" (He did not do this without
losing his anchors, as he tells us, but)
"The pumps gain'd on the leak these 4 hours. Some hands employ'd
sowing oakem, wool, etc., into a sail to fother the ship. Weigh'd
the coasting anchor and warped out to the S.E., and at 11 got
under sail, with a light breeze at E.S.E., and stood in for the
land, having a small boat laying upon the point of the shoal, the
south point of which at noon bore north, distant one mile. The
pumps gain'd upon the leak this 4 hours. Light airs and clear
weather. Standing off the shore in for the main. Got up the main
topmast and main-yard. Having got the sail ready for fothering the
ship, we put it over under the starboard fore chains, where we
suspected she suffer'd most, and soon after the leak decreas'd so
much as to be kept clear with one pump with ease. This fortunate
circumstance gave new life to everyone on board. Anchor'd in 17
fathom water, 5 leagues from the land, and about 3 miles from the
shore."
On the 17th they found a harbour where they hove the ship down and
repaired her, when it was found that--
"One of the holes, which was big enough to have sunk us if we had
had eight pumps instead of four, and had been able to keep them
incessantly going, was in great measure plugged up by a fragment
of the rock, which, after having made the wound, was left sticking
in it; so that the water which had at first gained upon our pumps
was what came in at the interstices between the stone and the
edges of the hole that received it.
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