All this time the gale had not bated a jot of its violence, and the
ship labored so heavily that I had the utmost difficulty in getting out
of the cuddy on to the poop. When I say that the decks fore and aft
were streaming wet, I convey no notion of the truth: the main deck was
simply _afloat_, and every time the ship rolled, the water on her deck
rushed in a wave against the bulwarks and shot high in the air, to
mingle sometimes with fresh and heavy inroads of the sea, both falling
back upon the deck with the boom of a gun.
I had already ascertained from Duckling that the well had been sounded
and the ship found dry; and therefore, since we were tight below, it
mattered little what water was shipped above, as the hatches were
securely battened down fore and aft, and the mast-coats unwrung. But
still she labored under the serious disadvantage of being overloaded;
and the result was, her fore parts were being incessantly swept by seas
which at times completely hid her forecastle in spray.
Shortly after breakfast, Captain Coxon sent me forward to dispatch a
couple of hands on to the jib-boom to snug the inner jib, which looked
to be rather shakily stowed.
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