“Brace up the yard—haul out the bowline!” thundered the captain. “Ay, ay, sir!” and it was done. “Haul aft!” The men ran off with the line, and the immense sheet came to its place. This was the critical moment. The ship feeling the additional propulsion, made a headlong plunge. I held my breath. I expected nothing less than to see the heavy duck blown from the yard like a gossamer; but the strong fabric held fast, though straining awfully. “She comes up, don’t she?” interrogated the captain of the man at the helm. “Ay, ay, sir—she does!” “How much?” “Two points, sir!” “If she holds for half an hour,” ejaculated the captain, “we may yet be saved.” On rushed the noble ship, seeming to know how much depended on her. She met the billows, she rose above them, she struggled perseveringly forward. In five minutes the breakers were visibly receding. But hope had been given only to delude us. Suddenly I heard a crack, sharper than an explosion of thunder, and simultaneously the course parted from its fastenings, and sailed away to leeward, like a white cloud driven down the gale. A cry of horror rose from all. “It is over!” I cried; and I looked around for a plank, intending to lash myself to it, in anticipation of the moment for striking. When the course went overboard, the head of the ship fell off immediately; and now the wild breakers tumbled and roared closer at hand each moment. Suddenly the captain seized my arm, for we were holding on almost side by side. “Ha!” he cried, “is not that dark water yonder?” and he pointed across our lee-bow. I looked in the direction to which he referred. Unless my eyes deceived me, the long line of breakers came to an abrupt termination there, as if the shore curved inwards at that point. “You are right—there is a deep bay ahead,” I cried, joyfully. “Look! you can see the surf whitening around the cape.” The whole crew simultaneously detected this new chance of escape. Though unable to head to the wind as before, there was still a prospect that we could clear the promontory. Accordingly, the next few minutes were passed in breathless suspense. Not a word was spoken on board. Every eye was fixed on that rocky headland, around which the waters boiled as in the vortex of a maelstrom. The ship seemed conscious of the general feeling, and struggled, I thought, more desperately than ever. She breasted the huge billows with gallant perseverance, and though each one set her closer to the shore, she met the next wave with the same stubborn resolution. Nearer, nearer, nearer we drilled toward the fatal cape. I could now almost fling a biscuit into the breakers. I had noticed a gigantic roller coming for some time, but had hoped we might clear the cape before it reached us. I now saw the hope was in vain. Towering and towering, the huge wave approached, its dark side almost a perpendicular wall of waters. “Hold on all!” thundered the captain.