Night was drawing near, and the weather indications were not favourable.

There was nothing for it but to haul off till the following morning, so we stood away on the starboard tack until we had made what appeared to be a safe offing.
Then we hove to in the high westerly swell.

The hours passed slowly as we waited the dawn, which would herald, we fondly hoped, the last stage of our journey.

Our thirst was a torment and we could scarcely touch our food; the cold seemed to strike right through our weakened bodies.
At 5 a.m.the wind shifted to the north-west and quickly increased to one of the worst hurricanes any of us had ever experienced.

A great cross-sea was running and the wind simply shrieked as it tore the tops off the waves and converted the whole seascape into a haze of driving spray.