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A STORM AT SEA-Adventure and Peril, p. 305

tain, 'left Jamaica in rather a seen or had any conception of, leaky condition, keeping two laid the ship on her beam ends. hand-pumps going; and when it The water forsook the hold and blew fresh, sometimes a spell appeared between decks, so as with a chain-pump was necessary. to fill the men's hammocks to But I had no apprehension that leeward; the ship lay motionthe ship was not able to en- less, and to all appearance irrecounter a common gale of wind. coverably overset. The water In the evening of the 16th of increasing fast, forced through September, when the fatal gale the cells of the ports, and came on, the ship was prepared scuttled in the ports from the for the worst weather usually pressure of the ship. I gave met in those latitudes, the main- immediate directions to cut sail was reefed and set, the away the main and mizen masts, top-gallant masts struck, and hoping, when the ship righted, the mizen-yard lowered down, to wear her. The mainmast though at that time it did not went first, upon cutting one or blow very strong. Towards mid- two of the lanyards, without the night it blew a gale of wind, and smallest effect on the ship; the the ship made so much water, mizen-mast followed, upon cutthat I was obliged to turn all hands ting the lanyard of one shroud; up to take a spell at the pumps. and I had the disappointment The leak still increasing, I had to see the foremast and bowsprit thoughts to try the ship before follow. The ship upon this the sea. Happy I should have immediately righted, but with been, perhaps, had I in this great violence; and the mobeen determined. The impro- tion was so quick, that it was priety of leaving the convoy difficult for the people to work except in the last extremity, and the pumps. Three guns broke the hopes of the weather grow-loose upon the main deck, and ing moderate, weighed against it was some time before they the opinion that it was right.

were secured. Several men being maimed in this attempt, every moveable was destroyed, either from the shot thrown loose from the lockers, or the

About two in the morning the wind lulled, and we flattered ourselves the gale was breaking. Soon after we had much thunder and lightning from the south-wreck of the deck. The officers, east, with rain, when it began who had left their beds naked to blow strong in gusts of wind, when the ship overset in the which obliged me to haul the morning, had not an article of main-sail up, the ship being clothes to put on, nor could then under bare poles. This their friends supply them. was scarcely done, when a gust of wind, exceeding in violence anything of the kind I had ever

'The masts had not been over the sides ten minutes before I was informed the tiller

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ship, I only thanked them, desiring, if they joined Admiral Graves, to acquaint him of our condition. I had not the smallest doubt but the Ville de Paris was coming to us, as she appeared to us not to have suffered the least by the storm, and having seen her wear, we knew she was under government of her helm; at this time also, it was so moderate, that the merchantmen set their topsails: but approaching within two miles, she passed us to the windward. This being observed by one of the merchant ships, she wore and came under our stern, offering to carry any message to her. I desired the master would acquaint Captain Wilkinson that the Centaur had lost her rudder as well as her masts, that she made a great deal of water, and that I desired he would remain with her until the weather grew moderate. I saw the merchantman approach afterwards near enough to speak to the Ville de Paris, but am afraid that her condition was much worse than it appeared to be, as she continued upon that tack. In the meantime all the quarter-deck guns were thrown overboard. The ship lying in the trough of the sea, laboured prodigiously.

was broken short in the rudder head; and before the chocks could be placed, the rudder itself was gone. Thus we were as much disastered as it was possible, lying at the mercy of the wind and sea; yet I had one comfort, that the pumps, if anything, reduced the water in the hold; and as the morning came on (the 17th), the weather grew more moderate, the wind having shifted in the gale to north-west. At daylight I saw two line-of-battle ships to leeward; one had lost her foremast and bowsprit, the other her main-mast. It was the general opinion on board the Centaur, that the former was the Granada, the other the Glorieux. The Ramillies was not in sight, nor more than fifteen sail of merchant ships. About seven in the morning I saw another line-of-battle ship ahead of us, which I soon distinguished to be the Ville de Paris, with all her masts standing. I immediately gave orders to make the signal of distress, hoisting the ensign on the stump of the mizen-mast, union downwards, and firing one of the forecastle guns. The ensign blew away soon after it was hoisted, and it was the only one we had remaining; but II got over one of the anchors, had the satisfaction to see the Ville de Paris wear and stand towards us. Several of the merchant ships also approached us, and those that could hailed, and offered their assistance; but depending on the king's

with a boom and several guncarriages, veering out from the head door by a large hawser, to keep the ship's bow to the sea; but this, with a top-gallant sail upon the stump of the mizen mast, had not the desired effect.

grew hazy, and blew strong in squalls. We lost sight of the Ville de Paris; but I thought it a certainty that we should see her the next morning. The night was passed in constant labour at the pumps. Sometimes the wind lulled, the water diminished; when it blew strong again, the sea rising, the water again increased. Towards the morning of the 18th I was informed there was seven feet of water upon the kelson, that one of the winches was broken, that the two spare ones would not fit, and that the hand-pumps were choked. These circumstances were sufficiently alarming; but upon opening the afterhold, to get some rum up for the people, we found our condition much more so.

'As the evening came on, it rum,-twenty-six puncheons,all the provisions, of which there was sufficient for two months, in casks, were staved, having floated with violence from side to side, until there was not a whole cask remaining; even the staves that were found upon clearing the hold, were most of them broken into two or three pieces. In the fore-hold we had a prospect of perishing; should the ship swim, we had no water but what remained in the ground tier; and over this all the wet provisions, and butts filled with salt water, were floating, and with so much motion, that no man could with safety go into the hold. There was nothing left for us to try, but baling with buckets at the fore-hatchway and fish-room; and twelve large canvas buckets were immediately employed at each. On opening our fish-room, we were so fortunate as to discover that two puncheons of rum, which belonged to me, had escaped. They were immediately got up, and served out at times in drams; and had it not been for this relief, and some lime-juice, the people would have dropped.

'It will be necessary to mention, that the Centaur's after-hold was enclosed by a bulk-head at the after part of the well. Here all the dry provisions and the ship's rum were stowed upon twenty chaldron of coals, which unfortunately had been started on this part of the ship, and by them the pumps were continually choked. The chain-pumps were so much worn as to be of little use; and the leathers, which, had the well been clear, would have lasted twenty days or more, were all consumed in eight. At this time it was observed that the water had not a passage to the well; for here there was so much, that it washed against the orlop deck. All the

'We soon found our account in baling. The spare pump had been put down the fore-hatchway, and a pump shifted to the fish-room; but the motion of the ship had washed the coals so small, that they reached every part of the ship, and the pumps were soon choked. However, the water by noon had considerably diminished by work

ing the buckets; but there appeared no prospect of saving the ship if the gale continued. The labour was too great to hold out without water; yet the people worked without a murmur, and indeed with cheerfulness. At this time the weather was very moderate, and a couple of spars were got ready for shears to set up a jury foremast; but as the evening came on, the gale again increased. We had seen nothing this day but the ship that had lost her main-mast, and she appeared to be as much in want of assistance as ourselves, having fired guns of distress; and before night I was told her fore-mast was gone. The Centaur laboured so much, that I had scarcely a hope she could swim till morning. However, by great exertion of the chainpumps, and baling, we held our own; but our sufferings for want of water were very great, and many of the people could not be restrained from drinking salt water.

'At daylight (the 19th) there was no vessel in sight; and flashes from guns having been seen in the night, we feared the ship we had seen the preceding day had foundered. Towards ten o'clock in the forenoon the weather grew more moderate, the water diminished in the hold, and the people were encouraged to redouble their efforts to get the water low enough to break a cask of fresh water out of the ground tier, and some of the most resolute

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of the seamen were employed in the attempt. At noon succeeded with one cask, which, though little, was a seasonable relief. All the officers, passengers, and boys, who were not of the profession of seamen, had been employed in thrumming a sail, which was passed under the ship's bottom, and I thought had some effect. The shears were raised for the foremast; the weather looked promising, the sea fell, and at night we were able to relieve at the pumps and baling every two hours. By the morning of the 20th the fore-hold was cleared of the water, and we had the comfortable promise of a fine day. It proved so, and I was determined to make use of it with all possible exertion. I divided the ship's company, with officers attending them, into parties, to raise the jury foremast, to heave over the lower deck guns, to clear the wreck of the fore and after holds, to prepare the machine for steering the ship, and to work the pumps. By night the after-hold was as clear as when the ship was launched; for, to our astonishment, there was not a shovel of coals remaining, twenty chaldrons having been pumped out since the commencement of the gale. What I have called the wreck of the hold, was the bulkheads of the after-hold, fishroom, and spirit-rooms. standards of the cock-pit, an immense quantity of staves and wood, and part of the lining of

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