Paddling under Palmettos — page 137: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

130 Paddling Under Palmettos. of the numerous submerged reefs that abound in the neighborhood of the Florida keys. “T am not much of a yarn spinner or I might de- scribe the awful scene when we struck. It was at midnight. The worst of the cyclone had really passed over, and but for this catastrophe we would have gone through, with but the loss of our main- mast. | “Some of my men had been washed overboard, but there were seven besides myself still remaining. The schooner was heavily laden with such things as farming implements and machinery, so that she must soon sink, and the wild waves would dash over her. ‘I knew the sea would soon go down, but it would be too late to save us. “The vessel floated off the shoal and hope flashed into our hearts. Alas! when I made my way down below I found that already the vessel was settling, a great hole having been knocked in her bottom. ite must sink inside of ten minutes, and our po- sition seemed hopeless. The boats were either gone or knocked to pieces, and we could find no material for making a raft in that short time, Comilcbooks —z ae