At the same time, it was so dark that
we could not see the length of the vessel.
I now went aft to speak to Tibbets, telling him I thought it was all over
with us. He had still some hope, as the bay was deep, and he thought light
might return before we got to the bottom of it. I was of a different
opinion, believing the brig then to be within the influence of the
ground-swell, though not absolutely within the breakers. All this time the
people were quiet, and there was no drinking. Indeed, I hardly saw any one
moving about. It was an hour after the conversation with Tibbets, that I
was standing, holding on by the weather-main-clew-garnet, when I got a
glimpse of breakers directly under our lee. I sung out, "there's breakers,
and everybody must shift for himself." At the next instant, the brig rose
on a sea, settled in the trough, and struck. The blow threw me off my
feet, though I held on to the clew-garnet. Then I heard the crash of the
foremast as it went down to leeward. The brig rolled over on her
beam-ends, but righted at the next sea, drove in some distance, and down
she came again, with a force that threatened to break her up. I bethought
me of the main-mast, and managed to get forward as far as the bitts, in
order to be out of its way. It was well I did, as I felt a movement as if
her upper works were parting from the bottom. I was near no one, and the
last person I saw, or spoke to on board, was Tibbets, who was then
standing in the companion-way.
Pages:
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191