I was so stupid
that it was only after the sunrise I really noticed the trend of the
foam caps below, and perceived we were in a severe easterly gale. Even
then, instead of heading southeasterly, I set the engine going, headed
south, and so continued a course that must needs have either just hit
Ushant, or carry us over the Bay of Biscay. I thought I was east of
Cherbourg, when I was far to the west and stopped my engine in that
belief, and then set it going again. I did actually sight the coast of
Brittany to the southeast in the late afternoon, and that it was woke
me up to the gravity of our position. I discovered it by accident in the
southeast, when I was looking for it in the southwest. I turned about
east and faced the wind for some time, and finding I had no chance in
its teeth, went high, where it seemed less violent, and tried to make a
course southeast. It was only then that I realised what a gale I was in.
I had been going westward, and perhaps even in gusts north of west, at a
pace of fifty or sixty miles an hour.
Then I began what I suppose would be called a Fight against the east
wind.
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