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By Root 522 0

him; and then recommending the Enterprize to the Guidance of Divine Providence, all that were capable, assisting with their joint Endeavours, haul'd their ill-made, patch'd up Boat, with infinite Difficulty, to the Water-side: This was on, or about, the 21st of December, being a fine Day, and the Water smoother than usual, yet the Surf running high, oblig'd them to wade very deep to launch her, and as soon as the Master and one more were got in, the Swell of the Sea, in spight of all their Resistance, heav'd the Boat along Shore, and overset her upon them, whereby she was stav'd to pieces, and they narrowly escap'd Drowning; with her were also lost both Ax and Hammer, Instruments that might have been of singular Use to assist them in their last Expedient of Building a Raft. This Disappointment immensely heighten'd their Afflicions, by intirely ruining all future Prospect and Projects of Deliverance; and yet that very afternoon, they had final Reason to adore the Infinite Goodness of God, graciously ordaining this Event for their Safety; for the Wind springing up,

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blew a Storm, and had they been at sea in that paltry Resemblance of a Boat, they must, humanly speaking, have unavoidably gone to the Bottom, whilst those left behind, through Inability to provide for themselves, would have run an extreme Risque of sharing in a yet more deplorable Fate.

And now again return'd with redoubled Impetuosity, all the Fears and Despair that had been a while suspended; during the mighty Expectations they had form'd from their Boat; and, in Truth, they were reduced to the most melancholick and miserable Circumstances. No Fire, and the Weather extreme Cold; their Hands and Feet frozen to a Degree of Mortification; several with large deep Ulcers, very offensive to the Smell, without any Plaister, save a Linnen-rag to wrap them into. The small Stock of Cheese spent, and nothing left to support their perishing Bodies, except Kelp, a Rockweed growing under Water, and Muscles so difficult to get, as not to allow, at most, above three a Day for each Man; in the mean Time, it became the Master's unavoidable Province, to cleanse and dress their Wounds, and procure these sorry Viands for their Sustenance; scarce a Man besides being in a Condition so much as to help himself; and, to all this, add but a too well grounded Apprehension of inevitably perishing in the next Spring-tide, if accompanied with high Winds, the Sea, at such a Crisis, overflowing the Rock. This was their State, pinch'd with Cold and Hunger, Groaning under the Extremity of Weakness and Pain, with Torture and Horror of Conscience, under a Foresight of a certain, painful, but dubious, whether sudden, or lingering, Death, without any, even, remote View of Deliverance, so that the Sufferers themselves, at any Distance of Time, cannot possibly revive in their Minds an adequate Idea of this Misery.

As it pleased God to indulge the Master in a greater Share of Health and Strength of Body, and likewise a proportionate Vigour of Mind; so he continually endeavour'd to instill into the

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Hearts of the dispirited People a Reliance on that Almighty Being, who is not confin'd to particular Means, nor always acts according to Human Probabilities. At the Time of quitting the Wreck, nothing but immediate Death was in View; but after their escape to the Rock, he grew more Sanguine, and scarce ever was without a secret Perswasion of Deliverance. This buoy'd up his Spirits, and enabled him, amidst so many Discouragements, to provide Rockweed and Muscles, to attend the Sick and Diseased; and, in many laborious Instances, pursue the Good of every Individual. But his frequent Exhortations to wait with Patience the appointed Time of divine Salvation avail'd nothing, since he could not possibly assign any particular Medium of Rescue, that probably might take Place in so short a Space of Time, as they had a Prospect of continuing their Lives in their present Indigence of all Things; and, indeed, when Reason only presided, he was oblig'd to give up the Point in