Papa, who was on deck, said it was most magnificent to hear the
fierce wind tearing past the vessel, and to see the ship not swaying in
the least one way or another, but driving forwards with the masts
perpendicular, as if irresistibly impelled through the water, without
appearing to feel the waves. But alas, alas, this absence of motion,
which was a paradise to me, lasted but some twenty minutes, while the
fury of the blast continued. We ran before the gale for the next four
hours, when it sufficiently moderated to enable us to resume our proper
course.
The gale continued, however, till four next morning, and such a night I
never passed. The doctor said, neither he nor any officer in the ship
could sleep, and next morning the poor stewardess and our peculiar cabin
boy mournfully deplored their fate, the former being forced to confess
that, though for years accustomed to the sea, she had been desperately
sick. In fact no one had ever known the vessel to roll before as she did
this night, and the sounds were horrible. The effect of one sea, in
particular, striking the ship was appalling, from the perfect stillness
which followed it. The vessel seemed quite to stagger under the blow and
to be paralysed by it, so that several seconds must have elapsed before
the heavy rolling recommenced.
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