The terrific roaring of the hurricane
prevented any communication, except by gesture. The other boats had
disappeared; lighter than ours, they had flown away faster before the
sweeping element; but we had not been a minute before the wind before
the sea rose in a most unaccountable manner--it appeared to be by magic.
Of all the horrors that ever I witnessed, nothing could be compared to
the scene of this night. We could see nothing, and heard only the wind,
before which we were darting like an arrow--to where we knew not, unless
it was to certain death. Swinburne steered the boat, every now and then
looking back as the waves increased. In a few minutes we were in a heavy
swell, that at one minute bore us all aloft, and at the next almost
sheltered us from the hurricane; and now the atmosphere was charged with
showers of spray, the wind cutting off the summits of the waves, as if
with a knife, and carrying them along with it, as it were, in its arms.
The boat was filling with water, and appeared to settle down fast. The
men baled with their hats in silence, when a large wave culminated over
the stern, filling us up to our thwarts. The next moment we all received
a shock so violent, that we were jerked from our seats. Swinburne was
thrown over my head. Every timber of the boat separated at once, and she
appeared to crumble from under us, leaving us floating on the raging
waters. We all struck out for our lives, but with little hope of
preserving them; but the next wave dashed us on the rocks, against which
the boat had already been hurled.
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