And here I
found a fresh renewing of my grief; for I saw evidently that if we had
kept on board, we had been all safe: that is to say, we had all got safe
on shore, and I had not been so miserable as to be left entirely destitute
of all comfort and company, as I now was. This forced tears to my eyes
again; but as there was little relief in that, I resolved, if possible, to
get to the ship-, so I pulled off my clothes, for the weather was hot to
extremity, and took the water. But when I came to the ship, my difficulty
was still greater to know how to get on board; for, as she lay aground,
and high out of the water, there was nothing within my reach to lay hold
of. I swam round her twice, and the second time I espied a small piece of
rope, which I wondered I did not see at first, hanging down by the
fore-chains so low that, with great difficulty, I got hold of it, and by
the help of that rope got up into the forecastle of the ship. Here I found
that the ship was bulged, and had a great deal of water in her hold; but
that she lay so on the side of a bank of hard sand, or rather earth, that
her stern lay lifted up upon the bank, and her head low, almost to the
water.
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