Hurrah! a large cotton ship, from Charlestown to Bourdeaux, prize
to H.M.S. Torch.
She was taken possession of, and proved to be the Natches, of four hundred
tons burden, fully loaded with cotton.
By the time we got the crew on board, and the second lieutenant, with a
prize crew of fifteen men, had taken charge, the weather began to lour
again, nevertheless we took the prize in tow, and continued on our voyage
for the next three days, without any thing particular happening. It was
the middle watch, and I was sound asleep, when I was startled by a violent
jerking of my hammock, and a cry "that the brig was amongst the breakers."
I ran on deck in my shirt, where I found all hands, and a scene of
confusion such as I never had witnessed before. The gale had increased,
yet the prize had not been cast off, and the consequence was, that by some
mismanagement or carelessness, the swag of the large ship had suddenly hove
the brig in the wind, and taken the sails a--back. We accordingly fetched
stern way, and ran foul of the prize, and there we were, in a heavy sea,
with our stern grinding against the cotton ship's high quarter.
The main boom, by the first rasp that took place after I came on deck, was
broken short off, and nearly twelve feet of it hove right in over the
taffril; the vessels then closed, and the next rub ground off the ship's
mizzen channel as clean as if it had been sawed away. Officers shouting,
men swearing, rigging cracking, the vessels crashing and thumping together,
I thought we were gone, when the first lieutenant seized his trumpet
"Silence, men,--hold your tongues, you cowards, and mind the word of
command!"
The effect was magical.
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