University of Virginia Library

13. CHAPTER XIII.

July 24. This morning saw us wonderfully recruited
in spirits and strength. Notwithstanding the perilous
situation in which we were still placed, ignorant of
our position, although certainly at a great distance from
land, without more food than would last us for a fortnight
even with great care, almost entirely without water,
and floating about at the mercy of every wind and wave,
on the merest wreck in the world, still the infinitely
more terrible distresses and dangers from which we had
so lately and so providentially been delivered caused us
to regard what we now endured as but little more than
an ordinary evil—so strictly comparative is either good
or ill.

At sunrise we were preparing to renew our attempts
at getting up something from the storeroom, when, a
smart shower coming on, with some lightning, we turned
our attention to the catching of water by means of the
sheet we had used before for this purpose. We had no
other means of collecting the rain than by holding the
sheet spread out with one of the forechain-plates in the
middle of it. The water, thus conducted to the centre,
was drained through into our jug. We had nearly filled
it in this manner, when, a heavy squall coming on from
the northward, obliged us to desist, as the hulk began
once more to roll so violently that we could no longer
keep our feet. We now went forward, and, lashing ourselves
securely to the remnant of the windlass as before,
awaited the event with far more calmness than could
have been anticipated, or would have been imagined possible
under the circumstances. At noon the wind had
freshened into a two-reef breeze, and by night into a stiff
gale, accompanied with a tremendously heavy swell. Experience
having taught us, however, the best method of
arranging our lashings, we weathered this dreary night

in tolerable security, although thoroughly drenched at
almost every instant by the sea, and in momentary dread
of being washed off. Fortunately, the weather was so
warm as to render the water rather grateful than otherwise.

July 25. This morning the gale had diminished to a
mere ten-knot breeze, and the sea had gone down with
it so considerably that we were able to keep ourselves
dry upon the deck. To our great grief, however, we
found that two jars of our olives, as well as the whole of
our ham, had been washed overboard, in spite of the
careful manner in which they had been fastened. We
determined not to kill the tortoise as yet, and contented
ourselves for the present with a breakfast on a few of
the olives, and a measure of water each, which latter we
mixed, half and half, with wine, finding great relief and
strength from the mixture, without the distressing intoxication
which had ensued upon drinking the Port. The
sea was still far too rough for the renewal of our efforts
at getting up provision from the storeroom. Several articles,
of no importance to us in our present situation,
floated up through the opening during the day, and were
immediately washed overboard. We also now observed
that the hulk lay more along than ever, so that we could
not stand an instant without lashing ourselves. On this
account we passed a gloomy and uncomfortable day.
At noon the sun appeared to be nearly vertical, and we
had no doubt that we had been driven down by the long
succession of northward and northwesterly winds into
the near vicinity of the equator. Towards evening saw
several sharks, and were somewhat alarmed by the audacious
manner in which an enormously large one approached
us. At one time, a lurch throwing the deck
very far beneath the water, the monster actually swam
in upon us, floundering for some moments just over the
companion-hatch, and striking Peters violently with his
tail. A heavy sea at length hurled him overboard, much
to our relief. In moderate weather we might have easily
captured him.

July 26. This morning, the wind having greatly

abated, and the sea not being very rough, we determined
to renew our exertions in the storeroom. After a great
deal of hard labour during the whole day, we found that
nothing further was to be expected from this quarter, the
partitions of the room having been stove during the night,
and its contents swept into the hold. This discovery,
as may be supposed, filled us with despair.

July 27. The sea nearly smooth, with a light wind,
and still from the northward and westward. The sun
coming out hotly in the afternoon, we occupied ourselves
in drying our clothes. Found great relief from
thirst, and much comfort otherwise, by bathing in the sea;
in this, however, we were forced to use great caution,
being afraid of sharks, several of which were seen swimming
around the brig during the day.

July 28. Good weather still. The brig now began
to lie along so alarmingly that we feared she would
eventually roll bottom up. Prepared ourselves as well
as we could for this emergency, lashing our tortoise,
water-jug, and two remaining jars of olives as far as possible
over to the windward, placing them outside the
hull, below the main-chains. The sea very smooth all
day, with little or no wind.

July 29. A continuance of the same weather. Augustus's
wounded arm began to evince symptoms of
mortification. He complained of drowsiness and excessive
thirst, but no acute pain. Nothing could be done
for his relief beyond rubbing his wounds with a little of
the vinegar from the olives, and from this no benefit
seemed to be experienced. We did everything in our
power for his comfort, and trebled his allowance of
water.

July 30. An excessively hot day, with no wind. An
enormous shark kept close by the hulk during the whole
of the forenoon. We made several unsuccessful attempts
to capture him by means of a noose. Augustus
much worse, and evidently sinking as much from want
of proper nourishment as from the effect of his wounds.
He constantly prayed to be released from his sufferings,
wishing for nothing but death. This evening we ate the

last of our olives, and found the water in our jug so
putrid that we could not swallow it at all without the
addition of wine. Determined to kill our tortoise in the
morning.

July 31. After a night of excessive anxiety and fatigue,
owing to the position of the hulk, we set about
killing and cutting up our tortoise. He proved to be
much smaller than we had supposed, although in good
condition—the whole meat about him not amounting to
more than ten pounds. With a view of preserving a
portion of this as long as possible, we cut it into fine
pieces, and filled with them our three remaining olive-jars
and the wine-bottle (all of which had been kept),
pouring in afterward the vinegar from the olives. In
this manner we put away about three pounds of the tortoise,
intending not to touch it until we had consumed
the rest. We concluded to restrict ourselves to about
four ounces of the meat per day; the whole would thus
last us thirteen days. A brisk shower, with severe thunder
and lightning, came on about dusk, but lasted so
short a time that we only succeeded in catching about
half a pint of water. The whole of this, by common
consent, was given to Augustus, who now appeared to
be in the last extremity. He drank the water from the
sheet as we caught it (we holding it above him as he
lay so as to let it run into his mouth), for we had now
nothing left capable of holding water, unless we had
chosen to empty out our wine from the carboy, or the
stale water from the jug. Either of these expedients
would have been resorted to had the shower lasted.

The sufferer seemed to derive but little benefit from
the draught. His arm was completely black from the
wrist to the shoulder, and his feet were like ice. We
expected every moment to see him breathe his last. He
was frightfully emaciated; so much so that, although he
weighed a hundred and twenty-seven pounds upon his
leaving Nantucket, he now did not weigh more than
forty or fifty at the farthest. His eyes were sunk far in
his head, being scarcely perceptible, and the skin of his
cheeks hung so loosely as to prevent his masticating any

food, or even swallowing any liquid, without great difficulty.

August 1. A continuance of the same calm weather,
with an oppressively hot sun. Suffered exceedingly
from thirst, the water in the jug being absolutely putrid
and swarming with vermin. We contrived, nevertheless,
to swallow a portion of it by mixing it with wine—our
thirst, however, was but little abated. We found more
relief by bathing in the sea, but could not avail ourselves
of this expedient except at long intervals, on account of
the continual presence of sharks. We now saw clearly
that Augustus could not be saved; that he was evidently
dying. We could do nothing to relieve his sufferings,
which appeared to be great. About twelve o'clock he
expired in strong convulsions, and without having spoken
for several hours. His death filled us with the most
gloomy forebodings, and had so great an effect upon our
spirits that we sat motionless by the corpse during the
whole day, and never addressed each other except in a
whisper. It was not until some time after dark that we
took courage to get up and throw the body overboard.
It was then loathsome beyond expression, and so far decayed
that, as Peters attempted to lift it, an entire leg
came off in his grasp. As the mass of putrefaction
slipped over the vessel's side into the water, the glare of
phosphoric light with which it was surrounded plainly
discovered to us seven or eight large sharks, the clashing
of whose horrible teeth, as their prey was torn to
pieces among them, might have been heard at the distance
of a mile. We shrunk within ourselves in the extremity
of horror at the sound.

August 2. The same fearfully calm and hot weather.
The dawn found us in a state of pitiable dejection as
well as bodily exhaustion. The water in the jug
was now absolutely useless, being a thick gelatinous
mass; nothing but frightful-looking worms mingled with
slime. We threw it out, and washed the jug well in the
sea, afterward pouring a little vinegar in it from our bottles
of pickled tortoise. Our thirst could now scarcely
be endured, and we tried in vain to relieve it by wine,

which seemed only to add fuel to the flame, and excited
us to a high degree of intoxication. We afterward endeavoured
to relieve our sufferings by mixing the wine
with seawater; but this instantly brought about the most
violent retchings, so that we never again attempted it.
During the whole day we anxiously sought an opportunity
of bathing, but to no purpose; for the hulk was now
entirely besieged on all sides with sharks—no doubt the
identical monsters who had devoured our poor companion
on the evening before, and who were in momentary
expectation of another similar feast. This circumstance
occasioned us the most bitter regret, and filled us with
the most depressing and melancholy forebodings. We
had experienced indescribable relief in bathing, and to
have this resource cut off in so frightful a manner was
more than we could bear. Nor, indeed, were we altogether
free from the apprehension of immediate danger,
for the least slip or false movement would have thrown
us at once within reach of these voracious fish, who frequently
thrust themselves directly upon us, swimming
up to leeward. No shouts or exertions on our part
seemed to alarm them. Even when one of the largest
was struck with an axe by Peters, and much wounded,
he persisted in his attempts to push in where we were.
A cloud came up at dusk, but, to our extreme anguish,
passed over without discharging itself. It is quite impossible
to conceive our sufferings from thirst at this
period. We passed a sleepless night, both on this account
and through dread of the sharks.

August 3. No prospect of relief, and the brig lying still
more and more along, so that now we could not maintain
a footing upon deck at all. Busied ourselves in securing
our wine and tortoise-meat, so that we might not
lose them in the event of our rolling over. Got out two
stout spikes from the forechains, and, by means of the
axe, drove them into the hull to windward within a
couple of feet of the water; this not being very far from
the keel, as we were nearly upon our beam-ends. To
these spikes we now lashed our provisions, as being
more secure than their former position beneath the

chains. Suffered great agony from thirst during the
whole day—no chance of bathing on account of the
sharks, which never left us for a moment. Found it impossible
to sleep.

August 4. A little before daybreak we perceived that
the hulk was heeling over, and aroused ourselves to prevent
being thrown off by the movement. At first the
roll was slow and gradual, and we contrived to clamber
over to windward very well, having taken the precaution
to leave ropes hanging from the spikes we had driven in
for the provision. But we had not calculated sufficiently
upon the acceleration of the impetus; for presently the
heel became too violent to allow of our keeping pace
with it; and, before either of us knew what was to happen,
we found ourselves hurled furiously into the sea,
and struggling several fathoms beneath the surface, with
the huge hull immediately above us.

In going under the water I had been obliged to let go
my hold upon the rope; and finding that I was completely
beneath the vessel, and my strength utterly exhausted,
I scarcely made a struggle for life, and resigned
myself, in a few seconds, to die. But here again I was
deceived, not having taken into consideration the natural
rebound of the hull to windward. The whirl of the
water upward, which the vessel occasioned in rolling
partially back, brought me to the surface still more violently
than I had been plunged beneath. Upon coming
up, I found myself about twenty yards from the hulk, as
near as I could judge. She was lying keel up, rocking
furiously from side to side, and the sea in all directions
around was much agitated, and full of strong whirlpools.
I could see nothing of Peters. An oil-cask was floating
within a few feet of me, and various other articles from
the brig were scattered about.

My principal terror was now on account of the sharks,
which I knew to be in my vicinity. In order to deter
these, if possible, from approaching me, I splashed the
water vigorously with both hands and feet as I swam
towards the hulk, creating a body of foam. I have no
doubt that to this expedient, simple as it was, I was indebted

for my preservation; for the sea all around the
brig, just before her rolling over, was so crowded with
these monsters, that I must have been, and really was, in
actual contact with some of them during my progress.
By great good fortune, however, I reached the side of
the vessel in safety, although so utterly weakened by the
violent exertion I had used that I should never have
been able to get upon it but for the timely assistance of
Peters, who now, to my great joy, made his appearance
(having scrambled up to the keel from the opposite side
of the hull), and threw me the end of a rope—one of
those which had been attached to the spikes.

Having barely escaped this danger, our attention was
now directed to the dreadful imminency of another; that
of absolute starvation. Our whole stock of provision
had been swept overboard in spite of all our care in securing
it; and seeing no longer the remotest possibility
of obtaining more, we gave way both of us to despair,
weeping aloud like children, and neither of us attempting
to offer consolation to the other. Such weakness
can scarcely be conceived, and to those who have never
been similarly situated will, no doubt, appear unnatural;
but it must be remembered that our intellects were so
entirely disordered by the long course of privation and
terror to which we had been subjected, that we could not
justly be considered, at that period, in the light of rational
beings. In subsequent perils, nearly as great, if
not greater, I bore up with fortitude against all the evils
of my situation, and Peters, it will be seen, evinced a
stoical philosophy nearly as incredible as his present
childlike supineness and imbecility—the mental condition
made the difference.

The overturning of the brig, even with the consequent
loss of the wine and turtle, would not, in fact, have rendered
our situation more deplorable than before, except
for the disappearance of the bedclothes by which we
had been hitherto enabled to catch rainwater, and of the
jug in which we had kept it when caught; for we found
the whole bottom, from within two or three feet of the
bends as far as the keel, together with the keel itself,

thickly covered with large barnacles, which proved to be
excellent and highly nutritious food. Thus, in two important
respects, the accident we had so greatly dreaded
proved a benefit rather than an injury; it had opened to
us a supply of provisions, which we could not have exhausted,
using it moderately, in a month; and it had
greatly contributed to our comfort as regards position,
we being much more at our ease, and in infinitely less
danger, than before.

The difficulty, however, of now obtaining water
blinded us to all the benefits of the change in our condition.
That we might be ready to avail ourselves, as far
as possible, of any shower which might fall, we took off
our shirts, to make use of them as we had of the sheets
—not hoping, of course, to get more in this way, even
under the most favourable circumstances, than half a
gill at a time. No signs of a cloud appeared during the
day, and the agonies of our thirst were nearly intolerable
At night Peters obtained about an hour's disturbed sleep,
but my intense sufferings would not permit me to close
my eyes for a single moment.

August 5. To-day, a gentle breeze springing up carried
us through a vast quantity of seaweed, among which
we were so fortunate as to find eleven small crabs,
which afforded us several delicious meals. Their shells
being quite soft, we ate them entire, and found that they
irritated our thirst far less than the barnacles. Seeing
no trace of sharks among the seaweed, we also ventured
to bathe, and remained in the water for four or five hours,
during which we experienced a very sensible diminution
of our thirst. Were greatly refreshed, and spent the
night somewhat more comfortably than before, both of us
snatching a little sleep.

August 6. This day we were blessed by a brisk and
continual rain, lasting from about noon until after dark.
Bitterly did we now regret the loss of our jug and car-boy;
for, in spite of the little means we had of catching
the water, we might have filled one, if not both of them.
As it was, we contrived to satisfy the cravings of thirst
by suffering the shirts to become saturated, and then

wringing them so as to let the grateful fluid trickle into
our mouths. In this occupation we passed the entire
day.

August 7. Just at daybreak we both at the same instant
descried a sail to the eastward, and evidently coming
towards us! We hailed the glorious sight with a
long, although feeble shout of rapture; and began instantly
to make every signal in our power, by flaring the
shirts in the air, leaping as high as our weak condition
would permit, and even by hallooing with all the strength
of our lungs, although the vessel could not have been
less than fifteen miles distant. However, she still continued
to near our hulk, and we felt that, if she but held
her present course, she must eventually come so close
as to perceive us. In about an hour after we first discovered
her we could clearly see the people on her
decks. She was a long, low, and rakish-looking topsail
schooner, with a black ball in her foretopsail, and had,
apparently, a full crew. We now became alarmed, for
we could hardly imagine it possible that she did not observe
us, and were apprehensive that she meant to leave
us to perish as we were—an act of fiendish barbarity,
which, however incredible it may appear, has been repeatedly
perpetrated at sea, under circumstances very
nearly similar, and by beings who were regarded as belonging
to the human species.[1] In this instance, however,

by the mercy of God, we were destined to be most happily
deceived; for presently we were aware of a sudden
commotion on the deck of the stranger, who immediately
afterward run up a British flag, and, hauling her wind,
bore up directly upon us. In half an hour more we
found ourselves in her cabin. She proved to be the
Jane Guy, of Liverpool, Captain Guy, bound on a sealing
and trading voyage to the South Seas and Pacific.