to haul out of these stormy latitudes, and get
into the trade winds.

Fatigue, exposure, hard living, and confinement,
had produced their natural effects in sickness.
There were no less than twelve men
at one time suffering severely from ulcers, but
yet not a murmur was to be heard. Every order
was obeyed with the greatest promptitude and
cheerfulness; and, whenever any special
difficulty occurred, the sick left their hammocks
and worked with the rest. On arrival at
Hong-Kong, no less than nine men were invalided
home for diseases formed during this passage.
So, after all, perhaps, the Civet might have
been the better for a doctor.

Having got into more settled weather,
damages were, with the help of the engineers,
repaired as far as they had means of repair, and
it was thought that the worst of the voyage had
passed.

Although this was about the usual hurricane
season, the Civet was believed to be too far to
the eastward and southward to get the full force
of the storms. But on the 31st of March and
the two subsequent days she was exposed to
the full force of a hurricane, in latitude fifteen
deg. eight min. south, and longitude ninety-
eight deg. fifty-one min. east.

For some days before the 31st, the trade winds
were very unsteady, breaking frequently into
squalls, with much rain. At nine A.M., on the
31st, the wind was south-east, blowing pretty
strong, with a heavy threatening sky, which
continued to get worse, until there was at half-
past eleven a very heavy bank of clouds resting
on the horizon, and the sea of a lurid coppery
appearance. At this time the wind suddenly
fell, and the whole appearance of the weather
looked so threatening, that steam was got up
and preparations were made for bad weather.
As night approached, the glass continuing to
fall, and the squalls becoming heavier and more
frequent, all the yards were got down, the jib-
booms got in, every sail furled, except close-
reefed main trysail and forestay sail, and
everything lashed on deck. As soon as steam was up,
the fires were banked, and we waited for the
weather to declare itself. Up to this time, and
for some time after, the wind never changed a
point, and gave the idea that this gale could not
be a cyclone. As night advanced, the squalls
rapidly increased in strength, and the lulls
became less and less frequent, and of shorter
duration, until towards midnight they were lost in a
continuous gale. No time was lost in finding out
the ship's position with regard to the vortex;
which was found to bear due north, and judged
that it must pass to the eastward, and at no
great distance. At two A.M., therefore, the
Civet was wore and brought to the wind on the
port tack, without sustaining any damage from
the sea, which had by this time risen in a very
confused dangerous manner. At eleven A.M.
(1st April), the wind began to veer to the southward,
and continued to do so from this time.
At noon the glass had fallen to 29.30, and the
gale was blowing with terrific violence. Never
was so dangerous a sea experienced; it resembled
boiling water, and was rising in pyramids,
which frequently burst on board on all
sides at once. Rain fell without intermission,
and was driven with such force as to make
it impossible to look to windward. At half-
past one, the mainsail was balance-reefed, and
an hour later a sea struck the ship, carrying
away the staysail halyards, taking the
sail in and washing away the upper works
forward. The gale continued to increase, gradually
drawing at the same time to the southward and
westward, attaining its greatest strength at
about ten in the evening. When it had reached
south-west, the glass had then fallen to 29.02.
Nothing could then exceed the frightful violence
of the wind. At about that time the mainsail
was blown to ribbons. As this had been
anticipated, a new main staysail had been got
ready, and was hoisted; but was scarcely set
when it was blown entirely away, nothing being
left of it, but the roping. Fearing that the ship
might fall off from the wind, some hammocks
were ordered to be got in the main rigging, and,
after considerable difficulty, this was
accomplished, two being found sufficient for the
purpose intended. The wind coming gradually to
the westward, at two in the morning it had
reached west-south-west, and began to be
slightly broken into squalls, which became more
and more perceptible towards morning. At four
o'clock the rain began to cease in the lulls. At
six the glass had risen to 29.30, and the horizon
was visible to leeward. At nine the wind was
at north-west, blowing strong, and the sea had
fallen considerably.

During the hurricane, as heretofore, the ship
behaved admirably, proving herself a perfect sea-
boat. Had she been less so nothing could have
saved her. Every possible precaution had been
taken to secure hatches. The pumps were kept
constantly going. All the ports were washed
away, and some idea of the violence of the wind
may be formed from the fact that the paint on the
funnel was chipped off on the weather side by the
action of the wind and rain as if it had been cut
with a chisel. One of the men found an iron
hoop on the deck which he threw overboard to
windward, and it was blown back like a piece of
paper.

After a storm comes a calm. For more than
ten days the Civet lay becalmed, or scarcely
moved by occasional catspaws, and on the 14th
her crew had the pleasure of seeing another gun-
boat ahead in a similar fix. Steam was got up, and
she was soon alongside, exchanging notes of the
passage, but more particularly making mutually
anxious inquiries as to stock of coal. It turned
out that each had three tons, so, as the Civet's
engines consumed least, she took her consort's
coal on board and herself in tow, and towed her
until the morning of the 16th, when she was cast
off to board some vessels which were becalmed.
From one of these the Civet got eleven tons of
coal. She had scarcely completed coaling when
a third gunboat steamed up. She had now
enough to take her to Java Head.