the after-part from the chess-tree was gone, the starboard bow under
water, and the forecastle deck nearly perpendicular. The weight of the
guns hanging to the larboard bulwark on the inside, and on the outside
the bower and spare anchors, which it was not prudent to cut away, as
they afforded a resting-place to a considerable number of men, added
to the danger. It had become impossible to remain any longer in the
head, or upon the bowsprit, the breakers washing continually over
those places, so that one hundred and fifty men were stowed in the
fore-channels and cat's-head, where alone it was possible to live.

'The night drawing on, the wind increasing, with frequent showers of
rain, the sea washing over us, and the expectation becoming every
instant more certain, that the forecastle would give way and that we
must all perish together, afforded a spectacle truly deplorable, and
the bare recollection of which makes me shudder. The piercing cries of
the people, this dismal night, as the sea washed over them every two
minutes, were pitiful in the extreme. The water running from the head
down over the body kept us continually wet. On that fearful night
every man's strength was exerted for his own individual safety. From
crowding so close together in so narrow a compass, and having nothing
to moisten their mouths, several poor wretches were suffocated, like
those in the black hole,--with this only difference, that we were
confined by water instead of strong walls; and the least movement or
relaxation of our hold would have plunged us into eternity.

'Some unfortunate men drank salt water, several endeavoured to quench
their raging thirst by a still more unnatural means; some chewed
leather, myself and many others thought we experienced great relief by
chewing lead, as it produced saliva.