But, he,
being a man well experienced in the navigation of those seas, bid us all
prepare against a storm, which accordingly happened the day following:
for the southern wind, called the southern monsoon, began to set in, and
soon it was a fierce storm.
Finding it was like to overblow, we took in our sprit-sail, and stood by
to hand the foresail; but making foul weather, we looked the guns were
all fast, and handed the mizzen.
[Illustration]
The ship lay very broad off, so we thought it better spooning before
the sea, than trying, or hulling. We reefed the foresail and set him, we
hauled aft the foresheet: the helm was hard-a-weather. The ship wore
bravely. We belayed the fore down-haul; but the sail was split, and we
hauled down the yard, and got the sail into the ship, and unbound all
the things clear of it. It was a very fierce storm; the sea broke
strange and dangerous. We hauled off the laniard of the whipstaff, and
helped the man at the helm. We could not get down our topmast, but let
all stand, because she scudded before the sea very well, and we knew
that the topmast being aloft, the ship was the wholesomer, and made
better way through the sea, seeing we had sea-room. When the storm was
over, we set foresail and mainsail, and brought the ship to.
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