Page:Wonderful and surprising narrative of Capt. John Inglefield.pdf/6

 ship who had loft her main-mast, and she appeared to as much in want of assistance as ourselves, having  guns of distress, and before night I was told her fore-mast was gone.

The Centaur laboured so much, that I had scarce hope she could swim till morning, however by great exertion of the chain-pumps and bailing, we held our own, but our suffering for want of water was very great, and many of the people could not be restrained from drinking salt water.

At day-light (the 19th) there was no vessel in sight and flashes from guns having been seen in the night, we feared the ship we had seen the preceeding day had foundered. Towards 10 o’clock forenoon, the weather grew more moderate, and the water diminished in the hole and the people were encouraged to redouble their efforts to get the water low enough to break a cask of fresh water out of the ground tier, and some of the most resolute of the seamen were employed in the attempt. At noon we succeeded with one cask, which, though little was a seasonable relief. All the officers, passengers and boys, who were not of the profession of seamen, had been employed thrumming a sail, which was passed under the ship’s bottom, and I thought had some effect. The shears were raised for the fore-mast; the weather looked promising, and the sea fell, and at night we were able to relieve at the pumps and bailing every two hours. By the morning (the 20th) the fore-hold was cleared of the water, and we had the comfortable promise of a fine day and it proved so, and I was determined to make use of it with every possible exertion.

I divided the ship's company, with the officers attending them, into parties to raise the jury-fore-mast, to heave over-board the lower deck guns, to clear the wreck of the fore and after holds, to prepare the machine for steering the ship, and to work the pumps By night the after-hold was as clear as when the ship was launched, for to our astonishment, there was not a shovel full of coals remaining, 20 chaldron having been pumped out since the commencement of the gale. What I have called the wreck of the hold was the bulk-heads of the after-hold, fish-room and sprit-rooms, and the standers