And now another event occurred to add to our perplexities. The kelp
around the vessel suddenly became alive with a small species of black
crab. These creatures must have scented the food from our vessel, and
they came in millions to besiege us in order to devour it. The deck was
soon black with them, and they swarmed below in ever-increasing
numbers. Nothing escaped them, and most of our provisions were quickly
demolished. We killed them in thousands, and the stench from their
crushed bodies almost drove us out of our minds, but other thousands
quickly filled their places, and the crustaceans continued to pour down
the hatches like black streams of evil-smelling water.
But this visitation, dreadful though it was, eventually proved our
salvation. The weed, now alive with marine life, lost its density, and
when, at length, the breeze came, we could feel we were making headway.
But had we not been able to force our passage into the open I verily
believe we would all have been devoured alive by black crabs, which
swarmed upon us. As it was, many of the men suffered severely from the
bites of these creatures, and weeks elapsed before the ship was clear
of them and the stench which they had brought aboard.
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