A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 12

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47

The next morning we got off some water, and great plenty of wild celery,
but could get no fish except a few mussels. I sent off the boats to
sound, and found that there was good anchorage at about half a mile from
the shore, quite from the cape to four miles below it; and close by the
cape a good harbour, where a ship might refresh with more safety than at
Port Famine, and avail herself of a large river of fresh water, with
plenty of wood, celery, and berries; though the place affords no fish
except mussels.

Having completed our wood and water, we sailed from, this place on the
22d, about three o'clock in the afternoon. At nine in the evening, the
ship being about two miles distant from the shore, Cape Gallant bore
W.1/2 N. distant two leagues, Cape Holland E. by N. distant six leagues;
Cape Gallant and Cape Holland being nearly in one: A white patch in
Monmouth's Island bore S.S.W.3/4 W. Rupert's Island W.S.W. At this place
the strait is not more than five miles over; and we found a tide which
produced a very unusual effect, for it became impossible to keep the
ship's head upon any point.

At six the next morning, the Swallow made the signal for having found
anchorage; and at eight we anchored in a bay under Cape Gallant, in ten
fathom, with a muddy bottom. The east point of Cape Gallant bore S.W. by
1/4 W. the extreme point of the eastermost land E. by S. a point making
the mouth of a river N. by W. and the white patch on Charles' Island
S.W. The boats being sent out to sound, found good anchorage
every-where, except within two cables' length S.W. of the ship, where it
was coral, and deepened to sixteen fathom. In the afternoon I sent out
the master to examine the bay and a large lagoon; and he reported that
the lagoon was the most commodious harbour we had yet seen in the
strait, having five fathom at the entrance, and from four to five in the
middle; that it was capable of receiving a great number of vessels, had
three large fresh-water rivers, and plenty of wood and celery. We had
here the misfortune to have a seine spoiled, by being entangled with the
wood that lies sunk at the mouth of these rivers; but though we caught
but little fish, we had an incredible number of wild ducks, which we
found a very good succedaneum.

The mountains are here very lofty, and the master of the Swallow climbed
one of the highest, hoping that from the summit he should obtain a sight
of the South Sea; but he found his view intercepted by mountains still
higher on the southern shore: Before he descended, however, he erected a
pyramid, within which he deposited a bottle containing a shilling, and a
paper on which was written the ship's name, and the date of the year; a
memorial which possibly may remain there as long as the world endures.

In the morning of the 24th we took two boats and examined Cordes bay,
which we found very much inferior to that in which the ship lay; it had
indeed a larger lagoon, but the entrance of it was very narrow, and
barred by a shoal, on which there was not sufficient depth of water for
a ship of burden to float: The entrance of the bay also was rocky, and
within it the ground was foul.

In this place we saw an animal that resembled an ass, but it had a
cloven hoof, as we discovered afterwards by tracking it, and was as
swift as a deer. This was the first animal we had seen in the streight,
except at the entrance, where we found the guanicoes that we would fain
have trafficked for with the Indians. We shot at this creature, but we
could not hit it; probably it is altogether unknown to the naturalists
of Europe.

The country about this place has the most dreary and forlorn appearance
that can be imagined; the mountains on each side the streight are of an
immense height: About one-fourth of the ascent is covered with trees of
a considerable size; in the space from thence to the middle of the
mountain there is nothing but withered shrubs; above these are patches
of snow, and fragments of broken rock; and the summit is altogether rude
and naked, towering above the clouds in vast crags that are piled upon
each other, and look like the ruins of nature devoted to everlasting
sterility and desolation.

We went over in two boats to the Royal Islands, and sounded, but found
no bottom: A very rapid tide set through wherever there was an opening;
and they cannot be approached by shipping without the most imminent
danger. Whoever navigates this part of the streight, should keep the
north shore close on board all the way, and not venture more than a mile
from it till the Royal islands are passed. The current sets easterly
through the whole four-and-twenty hours, and the indraught should by
all means be avoided. The latitude of Cape Gallant road is 53 deg. 50'S.

We continued in this station, taking in wood and water, and gathering
mussels and herbs, till the morning of the 27th, when, a boat that had
been sent to try the current, returned with an account that it set
nearly at the rate of two miles an hour, but that, the wind being
northerly, we might probably get round to Elizabeth Bay or York Road
before night; we therefore weighed with all expedition. At noon on the
28th, the west point of Cape Gallant bore W.N.W. distant half a mile,
and the white patch on Charles' Island S.E. by S. We had fresh gales and
heavy flaws off the land; and at two o'clock the west point of Cape
Gallant bore E. distant three leagues, and York Point W.N.W. distant
five leagues. At five, we opened York Road, the point bearing N.W. at
the distance of half a mile: At this time the ship was taken a-back, and
a strong current with a heavy squall drove us so far to leeward, that it
was with great difficulty we got into Elizabeth Bay, and anchored in
twelve fathom near a river. The Swallow being at anchor off the point of
the bay, and very near the rocks, I sent all the boats with anchors and
hausers to her assistance, and at last she was happily warped to
windward into good anchorage. York Point now bore W. by N. a shoal with
weeds upon it W.N.W. at the distance of a cable's length. Point Passage
S.E. 1/2 E. distant half a mile, a rock near Rupert's Isle S.1/2 E. and a
rivulet on the bay N.E. by E. distant about three cables' length. Soon
after sun-set we saw a great smoke on the southern shore, and another on
Prince Rupert's Island.

Early in the morning I sent the boats on shore for water, and soon after
our people landed, three canoes put off from the south shore, and landed
sixteen of the natives on the east point of the bay. When they came
within about a hundred yards of our people they stopt, called out, and
made signs of friendship: Our people did the same, shewing them some
beads and other toys. At this they seemed pleased, and began to shout;
our people imitated the noise they made, and shouted in return: The
Indians then advanced, still shouting, and laughing very loud. When the
parties met they shook hands, and our men presented the Indians with
several of the toys which they had shewn them at a distance. They were
covered with seal-skins, which stunk abominably, and some of them were
eating the rotten flesh and blubber raw, with a keen appetite and great
seeming satisfaction. Their complexion was the same as that of the
people we had seen before, but they were low of stature, the tallest of
them not being more than five foot six: They appeared to be perishing
with cold, and immediately kindled several fires. How they subsist in
winter, it is not perhaps easy to guess, for the weather was at this
time so severe, that we had frequent falls of snow. They were armed with
bows, arrows, and javelins; the arrows and javelins were pointed with
flint, which was wrought into the shape of a serpent's tongue; and they
discharged both with great force and dexterity, scarce ever failing to
hit a mark at a considerable distance. To kindle a fire they strike a
pebble against a piece of mundic, holding under it, to catch the sparks,
some moss or down, mixed with a whitish earth, which takes fire like
tinder: They then take some dry grass; of which there is every-where
plenty, and, putting the lighted moss into it, wave it to and fro, and
in about a minute it blazes.

When the boat returned she brought three of them on board the ship, but
they seemed to regard nothing with any degree of curiosity, except our
clothes and a looking-glass; the looking-glass afforded them as much
diversion as it had done the Patagonians, and it seemed to surprise them
more: When they first peeped into it they started, back, first looking
at us, and then at each other; they then took another peep, as it were
by stealth, starting back as before; and then eagerly looking behind it:
When by degrees they became familiar with it, they smiled, and seeing
the image smile in return, they were exceedingly delighted, and burst
into fits of the most violent laughter. They left this however, and
every thing else, with perfect indifference, the little they possessed
being to all appearance equal to their desires. They eat whatever was
given them, but would drink nothing but water.

When they left the ship I went on shore with them, and by this time
several of their wives and children were come to the watering-place. I
distributed some trinkets among them, with which they seemed pleased for
a moment, and they gave us same of their arms in return; they gave us
also several pieces of mundic, such as is found in the tin mines of
Cornwall: They made us understand that they found it in the mountains,
where there are probably mines of tin, and perhaps of more valuable
metal. When they left us and embarked in their canoes, they hoisted a
sealskin for a sail, and steered for the southern shore, where we saw
many of their hovels; and we remarked that not one of them looked
behind, either at us or at the ship, so little impression had the
wonders they had seen made upon their minds, and so much did they appear
to be absorbed in the present, without any habitual exercise of their
power to reflect upon the past.

In this station we continued till Tuesday the 3d of February. At about
half an hour past twelve we weighed, and in a sudden squall were taken
a-back, so as that both ships were in the most imminent danger of being
driven ashore on a reef of rocks; the wind however suddenly shifted, and
we happily got off without damage. At five o'clock in the afternoon, the
tide being done, and the wind coming about to the west, we bore away for
York Road, and at length anchored in it: The Swallow at the same time
being very near Island Bay, under Cape Quod, endeavoured to get in
there, but was by the tide obliged to return to York Road. In this
situation Cape Quod bore W. 1/2 S. distant 19 miles, York Point E.S.E.
distant one mile, Bachelor's River N.N.W. three quarters of a mile, the
entrance of Jerom's Sound N.W. by W. and a small island on the south
shore W. by S. We found the tide here very rapid and uncertain; in the
stream it generally set to the eastward, but it sometimes, though
rarely, set westward six hours together. This evening we saw five Indian
canoes come out of Bachelor's River, and go up Jerom's Sound.

In the morning, the boats which I had sent out to sound both the shores
of the streight and all parts of the bay, returned with an account that
there was good anchorage within Jerom's Sound, and all the way thither
from the ship's station at the distance of about half a mile from the
shore; also between Elizabeth and York Point, near York Point, at the
distance of a cable and a half's length from the weeds, in sixteen
fathom, with a muddy bottom. There were also several places under the
islands on the south shore where a ship might anchor; but the force and
uncertainty of the tides, and the heavy gusts of wind that came off the
high lands, by which these situations were surrounded, rendered them
unsafe. Soon after the boats returned, I put fresh hands into them, and
went myself up Bachelor's River: We found a bar at the entrance, which
at certain times of the tide must be dangerous. We hauled the seine,
and should have caught plenty of fish if it had not been for the weeds
and stumps of trees at the bottom of the river. We then went ashore,
where we saw many wigwams of the natives, and several of their dogs,
who, as soon as we came in sight, ran away. We also saw some ostriches,
but they were beyond the reach of our pieces: We gathered mussels,
limpets, sea-eggs, celery, and nettles, in great abundance. About three
miles up this river, on the west side, between Mount Misery and another
mountain of a stupendous height, there is a cataract which has a very
striking appearance: It is precipitated from an elevation of above four
hundred yards; half the way it rolls over a very steep declivity, and
the other half is a perpendicular fall. The sound of this cataract is
not less awful than the sight.

In this place contrary winds detained us till 10 o'clock in the morning
of Saturday the 14th, when we weighed, and in half an hour the current
set the ship towards Bachelor's River: We then put her in stays, and
while she was coming about, which she was long in doing, we drove over a
shoal where we had little more than sixteen feet water with rocky
ground; so that our danger was very great, for the ship drew sixteen
feet nine inches aft, and fifteen feet one inch forward: As soon as the
ship gathered way, we happily deepened into three fathom; within two
cables' length we had five, and in a very short time we got into deep
water. We continued plying to windward till four o'clock in the
afternoon, and then finding that we had lost ground, we returned to our
station, and again anchored in York Road.

Here we remained till five o'clock in the morning of the 17th, when we
weighed, and towed out of the road. At nine, though we had a fine breeze
at west, the ship was carried with great violence by a current towards
the south shore: The boats were all towing a-head, and the sails asleep,
yet we drove so close to the rock, that the oars of the boats were
entangled in the weeds. In this manner we were hurried along near three
quarters of an hour, expecting every moment to be dashed to pieces
against the cliff, from which we were seldom farther than a ship's
length, and very often not half so much. We sounded on both sides, and
found that next the shore we had from fourteen to twenty fathom, and on
the other side of the ship no bottom: As all our efforts were
ineffectual, we resigned ourselves to our fate, and waited the event in
a state of suspense very little different from despair. At length,
however, we opened Saint David's Sound, and a current that rushed out of
it set us into the mid-channel. During all this time the Swallow was on
the north shore, and consequently could know nothing of our danger till
it was past. We now sent the boats out to look for an anchoring-place;
and at noon Cape Quod bore N.N.E. and Saint David's head S.E.

About one o'clock the boats returned, having found an anchoring-place in
a small bay, to which we gave the name of Butler's Bay, it having been
discovered by Mr Butler, one of the mates. It lies to the west of
Rider's Bay on the south shore of the streight, which is here about two
miles wide. We ran in with the tide which set fast to the westward, and
anchored in sixteen fathom water. The extremes of the bay from W. by N.
to N.1/2 W. are about a quarter of a mile asunder; a small rivulet, at
the distance of somewhat less than two cables' length, bore S.1/2 W. and
Cape Quod N. at the distance of four miles. At this time the Swallow was
at anchor in Island Bay on the north shore, at about six miles distance.

I now sent all the boats out to sound round the ship and in the
neighbouring bays; and they returned with an account that they could
find no place fit to receive the ship, neither could any such place be
found between Cape Quod and Cape Notch.

In this place we remained till Friday the 20th, when about noon the
clouds gathered very thick to the westward, and before one it blew a
storm, with such rain and hail, as we had scarcely ever seen. We
immediately struck the yards and top-masts, and having run out two
hausers to a rock, we hove the ship up to it: We then let go the small
bower, and veered away, and brought both cables a-head; at the same time
we carried out two more hausers, and made them fast to two other rocks,
making use of every expedient in our power to keep the ship steady. The
gale continued to increase till six o'clock in the evening, and to our
great astonishment the sea broke quite over the forecastle in upon the
quarter-deck, which, considering the narrowness of the streight, and the
smallness of the bay in which we were stationed, might well have been
thought impossible. Our danger here was very great, for if the cables
had parted, as we could not run out with a sail, and as we had not room
to bring the ship up with any other anchor, we must have been dashed to
pieces in a few minutes, and in such a situation it is highly probable
that every soul would immediately have perished; however, by eight
o'clock the gale was become somewhat more moderate, and gradually
decreasing during the night, we had tolerable weather the next morning.
Upon heaving the anchor, we had the satisfaction to find that our cable
was sound, though our hawsers were much rubbed by the rocks,
notwithstanding they were parcelled with old hammacoes, and other
things. The first thing I did after performing the necessary operations
about the ship, was to send a boat to the Swallow to enquire how she had
fared during the gale: The boat returned with an account that she had
felt but little of the gale, but that she had been very near being lost,
in pushing through the islands two days before, by the rapidity of the
tide: That notwithstanding an alteration which had been made in her
rudder, she steered and worked so ill, that every time they got under
way they were apprehensive that she could never safely be brought to an
anchor again; I was therefore requested, in the name of the captain, to
consider that she could be of very little service to the expedition, and
to direct what I thought would be best for the service. I answered, that
as the Lords of the Admiralty had appointed her to accompany the
Dolphin, she must continue to do it as long as it was possible; that as
her condition rendered her a bad sailer, I would wait her time, and
attend her motions; and that if any disaster should happen to either of
us, the other should be ready to afford such assistance as might be in
her power.

We continued here eight days, during which time we completed our wood
and water, dried our sails, and sent great part of the ship's company on
shore, to wash their clothes and stretch their legs, which was the more
necessary, as the cold, snowy, and tempestuous weather had confined them
too much below. We caught mussels and limpets, and gathered celery and
nettles in great abundance. The mussels were the largest we had ever
seen, many of them being from five to six inches long: We caught also
great plenty of fine, firm, red fish, not unlike a gurnet, most of which
were from four to five pounds weight. At the same time we made it part
of the employment of every day to try the current, which we found
constantly setting to the eastward.

The master having been sent out to look for anchoring-places, returned
with an account that he could find no shelter, except near the shore,
where it should not be sought but in cases of the most pressing
necessity. He landed upon a large island on the north side of Snow
Sound, and being almost perished with cold, the first thing he did was
to make a large fire, with some small trees which he found upon the
spot. He then climbed one of the rocky mountains, with Mr Pickersgill, a
midshipman, and one of the seamen, to take a view of the streight, and
the dismal regions that surround it. He found the entrance of the sound
to be full as broad as several parts of the streight, and to grow but
very little narrower, for several miles inland on the Terra del Fuego
side. The country on the south of it was still more dreary and horrid
than any he had yet seen: It consisted of craggy mountains, much higher
than the clouds, that were altogether naked from the base to the summit,
there not being a single shrub, nor even a blade of grass to be seen
upon them; nor were the vallies between them less desolate, being
entirely covered with deep beds of snow, except here and there where it
had been washed away, or converted into ice, by the torrents which were
precipitated from the fissures and crags of the mountain above, where
the snow had been dissolved; and even these vallies, in the patches that
were free from snow, were as destitute of verdure as the rocks between
which they lay.

On Sunday the first of March, at half an hour after four o'clock in the
morning, we saw the Swallow under sail, on the north shore of Cape Quod.
At seven we weighed, and stood out of Butler's Bay, but it falling calm
soon afterwards, the boats were obliged to take the vessel in tow,
having with much difficulty kept clear of the rocks: The passage being
very narrow, we sent the boats, about noon, to seek for anchorage on the
north shore. At this time, Cape Notch bore W. by N. 1/2 N. distant
between three and four leagues, and Gape Quod E. 1/2 N. distant three
leagues.

About three o'clock in the afternoon, there being little wind, we
anchored, with the Swallow, under the north shore, in a small bay, where
there is a high, steep, rocky mountain, the top of which resembles the
head of a lion, for which reason we called the bay Lion's Cove. We had
here forty fathom, with deep water close to the shore, and at half a
cable's length without the ship, no ground. We sent the boats to the
westward in search of anchoring-places, and at midnight they returned
with an account that there was an indifferent bay at the distance of
about four miles, and that Goodluck Bay was three leagues to the
westward.

At half an hour after twelve the next day, the wind being northerly, we
made sail from Lion's Cove, and at five anchored in Goodluck Bay, at the
distance of about half-a-cable's length from the rocks, in twenty-eight
fathom water. A rocky island at the west extremity of the bay bore N.W.
by W. distant about a cable's length and a half, and a low point, which
makes the eastern extremity of the bay, bore E.S.E. distant about a
mile. Between this point and the ship, there were many shoals, and in
the bottom of the bay two rocks, the largest of which bore N.E. by N.
the smallest N. by E. From these rocks, shoals run out to the S.E. which
may be known by the weeds that are upon them; the ship was within a
cable's length of them: When she swung with her stern in shore, we had
sixteen fathom, with coral rock; when she swung off, we had fifty
fathom, with sandy ground. Cape Notch bore from us W. by S. 1/2 W.
distant about one league; and in the intermediate space there was a
large lagoon which we could not sound, the wind blowing too hard all the
while we lay here. After we had moored the ship, we sent two boats to
assist the Swallow, and one to look out for anchorage beyond Cape Notch.
The boats that were sent to assist the Swallow, towed her into a small
bay, where, as the wind was southerly, and blew fresh, she was in great
danger, for the cove was not only small, but full of rocks, and open to
the southeasterly winds.

All the day following and all the night, we had hard gales, with a great
sea, and much hail and rain. The next morning, we had gusts so violent,
that it was impossible to stand the deck; they brought whole sheets of
water all the way from Cape Notch, which was a league distant, quite
over the deck. They did not last more than a minute, but were so
frequent, that the cables were kept on a constant strain, and there was
the greatest reason to fear that they would give way. It was a general
opinion that the Swallow could not possibly ride it out, and some of the
men were so strongly prepossessed with the notion of her being lost,
that they fancied they saw some of her people coming over the rocks
towards our ship. The weather continued so bad, till Saturday the 7th,
that we could send no boat to enquire after her; but the gale being then
more moderate, a boat was dispatched about four o'clock in the morning,
which, about the same hour in the afternoon, returned with an account
that the ship was safe, but that the fatigue of the people had been
incredible, the whole crew having been upon the deck near three days and
three nights. At midnight the gusts returned, though not with equal
violence, with hail, sleet, and snow. The weather being now extremely
cold, and the people never dry, I got up, the next morning, eleven bales
of thick woollen stuff, called fearnought, which is provided by the
government, and set all the tailors to work to make them into jackets,
of which every man in the ship had one.

I ordered these jackets to be made very large, allowing, one with
another, two yards and thirty-four inches of the cloth to each jacket. I
sent also seven bales of the same cloth to the Swallow, which made every
man on board a jacket of the same kind; and I cut up three bales of
finer cloth, and made jackets for the officers of both ships, which I
had the pleasure to find were very acceptable.