152 LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF

quarter of her were beaten to pieces by the sea; and as her
forecastle, 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 bowsprit was sound,
and the head and bow appeared firm. When I came close to
her, a dog appeared upon her, who, seeing me coming, yelped
and cried ; and as soon as I called him, jumped into the sea to
come to me. I took him into the boat, but found him almost
dead with hunger and thirst. I gave him a cake of my bread,
and he devoured it like a 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 fore-
castle of the ship, with their arms fast about one another. I
concluded, as is indeed probable, 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 believe belonged to some of the seamen; and I got
two of them into the boat, without examining what was in them.
Had the stern of the ship been fixed, and the forepart broken
off, I am persuaded I might have made a good voyage; for by
what I found in those two chests I had room to suppose the
ship had a great deal of wealth on board; and, if 1 may guess
from the course she steered, she must have been bound from
Buenos Ayres, or the Rio de la Plata, in the south part of
America, beyond the Brazils to the Havannah, in the Gulf of
Mexico, and so perhaps to Spain. She had, no doubt, a great
treasure in her, but of no use, at that time, to anybody; and
what became of the crew I then knew not.

I found, besides these chests, a little cask full of liquor, of
about twenty gallons, which I got into my boat with much
difficulty. There were several muskets in the cabin, and a great
powder-horn, with about four pounds of powder in it; as for the
muskets, I had no occasion for them, so I left them, but took the
powder-horn. I took a fire-shovel and tongs, which I wanted
extremely, as also two little brass kettles, a copper pot to make