bottom was hard, and difficult to get an anchor into it, there was the
risk of dragging on this bank. We say that the bottom was hard, for the
reader should know that it is not the weight of the anchor that secures
the ship, but the hold its pointed fluke and broad palm get of the ground.
The coast itself was distant less than a mile, and the entire basin within
the reef was fast presenting spits of sand, as the water fell on the ebb.
Still there were many channels, and it would have been possible, for one
who knew their windings, to have sailed a ship several leagues among them,
without passing the inlet; these channels forming a sort of intricate
net-work, in every direction from the vessel.

When Captain Truck had coolly studied all the peculiarities of his
position, he set about the duty of securing his ship, in good earnest. The
two light boats were brought under the bows, and the stream anchor was
lowered, and fastened to a spar that lay across both. This anchor was
carried to the bank astern, and, by dint of sheer strength, was laid over
its summit with a fluke buried to the shank in the hard sand. By means of
a hawser, and a purchase applied to its end, the men on the banks next
roused the chain out, and shackled it to the ring. The bight was hove-in,
and the ship secured astern, so as to prevent a shift of wind, off the
land, from forcing her on the reef. As no sea could come from this
quarter, the single anchor and chain were deemed sufficient for this
purpose. As soon as the boats were at liberty, and before the chain had
been got ashore, two kedges were carried to the reef, and laid among the
rocks, in such a way that their flukes and stocks equally got hold of the
projections. To these kedges lighter chains were secured; and when all the
bights were hove-in, to as equal a strain as possible. Captain Truck
pronounced his ship in readiness to ride out any gale that would be likely
to blow. So far as the winds and waves might affect her, the Montauk was,
in truth, reasonably safe; for on the side where danger was most to be