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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Records of a Family of Engineers by Robert Louis Stevenson: floating light was adrift! The windlass was instantly manned,
and the men soon gave out that there was no strain upon the
cable. The mizzen sail, which was bent for the occasional
purpose of making the vessel ride more easily to the tide, was
immediately set, and the other sails were also hoisted in a
short time, when, in no small consternation, we bore away
about one mile to the south-westward of the former station,
and there let go the best bower anchor and cable in twenty
fathoms water, to ride until the swell of the sea should fall,
when it might be practicable to grapple for the moorings, and
find a better anchorage for the ship.
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