To those only who have waited in a state of such suspense, Death has approached in all his tenors; and as the dreadful moment that was to determine our fate came on, every one saw his own sensations pictured in the countenances of his companions:  However, the capstan and wind-lace were manned with as many hands as could be spared from the pumps, and the ship floating about twenty minutes after ten o’clock, the effort was made, and she was heaved into deep water.  It was some comfort to find that she did not now admit more water than she had done upon the rock; and though by the gaining of the leak upon the pumps, there was no less than three feet nine inches water in the hold, yet the men did not relinquish their labour, and we held the water as it were at bay; but having now endured excessive fatigue of body and agitation of mind for more than four-and-twenty hours, and having but little hope of succeeding at last, they began to flag:  None of them could work at the pump more than five or six minutes together, and then, being totally exhausted, they threw themselves down upon the deck, though a stream of water was running over it from the pumps between three and four inches deep; when those who succeeded them had worked their spell, and were exhausted in their turn, they threw themselves down in the same manner, and the others started up again, and renewed their labour; thus relieving each other till an accident was very near putting an end to their efforts at once.  The planking which lines the inside of the ship’s bottom is called the ceiling, and between this and the outside planking there is a space of about eighteen inches:  The man who till this time had attended the well to take the depth of water, had taken it only to the ceiling, and gave the measure accordingly; but he being now relieved, the person who came in his stead reckoned the depth to the outside planking, by which it appeared in a few minutes to have gained upon the pumps eighteen inches, the difference between the planking without and within.  Upon this even the bravest was upon the point of giving up his labour with his hope, and in a few minutes every thing would have been involved in all the confusion of despair.  But this accident, however dreadful in its first consequences, was eventually the cause of our preservation.  The mistake was soon detected, and the sudden joy which every man felt upon finding his situation better than his fears had suggested, operated like a charm, and seemed to possess him with a strong belief that scarcely any real danger remained.  New confidence and new hope, however founded, inspired new vigour; and though our state was the same as when the men first began to slacken in their labour, through weariness and despondency, they now renewed their efforts with such alacrity and spirit, that before eight o’clock in the morning the leak was so far from having gained upon the pumps, that the pumps had gained considerably upon the leak.  Every body now talked of getting