heaving, and raging on every side, and seemingly stretching away
into infinity. With terrible force the utter awfulness and
hopelessness of my position dawned upon me, yet I did not despair.
I next thought it advisable to try and slip my anchor, and let the
ship drift, for I still half-fancied that perhaps I might come
across my companions somewhere. Before I could free the vessel,
however, the wind veered completely round, and, to my horror and
despair, sent a veritable mountain of water on board, that carried
away nearly all the bulwarks, the galley, the top of the companion-
way, and, worst of all, completely wrenched off the wheel.
Compasses and charts were all stored in the companion-way, and were
therefore lost for ever. Then, indeed, I felt the end was near.
Fortunately, I was for'ard at the time, or I must inevitably have
been swept into the appalling waste of whirling, mountainous
waters. This lashing of myself to the mast, by the way, was the
means of saving my life time after time. Soon after the big sea--
which I had hoped was a final effort of the terrible storm--the
gale returned and blew in the opposite direction with even greater
fury than before. I spent an awful time of it the whole night
long, without a soul to speak to or help me, and every moment I
thought the ship must go down, in that fearful sea. The only
living thing on board beside myself was the captain's dog, which I
could occasionally hear howling dismally in the cabin below, where
I had shut him in when the cyclone first burst upon me.

Among the articles carried overboard by the big sea that smashed
the wheel was a large cask full of oil, made from turtle fat, in
which we always kept a supply of fresh meats, consisting mainly of
pork and fowls. This cask contained perhaps twenty gallons, and
when it overturned, the oil flowed all over the decks and trickled