It was nothing so very unusual for a boat to capsize on the bar and for half the crew to be drowned.
"Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer"
W. C. Scully
I was terrified by the apprehensions which had occurred to me even whilst I was at work on the mines; I mean, that if the bed broke away the schooner would make it top-heavy and that it would capsize; and thus I stood in a very agony of expectancy, caged like a rat, and as helpless as the dead.
"The Frozen Pirate"
W. Clark Russell
The boat was sweeping through the dark and seething seas, and her course had to be that of an arrow, or she would capsize and be smothered in a breath.
"The Frozen Pirate"
W. Clark Russell