us; and numbers of their sick dying daily, we found that, had it not been
for the last supply sent by our long-boat, both the healthy and diseased
must have all perished together for want of water. And these calamities
were the more terrifying, as they appeared to be without remedy, for the
Gloucester had already spent a month in her endeavours to fetch the bay,
and she was now no farther advanced than at the first moment she made the
island; on the contrary, the people on board her had worn out all their
hopes of ever succeeding in it by the many experiments they had made of
its difficulty. Indeed, the same day her situation grew more desperate
than ever, for after she had received our last supply of refreshments, we
again lost sight of her, so that we in general despaired of her ever
coming to an anchor.

Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about within a few leagues of her
intended harbour, whilst the neighbourhood of that place, and of those
circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamities they
laboured under, served only to aggravate their distress by torturing them
with a view of the relief it was not in their power to reach.

THE GLOUCESTER COMES TO ANCHOR.

But she was at last delivered from this dreadful situation, at a time
when we least expected it, for, after having lost sight of her for
several days, we were pleasingly surprised, on the morning of the 23rd of
July, to see her open the north-west point of the bay with a flowing
sail; when we immediately despatched what boats we had to her assistance,
and in an hour's time from our first perceiving her she anchored safe
within us in the bay.