the Esquimaux, which enabled them to make a splendid feast, and the
day was spent in the most agreeable manner.
Next day [Aug. 13th] they left George River, and after beating about
till the 17th, they cast anchor near a point of land, Kernertut, where
they expected to lie in safety [the whole of the crew, except Jonas
and his children and two boys, had gone on shore in the skin boat;]
but during the night, the wind blew a gale, which increased in
violence till daybreak; the sea rose to a tremendous height, and the
rain fell in torrents. Notwithstanding the shallop had three anchors
out, she was tossed about dreadfully, the sea frequently breaking
quite over her, insomuch that they expected every moment to be
swallowed up in the abyss. Jonathan, and the rest of their company,
were obliged to be passive spectators from the beach, where they
waited the event in silent anguish, looking every moment when the
vessel should break from her moorings, and be driven on the rocks.
About noon, the rope by which the small boat was fastened brake; she
was immediately carried up the bay, and thrown, by the violence of
the surf, on the top of a rock, where she stuck fast, keel upwards.
When the tide turned, the raging of the sea and the wind began to
abate, and Jonathan and the other men, as soon as it was practicable,
came to the assistance of the distressed and worn-out brethren. He was
quite overcome with joy, unable to utter a word; he held out his hand,
and shed tears of gratitude at meeting with them alive, for he had
given them up as irremediably lost. The little boat was brought down
from her pinnacle, to the great surprise of all, without material
injury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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