in upon such a confusion of sounds. In one or two instances, anxious and repeated inquiries were made by the artificers, as to the state of things upon deck, to which the Captain made the usual answer, that it could not blow long in this way, and that we must soon have better weather. The next birth in succession, moving forward in the ship, was that allotted for the seamen. Here the scene was considerably different. Having reached the middle of this darksome birth, without its inmates being aware of any intrusion, the writer had the consolation of remarking, that although they talked of bad weather, and the cross accidents of the sea, yet the conversation was carried on in that sort of tone and manner which bespoke an ease and composure of mind, highly creditable to them, and pleasing to him. The writer immediately accosted the seamen about the state of the ship. To these inquiries they replied, that the vessel being light, and having but little hold of the water, no top rigging, with excellent ground-tackle, and every thing being fresh and new, they felt perfect confidence in their situation. It being impossible to open any of the hatches in the fore part of the ship, in communicating with the deck, the watch was changed by passing through the several births to the companion-stair leading to the quarter-deck. The writer, therefore, made the best of his way aft, and on a second attempt to look out, he succeeded, and saw indeed an astonishing sight. The seas, or waves, appeared to be ten or fifteen feet in height of unbroken water, and every approaching billow seemed as if it would overwhelm our vessel, but she continued to rise upon the waves, and to fall between the seas in a very wonderful manner. It seemed to be only those seas which caught her in the act of rising, which struck her with so much violence, and threw such quantities of water aft. On deck there was only one solitary individual looking out, to give the alarm, in the event of the ship breaking from her moorings. The seaman on watch continued only two hours; he who kept watch at this time, was a tall slender man of a black complexion; he had no great coat nor over-all of any kind, but was simply dressed in his ordinary jacket and trowsers: his hat was tied under his chin with a napkin, and he stood aft the foremast, to which he had lashed himself with a gasket or small rope round his waist, to prevent his falling upon deck, or being washed overboard. When the writer looked up, he appeared to smile, which afforded a farther symptom of the confidence of the crew in their ship. This person on the watch was as completely wetted as if he had been drawn through the sea, which was given as a reason for his not putting on a great coat, that he might wet as few of his clothes as possible, and have a dry shift when he went below. Upon deck, every thing that was moveable was out of sight, having either been stowed below, previous to the gale, or been washed overboard. Some trifling