There was not a plank of her that did not cry aloud for mercy; and as she continued to hold together, I became conscious of a growing sympathy with her endeavours, a growing admiration for her gallant staunchness, that amused and at times obliterated my terrors for myself.

God bless every man that swung a mallet on that tiny and strong hull! It was not for wages only that he laboured, but to save men's lives.
All the rest of the day, and all the following night, I sat in the corner or lay wakeful in my bunk; and it was only with the return of morning that a new phase of my alarms drove me once more on deck.

A gloomier interval I never passed.

Johnson and Nares steadily relieved each other at the wheel and came below.

The first glance of each was at the glass, which he repeatedly knuckled and frowned upon; for it was sagging lower all the time.