great moment, he determined to run every hazard rather than retard
their delivery. He therefore sailed from Anti Milo at sunset, and
shaped his course to Cerigotto. At midnight, the wind had risen to a
gale; the night was dark and gloomy; torrents of rain were falling,
accompanied by loud and incessant peals of thunder, whilst vivid
flashes of lightning ever and anon illuminated for an instant the
murky sky, and left all in obscurity more dismal than before.

At two o'clock A.M., the tempest and the darkness having increased,
the captain gave orders to close-reef topsails, and prepare for
bringing-to until daybreak. A little after three o'clock, a bright
flash of lightning discovered to them, the Island of Cerigotto right
ahead, and about a mile distant. The captain considered his course to
be now clear, and therefore directed all possible sail to be kept on
the vessel without endangering the masts, at the same time he
congratulated Lieutenant Nesbitt upon their escape from the threatened
dangers of the Archipelago.

He then went below, and was engaged with the pilot in examining the
chart, when a cry was heard of 'Breakers ahead!' Lieutenant Nesbitt,
who was on deck, ordered the helm a-lee; it was scarcely done, when
the vessel struck. The shock was so violent, that the men below were
thrown out of their hammocks, and they had difficulty in getting upon
deck, for every sea lifted up the ship and then again dashed her upon
the rocks with such force that they could not keep their feet. All was
confusion and alarm. Every one felt his own utter helplessness.

'Oh! my Lord,' writes Lieutenant Nesbitt to Lord Collingwood, 'it
draws tears from my eyes when I reflect on the complicated miseries of
the scene! Heaven, now our only resource, was piteously invoked; and