»772- January. for both fhips, kept us company till we paffed the north of Scotland. The ftormy weather however, ufual in thefe parts, and at this time of the year, made us feparate before we intended it. The wind blowing ftill ftronger likewife, carried away our main-top-fail, though it was quite new, and made o f a ftrong cloth. The damages were reckoned to amount to feveral hundred rix-dollars. This ravage and deftrudlion afforded in itfqlf neverthe- lefs a fine fpecStacle, which to me was entirely new. Sudden gufts of rain now combined with the night to fhrowd every thing in darknefs. Let the reader reprefent to himfelf for a moment the foaming billows on all iides furrounding the ihip, and fwelling up fometimes even to our yard-arms ; while the long ihivers of the top-fail got loofe, and being white, were diftindtly difcerned waving to and fro in a moil alarming manner, and at length totally vaniihed through the darkened air. At the fame time the violence o f the wind caufed thofe parts o f the fails which yet remained on the mail, together with the ends of the broken cordage, to beat about, and crafh with fuch force as for a time to drown every other noife. This fpedlacle did not make the lefs impreffion, when by degrees we could better diftinguiih the roaring of the fea, the fwell of the waves, the bluitering o f the wind,, and the crackling noife made by the mails and the joints o f the planks; particularly when to this we add, that the captain was continually roaring out, and was anfwered in the fame ftrain by the men at the helm, Jlar-board and port, as the item of the ihip heaved to right or le f t ; not not to mention the ufual noife and buille from all quar- February. ters of the deck, the failors and tackling being in con- fiant agitation and motion. On the ad day of February in the afternoon, when we had got to 34 deg. 22 min. N. lat. i deg. 32 min. eaii of the meridian of Paris, a ihip at a diftance fired feveral guns, thereby giving us to underhand that ihe was in dillrefs, and deiirous to fpeak with us. We accordingly waited for her coming up, and found her to be a Dutch Fail—India— man, called the Diiivenbrock, bound homewards, and commanded by Capt. C o n r a d L o u e . They had loft their rudder, and in confequence o f the great fwell o f the fea, had not been able to laih on another ; on which account likewife the ihip had got fo far out o f her courfe. The crew were emaciated to a great degree, and in want both o f water and proviiions. Our commander made them a prefent o f as much of both as their long-boats were able to carry ; but at length, the night coming on, and the wind blowing up freiher, they were deprived o f that farther degree o f afliftance, that every one o f us very much wifhed to give them. Even our common failors not only fhewed great compaffton on their parts, but aflifted them effectually out of their own flock with tobacco, and other re- Freihments. On the 1 2th day o f February, juft under the tropic, or 34. 5 1 . N. Lat. we faw a fea animal feven or eight feet long, known to fea-'faring men by the name o f the fea devil. It is reported by writers o f voyages, to be very dangerous to the people engaged in the pearl-fifhery. In a voyage to China I formerly made, I happened to fee one B 2 of
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