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now observed that the hulk lay more along than ever, so that we could not stand an instant without lashing
ourselves. On this account we passed a gloomy and uncomfortable day. At noon the sun appeared to be nearly
vertical, and we had no doubt that we had been driven down by the long succession of northward and
northwesterly winds into the near vicinity of the equator. Toward evening we saw several sharks, and were
somewhat alarmed by the audacious manner in which an enormously large one approached us. At one time, a
lurch throwing the deck very far beneath the water, the monster actually swam in upon us, floundering for
some moments just over the companion-hatch, and striking Peters violently with his tail. A heavy sea at length
hurled him overboard, much to our relief. In moderate weather we might have easily captured him.
July 26. This morning, the wind having greatly abated, and the sea not being very rough, we determined to
renew our exertions in the storeroom. After a great deal of hard labor during the whole day, we found that
nothing further was to be expected from this quarter, the partitions of the room having been stove during the
night, and its contents swept into the hold. This discovery, as may be supposed, filled us with despair.
July 27. The sea nearly smooth, with a light wind, and still from the northward and westward. The sun coming
out hotly in the afternoon, we occupied ourselves in drying our clothes. Found great relief from thirst, and
much comfort otherwise, by bathing in the sea; in this, however, we were forced to use great caution, being
afraid of sharks, several of which were seen swimming around the brig during the day.
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July 28. Good weather still. The brig now began to lie along so alarmingly that we feared she would
eventually roll bottom up. Prepared ourselves as well as we could for this emergency, lashing our tortoise,
waterjug, and two remaining jars of olives as far as possible over to the windward, placing them outside the
hull below the main-chains. The sea very smooth all day, with little or no wind.
July 29. A continuance of the same weather. Augustus's wounded arm began to evince symptoms of
mortification. He complained of drowsiness and excessive thirst, but no acute pain. Nothing could be done for
his relief beyond rubbing his wounds with a little of the vinegar from the olives, and from this no benefit
seemed to be experienced. We did every thing in our power for his comfort, and trebled his allowance of
water.
July 30. An excessively hot day, with no wind. An enormous shark kept close by the hulk during the whole of
the forenoon. We made several unsuccessful attempts to capture him by means of a noose. Augustus much
worse, and evidently sinking as much from want of proper nourishment as from the effect of his wounds. He
constantly prayed to be relieved from his sufferings, wishing for nothing but death. This evening we ate the
last of our olives, and found the water in our jug so putrid that we could not swallow it at all without the
addition of wine. Determined to kill our tortoise in the morning.
July 31. After a night of excessive anxiety and fatigue, owing to the position of the hulk, we set about killing
and cutting up our tortoise. He proved to be much smaller than we had supposed, although in good condition,-
the whole meat about him not amounting to more than ten pounds. With a view of preserving a portion of this
as long as possible, we cut it into fine pieces, and filled with them our three remaining olive jars and the
wine-bottle (all of which had been kept), pouring in afterward the vinegar from the olives. In this manner we
put away about three pounds of the tortoise, intending not to touch it until we had consumed the rest. We
concluded to restrict ourselves to about four ounces of the meat per day; the whole would thus last us thirteen
days. A brisk shower, with severe thunder and lightning, came on about dusk, but lasted so short a time that
we only succeeded in catching about half a pint of water. The whole of this, by common consent, was given to
Augustus, who now appeared to be in the last extremity. He drank the water from the sheet as we caught it
(we holding it above him as he lay so as to let it run into his mouth), for we had now nothing left capable of
holding water, unless we had chosen to empty out our wine from the carboy, or the stale water from the jug.
Either of these expedients would have been resorted to had the shower lasted.
The sufferer seemed to derive but little benefit from the draught. His arm was completely black from the wrist
to the shoulder, and his feet were like ice. We expected every moment to see him breathe his last. He was
frightfully emaciated; so much so that, although he weighed a hundred and twenty-seven pounds upon his
leaving Nantucket, he now did not weigh more than forty or fifty at the farthest. His eyes were sunk far in his
head, being scarcely perceptible, and the skin of his cheeks hung so loosely as to prevent his masticating any
food, or even swallowing any liquid, without great difficulty.
August 1. A continuance of the same calm weather, with an oppressively hot sun. Suffered exceedingly from
thirst, the water in the jug being absolutely putrid and swarming with vermin. We contrived, nevertheless, to
swallow a portion of it by mixing it with wine; our thirst, however, was but little abated. We found more relief
by bathing in the sea, but could not avail ourselves of this expedient except at long intervals, on account of the
continual presence of sharks. We now saw clearly that Augustus could not be saved; that he was evidently
dying. We could do nothing to relieve his sufferings, which appeared to be great. About twelve o'clock he
expired in strong convulsions, and without having spoken for several hours. His death filled us with the most
gloomy forebodings, and had so great an effect upon our spirits that we sat motionless by the corpse during
the whole day, and never addressed each other except in a whisper. It was not until some time after dark that
we took courage to get up and throw the body overboard. It was then loathsome beyond expression, and so far
decayed that, as Peters attempted to lift it, an entire leg came off in his grasp. As the mass of putrefaction
slipped over the vessel's side into the water, the glare of phosphoric light with which it was surrounded plainly
discovered to us seven or eight large sharks, the clashing of whose horrible teeth, as their prey was torn to
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pieces among them, might have been heard at the distance of a mile. We shrunk within ourselves in the
extremity of horror at the sound.
August 2. The same fearfully calm and hot weather. The dawn found us in a state of pitiable dejection as well
as bodily exhaustion. The water in the jug was now absolutely useless, being a thick gelatinous mass; nothing
but frightful-looking worms mingled with slime. We threw it out, and washed the jug well in the sea,
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