Compassions called for. An essay of profitable reflections on miserable spectacles

That we were ready to lye down in despair, and the most of us not so much as hoped for deliverance: Tho' I endeavoured to encourage them and my self to put our Trust in God, and patiently Wait for his Salvation; and I looked upon it as a great favour, in this Distress, that the Mate struck down a Sea Gull, which we got and thankfully fed upon. The last method of safety we could engage in was to make a Raft that would carry Two Men; but the labour of clearing the Fore yard, of which it was chiefly to be made, from the Cable & Junk, was so great, and our Hands so few & weak, that it was about the 24th. ere we had finished it; which proving a moderate Day, with a fine Sea-breeze, we ⟨p. 55⟩got it down to the Water, and after having made our Supplications to Heaven for Success, two of the men, who were more especially desirous of venturing, were launched upon it, about two in the Afternoon; but the swell rolling high over set it, as it had done our Boat; and tho' one of the men (an English man that could not swim) refused a second attempt, yet the other (a Swede, whose Feet were so frozen that he was forced to crawl upon his hands & knees to the Water-side) continued resolute to attempt the shore, tho' he should go alone; another of our men encouraged by his resolution undertook to bear him company: after they had put off from us, they desired me to go to Prayer for them & watch what became of them; I did so; and by that time the evening came on, I thought they might be half way a-shore; & the Wind blowing hard about 9 or 10 at night, at S. E. I concluded they might reach the shore by 2 in the Morning; but it seems they fell in with some breakers, or the violence of the Sea overset them, & they perished; for a day or two after, the Raft was found cast up, with one man dead, some distance from it. We, upon the desolate Island not knowing what ha• befallen them, waited daily for deliverance; and •ur expectations were confirmed by the smoke we •aw in the Woods two days after they left us; which was the signal I desired them to make, if they arrived safe; and we looked upon their delay as occasioned by not being able to procure a Vessel so soon as we desired. And this hope under God was all we had to support us.

That we were ready to lye down in despair, and the most of us not so much as hop'd for deliverance: Tho' I endeavoured to encourage them and my self to put our Trust in God, and patiently Wait for his Salvation; and I look'd upon it as a great favour, in this Distress, that the Mate struck down a Sea Gull, which we got and thankfully fed upon. The last method of safety we could engage in was to make a Raft that would carry Two Men; but the labour of clearing the Fore yard, of which it was chiefly to be made, from the Cable & Junk, was so great, and our Hands so few & weak, that it was about the 24th. ere we had finished it; which proving a moderate Day, with a fine Sea-brieze, we