Some clung to the yards, endeavouring to unbend the sails that were split into a thousand pieces flapping in the wind; others tried to furl those which were yet whole, while the masts, at every pitch, bent and quivered like twigs, as if they would have shivered into innumerable splinters! While I considered this scene with equal terror and astonishment, one of the main braces broke, by the shock whereof two sailors were flung from the yard's arm into the sea, where they perished, and poor Jack Rattlin thrown down upon the deck, at the expense of a broken leg.

Morgan and I ran immediately to his assistance, and found a splinter of the shin-bone thrust by the violence of the fall through the skin; as this was a case of too great consequence to be treated without the authority of the doctor I went down to his cabin to inform him of the accident, as well as to bring up dressings which we always kept ready prepared.

I entered his apartment without any ceremony, and, by the glimmering of a lamp, perceived him on his knees before something that very much resembled a crucifix; but this I will not insist upon, that I may not seem too much a slave to common report, which indeed assisted my conjecture on this occasion, by representing Dr.Mackshane as a member of the church of Rome.

Be this as it will, he got up in a sort of confusion, occasioned (I suppose) by his being disturbed in his devotion, and in a trice snatched the subject of my suspicion from my sight.
After making an apology for my intrusion, I acquainted him with the situation of Rattlin, but could by no means prevail upon him to visit him on deck, where he lay; he bade me desire the boatswain to order some of the men to carry him down to the cockpit, "and in the meantime," said he, "I will direct Thompson to get ready the dressings." When I signified to the boatswain the doctor's desire, he swore a terrible oath, that he could not spare one man from deck, because he expected the mast would go by the board every minute.

This piece of information did not at all contribute to my peace of mind; however, as my friend Rattlin complained very much, with the assistance of Morgan I supported him to the lower deck, whither Mr.Mackshane, after much entreaty, ventured to come, attended by Thompson, with a box full of dressings, and his own servant, who carried a whole set of capital instruments.