The Journal of John Wesley 87Wesley Nearly Drowned

Many stood looking after us on the riverside; [when we reached] the middle of the river, in an instant the side of the boat was under water and the horses and men rolling one over another. We expected the boat to sink every moment, but I did not doubt of being able to swim ashore. The boatmen were amazed as well as the rest; but they quickly recovered and rowed for life. And soon after, our horses leaping overboard, the boat was lightened, and we all came unhurt to land.

They wondered what was the matter I did not rise (for I lay alone in the bottom of the boat), and I wondered too, till upon examination I found that a large iron crow, which the boatmen sometimes used, was (none knew how) run through the string of my boot, and was pinning me down that I could not stir. If the boat had sunk, I should have been safe enough from swimming any further.

The same day and, as near as we could judge, the same hour, the boat in which my brother was crossing the Severn, at the New Passage, was carried away by the wind and in the utmost danger of splitting upon the rocks. But the same God, when all human hope was past, delivered them as well as us.