TOWARDS the latter end of the month of October, the schooner in which we had engaged a passage to Presqu’ Isle made her appearance before Malden, where she was obliged to lay at anchor for three days, the wind not being favourable for going farther down the river; at the end of that time, however, it veered about, and we repaired on board, after having taken a long farewel of our friend Captain E——, whose kindness to us had been unbounded, and was doubly grateful, inasmuch as it was totally unexpected by us young strangers, who had not the slighted acquaintance with him previous to our coming into the country, and had not been introduced to him even by letter.
The wind, though favourable, was very light on the morning of our embarkation, but the current being strong we were soon carried down to the lake. In the afternoon we passed the islands, which had the most beautiful appearance imaginable. The rich woods with which the shores were adorned, now tinged with the hues of autumn, afforded in their decline a still more pleasing variety to the eye than when they were clothed in their fulled verdure; and their gaudy colours, intermingled with the shadows of the rocks, were seen fancifully reflected in the unruffled surface of the surrounding lake. At day-break the next morning we found ourselves entirely clear of the land; but instead of the azure sky and gentle breezes which had favoured us the preceding day, we had thick hazy weather, and every appearance in the heavens indicated that before many hours were over we should have to contend with some of those dangerous storms that are so frequent on Lake Erie. It was not long indeed ere the winds began to blow, and the waves to rise in a tremendous manner, and we soon became spectators of a number of those confused and disgusting scenes which a gale of wind never fails to occasion in a small vessel crowded with passengers. A number of old French ladies, who were going to see their grandchildren in Lower Canada, and who now for the first time in their lives found themselves on the water, occupied the cabin. The hold of the vessel, boarded from end to end, and divided simply by a sail suspended from one of the beams, was filled on one side with steerage passengers, amongst which were several women and children; and on the opposite one with passengers who had paid cabin price, but were unable to get any better accommodation, amongst which number was our party. Not including either the old ladies in the cabin, or the steerage passengers, we sat down to dinner each day twenty-six in number, which circumstance, when I inform you that the vessel was only seventy tons burthen, will best enable you to conceive how much we must have been crowded. The greater part of the passengers, drooping under sea-sickness, begged for heaven’s sake that the captain would put back; but bent upon performing his voyage with expedition, which was a matter of the utmost consequence indeed, now that the season was so far advanced, and there was a possibility that he might be blocked up by the ice on his return, he was deaf to their entreaties. What the earnest entreaties, however, of the passengers could not effect, the storm soon compelled him to. It was found absolutely necessary to seek for a place of shelter to avoid its fury; and accordingly the helm having been ordered up, we made the best of our way back again to the islands, in a bay between two of which we cast anchor. This bay, situated between the Bass Islands, which are among the largest in the cluster, is called, from its being so frequently resorted to by vessels that meet with contrary winds in going down the lake, Put-in-Bay, vulgarly termed by the sailors Pudding Bay.
A STORM.
Here we lay securely sheltered by the land until four o’clock the next morning, when the watch upon deck gave the alarm that the vessel was driving from her anchor, and going fast towards the shore. The captain started up, and perceiving that the wind had shifted, and the land no longer afforded any protection to the vessel, he immediately gave orders to slip the cable, and hoist the jib, in order to wear the vessel round, and thus get free, if possible, of the shore. In the hurry and confusion of the moment, however, the mainsail was hoisted at the same time with the jib, the vessel was put aback, and nothing could have saved her from going at once on shore but the letting fall of another anchor instantaneously. I can only account for this unfortunate mistake by supposing that the men were not sufficiently roused from their slumbers, on coming upon deck, to hear distinctly the word of command. Only one man had been left to keep the watch, as it was thought that the vessel was riding in perfect safety, and from the time that the alarm was first given until the anchor was dropped scarcely four minutes elapsed.
The dawn of day only enabled us to see all the danger of our situation. We were within one hundred yards of a rocky lee shore, and depending upon one anchor, which, if the gale increased, the captain feared very much would not hold. The day was wet and squally, and the appearance of the sky gave us every reason to imagine that the weather, instead of growing moderate, would become still more tempestuous than it either was or had been; nevertheless, buoyed up by hope, and by a good share of animal spirits, we eat our breakfasts regardless of the impending danger, and afterwards sat down to a game of cards; but scarcely had we played for one hour when the dismal cry was heard of, “All hands aloft,” as the vessel was again drifting towards the shore. The day being very cold, I had thrown a blanket over my shoulders, and had fastened it round my waist with a girdle, in the Indian fashion; but being incapable of managing it like an Indian, I stopped to disencumber myself of it before I went on deck, so that, as it happened, I was the last man below. The readiest way of going up was through the hatchway, and I had just got my foot upon the ladder, in order to ascend, when the vessel struck with great force upon the rocks. The women shrieking now flocked round me, begging for God’s sake that I would stay by them; at the same time my companions urged me from above to come up with all possible speed. To my latest hour I shall never forget the emotions which I felt at that moment; to have staid below would have been useless; I endeavoured, therefore, to comfort the poor creatures that clung to me, and then disengaging myself from them, forced my way upon deck, where I was no sooner arrived than the hatches were instantly shut down upon the wretched females, whose shrieks resounded through the vessel, notwithstanding all the bustle of the seamen, and the tremendous roaring of the breakers amongst the adjacent rocks.
Before two minutes had passed over, the vessel struck a second time, but with a still greater shock; and at the end of a quarter of an hour, during which period she had gradually approached nearer towards the shore, she began to strike with the fall of every wave.
The general opinion now seemed to be in favour of cutting away the masts, in order to lighten the vessel; and the axes were actually upraised for that purpose, when one of my companions, who possessed a considerable share of nautical knowledge from having been in the navy, opposed the measure. It appeared to him, that as the pumps were still free, and as the vessel had not yet made more water than could be easily got under, the cutting away of the masts would only be to deprive ourselves of the means of getting off the rock if the wind should veer about; but he advised the captain to have the yards and topmasts cut away. The masts were spared, and his advice was in every other respect attended to. The wind unfortunately, however, still continued to blow from the same point, and the only alteration observable in it was its blowing with still greater force than ever.
A STORM.
As the storm increased, the waves began to roll with greater turbulence than before; and with such impetuosity did they break over the bows of the vessel, that it was with the very utmost difficulty that I, and half a dozen more who had taken our station on the forecastle, could hold by our hands fast enough to save ourselves from being carried overboard. For upwards of four hours did we remain in this situation, expending every instant that the vessel would go to pieces, and exposed every three or four minutes to the shock of one of the tremendous breakers which came rolling towards us. Many of the billows appeared to be half as high as the foretop, and sometimes, when they burst over us, our breath was nearly taken away by the violence of the shock. At last, finding ourselves so benumbed with cold that it would be impossible for us to make any exertions in the water to save ourselves if the vessel was wrecked, we determined to go below, there to remain until we should be again forced up by the waves.
Some of the passengers now began to write their wills on scraps of paper, and to inclose them in what they imagined would be most likely to preserve them from the water; others had begun to take from their trunks what they deemed most valuable; and one unfortunate thoughtless man, who was moving with his family from the upper country, we discovered in the very act of loading himself with dollars from head to foot, so that had he fallen into the water in the state we found him, he must inevitably have been carried to the bottom.