Under the
circumstances, therefore, it was resolved to get everything ready, and
to let go two anchors, as soon as we could find a suitable spot.
Between the hours of two and four, the ship passed seventeen islets,
some of them quite near; but they afforded no shelter. At last, and it
was time, the sun beginning to fall very low, as we could see by the
waning light, we saw an island of some height and size ahead, and we
hoped it might afford us a lee. The tide had changed too, and that was
in our favour. Turning to windward, however, was out of the question,
since we could carry no sail, and the night was near. Anchor, then, we
must, or continue to drive onward in the darkness, sheered about in
all directions by a powerful adverse current. It is true, this current
would have been a means of safety, by enabling us to haul up from
rocks and dangers ahead, could we carry any canvass; but it still blew
too violently for the last. To anchor, then, it was determined.
I had never seen so much anxiety in Captain Williams's countenance, as
when he was approaching the island mentioned. There was still light
enough to observe its outlines and shores, the last appearing bold and
promising. As the island itself may have been a mile in circuit, it
made a tolerable lee, when close to it.
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