The
symptoms now looked so threatening, that the pilot's men proposed
making an effort, before it was too late, to find the ship; but this
was far easier said than done. The vessel might be spinning away
towards Cape Henlopen, at the rate of six or seven knots; and, without
the means of making any signal in the dark, it was impossible to
overtake her. I do believe that Captain Robbins would have acceded to
the request of the men, had he seen any probability of succeeding; as
it was, there remained no alternative but to pull in, and endeavour to
reach the land. We had the light on the cape as our beacon, and the
boat's head was kept directly for it, as the wisest course for us to
pursue.
Changes of wind from south-east to north-west are very common on the
American coast. They are almost always sudden; sometimes so much so,
as to take ships aback; and the force of the breeze usually comes so
early, as to have produced the saying that a "nor'-wester comes
butt-end foremost." Such proved to be the fact in our case. In less
than half an hour after it began to blow, the wind would have brought
the most gallant ship that floated to double-reefed topsails, steering
by, and to reasonably short-canvass, running large. We may have pulled
a mile in this half hour, though it was by means of a quick stroke and
great labour.
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