In this dismal condition the transport continued three days; notwithstanding all the exertions of the people, she was full of water, and they expected her to sink every minute. They had already got the whole liquor and provisions. The hold now being full, and the ship swimming only by the decks from the buoyancy of empty casks below, the people, about six o'clock on the fourth morning, came to Captain Nicholls, declaring that they had done all that lay in their power, that the ship was full of water, and that it was in vain to pump any more. Captain Nicholls acknowledged the truth of what they said; he told them that he could not desire them to do more, that they had behaved like brave men, and must now trust in Providence alone, as there was no expedient left for saving their lives. He then acquainted the priest with their situation; that every method for saving the ship and the lives of the people had been adopted, but that he expected the decks to blow up every moment. The priest was stunned by the intelligence, but answered, that he would immediately go and give his people absolution for dying; "which he did," says Captain Nicholls; "and I think a more melancholy scene cannot be supposed than so many people, hearty, strong and in health, looking at each other with tears in their eyes, bewailing their unhappy condition. No fancy can picture the seeming distraction of the poor unhappy children clinging to their mothers, and the wives hanging over their husbands, lamenting their miserable fate:--Shocking situation! words cannot describe it."