A furious tempest arose; the wind beat dead in the direction of the coast, and the danger incurred by a vessel of a tonnage so light was necessarily very great.
Lieutenant Procope was extremely uneasy.

He took in all sail, struck his topmasts, and resolved to rely entirely on his engine.

But the peril seemed only to increase.

Enormous waves caught the schooner and carried her up to their crests, whence again she was plunged deep into the abysses that they left.

The screw failed to keep its hold upon the water, but continually revolved with useless speed in the vacant air; and thus, although the steam was forced on to the extremest limit consistent with safety, the vessel held her way with the utmost difficulty, and recoiled before the hurricane.
Still, not a single resort for refuge did the inaccessible shore present.