In this place we remained till Friday the 20th, when about noon the clouds gathered very thick to the westward, and before one it blew a storm, with such rain and hail, as we had scarcely ever seen.  We immediately struck the yards and top-masts, and having run out two hausers to a rock, we hove the ship up to it:  We then let go the small bower, and veered away, and brought both cables a-head; at the same time we carried out two more hausers, and made them fast to two other rocks, making use of every expedient in our power to keep the ship steady.  The gale continued to increase till six o’clock in the evening, and to our great astonishment the sea broke quite over the forecastle in upon the quarter-deck, which, considering the narrowness of the streight, and the smallness of the bay in which we were stationed, might well have been thought impossible.  Our danger here was very great, for if the cables had parted, as we could not run out with a sail, and as we had not room to bring the ship up with any other anchor, we must have been dashed to pieces in a few minutes, and in such a situation it is highly probable that every soul would immediately have perished; however, by eight o’clock the gale was become somewhat more moderate, and gradually decreasing during the night, we had tolerable weather the next morning.  Upon heaving the anchor, we had the satisfaction to find that our cable was sound, though our hawsers were much rubbed by the rocks, notwithstanding they were parcelled with old hammacoes, and other things.  The first thing I did after performing the necessary operations about the ship, was to send a boat to the Swallow to enquire how she had fared during the gale:  The boat returned with an account that she had felt but little of the gale, but that she had been very near being lost, in pushing through the islands two days before, by the rapidity of the tide:  That notwithstanding an alteration which had been made in her rudder, she steered and worked so ill, that every time they got under way they were apprehensive that she could never safely be brought to an anchor again; I was therefore requested, in the name of the captain, to consider that she could be of very little service to the expedition, and to direct what I thought would be best for the service.  I answered, that as the Lords of the Admiralty had appointed her to accompany the Dolphin, she must continue to do it as long as it was possible; that as her condition rendered her a bad sailer, I would wait her time, and attend her motions; and that if any disaster should happen to either of us, the other should be ready to afford such assistance as might be in her power.