About two in the morning of Friday the sixth of January
The captain 's two dear daughters are aboard , and five other ladies . The ship has been driving many hours , has seven feet water in her hold , and her mainmast has been cut away . The description of her loss , familiar to me from my early boyhood , seems to be read aloud as she rushes to her destiny . ` About two in the morning of Friday the sixth of January , the ship still driving , and approaching very fast to the shore , Mr. Henry Meriton , the second mate , went again into the cuddy , where the captain then was . Another conversation taking place , Captain Pierce expressed extreme anxiety for the preservation of his beloved daughters , and earnestly asked the officer if he could devise any method of saving them . On his answering with great concern , that he feared it would be impossible , but that their only chance would be to wait for morning , the captain lifted up his hands in silent and distressful ejaculation . ` At this dreadful moment , the ship struck , with such violence as to dash the heads of those standing in the cuddy against the deck above them , and the shock was accompanied by a shriek of horror that burst at one instant from every quarter of the ship .