Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

88 EFFECTS OF PAMPERO. 1829- gled hard to keep it fast, they could scarcely hold on, or get off the yard, and one young man fell from the lee yard-arm into the vsea. Poor fellow, he swam well, but in vain : the ship was unmanageable, almost overset, the weather quarter boat stove, and the lee one under water : a grating was thrown to him, and the life-buoy let go, but he was seen no more. Another man was supposed to have been carried overboard with the main-topmast, as he was last seen on the cap. The starboard quarter boat was stove by the force of the wind ; and the other was washed away : and so loud was the sound of the tempest, that I did not hear the masts break, though standing, or rather holding, by the mizen rigging. NeVer before or since that time have I witnessed such strength, or, I may say, weight of wind : thunder, lightning, hail, and rain, came with it, but they were hardly noticed in the presence of so formidable an accompaniment. After seven the clouds had almost all passed away ; the wind settled into a steady south-west gale, with a clear sky ; the barometer rose to 29.8, and the thermometer fell to 46°. Lobos Island was set S.E., bearino; distant two miles. In this pampero the masts of a vessel, at anchor off Monte Video, were carried away ; and the upper cabin bulkhead of a Brazilian corvette was blown in while lying at anchor, head to wind, with her masts struck. But Maldonado seemed to feel its utmost violence ; and there it certainly commenced like a whirlwind. A small boat, belonging to a poor man who carried fruit and vegetables to ships in the bay, was hauled ashore, just above high- water mark, and fastened, by a strong rope, to a large stone. After the storm it was found far from the beach, shattered to pieces, but still fast to the stone, which it had dragged along. Not many days after our disas- ter, while lying in Maldonado bay, repairing damages, another pampero assailed the Beagle ; but though it did her no injury, it blew the boat, stove by its predecessor, away from the place on shore where she was being repaired, and left no trace of her behind.