While all hands were thus on the look-out, a boat, bottom uppermost, was
seen drifting down near us amidst the foaming waters. One man was
clinging to the keel. He looked imploringly towards us, and seemed to
be shrieking for aid. No assistance could we give him. I could
distinguish his countenance: it was that of one of the passengers who
had just before persisted in leaving the ship! His companion, and the
master and crew, where were they? He, poor wretch, was borne by us, and
must have perished among the breakers at the mouth of the harbour. We
had not much time to think of him, for we soon had to look to our own
safety. A large ship, some way inside of us, was seen to break adrift,
and soon after came driving down towards us. Being twice our size, she
might speedily have sunk us. Mr Gale and Peter were at the helm to try
and sheer the brig clear of her as she approached us. This, however,
was not easily effected when there was but a slight current. Down came
the ship! "Stand by with your axes, my lads, to cut her clear if she
touches us!" shouted the captain. The ship was still some way off, and
before she reached us, a schooner broke from her anchorage just ahead of
us and drove towards us.
The poor fellows on board stood ready to leap on our deck had she
touched us; but she just grazed by, her main-rigging for an instant
catching in ours. A few strokes of an axe cut her clear, and before any
of her crew could reach us she was driven onward. In another instant
the wind catching her side, she turned completely over. There was a
wild shriek of despair from her hapless crew. For a few moments they
struggled desperately for life; but the wind and the waves quickly drove
those off who had clung to the driving hulk, and soon not a trace of
them or her could we perceive.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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