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

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On the 18th, the weather was moderate, and in the evening we were within
half a mile of the anchoring-ground, from which we had been driven; but
the wind suddenly failing, and a current making against us, we could not
reach it: We took advantage, however, of being so near the waterers'
tent to send a boat on shore to enquire after the three men whose
adventure has been just related, and soon after she brought them on
board. The carpenters were all this time employed in making a new
mizen-gaff, out of a gib-boom, and in the mean while we were obliged to
makeshift with the old one, keeping the sail balanced. It continued a
stark calm all the night, so that in the morning we found the current
and the swell had driven us no less than nine miles from the land: The
weather, however, being good, I sent the cutter for a load of water,
which she brought on board about one o'clock. Soon after a breeze sprung
up at N.N.W. and as we now approached the land very fast, I sent the
boat on shore again for water; it happened, however, that before we
could reach our anchoring-ground, it again fell calm, and we were again
kept off by the current: The boat in the meantime, as she rowed along
the shore, caught as much fish with hook and line as served all the
ship's company, which was some alleviation of our disappointment. At
eight o'clock in the evening, it began again to blow hard with sudden
squalls, so that we passed another toilsome and dangerous night. In the
morning, having a stiff gale at N.W. we made towards our
anchoring-ground with all the sail we could spread, and happily regained
it about four o'clock in the afternoon, when we anchored, at two cables'
length from the beach, in eighteen fathom, with a bottom of fine sand,
and moored with a small anchor in shore. By the time the ship was
properly secured, it was too late to proceed with our watering; the
long-boat however was sent along the shore to fish, and though before
seven o'clock it blew so hard that she was obliged to return, she
brought fish enough on board to serve all the people. In the night we
had foul weather, with hard squalls and much rain; and in the morning,
the wind blowing with great violence along the shore, we frequently
drove, though we had not less than two hundred fathom of cable out; for
the bank is a loose fine sand that easily gives way. We rode out the
storm, however, without damage, but the rain was so violent, and the sea
ran so high, that nothing could be done with the boats, which was the
more mortifying, as it was for the sake of completing our watering that
we had endured almost incessant labour for five days and nights to
regain the situation in which we now lay. About eight in the evening,
the wind became more moderate, and though it was then too late to fetch
off any water, we got out one of the boats, and sent three men on shore,
right abreast of the ship, to kill seals, and make oil of their fat, for
burning in lamps and other uses on board the ship.

The wind blew very hard the next morning, as it had done all night, but
being at W. N. W. which was off the land, we sent the boats away soon
after it was light, and about ten, they returned with each of them a
load of water, and a great number of pintado birds: These birds they got
from the people on shore, who told them, that when a gale of wind
happened in the night they flew faster into their fire than they could
well take them out, so that during the gale of the last night, they got
no less than seven hundred of them. The boats were employed in getting
water on board all this day, although the surf was so great that several
of the casks were staved and lost: They were sent out again a little
before it was light the next day, and by seven o'clock a few casks only
were wanting to complete our stock. The threatening appearances of the
weather made me now very impatient to get the people on board, with the
casks that were still at the watering-place; as soon, therefore, as the
boats were cleared of their loading, I dispatched them again, with
orders to bring off all the hands, with the tent, and every thing else
that was on shore, with all possible expedition. From this time the wind
increased very fast, and by eleven o'clock it blew so hard, with violent
gusts from the land, that the ship began to drive off the bank: We
heaved the small anchor up, and got it in out of the way of the other;
the gale still increased, but as it was right off the land, I was in no
pain about the ship, which continued to drive, still dragging the anchor
through the sand, with two hundred fathom of cable out; being very
solicitous to give the boats time to bring all on board before we were
quit of the bank, I would not weigh. At two o'clock, however, the anchor
was quite off the ground, and the ship was in deep water; we were now
therefore obliged to bring the cable to the capstern, and with great
difficulty we got the anchor up. The gusts off the land were so violent,
that, not daring to show any canvas, we lay-to under our bare poles, and
the water was frequently torn up, and whirled round in the air much
higher than our mast heads. As the ship now drove from the island at a
great rate, and night was coming on, I began to be in great pain for the
boats, in which, besides my lieutenant, there were eight-and-twenty of
my best men; but just in the dusk of the evening, I perceived one of
them scudding before the seas, and making towards the ship: This proved
to be the long-boat, which, in spite of all the efforts of those on
board, had been forced from her grappling, and driven off the land. We
took the best opportunity that offered to get her on board, but
notwithstanding all our care, she received considerable damage as we
were hoisting her in. She had on board ten of my people, who informed
me, that when they were first driven from the shore, they had some
fire-wood on board, but that they were obliged to throw that, and every
thing else, into the sea, to lighten the boat. As we had yet seen
nothing of the cutter, and had reason to fear that she also, with the
tents, and the other eighteen people, besides the lieutenant, had been
driven off the island, I gave her up for lost; knowing that if the
night, which was now at hand, should overtake her in such a storm, she
must inevitably perish. It was however possible that the people might be
ashore, and therefore that, if the boat should be lost, they might still
be preserved; for this reason I determined to regain the land as soon as
possible. At midnight the weather became more moderate, so that we could
carry our courses and topsails, and at four o'clock in the morning we
crowded all the sail we could make. At ten o'clock, we were very near
the shore; to our great concern, we saw nothing of the cutter, yet we
continued to stand on till about noon, when we happily discovered her at
a grappling, close under the land: We immediately ran to our glasses, by
the help of which we saw the people getting into her; and about three
o'clock, to our mutual and inexpressible joy, she came safe on board
with all her people: They were however so exhausted with fatigue, that
they could scarcely get up the ship's side. The lieutenant told me, that
the night before he had attempted to come off, but that as soon as he
had left the shore, a sudden squall so nearly filled the boat with
water, that she was very near going to the bottom; but that all hands
bailing with the utmost diligence and activity, they happily cleared
her: That he then made for the land again, which, with the utmost
difficulty, he regained, and having left a sufficient number on board
the boat, to watch her, and keep her free from water, he with the rest
of the people went on shore. That having passed the night in a state of
inexpressible anxiety and distress, they looked out for the ship with
the first dawn of the morning, and seeing nothing of her, concluded that
she had perished in the storm, which they had never seen exceeded. They
did not, however, sit down torpid in despair, but began immediately to
clear the ground near the beach of brushes and weeds, and cut down
several trees of which they made rollers to assist them in hauling up
the boat, in order to secure her; intending, as they had no hope of the
ship's return, to wait till the summer season and then attempt to make
the island of Juan Fernandes. They had now better hopes, and all sense
of the dangers that were before us was for a while obliterated by the
joy of our escape from those that were past.

From the 16th, when we were first driven from our anchoring-ground, to
this time, we suffered an uninterrupted series of danger, fatigue, and
misfortunes. The ship worked and sailed very ill, the weather was dark
and tempestuous, with thunder, lightning, and rain, and the boats, which
I was obliged to keep always employed, even when we were under sail, to
procure us water, were in continual danger of being lost, as well by the
hard gales which constantly blew, as by the sudden gusts which
frequently rushed upon us with a violence that is scarcely to be
conceived. This distress was the more severe as it was unexpected, for I
had experienced very different weather in these parts about two years
before with Commodore Byron. It has generally been thought, that upon
this coast the winds are constantly from the S. to the S.W., though
Frezier mentions his having had strong gales and high seas from the
N.N.W. and N.W. quarter, which was unhappily my case.

Having once more got my people and boats safe on board, I made sail from
this turbulent climate, and thought myself fortunate not to have left
any thing behind me except the wood, which our people had cut for
firing.

The island of Masafuero lies in latitude 33 deg.45'S., longitude 80 deg.46'W. of
London. Its situation is west of Juan Fernandes, both being nearly in
the same latitude, and by the globe, it is distant about thirty-one
leagues. It is very high and mountainous, and at a distance appears like
one hill or rock: It is of a triangular form, and about seven or eight
leagues in circumference. The south part, which we saw when we first
made the island, at a distance of three-and-twenty leagues, is much the
highest: On the north end there are several spots of clear ground, which
perhaps might admit of cultivation.

The author of the account of Lord Anson's voyage mentions only one part
of this island as affording anchorage, which is on the north side, and
in deep water, but we saw no part where there was not anchorage: On the
west side in particular, there is anchorage at about a mile from the
shore in twenty fathom, and at about two miles and a half in forty and
forty-five fathom, with a fine black sand at the bottom. This author
also says, that "there is a reef of rocks running off the eastern point
of the island about two miles in length, which may be seen by the sea's
breaking over them;" but in this he is mistaken, there is no reef of
rocks, or shoal running off the eastern point, but there is a reef of
rocks and sand running off the western side, near the south end of it.
He is also mistaken as to the distance of this island from Juan
Fernandes, and its direction, for he says the distance is twenty-two
leagues, and the direction W. by S., but we found the distance nearly
one-third more, and the direction is due west, for, as I have before
observed, the latitude of both islands is nearly the same. The goats
that he mentions we found upon it in the same abundance, and equally
easy to be caught.

On the south-west point of the island there is a remarkable rock with a
hole in it, which is a good mark to come to an anchor on the western
side, where there is the best bank of any about the place. About a mile
and a half to the northward of this hole, there is a low point of land,
and from this point runs the reef that has been just mentioned, in the
direction of W. by S. to the distance of about three quarters of a mile,
where the sea continually breaks upon it. To anchor, run in till the
hole in the rock is shut in, about a cable's length upon this low point
of land, then bearing S. by E. 1/2 E. and anchor in twenty and
twenty-two fathom, fine black sand and shells: There is anchorage also
at several places on the other sides of the island, particularly off the
north point, in fourteen and fifteen fathom, with fine sand.

There is plenty of wood and water all round the island, but they are not
to be procured without much difficulty. A great quantity of stones, and
large fragments of the rock, have fallen from the high land all round
the island, and upon these there breaks such a surf that a boat cannot
safely come within a cable's length of the shore; there is therefore no
landing here but by swimming from the boat, and then mooring her without
the rocks, nor is there any method of getting off the wood and water but
by hauling them to the boat with ropes: There are, however, many places
where it would be very easy to make a commodious landing by building a
wharf, which it would be worth while even for a single ship to do if
she was to continue any time at the island.

This part of Masafuero is a very good place for refreshment, especially
in the summer season: The goats have been mentioned already, and there
is all round the island such plenty of fish, that a boat may, with three
hooks and lines, catch as much as will serve an hundred people: Among
others we caught excellent coal-fish, cavallies, cod, hallibut, and
cray-fish. We took a king-fisher that weighed eighty-seven pounds, and
was five feet and a half long, and the sharks were so ravenous, that
when we were sounding one of them swallowed the lead, by which we hauled
him above water, but as he then disgorged it, we lost him. The seals
were so numerous, that I verily think if many thousands of them were
killed in a night, they would not be missed in the morning: We were
obliged to kill great numbers of them, as, when we walked the shore,
they were continually running against us, making at the same time a most
horrible noise. These animals yield excellent train oil, and their
hearts and plucks are very good eating, being in taste something like
those of a hog, and their skins are covered with the finest fur I ever
saw of the kind. There are many birds here, and among others some very
large hawks. Of the pintado birds, our people, as I have before
observed, caught no less than seven hundred in one night. We had not
much opportunity to examine the place for vegetable productions, but we
saw several leaves of the mountain cabbage, which is a proof that the
tree grows here.

SECTION III

_The Passage from Masafuero to Queen Charlotte's Islands; several
Mistakes corrected concerning Davis's Land, and an Account of some small
Islands, supposed to be the same that were seen by Quiros._

When we took our departure from Masafuero, we had a great sea from the
N.W. with a swell of long billows from the southward, and the wind,
which was from the S.W. to the W.N.W., obliged me to stand to the
northward, in hope of getting the south-east trade-wind, for the ship
was so dull a sailer, that there was no making her go without a strong
wind in her favour. Having thus run farther to the northward than at
first I intended, and finding myself not far from the parallel of
latitude which has been assigned to two islands called Saint Ambrose,
and Saint Felix or Saint Paul, I thought I should perform an acceptable
service by examining if they were fit for shipping to refresh at,
especially as the Spaniards having fortified Juan Fernandes, they might
be found convenient for Great Britain, if she should hereafter be
engaged in a Spanish war. These islands are laid down in Green's charts,
which were published in the year 1753, from latitude 26 deg. 20' to 27 deg. S.,
and from 1 deg.1/4 to 2 deg.1/2 W. of Masafuero; I therefore hauled up with a
design to keep in that latitude, but soon afterwards, consulting
Robertson's Elements of Navigation, I found the island of Saint Ambrose
there laid down in latitude 25 deg. 50' S., and 82 deg. 20' longitude west of
London, and supposing that islands of so small an extent might be laid
down with more exactness in this work than in the chart, I bore away
more northward for that latitude; the event, however, proved that I
should not have trusted him so far: I missed the islands, and as I saw
great numbers of birds and fish, which are certain indications of land
not far off, there is the greatest reason to conclude that I went to the
northward of them. I am sorry to say that upon a farther examination of
Robertson's tables of latitudes and longitudes, I found them erroneous
in many particulars: This censure, however, if I had not thought it
necessary to prevent future mischief, should have been suppressed.

Upon examining the account that is given by Wafer, who was surgeon on
board Captain Davis's ship, I think it is probable that these two
islands are the land that Davis fell in with in his way to the southward
from the Gallapago islands, and that the land laid down in all the sea
charts under the name of Davis's Land, has no existence, notwithstanding
what is said in the account of Roggewein's voyage, which was made in
1722, of land that they called Eastern Island, which some have imagined
to be a confirmation of Davis's discovery, and the same land to which
his name has been given.

It is manifest from Wafer's narrative, that little credit is due to the
account kept on board Davis's ship, except with respect to the latitude,
for he acknowledges that they had like to have perished by their making
an allowance for the variation of the needle westward, instead of
eastward: He tells us also that they steered S. by E. 1/2 E. from the
Gallapagos, till they made land in latitude 27 deg. 20' S., but it is
evident that such a course would carry them not to the westward but to
the eastward of the Gallapagos, and set them at about the distance of
two hundred leagues from Capiapo, and not five hundred leagues, as he
has alleged; for the variation here is not more than half a point to the
eastward now, and it must have been still less then, it having been
increasing to the eastward on all this coast. The course that Davis
steered therefore, if the distance between the islands of St Ambrose and
St Felix, and the Gallapagos, as laid down in all our sea charts, is
right, must have brought him within sight of St Ambrose and St Felix,
when he had run the distance he mentions. The truth is, that if there
had been any such place as Davis's Land in the situation which has been
allotted to it in our sea charts, I must have sailed over it, or at
least have seen it, as will appear in the course of this narrative.

I kept between the latitude 25 deg. 50' and 25 deg. 30', in search of the
islands I intended to examine, till I got five degrees to the westward
of our departure, and then seeing no land, and the birds having left us,
I hauled more to the southward, and got into latitude 27 deg. 20' S. where I
continued till we got between seventeen and eighteen degrees to the
westward of our departure. In this parallel we had light airs and foul
winds, with a strong northerly current, which made me conjecture that we
were near this Davis's Land, for which we looked out with great
diligence, but a fair wind springing up again, we steered west by south,
which gradually brought us into the latitude of 28 deg. 1/2 S., so that it
is evident I must have sailed over this land, or at least have seen it
if there had been any such place. I afterwards kept in the latitude of
28 deg. for forty degrees to the westward of my departure, or, according to
my account, 121 degrees west of London, this being the highest south
latitude the winds and weather would permit me to keep, so that I must
have gone to the southward of the situation assigned to the supposed
continent called Davis's Land in all our charts.[55]

[Footnote 55: This was really the case, as will be seen in the account
of one of Cook's Voyages: For there seems reason to believe, that the
island called Easter Island, and sometimes Teapy, is the land which
Captain Davis saw in 1686, and Roggewein visited in 1722. See what is
said on this subject in vol. xi, p. 90, of this collection.--E.]

We continued our search till Wednesday the 17th of June, when, in
latitude 28 deg. S., longitude 112 deg. W., we saw many sea-birds, which flew in
flocks, and some rock-weed, which made me conjecture that we were
approaching, or had passed by, some land. At this time the wind blew
hard from the northward, which made a great sea, but we had
notwithstanding long rolling billows from the southward so that whatever
land was in that quarter, could be only small rocky islands; and I am
inclined to believe that if there was land at all it was to the
northward, possibly it might be Roggewein's eastern island, which he has
placed in latitude 27 deg. S., and which some geographers have supposed to
be about seven hundred leagues distant from the continent of South
America, if indeed any credit is to be given to his account.

It was now the depth of winter in these parts, and we had hard gales and
high seas that frequently brought us under our courses and low sails:
The winds were also variable, and though we were near the tropic, the
weather was dark, hazy, and cold, with frequent thunder and lightning,
sleet and rain. The sun was above the horizon about ten hours in the
four-and-twenty, but we frequently passed many days together without
seeing him; and the weather was so thick, that when he was below the
horizon the darkness was dreadful: The gloominess of the weather was
indeed not only a disagreeable, but a most dangerous circumstance, as we
were often long without being able to make an observation, and were,
notwithstanding, obliged to carry all the sail we could spread, day and
night, our ship being so bad a sailer, and our voyage so long, to
prevent our perishing by hunger, which, with all its concomitant
horrors, would otherwise be inevitable.

We continued our course westward till the evening of Thursday the 2d of
July, when we discovered land, to the northward of us. Upon approaching
it the next day, it appeared like a great rock rising out of the sea: It
was not more than five miles in circumference, and seemed to be
uninhabited; it was, however, covered with trees, and we saw a small
stream of fresh water running down one side of it. I would have landed
upon it, but the surf, which, at this season broke upon it with great
violence, rendered it impossible. I got soundings on the west side of it
at somewhat less than a mile from the shore, in twenty-five fathom, with
a bottom of coral and sand; and it is probable that in fine summer
weather landing here may not only be practicable but easy. We saw a
great number of sea-birds hovering about it, at somewhat less than a
mile from the shore, and the sea here seemed to have fish. It lies in,
latitude 25 deg. 2' S., longitude 133 deg. 21' W., and about a thousand leagues
to the westward of the continent of America. It is so high that we saw
it at the distance of more than fifteen leagues, and it having been
discovered by a young gentleman, son to Major Pitcairn of the marines,
who was unfortunately lost in the Aurora, we called it PITCAIRNS ISLAND.

While we were in the neighbourhood of this island, the weather was
extremely tempestuous, with long rolling billows from the southward,
larger and higher than any I had seen before. The winds were variable,
but blew chiefly from the S.S.W.W. and W.N.W. We had very seldom a gale
to the eastward, so that we were prevented from keeping in a high south
latitude, and were continually driving to the northward.

On the 4th, we found that the ship made a good deal of water, for having
been so long labouring in high and turbulent seas, she was become very
crazy; our sails also being much worn, were continually splitting, so
that it was become necessary to keep the sail-maker constantly at work.
The people had hitherto enjoyed good health, but they now began to be
affected with the scurvy. While we were in the Strait of Magellan, I
caused a little awning to be made, which I covered with a clean painted
canvas, that had been allowed me for a floor-cloth to my cabin, and with
this we caught so much rain-water, with but little trouble or
attendance, that the people were never put to a short allowance of this
important article: The awning also afforded shelter from the inclemency
of the weather, and to these precautions I imputed our having escaped
the scurvy so long, though perhaps it was in some measure owing to the
mixture of spirit of vitriol with the water that was thus preserved, our
surgeon putting a small quantity into every cask when it was filled up.

On Saturday the 11th, we discovered a small, low, flat island, which
appeared to be almost level with the water's edge, and was covered with
green trees: As it was to the south and directly to windward of us, we
could not fetch it. It lies in latitude 22 deg.S., and longitude 141 deg. 34'W.;
and we called it the Bishop of Osnaburgh's Island, in honour of his
majesty's second son.[56]