Accidents > Dangers of the deep, or, Narratives of shipwreck and adventure at sea

WEST INDIA STEAMER TWEED. 375
when she let down the sail, and eight swarthy
fellows got out poles, with which they guided
their canoe right through the breakers on to
the reef, close to us.
In a few words we may as well relate the
adventures of our little boat. She left us at
5 p.m., on Friday, and continued to row and
sail gently along across the reef, in great fear
of running aground every moment, and da¬
maging her frail hull. She touched often as
she went along in the dark; but they were
able always to clear her. The stem turned
out not to be her frailest part, when once they
got clear away—she leaked in so many places
in the bottom, that two men baling could
scarcely keep her free ; and had any of them
stood up in her bottom, they would have gone
through her. The chief officer sat with the
compass between his knees in the dark, steer¬
ing, but with great difficulty making out the
points of the compass, only doing so by now
and then getting a glimpse of the flourish
round the north point. They scarcely knew
how they got off the reef into open water, re¬
marking on being asked, “God must have
guided us 1” At daybreak on Saturday, they
found themselves clear of the reef, and also