THE ONLY LIVING 'THING, 245

to set out with tho first of the tide; and reposing myself for the
night in the canoe, under the great watch-cout | mentioned, T
launched out. J made first a little out to sea full north, till]
began to feel the benefit of the current, which set eastward, and
which carried me at a great rate, and yet did not so hurry me as
the southern side current had done before, and so as to take from
me all government of the boat; but having a strong steerage with
my paddle, | went at a great rate, directly for the wreek, and in
less than two hours [came up to it,

It was a dismal sight to look at. The ship, which by its build-
ing was Npanish, stuck fast, jammed in between two rocks; all the
stern and quarter of her was beaten to pieces with the sea ; and as
her foreeastle, which stuck in the rocks, had run on with great
violence, her mainmast and foremast were brought by the board.
that is to say, broken short off; but her boltsprit was sound, and
the head and bow appeared firm. When T came close to her, a
dog appeared upon her, which seoing me coming, yelped and cried ;
and as soon as T called him, jumped into the sea to come to me,
and 1 took him into the boat, but found him almost dead for
hunger and thirst. 1 gave him a cake of my bread, and he ate it
like w ravenous wolf that had been starving a fortnight in the
snow. I then gave the poor creature some fresh water, with
which, if I would have let him, he would have burst himself.

After this I went on board; but the first sight I met with was
two men drowned in the cook-room, or forecastle of the ship, with
their arms fast about one another, I concluded, as is indeed pro-
bable, that when the ship struck, it being in a storm, the sea broke
so high and so continually over her, that the men were not able to
bear it, and were strangled with the constant rushing in of the
water, as much as if they had been under water. Besides the dog,
there was nothing left in the ship that had life; nor any goods
that I could see, but what were spoiled by the water. There were
some casks of liquor—whether wine or brandy, I knew not—which
lay lower in the hold, and which, the water being ebbed out, I
could see ; but they were too big to meddle with. I saw several
chests, which I believed belonged to some of the seamen, and I got
two of them into the boat, without examining what was in them.