I must get to sea on Tuesday, though I fear we shall
not have finished caulking; but Banks' expedition must be assembling
off Galveston, and time is of importance to us if we would
strike a blow at it before it is all landed. My men will rebel a little
yet. I was obliged to-day to trice one of them up for a little insolent
behaviour.
_Saturday, January 3d_.--A gale opened after all from the S.E.,
which I had hoped to escape, so rare is it to have blows from this
quarter at this season of the year. We have veered to forty-five
fathoms on each chain, and are in six fathoms water astern (there
being nine where the anchors are), and are tailing directly on the
surf, with a few hundred feet only between us and it, which of
course makes me feel a little solicitude. We are open to the S.E.
winds, though these blow over the bank from landwards. Still
the water is deep and the land distant, and a considerable sea comes
in. I have ordered the fires to be lighted under another boiler to
guard against accidents. The Arcas are a dirty little anchorage
for large ships, being but an open roadstead, affording good shelter
only from the north. There is a very small basin between the two
reefs, running off from the northern island, fit for very small vessels,
where they could be made secure against northerly and southerly
winds; but everywhere they would be exposed more or less
to wind from the westward.
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