she fortunately gained in safety; they were all washed out of her in an
instant by a tremendous surf, yet out of more than sixty which it
contained, only one man was drowned. Our captain seeing this, wished he
had taken advice, which was now of no use. Finding I could not longer
maintain myself on the same spar, and seeing the captain in a very
exhausted state, I solicited him to return to the wreck, but he replied,
that since we must all eventually perish, I should not think of his, but
rather of my own, preservation. An enormous breaker now burst on us with
irresistible force, so that I scarcely noticed what occurred to him
afterwards, being buried by successive seas. At length, after the most
desperate efforts, I was thrown on the reef, half drowned and severely
cut by the sharp coral, when I silently offered up thanks for my
preservation, and crawling up the reef, waved my hand to encourage those
who remained behind.

The captain, however, was not to be seen, and most of the others had
returned to the wreck and were employed in getting the small cutter into
the water, which they accomplished, and safely reached the shore. About
noon, when we had all left the ship, she was a perfect wreck. The whole
of the upper works, from the after part of the forecastle to the break
of the poop deck, had separated from her bottom about the upper
futtock-heads, and was driving in towards the reef. Most of the lighter
cargo had floated out of her. Bales of company's cloth, cases of wine,
puncheons of spirits, barrels of gunpowder, hogsheads of beer, &c. lay
strewed on the shore, together with a chest of tools. Finding the men
beginning to commit the usual excesses, we stove in the heads of the
spirit casks, to prevent mischief, and endeavoured to direct their
attention to the general benefit. The tide was flowing fast, and we saw
that the reef must soon be covered; we therefore conveyed the boats to a
place of safety, and filling them with all the provisions that could be