Memoirs of Andrew Sherburne

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III, j - ., On the 19th of September, 1781, at about 5 o'clock. .P.'M. there were loud and repeated cries from the fore- -castle, breakers on the lee bow.' breakers ahead This doleful sound caused every ear to tingle, and every, heart to thrill Immediately from the quarter dock the following sea...
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III, j - ., On the 19th of September, 1781, at about 5 o'clock. .P.'M. there were loud and repeated cries from the fore- -castle, breakers on the lee bow.' breakers ahead This doleful sound caused every ear to tingle, and every, heart to thrill Immediately from the quarter dock the following sea phrase was heard; pronounced with emphasis, stand by to about ship, hard to lee, fore sheet, fore top bowline, jib and staysail sheets, let go The ship immediately rounded too, head to the wind; but before the foretopsail could possibly be fitted on the other tack, the violence of the wind and waves giving the ship stem way, she was precipitated, (stern first, ) against a rugged bind' of rocks, which was, I should judge, fifteen or twenty feet above the water, almost perpendicular, having -some, shelves and craggs, however; two men who were .near the taffrel, sprang from the taffrel rail on a sheJf of the rock. The ship struck with such violence as to break off her rudder and knock the man overboard, who was at the helm; a fourth attempted to reach the rock but failed and went overboard. The two who fell overboard were immediately dashed against the rock and disappeared. Tiie ship was no longer to be governed, we were all at ihe mercy of the waves. All was confusion, consternation and despair. The ship stuck fast upon a craggy rock which lay under water, about twice her length from the shore, and probably broke in several of her floor timbers; All this took place before half the people who were below, got up on deck, which was nearly one half of the crew. I was going up the fore hatchway when she struck on this rock, and looking down in the hold, I saw the water gushing up with violence (through the gravel iu tbe lower tier of water casks were stowed, ) in a ...