DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70301#0419
SHIPWRECK OF THE ST. LAWRENCE.
381
My first study was how to get our companions on shore. It
was high flood when we arrived on the beach, we were there-
fore obliged to wait till the tide was out, when, the vessel
having beaten much nearer the shore, we advised the people
on board to fasten a rope to the jib-boom, by which they
might swing themselves one by one towards the shore. They
accordingly adopted this expedient, and by watching the
motion of the sea, and seizing the opportunity of swing-
ing themselves, as the waves retired, they all got safe on
the land except a carpenter, who was a passenger in the
vessel.
The captain had, fortunately, before he left the ship, put
some materials for striking a light in his pocket; we there-
fore went to work in cutting and collecting wood, of which
we made a fire with all possible expedition. But this grati-
fication was, to several of my companions, followed by the
most excruciating pain, as soon as their frozen parts began
to thaw7.
When we came to examine into our numbers I observed
that Captain Green, a passenger, was missing, and was in-
formed that he had fallen asleep on board the vessel, and had
been frozen to death. The following night we passed a
little better than the former; yet, notwithstanding w7e had a
o-ood fire, we found extreme inconvenience from the total
want of covering as well as from hunger, a new misery with
which we had hitherto been unacquainted. The next day
at low water we found means, with much difficulty, to extrU
cate the carpenter from the ship. We still remained with-
out any kind of provisions, and began to be reduced in
strength for want of nourishment.
The 7th and 8th the gale continued as boisterous as ever;
and in the night between the 8th and 9th of December, the
ship went to pieces from the stern to the main-mast, from
the extreme violence with which the sea broke against her. By
this part of her going to pieces we obtained some provisions,
381
My first study was how to get our companions on shore. It
was high flood when we arrived on the beach, we were there-
fore obliged to wait till the tide was out, when, the vessel
having beaten much nearer the shore, we advised the people
on board to fasten a rope to the jib-boom, by which they
might swing themselves one by one towards the shore. They
accordingly adopted this expedient, and by watching the
motion of the sea, and seizing the opportunity of swing-
ing themselves, as the waves retired, they all got safe on
the land except a carpenter, who was a passenger in the
vessel.
The captain had, fortunately, before he left the ship, put
some materials for striking a light in his pocket; we there-
fore went to work in cutting and collecting wood, of which
we made a fire with all possible expedition. But this grati-
fication was, to several of my companions, followed by the
most excruciating pain, as soon as their frozen parts began
to thaw7.
When we came to examine into our numbers I observed
that Captain Green, a passenger, was missing, and was in-
formed that he had fallen asleep on board the vessel, and had
been frozen to death. The following night we passed a
little better than the former; yet, notwithstanding w7e had a
o-ood fire, we found extreme inconvenience from the total
want of covering as well as from hunger, a new misery with
which we had hitherto been unacquainted. The next day
at low water we found means, with much difficulty, to extrU
cate the carpenter from the ship. We still remained with-
out any kind of provisions, and began to be reduced in
strength for want of nourishment.
The 7th and 8th the gale continued as boisterous as ever;
and in the night between the 8th and 9th of December, the
ship went to pieces from the stern to the main-mast, from
the extreme violence with which the sea broke against her. By
this part of her going to pieces we obtained some provisions,