When both
vessels sunk together, no sign of our neighbour was visible, though so
near. We came up after one of these deep plunges into the valleys of
the ocean, and, to our alarm, saw the English ship yawing directly
athwart our course, and within fifty fathoms of us. This was about the
distance at which I intended to pass, little dreaming of finding the
other ship so completely in our way. The Englishman must have intended
to come a little nearer, and got one of those desperate sheers that so
often ran away with him. There he was, however; and a breathless
minute followed, when he was first seen. Two vehicles dashing along a
highway, with frightened and run-away teams, would not present a sight
one-half as terrific as that which lay directly before our eyes.
The Dawn was plunging onward with a momentum to dash in splinters, did
she strike any resisting object, and yawing herself sufficiently to
render the passage hazardous. But the stranger made the matter
ten-fold worse. When I first saw him, in this fearful proximity, his
broadside was nearly offered to the seas, and away he was flying, on
the summit of a mountain of foam, fairly crossing our fore-foot. At
the next moment, he fell off before the wind, again, and I could just
see his tops directly ahead. His sheer had been to-port, our intention
having been to pass him on his starboard side; but, perceiving him to
steer so wild, I thought it might be well to go in the other
direction.
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