.1770.
June. fhould get on fhore,, without any lafling or effectualdefence 1770.
fpare: hitherto fhe had not admitted much water, but as the
tide fell, it rufhed in fo fall, that two pumps, incefiantly
Monday ii. wor]ie(j| COuld. fcarcely keep her free. At two o’clock, fhe
lay heeling two or three flreaks to llarboard, and the pinnace,
which lay under her bows, touched the ground: we
had now no hope but from the tide at midnight, and to prepare
for it we carried out our two bower anchors, one on the
ftarboard quarter, and the other right a-flern, got the blocks
and tackle which were to give us a purchafe upon the cables
in order, and brought the falls, or ends of them, in abaft,
flraining them tight, that the next effort might operate upon
the fhip, and by fhortening the length of the cable between
that and the anchors, draw her off the ledge upon which fhe
refled, towards the deep water. About five o’clock in the
afternoon, we obferved the tide begin to rife, but we ob-
ferved at the fame time that the leak increafed to a moll
alarming degree, fo that two more pumps were manned,
but unhappily only one of them would work: three of the
pumps however were kept going, and at nine O’clock the
fhip righted, but the leak had gained upon us fo confide-
rably, that it was imagined fhe mufl go to the bottom as
foon as fhe ceafed to be fupported by the rock: this was a
dreadful circumftance, fo that we anticipated the floating of
the fhip not as an earnefi of deliverance, but as an event that
would probably precipitate our definition. We well knew
that our boats were not capable of carrying us all on fhore,
and that when the dreadful crifis fhould arrive, as all command
and fubordination would be at an end, a conteft for
preference would probably enfue, that would increafe the
horrors even of fhipwreck, and terminate in the deftrudlion
of us all by the hands of each other; yet we knew that if
any fhould be left on board to perifh in the waves, they
would probably fufFer lefs upon the whole than thofe who
2 fhould
againfl the.natives,- ina-country, where even nets and fire- . jLln°'
arms would fcarcely furnifh them with food; and where, if MMdi,y
they fhould find the means of fubfiflence, they mufl be.condemned
to languifh out the remainder of life in a defolate
wildernefs, without the polFefiion, or even hope, of any do-
meflic comfort, and cut-off from all commerce with mankind,
except the naked favages who prowled the defert, and
who perhaps were' fome of the moft rude and uncivilized
upon the earth.
To thofe only who have waited in a flate of fuch fufpenfe,
death has approached in all his terrors ; and as the dreadful
moment that was to determine our fate came on, every one
faw his own fenfations pictured in the countenances of his
companions: however, the capflan and windlaee were manned
with as many hands as could be fpared from the pumps,
and the fhip floating about twenty minutes after ten o’clock,'
the effort was made, and fhe was heaved into deep water.
It was fome comfort to find that fhe did not now admit more
water than fhe had done upon the rock; and though, by the
gaining of the leak upon the pumps, there was no lefs than
three feet -nine inches water in the hold, yet the men did not
relinquifh their labour, and we held the water as it were at
bay ; but having now endured exceffive fatigue of body and
agitation o f mind for more than four and twenty hours, and
having but little hope of fucceeding at lafl, they began to
flag: none of them could work at the pump more than five
or fix minutes together, and then, being totally exhaufled,
they threw themfelves down upon the deck, though a ftream
of water was running over it ffom the pumps between three
and four inches deep; when thofe who fucceeded them had
worked their fpell, and were exhaufled in their turn, they
threw themfelves down in the fame manner, and the others
VoL’ m’ T flatted
ri|: