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Article A NARRATIVE ← Page 2 of 10 →
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A Narrative
the course to E . N . E . It may be proper here to observe , that Captain Dundas had two time-pieces , One of which had served him in his former voyage , and by it he had constantly made the land to the greatest degree of exactness ; from these ancl from several sets of Lunar Observations , taken four days before , the whole of which was in coincidence with the time-pieces , he at midniht concluded with confidence that
g he was So miles from the nearest part of the coast . From 12 P . M . till 2 A . M . we steered E . N . E . when the captain came again on deck , and observing the lower steering sail to lift , ordered me to keep the shi p N . E . by E . the wind at that time was S . S . E . a . moderate breeze , the ship going six knots , and a clear star-li ght night .
Every attention possible was paid to the look-out , Captain Dundas with a ni ght-glass carefully looking in the direction of the land ; but so perfectly was he satisfied with the correctness of his time-pieces , that he never mentioned sounding . A little before three o'clock , he pointed out to me the ship ' s place on a chart , which was then upwards of 60 miles from the land , and when he left the deck at three , directed
me to steer N . E . at the same time observing , that on that course we could not make more than six miles of casting before day-li ght , and that if we were nearer the land than he supposed , it was impossible to avoid seeing it before any accident could happen . He had not been off the deck more than seven or eight minutes when the ship struck , going between six and seven knots ; the shock was
scarcely perceptible , except to the man at the helm ; the water was perfectly smooth ; no breakers or surf were heard ; and , notwithstanding the clearness of the horizon , the land was not discernible . Thus circumstanced , it being then new moon , with the concurrence of high water , were events particularly unfortunate . The jolly-boat and yawl were immediatel y got out , and not 100 yards a-stern found five fathom water ; the sails were immediately thrown aback , andevery endeavour was , at this momentous period , used to get the shi p off , but without success .
The kedge anchor , with a nine-inch hawser , was then carried out into five fathom , by which we strove to heave her off , without effect . The sails were next handed , top-gallant yards and masts struck , the long-boat got out , the booms rafted along side , and the upper deck entirely cleared . . Day-light discovered to us our fituation ; we found the ship was on
a reef of rocks , about six miles from the land ; within the outer reef , and nearly half-way to the shore , was another , which at hi gh water was covered . That on which the ship struck extended as far to the Northward as we could see , and to the Southward nearly the length of St . Augustin's Bay . As the water ebbed the ship thumped violentland begari
y , to leak ; the recruits were set to the pumps , where they continued as long as they could be of service . By eight o'clock the rudder was beat off , the sheathing came up along side , and there were only eight feet water under the bows ; but as she then lay quiet , we entertained
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Narrative
the course to E . N . E . It may be proper here to observe , that Captain Dundas had two time-pieces , One of which had served him in his former voyage , and by it he had constantly made the land to the greatest degree of exactness ; from these ancl from several sets of Lunar Observations , taken four days before , the whole of which was in coincidence with the time-pieces , he at midniht concluded with confidence that
g he was So miles from the nearest part of the coast . From 12 P . M . till 2 A . M . we steered E . N . E . when the captain came again on deck , and observing the lower steering sail to lift , ordered me to keep the shi p N . E . by E . the wind at that time was S . S . E . a . moderate breeze , the ship going six knots , and a clear star-li ght night .
Every attention possible was paid to the look-out , Captain Dundas with a ni ght-glass carefully looking in the direction of the land ; but so perfectly was he satisfied with the correctness of his time-pieces , that he never mentioned sounding . A little before three o'clock , he pointed out to me the ship ' s place on a chart , which was then upwards of 60 miles from the land , and when he left the deck at three , directed
me to steer N . E . at the same time observing , that on that course we could not make more than six miles of casting before day-li ght , and that if we were nearer the land than he supposed , it was impossible to avoid seeing it before any accident could happen . He had not been off the deck more than seven or eight minutes when the ship struck , going between six and seven knots ; the shock was
scarcely perceptible , except to the man at the helm ; the water was perfectly smooth ; no breakers or surf were heard ; and , notwithstanding the clearness of the horizon , the land was not discernible . Thus circumstanced , it being then new moon , with the concurrence of high water , were events particularly unfortunate . The jolly-boat and yawl were immediatel y got out , and not 100 yards a-stern found five fathom water ; the sails were immediately thrown aback , andevery endeavour was , at this momentous period , used to get the shi p off , but without success .
The kedge anchor , with a nine-inch hawser , was then carried out into five fathom , by which we strove to heave her off , without effect . The sails were next handed , top-gallant yards and masts struck , the long-boat got out , the booms rafted along side , and the upper deck entirely cleared . . Day-light discovered to us our fituation ; we found the ship was on
a reef of rocks , about six miles from the land ; within the outer reef , and nearly half-way to the shore , was another , which at hi gh water was covered . That on which the ship struck extended as far to the Northward as we could see , and to the Southward nearly the length of St . Augustin's Bay . As the water ebbed the ship thumped violentland begari
y , to leak ; the recruits were set to the pumps , where they continued as long as they could be of service . By eight o'clock the rudder was beat off , the sheathing came up along side , and there were only eight feet water under the bows ; but as she then lay quiet , we entertained