Packet thought it unsafe to attempt passing them;
he
therefore put the ship about, with an intention
to run into Princes Bay, and there lie at anchor
till next
morning, being a distance of near 20
miles. As we were running before the
wind, at
the rate of 6 miles an hour, in the dead of the
night, with a
very rough sea, the vessel sud-
denly struck against something which
immediately
stopped her progress; and she swung round with
great
violence and noise. At the first alarm I ran
upon deck, when I found that
our vessel had run
foul of another, which was lying at anchor; and
our
bowsprit was entangled in the rigging of the
other ship. This so broke the
force of the shock,
that we sustained but little damage, and in a
short
time got clear of each other. We had great cause
to be thankful
for so signal a preservation, many
vessels having been lost, with the
people in them,
when in much less apparent danger than we were
on this
occasion.
After lying at anchor several
hours, at day-light we again made sail for
New-
York
at the wharf, and I again took up my quarters at
my kind friend S. P.'s.