clock all hands were called to close-reef topsails. The reef points were frozen so stiff that we could not knot them. In getting spinning-lines around the sails several of the crew were so chilled and benumbed

THE VINCENNES IN A GALE.

by the bitter cold that we had to sling them in bowlines, drag them from the yard, and lower them on deck.

At eight o’clock the ship was under her storm sails. It was bitterly cold, and every spray that touched the ship was converted into ice. At four bells all hands were called to work ship. We were in a high southern latitude, on an unknown coast, a terrific gale blowing from the  south, accompanied by a blinding snow-storm, a narrow channel to navigate, and surrounded by icebergs. Such was our situation; and all that we could do was to be