fruitless; and even afterwards, it was much to be doubted whether, with two awkward oars and an overloaded boat, we could make any way against the sea on the windward side of the reef; I therefore determined to remain under the lee of the breakers until she should approach, and to lie near the Porpoise, that in case of her going to pieces before morning, we might save some of the people. In rowing back we met the cutter, which, the men in her having got the leak partly stopped, had pushed off without an officer, and were going they scarcely knew whither; they furnished us with a third oar, and I desired them to keep close to the gig, near the wreck, until morning. We found the bottom here to be coral rock, and the water so shallow that a man might stand up in many places without being over-head.
“I wished to have got on board the ship, to let them know of the boats being safe, and what we had discovered of the reef; but the breakers between us, and the darkness of the night, cut off all hope of communication before morning. They burned blue lights every half hour, as a guide to the Bridgewater; but her light was lost to us in the boats at 11 o’clock, and after 2 in the morning it was no longer seen from the Porpoise. At that time it appeared to be low water, and the ship lay so much more quiet than before, that the apprehension of her going to pieces before daylight had much subsided: to be prepared however for the next flood, Mr. Fowler employed his people during the night in making a raft of the spare top-masts, yards, &c. with short ropes all round it, by which the people might hold on; and a cask of water, with a chest containing some provisions, a sextant, and the Investigator’s log books, were secured upon the raft.
“Of the poor Cato, we could neither sec nor hear any thing. It appeared that Captain Park, when meeting the Bridgewater on opposite tacks, stopped setting his main-sail and bore away to leeward; had he persevered, both ships must have romc upon the reef together; but by his presence of mind on this occasion, the Bridgewater weathered the breaker and escaped the impending danger. When the Cato struck the reef, it was upon the point of a rock, under the larboard chess-tree; and she fell over to windward, with her decks exposed to the waves. In a short time the decks and holds were torn up, and every thing washed away; and the sole place left, where the unfortunate people could hope to avoid the fury of the sea, was in the larboard fore-channel, where they all crowded together, the greater part with no other covering than their shirts. Every time the sea struck the Cato, it twisted her about upon the rock with such violent jerks, that they expected the stern, which was down in the water, would part every moment. In this situation, some lashing themselves to the timberheads, others clinging to the chain-plates and dead-eyes, and to each other, Captain Park and his crew passed the night; their hope being, that the forecastle of the ship might hold upon the rock till morning, and that the
