noon
So far we had had reason to rejoice in the escape of our longboat , which had received no damage from any of the huge seas which had come on board . But we had not long to congratulate ourselves ; for the foremast having gone , and , of course , the foresail with it , by which the brig had been steadied , every sea now made a complete breach over us , and in five minutes our deck was swept from stem to stern , the longboat and starboard bulwarks torn off , and even the windlass shattered into fragments . It was , indeed , hardly possible for us to be in a more pitiable condition . At noon there seemed to be some slight appearance of the gale 's abating , but in this we were sadly disappointed , for it only lulled for a few minutes to blow with redoubled fury . About four in the afternoon it was utterly impossible to stand up against the violence of the blast ; and , as the night closed in upon us , I had not a shadow of hope that the vessel would hold together until morning . By midnight we had settled very deep in the water , which was now up to the orlop deck . The rudder went soon afterward , the sea which tore it away lifting the after portion of the brig entirely from the water , against which she thumped in her descent with such a concussion as would be occasioned by going ashore .