1 Turkish soldiers) a pretty French lady (from Jassy) was on
2 hoard, with whom I conversed in Moldavian. On the approach
3 of evening, we sailed from Varna, with a favorable wind, in
4 company with a Turkish fleet of about twenty small vessels.
5 Fatigued by travelling, and lulled to sleep by the soothing
6 motion of the vessel, I sank,into the roost charming reveries
7 of th< future; when, towards midnight, I was aroused by the*
8 noise of the crew and passengers. A dreadful tempest from
9 the north had overtaken us so suddenly, that th we was not
10 time to haul down the sails, which, in a few minutes, were
11 shivered to pieces, and continued flapping and whistling in the
12 storm. The mast itself did not escape the violence of the
13 elements, hut tell overboard with a crashing noise; and the
14 {’earning waves gushed into the open vessel. The night was
15 profoundly dark, illumined occasionally by flashes of lightning,
16 accompanied with peals of thunder; hail and rain fell tempes¬
17 tuously ; rhe elements seemed to have conspired against us. Too
18 late, I became aware of ray error, and regretted having em¬
19 barked in a heavily laden open vessel; but, as all the other
20 ships were of a like si/e, and similarly laden, I had no choice,
21 ily the lightning we could, now and then, perceive some of tin
22 vessels belonging to our squadron exerting their efforts to
23 get. through the foaming waves, sometimes riding on the watery
24 mountains, at other times plunging bet ween t,be gaping billows.
25 We fell sonic consolation so long as we held them in sight;
26 hut, they soon disappeared altogether.
27 As our vessel had shipped a great deal of water, the sailors
28 (few in number) were obliged to bail without intermission,
29 in which they were assisted by' the passengers, while standing
30 up to their knees in ice-cold water, livery exertion was made to
31 save the vessel; and, tit the commencement of the tempest, when
32 the mast went by the board, it was found advisable to lighten
33 the vessel by throwing the cargo into the deep. Notwithstanding
34 thirty-five years have elapsed, I vividly recollect their beginning
35 with a large .earthenware-stove which stood on the, poop. They
36 then threw overboard barrels of honey, bugs of walnuts, &c. so