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