A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
Having put to sea on the evening of the 26th, as before related, with
strong signs of an approaching storm, these signs did not deceive
us. We were hardly out of the Sound, before the wind, in an instant,
shifted from north-east to south-east by east, and increased to a
strong gale, with squalls and rain, and so dark a sky, that we
could not see the length of the ship. Being apprehensive, from the
experience I had since our arrival on this coast, of the wind veering
more to the south, which would put us in danger of a lee-shore, we got
the tacks on board, and stretched off to the south-west, under all
the sail that the ships could bear. Fortunately, the wind veered
no farther southerly than south-east; so that at day-light the next
morning we were quite clear of the coast.
The Discovery being at some distance a-stern, I brought-to till she
came up, and then bore away, steering north-west; in which direction I
supposed the coast to lie. The wind was at south-east, blew very
hard, and in squalls, with thick hazy weather. At half-past one in
the afternoon, it blew a perfect hurricane; so that I judged it highly
dangerous to run any longer before it, and therefore brought the
ships to, with their heads to the southward, under the foresails and
mizen-stay-sails. At this time the Resolution sprung a leak, which, at
first, alarmed us not a little. It was found to be under the starboard
buttock; where, from the bread-room, we could both hear and see the
water rush in; and, as we then thought, two feet under water. But in
this we were happily mistaken; for it was afterward found to be even
with the water-line, if not above it, when the ship was upright. It
was no sooner discovered, than the fish-room was found to be full of
water, and the casks in it afloat; but this was, in a great measure,
owing to the water not finding its way to the pumps through the coals
that lay in the bottom of the room. For, after the water was baled
out, which employed us till midnight, and had found its way directly
from the leak to the pumps, it appeared that one pump kept it under,
which gave us no small satisfaction. In the evening, the wind veered
to the south, and its fury, in some degree, ceased. On this we set
the main-sail, and two topsails close-reefed, and stretched to the
westward. But at eleven o'clock the gale again increased, and obliged
us to take in the topsails, till five o'clock the next morning, when
the storm began to abate, so that we could bear to set them again.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account