It was the fourteenth night that they had been tossed up and down on the black, heaving billows, when, amid the sound of the storm, the sailors distinguished the roar of breakers, and reported that they were near some land. They “sounded, and found it twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.” They were now threatened by a new danger, of having their ship driven upon some rock-bound coast. They immediately cast out four anchors, which was the only thing that could be done. All through the remaining hours of that night they waited, knowing that any moment might be their last. The leak was constantly increasing, and the ship might sink at any time, even if the anchors held.{LP 267.2}

Det var den fjortende nat hvor de har blevet kastet hid og did på de sorte og tunge bølger, hvor sømændene midt i stormens lyd, kunne høre på bølgernes bryden, og sagde at de var nær noget land. “Da de loddede dybden, fik de tyve favne, og da de lidt længere fremme loddede igen, fik de femten favne." Nu blev de troet af en ny fare, og få deres skib drevet mod en klippebruden kyst. De kastede straks fire ankre ned, som var det eneste som de kunne gøre. De afventede resten af nattetimerne, vidende at ethvert øjeblik kunne være deres sidste. Lækagen blev hele tiden større, og skibet kunne synke når som helst, også hvis ankrene holdt.