mss142-vasilevShishmarev-i5-036

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the American shore in the hope of getting a supply of drift-
wood there. At a distance of one and 3/4 miles from the shore,
at a depth of seven and a half sazhens the captain ordered us
to clew up the sails and to drop anchor. Immediately, we
lowered tenders into the water - the sixth and the fourth -
and the captain, accompanied by all the officers except me,
being at that time on watch, went ashore taking along axes and
saws. I watched them with the telescope and saw that, nearing
the shore, they stopped, and were seemingly discussing with
each other how to get ashore because the rather strong surf
was hitting the low beach along which our vessels were rowing,
looking for a suitable place where it was possible to land
without danger. But the entire shore for a long distance con-
sisted of a sandy lowland. There being nothing else to do,
they decided to land going through the surf. As soon as they
reached it, I saw all three vessels cast up on shore. On
their return to the sloop, they told the following. When they
noted the strong surf on the entire shore not having the slight-
est inlet where it would not hit that strongly, they wanted
to anchor the vessels and go ashore in a three-hatched baidar
also sent there. But wanting to have the shortest possible
distance for transporting the sawed wood from shore to the
vessels, they approached too closely and got into the current
of the waves, which inudated the rowboats and cast them on
shore. Seeing the impossibility of launching them into the
water, they made a fire to dry their clothes. Fortunately,
this day was rather warm (that is, we had 12˚ Réaumur) [59˚