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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This bank, which has not been mentioned by any navigator who has passed
the streight, is extremely dangerous; especially as it lies directly in
the fair way between Cape Virgin Mary and the first narrow, and just in
the middle between the south and north shores. It is more than two
leagues long, and full as broad; in many places also it is very steep.
When we were upon it, Point Possession bore N.E. distant three leagues;
and the entrance of the narrow S.W. distant two leagues. I afterwards
saw many parts of it dry, and the sea breaking very high over other
parts of it, where the water was shallow. A ship that should ground upon
this shoal in a gale of wind, would probably be very soon beaten to
pieces.

About six o'clock in the morning, we anchored in fifteen fathom, the
shoal bearing N.N.W.1/2 W. at the distance of about half a mile. At noon,
we weighed with a light breeze at N.E. and worked with the ebb tide till
two; but finding the water shoal, we anchored again in six fathom and a
half, at about the distance of half a mile from the south side of the
shoal; the Asses' Ears then bearing N.W. by W. distant four leagues, and
the south point of the entrance of the first Narrow W.S.W. distant about
three leagues. At this time the opening of the narrow was shut in, and
upon sending out the boats to sound, they discovered a channel between
the shoal and the south shore of the streight. The Tamar in the mean
time, as she was endeavouring to come near us, was very near going on
shore, having once got into three fathom, but soon after came to an
anchor in the channel between the shoal and the north shore.

The next morning, about eight o'clock, we weighed, with little wind at
W.S.W. and steered about half a mile S.E. by E. when, having deepened
our water to thirteen fathom, we steered between the E. and E.N.E. along
the south side of the shoal, at the distance of about seven miles from
the south shore, keeping two boats at some distance, one on each bow, to
sound. The depth of water was very irregular, varying continually
between nine and fifteen fathom; and upon hauling nearer to the shoal,
we had very soon no more than seven fathom: The boats went over a bank,
upon which they had six fathom and a half; it being then low water, but
within the bank, they had thirteen fathom. At noon, we were to the
eastward of the shoal, and as we hauled over to the north shore, we soon
deepened our water to twenty fathom. Point Possession at this time bore
N.N.W. distant between four and five leagues, the Asses' Ears W.N.W.
distant six leagues, and Cape Virgin Mary N.E.1/2 E. distant about seven
leagues. From this situation we steered N.E. by E. for the south end of
the spit which runs to the southward of the Cape, and had no soundings
with five and twenty fathom. At four in the afternoon, Cape Virgin Mary
bore N.E. and the south end of the spit N.E. by E. distant three
leagues. At eight the next morning, the Cape bore N. by W. distant two
leagues. Our latitude was 51 deg. 50', and our soundings were eleven and
twelve fathom. We now brought-to for the Tamar, who had come through the
north channel, and was some leagues astern of us, and while we were
waiting for her coming up, the officer of the watch informed me that the
head of the main-mast was sprung: I immediately went up to look at it
myself, and found it split almost in a straight line perpendicularly for
a considerable length, but I could not discover exactly how far the
fissure went, for the cheeks that were upon the mast. We imagined this
to have happened in the very hard gale that had overtaken us some time
before; but as it was of more importance to contrive how to repair the
damage, than discover how it happened, we immediately put on a strong
fish, and woolded it so well, that we had reason to hope the mast would
be as serviceable as ever. Cape Virgin Mary now bore S. 62 deg. W. distant
twenty-one leagues, and our latitude was 51 deg. 50' S. longitude 69 deg. 56'
W.; the variation 20 deg. E.

On the 9th, having sailed S. 67 deg. E. our latitude was 52 deg. 8' S. our
longitude 68 deg. 31' W. and Cape Virgin Mary bore S. 83 deg. W. distant
thirty-three leagues.

On the 10th, there having been little wind for the last twenty-four
hours, between the north and east, with thick foggy weather, our course
was N. 18 deg. W. for thirty-nine miles. Our latitude was 51 deg. 31' S.
longitude 68 deg. 44' W.; variation 20 deg. E. and Cape Virgin Mary bore S. 60 deg.
W. distant thirty-three leagues.

On the 11th, we had strong gales at S.W. with a great sea: Our course
was N. 87 deg. E. for ninety-nine miles. Our latitude was 51 deg. 24' S.
longitude 66 deg. 10' W. Cape Virgin Mary bore S. 75 deg. 8' W. distant
sixty-five leagues, and Cape Fair-weather W. 2 deg. S. distant seventy
leagues; the variation was now 19 deg. E. About seven in the evening, I
thought I saw land a-head of us, but the Tamar being some leagues
astern, I wore ship, and made an easy sail off: The next morning, at
break of day, I stood in again, the wind having shifted in the night to
N.W. and about four o'clock I recovered sight of the land a-head, which
had the appearance of three islands: I imagined they might be the
islands of Sebald de Wert, but intending to stand between them, I found
that the land which had appeared to be separated, was joined by some
very low ground, which formed a deep bay. As soon as I had made this
discovery, I tacked and stood out again, and at the same time saw land a
great way to the southward, which I made no doubt was the same that is
mentioned in the charts by the name of the New Islands. As I was
hauling out of this bay, I saw a long, low shoal of rocks, stretching
out for more than a league to the northward of us, and another of the
same kind lying between that and what we had taken for the northermost
of De Wert's Islands. This land, except the low part, which is not seen
till it is approached near, consists of high, craggy, barren rocks,
which in appearance very much resemble Staten Land. When I had got so
near as to discover the low land, I was quite embayed, and if it had
blown hard at S.W. so great a sea must have rolled in here as would have
rendered it almost impossible to claw off the shore; all ships,
therefore, that may hereafter navigate these parts, should avoid falling
in with it. The seals and birds here are innumerable; we saw also many
whales spouting about us, several of which were of an enormous size. Our
latitude now was 51 deg. 27' S. longitude 63 deg. 54' W.; the variation was 23 deg.
30' E. In the evening we brought-to, and at day-break the next morning,
stood in for the north part of the island by the coast of which we had
been embayed: When we had got about four miles to the eastward, it fell
calm, and rained with great violence, during which there arose such a
swell as I never remember to have seen: It came from the westward, and
ran so quick and so high, that I expected every moment it would break:
It set us very fast towards the shore, which is as dangerous as any in
the world, and I could see the surge breaking at some distance from it,
mountains high: Happily for us a fresh gale sprang up at south-east,
with which, to our great joy, we were able to stand off; and if behoves
whoever shall afterwards come this way, to give the north part of this
island a good birth. After I had got to some distance, the weather being
thick, and it raining very hard, I brought-to. Our latitude was now
51 deg.S. and longitude 63 deg. 22' W.

On Monday the 14th, the weather having cleared up, and the wind shifted
to the S.S.W. we steered along the short S.E. by E. four miles, and saw
a low flat island full of high tufts of grass, resembling bushes,
bearing south, at the distance of two or three leagues, the northernmost
land at the same time bearing west, distant about six leagues: We had
here thirty-eight fathom, with rocky ground. We continued our course
along the shore six leagues farther, and then saw a low rocky island
hearing S.E. by E. distant about five miles: Here we brought-to, and
having sounded, we had forty fathom water, with a bottom of white sand.
This island is about three leagues distant from the land we were
coasting, which here forms a very deep bay, and beats E. by N. of the
other island on which we had seen the long tufts of grass: We saw the
sea break at a good distance from the shore, and during the night stood
off and on. The next morning at three o'clock we made sail, and stood in
for the land to look for a harbour. At six, the east end of the rocky
island bore W.S.W. distant about three miles, and our soundings then
were sixteen fathom, with rocky ground; but when we got within the
island we had twenty fathom, with fine white sand. The coast from this
rocky island lies E. by S. distant about seven or eight leagues, where
there are two low islands, which make the easternmost land in sight. At
eight o'clock we saw an opening, which had the appearance of an harbour,
bearing E.S.E. and being between two and three leagues distant. Upon
this discovery we brought to, and sent a boat from each of the ships to
examine the opening; but it beginning to blow very hard soon after, and
the weather growing thick, with heavy rain, we were obliged to stand out
to sea with both the ships, and it was not without great difficulty that
we cleared the two rocky islands which were to the eastward of us. We
had now a great sea, and I began to be under much concern lest we should
be blown off, and our people in the boats left behind: However, about
three in the afternoon, the weather clearing up, I tacked and stood in
again, and presently after had the satisfaction to see one of the boats,
though it was a long way to leeward of us. I immediately bore down to
her, and found her to be the Tamar's boat, with Mr Hindman, the second
lieutenant, on board, who having been on shore in the opening, had
ventured off, notwithstanding the great sea and bad weather, to inform
me that he had found a fine harbour: We immediately stood in for it, and
found it equally beyond his report and our expectations; the entrance is
about a mile over, and every part of it is perfectly safe, the depth of
water, close to the shore, being from ten to seven fathom. We found this
harbour to consist of two little bays on the starboard side, where ships
may anchor in great safety, and in each of which there is a fine rivulet
of fresh water. Soon after we entered an harbour of much greater extent,
which I called Port Egmont, in honour of the earl, who was then first
lord of the Admiralty; and I think it is one of the finest harbours in
the world. The mouth of it is S.E. distant seven leagues from the low
rocky island, which is a good mark to know it by: Within the island, and
at the distance of about two miles from the shore, there is between
seventeen and eighteen fathom water; and about three leagues to the
westward of the harbour, there is a remarkable white sandy beach, off
which a ship may anchor till there is an opportunity to run in. In
standing in for this sandy beach, the two low rocky islands, which we
found it difficult to clear when the weather obliged us to stand off,
appear to the eastward, and Port Egmont is about sixteen leagues from
the north end of these islands. We moored in ten fathom, with fine
holding ground. The northermost point of the western shore was distant
two miles and a half, the watering-place on that shore bore W.N.W.1/2 W.
and was distant half a mile, and the islands on the east side bore E. by
S. and were distant four miles. The whole navy of England might ride
here in perfect security from all winds. Soon after the ship came to an
anchor, the other boat which had remained on shore when Mr Hindman put
off, came on board. In the southermost part of the harbour there are
several islands, but there is no passage out for a ship; I went,
however, through in my boat, about seven leagues distant from where the
ship lay, and entered a large sound, which is too much exposed to a
westerly wind for ships to lie in it safely; and the master, of the
Tamar, who had been round in her boat, and entered this sound from
without, reported that many shoals lay off it, so that if the harbour
was ever so good, it would not be prudent to attempt getting in. In
every part of Port Egmont there is fresh water in the greatest plenty,
and geese, ducks, snipes, and other birds are so numerous, that our
people grew tired of them: It was a common thing for a boat to bring off
sixty or seventy fine geese, without expending a single charge of powder
and shot, for the men knocked down as many as they pleased with stones:
Wood, however, is wanting here, except a little that is found adrift
along the shore, which I imagined came from the Straits of Magellan.
Among other refreshments, which are in the highest degree salutary to
those who have contracted scorbutic disorders, during a long voyage,
here are wild celery, and wood sorrel, in the greatest abundance; nor is
there any want of mussels, clams, cockles, and limpets: The seals and
penguins are innumerable, so that it is impossible to walk upon the
beach without first driving them away: And the coast abounds with
sea-lions, many of which are of an enormous size. We found this animal
very formidable; I was once attacked by one of them very unexpectedly,
and it was with the utmost difficulty that I could disengage myself from
him: At other times we had many battles with them, and it has sometimes
afforded a dozen of us an hour's work to dispatch one of them: I had
with me a very fine mastiff dog, and a bite of one of these creatures
almost tore him to pieces. Nor were these the only dangerous animals
that we found here, for the master having been sent out one day to sound
the coast upon the south shore, reported, at his return, that four
creatures of great fierceness, resembling wolves, ran up to their
bellies in the water to attack the people in his boat, and that as they
happened to have no fire-arms with them, they had immediately put the
boat off into deep water. The next morning after this happened, I went
upon the southern shore myself, where we found one of the largest
sea-lions I had ever seen: As the boat's crew were now well armed, they
immediately engaged him, and during the contest one of the other animals
was seen running towards us: He was tired out before he came up, and was
presently killed, though I afterwards wished that we had endeavoured to
take him alive, which, if we had been aware of his attack, I daresay
might easily have been done. When any of these creatures got sight of
our people, though at ever so great a distance, they ran directly at
them; and no less than five of them were killed this day. They were
always called wolves by the ship's company, but, except in their size,
and the shape of the tail, I think they bore a greater resemblance to a
fox. They are as big as a middle-sized mastiff, and their fangs are
remarkably long and sharp. There are great numbers of them upon this
coast, though it is not perhaps easy to guess how they first came
hither, for these islands are at least one hundred leagues distant from
the main: They burrow in the ground like a fox, and we have frequently
seen pieces of seal which they have mangled, and the skins of penguins,
lie scattered about the mouth of their holes. To get rid of these
creatures, our people set fire to the grass, so that the country was in
a blaze as far as the eye could reach, for several days, and we could
see them running in great numbers to seek other quarters. I dug holes in
many places, about two feet deep, to examine the soil, which I found
first a black mold, and then a light clay. While we lay here, we set up
the armourer's forge on shore, and completed a great deal of iron-work
that was much wanted. Our people had every morning an excellent
breakfast made of portable soup, and wild celery, thickened with
oatmeal: Neither was our attention confined wholly to ourselves, for the
surgeon of the Tamar surrounded a piece of ground near the
watering-place with a fence of turf, and planted it with many esculent
vegetables as a garden, for the benefit of those who might hereafter
come to this place.[26] Of this harbour, and all the neighbouring
islands, I took possession for his majesty King George the Third of
Great Britain, by the name of _Falkland's Islands_; and there is, I
think, little reason to doubt that they are the same land to which
Cowley gave the name of Pepys's Island.

[Footnote 26: "Many of them began to spring up very fast, and we have
since heard, that some persons who arrived there after our departure,
eat of those roots and sallad."]

In the printed account of Cowley's voyage, he says, "we held our course
S.W. till we came into the latitude of forty-seven degrees, where we saw
land, the same being an island, not before known, lying to the westward
of us: It was not inhabited, and I gave it the name of Pepys's Island.
We found it a very commodious place for ships to water at, and take in
wood, and it has a very good harbour, where a thousand sail of ships may
safely ride. Here is great plenty of fowls; and, we judge, abundance of
fish, by reason of the ground's being nothing but rocks and sands."

To this account there is annexed a representation of Pepys's Island, in
which names are given to several points and head-lands, and the harbour
is called Admiralty Bay; yet it appears that Cowley had only a distant
view of it, for he immediately adds, "the wind being so extraordinary
high that we could not get into it to water, we stood to the southward,
shaping our course S.S.W. till we came into the latitude of 53 deg.;" and
though he says that "it was commodious to take in wood," and it is known
that there is no wood on Falkland's Islands, Pepys's Island and
Falkland's Islands may notwithstanding be the same; for upon Falkland's
Islands there are immense quantities of flags with narrow leaves, reeds
and rushes which grow in clusters, so as to form bushes about three feet
high, and then shoot about six or seven feet higher: These at a distance
have greatly the appearance of wood, and were taken for wood by the
French, who landed there in the year 1764, as appears by Pernetty's
account of their voyage.[27] It has been suggested that the latitude of
Pepys's Island might, in the MS. from which the account of Cowley's
voyage was printed, be expressed in figures, which, if ill made, might
equally resemble forty-seven, and fifty-one; and therefore as there is
no island in these seas in latitude forty-seven, and as Falkland's
Islands lie nearly in fifty-one, that fifty-one might reasonably be
concluded to be the number for which the figures were intended to stand:
Recourse therefore was had to the British Museum, and a manuscript
journal of Cowley's was there found. In this manuscript no mention is
made of an island not before known, to which he gave the name of Pepys's
Island, but land is mentioned in latitude forty-seven degrees forty
minutes, expressed in words at length, which exactly answers to the
description of what is called Pepys's Island in the printed account, and
which here, he says, he supposed to be the islands of Sebald de Wert.
This part of the manuscript is in the following words: "January, 1683,
This month we were in the latitude of forty-seven degrees and forty
minutes, where we espied an island bearing west from us; we having the
wind at east north-east, we bore away for it; it being too late for us
to go on shore, we lay by all night. The island seemed very pleasant to
the eye, with many woods, I may as well say the whole land was woods.
There being a rock lying above water to the eastward of it, where an
innumerable company of fowls, being of the bigness of a small goose,
which fowls would strike at our men as they were aloft: Some of them we
killed and eat: They seemed to us very good, only tasted somewhat
fishly. I sailed along that island to the southward, and about the
south-west side of the island there seemed to me to be a good place for
ships to ride; I would have had the boat out to have gone into the
harbour, but the wind blew fresh, and they would not agree to go with
it. Sailing a little further, keeping the lead, and having six
and-twenty and seven-and-twenty fathoms water, until we came to a place
where we saw the weeds ride, heaving the lead again, found but seven
fathoms water. Fearing danger went about the ship there; were then
fearfull to stay by the land any longer, it being all rocky ground, but
the harbour seemed to be a good place for shipps to ride there; in the
island, seeming likewise to have water enough, there seemed to me to be
harbour for five hundred sail of ships. The going in but narrow, and the
north side of the entrance shallow water that I could see, but I verily
believe that there is water enough for any ship to go in on the south
side, for there cannot be so great a lack of water, but must needs
scoure a channel away at the ebb deep enough for shipping to go in. I
would have had them stood upon a wind all night, but they told me they
were not come out to go upon discovery. We saw likewise another island
by this that night, which made me think them to be the Sibble D'wards."

[Footnote 27: Bougainville, who had the command of the expedition here
referred to, says, "The same illusion which made Hawkins, Woods Rogers,
and others believe that these isles were covered with wood, acted
likewise upon my fellow voyagers. We were surprised when we landed, to
see that what we took for woods as we sailed along the coast, was
nothing but bushes of a tall rush, standing very close together. The
bottom of its stalks being dried, got the colour of a dead leaf to the
height of about five feet; and from thence springs the tuft of rushes,
which crown this stalk; so that at a distance, these stalks together
have the appearance of a wood of middling height. These rushes only grow
near the sea side, and on little isles; the mountains on the main land
are, in some parts, covered all over with heath, which are easily
mistaken for bushes."--Forster's Translation, where a pretty interesting
account of these islands (called Malouines) is to be found.--E.]

"The same night we steered our course againe west south west, which was
but our south west, the compasse having two and twenty degrees variation
eastwardly, keeping that course till we came in the latitude of three
and fifty degrees."

In both the printed and manuscript account, this land is said to lie in
latitude forty-seven, to be situated to the westward of the ship when
first discovered, to appear woody, to have an harbour where a great
number of ships might ride in safety, and to be frequented by
innumerable birds. It appears also by both accounts, that the weather
prevented his going on shore, and that he steered from it W.S.W. till he
came into latitude fifty-three: There can therefore be little doubt but
that Cowley gave the name of Pepys's Island after he came home, to what
he really supposed to be the island of Sebald de Wert, for which it is
not difficult to assign several reasons; and though the supposition of a
mistake of the figures does not appear to be well grounded, yet, there
being no land in forty-seven, the evidence that what Cowley saw was
Falkland's Islands is very strong. The description of the country agrees
in almost every particular, and even the map is of the same general
figure, with a strait running up the middle. The chart of Falkland's
that accompanies my narrative, was laid down from the journals and
drawings of Captain Macbride, who was dispatched thither after my
return, and circumnavigated the whole coast: The two principal islands
were probably called Falkland's Islands by Strong, about the year 1689,
as he is known to have given the name of Falkland's Sound to part of the
strait which divides them. The journal of this navigator is still
unprinted in the British Museum. The first who saw these islands is
supposed to be Captain Davies, the associate of Cavendish, in 1692. In
1594, Sir Richard Hawkins saw land, supposed to be the same, and in
honour of his mistress, Queen Elizabeth, called them Hawkins's Maiden
Land. Long afterwards, they were seen by some French ships from Saint
Maloes, and Frezier, probably for that reason, called them the Malouins,
a name which has been since adopted by the Spaniards.

Having continued in the harbour which I had called Port Egmont till
Sunday the 27th of January, we sailed again at eight o'clock in the
morning with the wind at S.S.W.; but we were scarcely got out of the
port before it began to blow very hard, and the weather became so thick
that we could not see the rocky islands. I now most heartily wished
myself again at anchor in the harbour we had quitted; but in a short
time we had the satisfaction to see the weather become clear, though it
continued to blow very hard the whole day. At nine the entrance of Port
Egmont harbour bore E.S.E. distant two leagues; the two low islands to
the northward E. by N. distant between three and four miles; and the
rocky island W. 1/2 N. distant four leagues. At ten the two low islands
bore S.S.E. distant four or five miles; and we then steered along the
shore east by the compass, and after having run about five leagues, we
saw a remarkable head-land, with a rock at a little distance from it,
bearing E.S.E. 1/2 E. distant three leagues. This head-land I called
_Cape Tamar_. Having continued the same course five leagues farther, we
saw a rock about five miles from the main bearing N.E. at the distance
of four or five leagues: This rock I called the _Edistone_, and then
steered between it and a remarkable head-land which I called _Cape
Dolphin_, in the direction of E.N.E. five leagues farther. From Cape
Tamar to Cape Dolphin, a distance of about eight leagues, the land
forms, what I thought, a deep sound, and called it _Carlisle Sound_, but
what has since appeared to be the northern entrance of the strait
between the two principal islands. In the part that I supposed to be the
bottom of the sound, we saw an opening, which had the appearance of a
harbour. From Cape Dolphin we steered along the shore E. 1/2 N. sixteen
leagues, to a low flat cape or headland, and then brought-to. In this
day's run the land, for the most part, resembled the east side of the
coast of Patagonia, not having so much as a single tree, or even a bush,
being all downs, with here and there a few of the high tufts of grass
that we had seen at Port Egmont; and in this account I am sure I am not
mistaken, for I frequently sailed within two miles of the shore; so that
if there had been a shrub as big as a gooseberry hush, I should have
seen it. During the night we had forty fathom, water with rocky ground.