Every moment we expected destruction
Waves pounded our vessel like cannonballs
We could hear the wind rush
as if through a narrow passage, terrible
whistling. We lay buried among the waves, could not
see a fathom out into the ocean through hail and rain
No one could lie down sit up or stand
Nobody was able to remain at his post
We could not cook, had nothing to eat
but half-burnt biscuits. Half our crew
lay sick and weak, the other half maddened
from the motion of sea and ship. All courage
was exhausted. We were drifting
whither the raging heavens willed to send us