In this great distress, one of our men, early in the morning cried out, Land, land! which he had no sooner cried out, but our ship struck upon a sand bank, and in a moment the sea broke over her in such a manner that we expected we should all have perished immediately.  We knew nothing where we were, or upon what land we were driven; whether an island or the main, inhabited or not inhabited; and we could not so much as hope that the ship would hold out many minutes, without breaking in pieces, except the wind by a miracle should turn about immediately.  While we stood looking at one another, expecting death every moment, the mate lay a hold of the boat, and with the help of the rest got her flung over the ship’s side, and getting all into her, being eleven of us, committed ourselves to God’s mercy and the wild sea.  And now we saw that this last effort would not be a sufficient protection from death; so high did the sea rise, that it was impossible the boat should live.  As to making sail, we had none; neither if we had, could we make use of any.  So that when we had rowed, or rather were driven about a league and a half, a raging wave, like a lofty mountain, came rolling astern of us, and took us with such fury, that at once it overset the boat.  Thus being swallowed up in a moment, we had hardly time to call upon the tremendous name of God; much less to implore, in dying ejaculations, his infinite mercy to receive our departing souls.

Men are generally counted insensible, when struggling in the pangs of death; but while I was overwhelmed with water, I had the most dreadful apprehensions imaginable.  For the joys of heaven and the torments of hell, seemed to present themselves before me in these dying agonies, and even small space of time, as it were, between life and death.  I was going I thought I knew not whither, into a dismal gulf unknown, and as yet unperceived, never to behold my friends, nor the light of this world any more!  Could I even have thought of annihilation, or a total dissolution of soul as well as body, the gloomy thoughts of having no further being, no knowledge of what we hoped for, but an eternal quietus, without life or sense:  even that, I say, would have been enough to strike me with horror and confusion!  I strove, however, to the last extremity, while all my companions were overpowered and entombed in the deep:  and it was with great difficulty I kept my breath till the wave spent itself, and retiring back, left me on the shore half dead with the water I had taken in.  As soon as I got on my feet, I ran as fast as I could, lest another wave should pursue me, and carry me back again.  But for all the haste I made, I could not avoid it:  for the sea came after me like a high mountain, or furious enemy; so that my business was to hold my breath, and by raising myself on the water, preserve it by swimming.  The next dreadful wave buried me at once twenty or thirty feet deep, but at the same time carried me with a mighty force and