The ship was so deep her decks were always wet, and seas broke over her continually when the wind attained to any force. Even if protected with oil-clothing a sea would often knock one down and soak him. To stand on deck four hours in a cold, stormy night, soaked to the skin and with boots saturated and partly filled with water, makes one's life seem to be oozing away. No wonder sailors are short-lived; sea exposure and shore degradation soon use them up! When about in the longitude of Cape Sable we took a fresh southerly gale with warm rainy weather, and the same afternoon it suddenly hauled to the north-west, increasing in force, and the weather becoming very cold. The wet sails froze so stiff that it was with the greatest difficulty that the crew could furl them, and while trying to close-reef the fore-topsail five of the men had their hands frozen and with difficulty got safely on deck. The "Dublin" had the old-fashioned whole topsails and it was a dreadful job to handle them. The plan of making two handy sails out of one large one as in the "Howe's Rig," which is now almost universally adopted, is one of the greatest blessings of the age to the mariner, and yearly saves numbers of lives and a vast amount of hardship. Some of the men, whose hands were frozen, restored the circulation by rubbing them in the icy water which washed over the deck, but two of them were disabled, and upon arrival in port had to submit to the amputation of some of the fingers and toes. I had both hands frozen, but soon thawed them out in the cold sea water. The ship was now hove to on the starboard tack, the gale was blowing fiercely, and ice making on the ship. The clothes of the men were frozen upon them, and when the watch was ordered to go below I took the last dry clothes I had from my chest and turned into my bunk. I was only just going to sleep, when above the noise of the gale sounded the rustling and slatting of the fore-topsail, which had blown adrift, and then came the mate's cry, "all hands ahoy! Rouse out here and furl the fore-topsail." This was a moment of real hardship, and it required a great deal of heroism to spring from one's bunk and face the freezing gale aloft. I confess I shirked duty and waited for a second call, which fortunately did not come. A few sailors soon appeared on deck, and the rest too much terrified or too irresolute to meet the harsh duty were dragged out of their bunks by the mate and driven aloft, with threats of blows from a handspike he carried in his hands. For fifteen minutes the crew battled with the stiff icy sail. Again and again they had it gathered up and the blast would sweep it from their benumbed hands, but finally the gaskets were passed around it and the order was given to "lay down." The sailors then turned in and rolled themselves up in their blankets to try one phase of a sailor's life, "turn in wet and turn out smoking."