There was no wind stirring to help me, and all I could do with my paddles signified nothing: and now I began to give myself over for lost; for as the current was on both sides of the island, I knew in a few leagues distance they must join again, and then I was irrecoverably gone; nor did I see any possibility of avoiding it; so that I had no prospect before me but of perishing, not by the sea, for that was calm enough, but of starving from hunger.
Questa si trascinò seco il mio legno con tanta violenza, che tutto il mio saper fare non potendo tenerlo vicino a terra, mi vidi spinto lontano e sempre più lontano dal risucchio che mi stava a manca, e su cui erano fondate le mie speranze. Non spirava un fiato di vento che mi aiutasse, e tutti gli sforzi de’ miei remi non facevano nulla.