“She’d make me go fetch a switch to get a beatin with, then send me back out sayin get a bigger one, then a bigger one, then she’d wrap all them together and haul off on my tail.”

It is high time that we should ’bout ship and haul off on the opposite tack, if we would not be regarded as impertinent intruders.

There was nothing for it but to ’bout ship and haul off on the other tack; the crew were therefore piped to stations and the helm eased down, when the ship swept grandly up into the wind and went round like a top, holding her way in a style that delighted as much as it surprised us, and staying almost as quickly as the men could swing the yards.

But the heavy sea rendered this a very difficult and dangerous task, and after very little trying we had the dismay of seeing them abandon the attempt and haul off on their course, leaving us to our fate.

Upon this, the pilots were anxious to haul off on the larboard tack; but before the ship could be brought to the wind, she struck.