It Never Could
Have Been From The Latter Cause On Board Our Ship; Nor From The
Second, For We Were A Very Cleanly Crew, Kept Our Forecastle In
Neat Order, And Were More Particular About Washing And Changing
Clothes Than Many Better-Dressed People On Shore.
It was probably
from having none but salt provisions, and possibly from our having
run very rapidly into hot weather, after having been so long in
the extremest cold.
Depending upon the westerly winds, which prevail off the coast in
the autumn, the captain stood well to the westward, to run inside
of the Bermudas, and in the hope of falling in with some vessel
bound to the West Indies or the Southern States. The scurvy had
spread no farther among the crew, but there was danger that it
might; and these cases were bad ones.
Sunday, Sept. 11th. Lat. 30° 04' N., long. 63° 23' W.; the Bermudas
bearing north-north-west, distant one hundred and fifty miles.
The next morning, about ten o'clock, "Sail ho!" was cried on deck;
and all hands turned up to see the stranger. As she drew nearer,
she proved to be an ordinary-looking hermaphrodite brig, standing
south-south-east; and probably bound out, from the Northern States,
to the West Indies; and was just the thing we wished to see.
She hove-to for us, seeing that we wished to speak her; and we
ran down to her; boom-ended our studding-sails; backed our main
topsail, and hailed her - "Brig, ahoy!" - "Hallo!" - "Where are you
from, pray?" - "From New York, bound to Curaçoa." - "Have you any
fresh provisions to spare?" - "Aye, aye!
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