The Boats of the "Glen Carrig": Being an account of their Adventures in the Strange places of the Earth, after the foundering of the good ship Glen Carrig through striking upon a hidden rock in the unknown seas to the Southward; as told by John Winterstraw, Gent., to his son James Winterstraw, in the year 1757, and by him committed very properly and legibly to manuscriptHodgson, William Hope
Science
The Boats of the "Glen Carrig": Being an account of their Adventures in the Strange places of the Earth, after the foundering of the good ship Glen Carrig through striking upon a hidden rock in the unknown seas to the Southward; as told by John Winterstraw, Gent., to his son James Winterstraw, in the year 1757, and by him committed very properly and legibly to manuscript
Having gotten the dinner under way, the bo'sun set about preparing our
camp for the night, which we did by making a rough framework with the
reeds, over which we spread the boat's sails and the cover, pegging the
canvas down with tough splinters of the reed. When this was completed, we
set-to and carried there all our stores, after which the bo'sun took us
over to the other side of the island to gather fuel for the night, which
we did, each man bearing a great double armful.
Now by the time that we had brought over, each of us, two loads of the
fuel, we found the meat to be cooked, and so, without more to-do, set
ourselves down and made a very good meal off it and some biscuits, after
which we had each of us a sound tot of the rum. Having made an end of
eating and drinking, the bo'sun went over to where Job lay, to inquire
how he felt, and found him lying very quiet, though his breathing had a
heavy touch about it. However, we could conceive of nothing by which he
might be bettered, and so left him, being more hopeful that Nature would
bring him to health than any skill of which we were possessed.
By this time it was late afternoon, so that the bo'sun declared we might
please ourselves until sunset, deeming that we had earned a very good
right to rest; but that from sunset till the dawn we should, he told us,
have each of us to take turn and turn about to watch; for though we were
no longer upon the water, none might say whether we were out of danger or
not, as witness the happening of the morning; though, certainly, he
apprehended no danger from the devil-fish so long as we kept well away
from the water's edge.
And so from now until dark most of the men slept; but the bo'sun spent
much of that time in overhauling the boat, to see how it might chance to
have suffered during the storm, and also whether the struggles of the
devil-fish had strained it in any way. And, indeed, it was speedily
evident that the boat would need some attention; for the plank in her
bottom next but one to the keel, upon the starboard side, had been burst
inwards; this having been done, it would seem, by some rock in the beach
hidden just beneath the water's edge, the devil-fish having, no doubt,
ground the boat down upon it. Happily, the damage was not great; though
it would most certainly have to be carefully repaired before the boat
would be again seaworthy. For the rest, there seemed to be no other part
needing attention.
Now I had not felt any call to sleep, and so had followed the bo'sun to
the boat, giving him a hand to remove the bottom-boards, and finally to
slue her bottom a little upwards, so that he might examine the leak more
closely. When he had made an end with the boat, he went over to the
stores, and looked closely into their condition, and also to see how they
were lasting. And, after that, he sounded all the water-breakers; having
done which, he remarked that it would be well for us if we could discover
any fresh water upon the island.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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