The next day we stood towards Barcelona, in the hopes of rejoining the _Orion_, but between nine and ten in the morning of the 17th, the sea rose all round us, angry, black, threatening clouds, accompanied with water-spouts, and heavy flashes of lightning, gave us warning that a tempest of no common kind was approaching; several land birds of various descriptions, blown from land not in sight, settled on the deck and rigging, in hopes of shelter from the pitiless storm; a woodcock tried to rest upon the capstern on the quarter-deck; a hoopoe, linnets, greenfinches, and other small birds, also endeavoured, poor things! to find shelter, but when the first burst of the tempest came on, they were blown to leeward, and probably perished. In the midst of all this we had to fire guns at the water-spouts to break them, furl the sails, and prepare for another gale. At eleven a heavy sea pooped us, stove in the dead lights, and filled the captain’s cabin with water; the wind increased to a perfect hurricane, and at one, the lightning again struck the ship and hurt the main-topmast and the main-mast. At two the storm stay-sails were blown to atoms, and the ship became entirely unmanageable; whole seas, at times, rolled over her, one of which, breaking on the quarter, struck the rudder, and the rudder-head gave way, it was immediately chocked, and the ship was then steered by the rudder pennants. Between three and four, the main-topmast was blown over the side, the rudder-chains gave way, and we found the main-mast sprung a few feet above the quarter-deck. The whole of the night, the rudder, having nothing to confine it, thumped about a great deal, and made us fear it would shake the stern-post. In the morning of the 18th, the ship fortunately took a heavy plunge, and the rudder unshipped itself from the stern and sank. The sea at this period was most heavy and breaking; it stove the quarter boats, and caused the ship to strain so much that it was necessary to keep the pumps constantly going. Towards noon of the 18th we veered a cable astern with hawsers, etc., and struck the mizen-topmast to try and wear ship, but found it impossible, for the moment we got the ship four or five points from the wind, she flew to again. On the 19th, the weather began to moderate, but still there was a heavy sea; yet, notwithstanding the ship laboured a great deal, we commenced making a Pakenham’s jury rudder out of a spare maintopmast-jibboom, and other spars.