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task of adding to my journal. Today however the weather is more moderate, and the sun shines out quite refreshing, so as to make one feel in a little better spirits than of late.
And now to begin the chapter of misfortunes. We went along pretty fairly till Saturday week, when the jolting of the ship, which was labouring heavily under a wind, snapped the top sail yard, which is the next to the largest in the ship. Of course it had to come down and another one to be entirely made and put up. It was an immense spar above 55 feet in length, and thick in proportion so you may imagine it was a work of time to refit a new one with all the hoops, block, etc. All day Sunday all hands were kept hard at work, and well supplied with grog, so much so that the carpenter cut away the new spar too much, and made one side of the new yard very weak. I said to myself all the way along that Sunday work and grog would be sure to bring something amiss, and was not mistaken. It took all hands till Tuesday night to put the new yard in order and readjust all the ropes and tackling.
On Wednesday the breeze grew rather strong, and the sea very heavy; on Thursday it increased, although even then it was nothing really alarming. While I was at dinner it came on to rain, and I sent Fin the Chinese youth to see if my window was closed. He came in with the startling information that my room was full of water from the sea. All my bedding was thoroughly saturated and the water covered the floor several inches, so that as the ship rolled to and fro you may imagine the scene, and the mischief done to everything. Towards night, however, I got them a little dry, and contrived to sleep as well as I could, and as dry as I could.
On Friday the breeze kept increasing and the wind rose, while the barometer fell rapidly. About eight o'clock the sea burst into my room though I had secured the window and thoroughly stopped it up. It gradually grew into a hurricane. The sails were out, and the sea dashed over the ship fearfully. The men, as I expected they would, ran and hid themselves, and no one could be found to reef the sails. Of course the men will take such an advantage when they are daily bullied and treated like dogs.
At last no one could stand on the poop, and things were quite alarming. Suddenly the wind veered round eight points, and the ship was taken very comically as you may imagine. A heavy sea came just at the same