Page:Wanderings of a Pilgrim Vol 2.djvu/534

 CHAPTER LXX.

SKETCHES AT SEA.

"The brave man is not he who feels no fear, For that were brutish and irrational; But he, whose noble soul its fear subdues, And bravely dares the danger nature shrinks from."

The "Essex"—The "James and Mary"—Steering a Ship at Anchor—A Water-spout—The Andamans—Acheen Point—A squally Trade Wind—Rodorigos—A Gale—The Whirlwind—The Stormy Petrel—A Day of Repose—A Remarkable Sunrise.

Sept. 1st.—At 8, while we were in tow of the steamer, the "Essex" ran upon a sandbank; she fell over very disagreeably on her side, was thus carried by the violence of the tide over the obstacle, and righted in deep water; the accident broke the hawsers that united the two vessels. After some little difficulty and much delay we proceeded on our voyage. The pilot was much surprised, as a fortnight before that part of the river was all clear; he said we had run upon the end of the tail of the "James and Mary" sandbank, which had become lengthened, and he despatched a notice thereof to Calcutta. Where the Hoogly is joined by the Roopnarrain at Hoogly Point, a very large sheet of water is formed, but it has many shoals; and as it directly faces the approach from the sea, while the Hoogly turns to the right, it occasions the loss of many vessels, which are carried up the Roopnarrain by the force of the tide. The eddy caused by the bend of the Hoogly has, at this place, formed a most dangerous sand, named the "James and Mary," around which the channel is never the same for a