She was
      freighted with cotton-wool and oil, from the Lachadive islands. We had also on board coir, jaggeree, ghee, cocoa-nuts, and a few
      cases of opium. The stowage was clumsily done, and the vessel
      consequently crank. We got under way with a mere breath of wind, and for many days
      stood along the eastern coast of Java, without any other incident
      to beguile the monotony of our course than the occasional meeting
      with some of the small grabs of the Archipelago to which we were
      bound. One evening, leaning over the taffrail, I observed a very
      singular, isolated cloud, to the N.W. It was remarkable, as well
      for its color, as from its being the first we had seen since our
      departure from Batavia. I watched it attentively until sunset,
      when it spread all at once to the eastward and westward, girting
      in the horizon with a narrow strip of vapor, and looking like a
      long line of low beach. My notice was soon afterwards attracted
      by the dusky-red appearance of the moon, and the peculiar
      character of the sea. The latter was undergoing a rapid change,
      and the water seemed more than usually transparent. Although I
      could distinctly see the bottom, yet, heaving the lead, I found
      the ship in fifteen fathoms. The air now became intolerably hot,
      and was loaded with spiral exhalations similar to those arising
      from heat iron. As night came on, every breath of wind died away,
      an more entire calm it is impossible to conceive. The flame of a
      candle burned upon the poop without the least perceptible motion,
      and a long hair, held between the finger and thumb, hung without
      the possibility of detecting a vibration. However, as the captain
      said he could perceive no indication of danger, and as we were
      drifting in bodily to shore, he ordered the sails to be furled,
      and the anchor let go. No watch was set, and the crew, consisting
      principally of Malays, stretched themselves deliberately upon
      deck. I went below—not without a full presentiment of evil. Indeed, every appearance warranted me in apprehending a Simoom. I
      told the captain my fears; but he paid no attention to what I
      said, and left me without deigning to give a reply. My
      uneasiness, however, prevented me from sleeping, and about
      midnight I went upon deck. As I placed my foot upon the upper
      step of the companion-ladder, I was startled by a loud, humming
      noise, like that occasioned by the rapid revolution of a
      mill-wheel, and before I could ascertain its meaning, I found the
      ship quivering to its centre. In the next instant, a wilderness
      of foam hurled us upon our beam-ends, and, rushing over us fore
      and aft, swept the entire decks from stem to stern. The extreme fury of the blast proved, in a great measure, the
      salvation of the ship. Although completely water-logged, yet, as
      her masts had gone by the board, she rose, after a minute,
      heavily from the sea, and, staggering awhile beneath the immense
      pressure of the tempest, finally righted. By what miracle I escaped destruction, it is impossible to say. Stunned by the shock of the water, I found myself, upon recovery,
      jammed in between the stern-post and rudder. With great
      difficulty I gained my feet, and looking dizzily around, was, at
      first, struck with the idea of our being among breakers; so
      terrific, beyond the wildest imagination, was the whirlpool of
      mountainous and foaming ocean within which we were engulfed. After a while, I heard the voice of an old Swede, who had shipped
      with us at the moment of our leaving port. I hallooed to him with
      all my strength, and presently he came reeling aft. We soon
      discovered that we were the sole survivors of the accident. All
      on deck, with the exception of ourselves, had been swept
      overboard;—the captain and mates must have perished as they
      slept, for the cabins were deluged with water. Without
      assistance, we could expect to do little for the security of the
      ship, and our exertions were at first paralyzed by the momentary
      expectation of going down. Our cable had, of course, parted like
      pack-thread, at the first breath of the hurricane, or we should
      have been instantaneously overwhelmed. We scudded with frightful
      velocity before the sea, and the water made clear breaches over
      us. The frame-work of our stern was shattered excessively, and,
      in almost every respect, we had received considerable injury; but
      to our extreme joy we found the pumps unchoked, and that we had
      made no great shifting of our ballast. The main fury of the blast
      had already blown over, and we apprehended little danger from the
      violence of the wind; but we looked forward to its total
      cessation with dismay; well believing, that, in our shattered
      condition, we should inevitably perish in the tremendous swell
      which would ensue. But this very just apprehension seemed by no
      means likely to be soon verified. For five entire days and
      nights—during which our only subsistence was a small quantity of
      jaggeree, procured with great difficulty from the forecastle—the
      hulk flew at a rate defying computation, before rapidly
      succeeding flaws of wind, which, without equalling the first
      violence of the Simoom, were still more terrific than any tempest
      I had before encountered. Our course for the first four days was,
      with trifling variations, S.E. and by S.; and we must have run
      down the coast of New Holland. On the fifth day the cold became
      extreme, although the wind had hauled round a point more to the
      northward. The sun arose with a sickly yellow lustre, and
      clambered a very few degrees above the horizon—emitting no
      decisive light. There were no clouds apparent, yet the wind was
      upon the increase, and blew with a fitful and unsteady fury. About noon, as nearly as we could guess, our attention was again
      arrested by the appearance of the sun. It gave out no light,
      properly so called, but a dull and sullen glow without
      reflection, as if all its rays were polarized. Just before
      sinking within the turgid sea, its central fires suddenly went
      out, as if hurriedly extinguished by some unaccountable power. It
      was a dim, sliver-like rim, alone, as it rushed down the
      unfathomable ocean. We waited in vain for the arrival of the sixth day—that day to me
      has not yet arrived—to the Swede, never did arrive. Thenceforward
      we were enshrouded in patchy darkness, so that we could not have
      seen an object at twenty paces from the ship.