The whole immense volume of water,
lifted by her deck, was thrown bodily across to starboard. Loud cracks
were heard. Iron ports breaking open thundered with ringing blows. The
water topped over the starboard rail with the rush of a river falling
over a dam. The sea on deck, and the seas on every side of her, mingled
together in a deafening roar. She rolled violently. We got up and were
helplessly run or flung about from side to side. Men, rolling over and
over, yelled,--"The house will go!"--"She clears herself!" Lifted by a
towering sea she ran along with it for a moment, spouting thick streams
of water through every opening of her wounded sides. The lee braces
having been carried away or washed off the pins, all the ponderous yards
on the fore swung from side to side and with appalling rapidity at every
roll. The men forward were seen crouching here and there with fearful
glances upwards at the enormous spars that whirled about over their
heads. The torn canvas and the ends of broken gear streamed in the
wind like wisps of hair. Through the clear sunshine, over the flashing
turmoil and uproar of the seas, the ship ran blindly, dishevelled
and headlong, as if fleeing for her life; and on the poop we spun, we
tottered about, distracted and noisy.
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