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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It is probable, that whoever shall read this account of the difficulties
and dangers which attended our passage through the Streight of Magellan,
will conclude, that it ought never to be attempted again; but that all
ships which shall hereafter sail a western course from Europe into the
South Seas ought to go round Cape Horn. I, however, who have been twice
round Cape Horn, am of a different opinion. I think that at a proper
season of the year, not only a single vessel, but a large squadron might
pass the streight in less than three weeks; and I think, to take the
proper season, they should be at the eastern entrance some time in the
month of December.[33] One great advantage of this passage, is the
facility with which fish is almost every where to be procured, with wild
celery, scurvy-grass, berries, and many other vegetables in great
abundance; for to this I impute the healthiness of my ship's company,
not a single man being affected with the scurvy in the slightest degree,
nor upon the sick list for any other disorder, notwithstanding the
hardship and labour which they endured in the passage, which cost us
seven weeks and two days, as we entered the streight on Sunday the 17th
of February, and quitted it on Tuesday the 9th of April. Wood and water
are also to be procured almost at every anchoring-place beyond
Freshwater Bay. Our sufferings I impute wholly to our passing the
streight just as the sun approached the equinox, when, in this high
latitude, the worst weather was to be expected; and indeed the weather
we had was dreadful beyond all description.

[Footnote 33: Bougainville gives the same advice as to preferring the
passage through the streights, from the month of September till the end
of March, but at all other periods he recommends to go round Cape Horn.
He was 52 days in going the whole length of the streights, reckoning
from Cape Virgin Mary to Cape Pillar, a distance of 342 miles, and he
says that 36 hours of fair wind were sufficient to carry him from Port
Gallant to the Pacific Ocean. Captain Wallis, we shall see, did not
realize this opinion, or the hopes formed on it--he was almost four
months in getting through the streights, although he attempted the
passage at the very time recommended by Byron. On the other hand,
Captain Krusenstern doubled the cape in four weeks only, after his
leaving St Catharine's Island, which the reader will observe is
considerably northward of the river La Plata, "a voyage," says he,
"which perhaps was never made in a shorter time." In weathering the
cape, he took the advice of Cook, not to approach the land nearer than
30 or 36 miles, by which means he avoided the strong currents which,
according to our great navigator's assertion, seem to lose all their
force at that distance.--E.]

SECTION VIII.

_The Run from the Western Entrance of the Streight of Magellan to the
Islands of Disappointment._

Having cleared the streight, we pursued our course to the westward, till
Friday, April the 26th, when we discovered the island of Massafuero,
bearing W.N.W.1/2 W. distant about sixteen leagues; but as to the
northward it was hazy, the island of Don Juan Fernandez was not in
sight. During this run, the variation had gradually decreased from 22 deg.
to 9 deg. 36'. E.

We bore away for Masafuero,[34] and at sun-set, being within about seven
leagues of it, we brought-to, and afterwards kept the wind all night. At
day-break the next day, we bore away again for the island, at the same
time sending an officer, with a boat from each ship, to sound the
eastern side of it. About noon, the middle of the island bore W. distant
about three miles, and as I saw the boats run along the shore, without
being able to land any where for the surf, I bore down to the north part
of the island, off which a reef runs for the distance of about two
miles, and lay by for them. This island is very high, and the greater
part of it is covered with wood; but towards the north end, where I lay,
some spots seemed to have been cleared, upon which great numbers of
goats were feeding, and they had a green and pleasant appearance. When
the boats returned, the officer informed me that he had found a bank, on
the east side of the island nearest to the south point, at a
considerable distance from the shore, where we might anchor, and
opposite to which there was a fine fall of fresh water; but near the
north point, he said, he could find no anchorage. The boats brought off
a great quantity of very fine fish, which they had caught with hook and
line near the shore; and as soon as we had taken them on board, which
was late in the afternoon, we made sail, and worked to windward in the
night.

[Footnote 34: "The commodore thought it more advisable to touch at this
island than at Juan Fernandez; it being rather more secure than the
latter, from any discoveries which the Spaniards might make of our
designs; in consequence of which our voyage, and all our farther
discoveries; might have been prevented."]

At seven o'clock in the morning, we anchored with the small bower, on
the bank which the boats had discovered, in twenty-four fathom, with
black sandy ground. The extreme points bore from S. to N.W. and the fall
of water bore S.S.W. distant about a mile from the ship's station. This
part of the island lies north and south, and is about four miles long:
The soundings are very regular, from twenty to fifteen fathom, within
two cables' length of the shore. Soon after we were come to an anchor, I
sent out the boats to endeavour to get some wood and water, but as I
observed the shore to be rocky, and a surf to break with great violence
upon it, I ordered all the men to put on cork-jackets, which had been
sent with us to be made use of upon such occasions. By the help of these
jackets, which not only assisted the men in swimming, but prevented
their being bruised against the rocks, we got off a considerable
quantity of water and wood, which, without such assistance, we could not
have done: There was, however, another species of danger here, against
which cork-jackets afforded no defence, for the sea abounded with sharks
of an enormous, size, which, when they saw a man in the water, would
dart into the very surf to seize him: Our people, however, happily
escaped them, though they were many times very near: One of them, which
was upwards of twenty feet-long, came close to one of the boats that was
watering, and having seized a large seal, instantly devoured it at one
mouthful; and I myself saw another of nearly the same size do the same
thing under the ship's stern. Our people killed and sent off several of
the goats, which we thought as good as the best venison in England; and
I observed, that one of them appeared to have been caught and marked,
its right ear being slit in a manner that could not have happened by
accident.[35] We had also fish in such plenty, that one boat would, with
hooks and lines, catch, in a few hours, as much as would serve a large
ship's company two days: They were of various sorts, all excellent in
their kind, and many of them weighed from twenty to thirty pounds.

[Footnote 35: The other account says the same of two of the goats caught
here, and conjectures, as no traces of inhabitants were then to be
discovered in the island, that "some solitary Selkirk had dwelt there,
who, like his namesake at Juan Fernandez, when he caught more than he
wanted, marked them and let them go." Captain Carteret gives some
particulars respecting this island, to which the reader is
referred.--E.]

This evening, the surf running very high, the gunner and one of the
seamen who were on shore with the waterers, were afraid to venture off,
and the boat therefore, when she came on board the last time, left them
behind her.

The next day we found a more convenient watering-place about a mile and
a half to the northward of the ship, and about the middle-way between
the north and south points of the island, there being at this place less
surf than where the boats first went on shore. The tide here set twelve
hours to the northward, and twelve to the southward, which we found very
convenient, for as the wind was southerly, with a great swell, the boats
could not otherwise have got on board with their water. We got off ten
tons of water from the new watering-place this day, and in the afternoon
I sent a boat to fetch off the gunner and seaman, who had been left on
shore at the old watering-place the night before; but the surf was still
so great, that the seaman, who could not swim, was afraid to venture: He
was therefore again, left behind, and the gunner stayed with him.

As soon as this was reported to me, I sent another boat to inform them,
that as, by the appearances of the weather, there was reason to believe
it would soon blow hard, I was afraid I might be driven off the bank in
the night, the consequence of which would be that they must be left
behind upon the island. When the boat came to the surf, the people on
board delivered my message, upon which the gunner swam through the surf,
and got on board her; but the seaman, though he had a cork-jacket on,
said he was sure he should be drowned if he attempted to get off to the
boat, and that, chusing rather to die a natural death, he was determined
at all events to remain upon the island: He then took an affectionate
leave of the people, wishing them all happiness, and the people on board
returned his good wishes. One of the midshipmen, however, just as the
boat was about to return, took the end of a rope in his hand, jumped
into the sea, and swam through the surf to the beach, where poor John
still continued ruminating upon his situation, in a dejected attitude,
and with a most disconsolate length of countenance. The midshipman began
to expostulate with him upon the strange resolution he had taken, and in
the mean time having made a running knot in his rope, he dexterously
contrived to throw it round his body, calling out to his companions in
the boat, who had hold of the other end of it, to haul away; they
instantly took the hint, and the poor seceder was very soon dragged
through the surf into the boat: He had, however, swallowed so great a
quantity of water that he was to all appearance dead, but, being held up
by the heels, he soon recovered his speech and motion, and was perfectly
well the next day. In the evening I removed Captain Mouat from the
Tamar, and appointed him captain of the Dolphin under me; Mr Cumming, my
first lieutenant, I appointed captain of the Tamar, taking Mr Carteret,
her first lieutenant, on board in his room, and gave Mr Kendal, one of
the mates of the Dolphin, a commission as second lieutenant of the
Tamar.

On the 30th, at seven o'clock in the morning, we weighed, and steered,
to the northward, along the east and northeast side of the island, but
could find no anchoring-place; we bore away, therefore, with a fresh
gale at S.E. and hazy weather, and at noon, the middle of the island was
distant eight leagues, in the direction of S.S.E. I continued to steer
N.3 deg.W. the next day, and at noon on the 2d of May I changed my course,
and steered W. intending, if possible, to make the land, which is called
Davis's Land in the charts, and is laid down in latitude 27 deg.30'S. and
about 500 leagues west of Copiapo in Chili; but on the 9th, finding
little prospect of getting to the westward, in the latitude which I at
first proposed, being then in latitude 26 deg.46'S. longitude 94 deg.45'W. and
having a great run to make, I determined to steer a north-west course
till I got the true trade-wind, and then to stand to the westward till I
should fall in with Solomon's Islands, if any such there were, or make
some new discovery.

On the 10th we saw several dolphins and bonnettas about the ship, and
the next day some straggling birds, which were brown on the back and the
upper part of their wings, and white on the rest of the body, with a
short beak, and a short pointed tail. The variation was now decreased to
4 deg. 43' E. our latitude was 24 deg. 30' S. our longitude 97 deg. 45' W.

On the 14th we saw several grampuses, and more of the birds which have
just been described, so that, imagining we might be near some land, we
kept a good look-out, but saw nothing. In latitude 23 deg. 2' S. longitude
101 deg. 28' W. the variation, by azimuth, was 3 deg. 20' E.

On the morning of the 16th we saw two very remarkable birds; they flew
very high, were as large as geese, and all over as white as snow, except
their legs, which were black: I now began to imagine that I had passed
some land, or islands, which lay to the southward of us, for the last
night we observed, that, although we had generally a great swell from
that quarter, the water became quite smooth for a few hours, after which
the swell returned.

On the 22d, being in latitude 20 deg. 52' S. longitude 115 deg. 38' W. with a
faint breeze at E.S.E. we had so great a swell from the southward, that
we were in perpetual danger of our masts rolling over the ship's side,
so that I was obliged to haul more to the northward, as well to ease the
ship, as in hopes of getting the true trade-wind, which we had not yet;
and now, to my great concern, some of my best men began to complain of
the scurvy. This day, for the first time, we caught two bonnettas; we
also saw several tropic birds about the ship, and observed that they
were larger than any we had seen before; their whole plumage was white,
and they had two long feathers in the tail. The variation now had
changed its direction, and was 19' W.

On the 26th we saw two large birds about the ship, which were all black,
except the neck and the beak, which were white; they had long wings, and
long feathers in their tails, yet we observed that they flew heavily,
and therefore imagined that they were of a species which did not usually
fly far from the shore. I had flattered myself, that, before we had run
six degrees to the northward of Masafuero, we should have found a
settled trade-wind to the S.E. but the winds still continued to the
north, though we had a mountainous swell, from the S.W. Our latitude was
now 16 deg. 55' S. longitude 127 deg. 55' W. and here the needle, at this time,
had no variation.

On the 28th we saw two fine large birds about the ship, one of which was
brown and white, and the other black and white; they wanted much to
settle upon the yards, but the working of the ship frighted them.

On the 31st the wind shifted from N. by W. to N.W. by W. and the number
of birds that were now about the ship was very great; from these
circumstances, and our having lost the great south-west swell, I
imagined some land to be near, and we looked out for it with great
diligence, for our people began now to fall down with the scurvy very
fast.

We saw no land, however, till one o'clock in the morning of Friday the
7th of June, when we were in latitude 14 deg. 5' S. longitude 144 deg. 58' W.
and observed the variation to be 4 deg. 30' E. After making the land, I
hauled upon a wind under an easy sail till the morning, and then a low
small island bore from us W.S.W. at the distance of about two leagues.
In a very short time we saw another island to windward of us, bearing
E.S.E. distant between three and four leagues: This appeared to be much
larger than that which we first discovered, and we must have passed very
near it in the night.

I stood for the small island, which, as we drew near it, had a most
beautiful appearance; it was surrounded by a beach of the finest white
sand, and within, it was covered with tall trees, which extended their
shade to a great distance, and formed the most delightful groves that
can be imagined, without underwood. We judged this island to be about
five miles in circumference, and from each end of it we saw a spit
running out into the sea, upon which the surge broke with great fury;
there was also a great surf all round it. We soon perceived that it was
inhabited, for many of the natives appeared upon the beach, with spears
in their hands that were at least sixteen feet long. They presently made
several large fires, which we supposed to be a signal; for we
immediately perceived several fires upon the larger island that was to
windward of us, by which we knew that also to be inhabited. I sent the
boat with an officer to look for an anchoring-place, who, to our great
regret and disappointment, returned with an account that he had been all
round the island, and that no bottom could be found within less than a
cable's length of the shore, which was surrounded close to the beach
with a steep coral rock.[36] The scurvy by this time had made dreadful
havock among us, many of my best men being now confined to their
hammocks; the poor wretches who were able to crawl upon the deck, stood
gazing at this little paradise, which Nature had forbidden them to
enter, with sensations which cannot easily be conceived; they saw
cocoa-nuts in great abundance, the milk of which is, perhaps, the most
powerful antiscorbutic in the world: They had reason to suppose that
there were limes, bananas, and other fruits which are generally found
between the tropics; and, to increase their mortification, they saw the
shells of many turtle scattered about the shore. When I knew the
soundings; I could not forbear standing close round the island with the
ship, though I also knew it was impossible to procure any of the
refreshments which it produced. The natives ran along the shore abreast
of the ship, shouting and dancing; they also frequently brandished
their long spears, and then threw themselves backward, and lay a few
minutes motionless, as if they had been dead: This we understood as a
menace that they would kill us, if we ventured to go on shore. As we
were sailing along the coast, we took notice that in one place the
natives had fixed upright in the sand two spears, to the top of which
they had fastened several things that fluttered in the air, and that
some of them were every moment kneeling down before them, as we supposed
invoking the assistance of some invisible being to defend them against
us. While I was thus circumnavigating the island with the ship, I sent
the boats out again to sound, and when they came near the shore, the
Indians set up one of the most hideous yells I had ever heard, pointing
at the same time to their spears, and poising in their hands large
stones which they took up from the beach. Our men on the contrary made
all the signs of amity and good-will that they could devise, and at the
same time threw them bread and many other things, none of which they
vouchsafed so much as to touch, but with great expedition hauled five or
six large canoes, which we saw lying upon the beach, up into the wood.
When this was done, they waded into the water, and seemed to watch for
an opportunity of laying hold of the boat, that they might drag her on
shore: The people on board her, apprehending that this was their design,
and that if they got them on shore they would certainly put them to
death, were very impatient to be before-hand with them, and would fain
have fired upon them; but the officer on board, having no permission
from me to commit any hostilities, restrained them. I should indeed have
thought myself at liberty to have obtained by force the refreshments,
for want of which our people were dying, if it had been possible to have
come to an anchor, supposing we could not have made these poor savages
our friends; but nothing could justify the taking away their lives for a
mere imaginary or intentional injury, without procuring the least
advantage to ourselves. They were of a deep copper colour, exceedingly
stout and well-limbed, and remarkably nimble and active, for I never saw
men run so fast in my life. This island lies in latitude 14 deg. 5'S.,
longitude 145 deg.4'W. from the meridian of London. As the boats reported a
second time that there was no anchoring ground about this island, I
determined to work up to the other, which was accordingly done all the
rest of the day and the following night.

[Footnote 36: "Other objections stood also in our way: for the Indians
had surrounded the shore with staves and javelins 16 feet long, with a
piece of bone at the end in the form of a harpoon, in their hands,
hallooing and shouting in the most hideous manner, at the same time
making signs with their hands for us to be gone; always taking care, as
the boat sailed along the shore, to move in the same direction and
accompany it; and though the men saw some turtle at a distance, they
could get at none, as those Indians still kept opposite to them."--"They
altogether amounted to about 50 in number, including women and children;
and to the south-west we could perceive their huts, under the shade of
the most lovely grove we ever saw."]

At six o'clock in the morning of the 8th, we brought-to on the west side
of it, at the distance of about three quarters of a mile from the shore,
but we had no soundings with one hundred and forty fathom of line. We
now perceived several other low islands, or rather peninsulas, most of
them being joined one to the other by a neck of land, very narrow, and
almost level with the surface of the water, which breaks high over it.
In approaching these islands the cocoa-nut trees are first discovered,
as they are higher than any part of the surface. I sent a boat with an
officer from each ship to sound the lee-side of these islands for an
anchoring-place; and as soon as they left the ship, I saw the Indians
run down to the beach in great numbers, armed with long spears and
clubs; they kept abreast of the boats as they went sounding along the
shore, and used many threatening gestures to prevent their landing; I
therefore fired a nine-pound shot from the ship over their heads, upon
which they ran into the woods with great precipitation.[37] At ten
o'clock the boats returned, but could get no soundings close in with the
surf, which broke very high upon the shore. The middle of this cluster
of islands lies in latitude 14 deg.10'S., longitude 144 deg.52'W.; the variation
of the compass was here 4 deg.30'E.

At half an hour after ten, we bore away and made sail to the westward,
finding it impossible to procure at these islands any refreshment for
our sick, whose situation was becoming more deplorable every hour, and I
therefore called them the _Islands of Disappointment._

SECTION IX.

_The Discovery of King George's Islands, with a Description of them,
and an Account of several Incidents that happened there._

At half an hour after five o'clock in the afternoon of the 9th, we saw
land again, bearing W.S.W. at the distance of six or seven leagues; and
at seven we brought-to for the night. In the morning, being within three
miles of the shore, we discovered it to be a long low island, with a
white beach, of a pleasant appearance, full of cocoa-nut and other
trees, and surrounded with a rock of red coral. We stood along the
north-east side of it, within half a mile of the shore; and the savages,
as soon as they saw us, made great fires, as we supposed, to alarm the
distant inhabitants of the island, and ran along the beach, abreast of
the ship, in great numbers, armed in the same manner as the natives of
the Islands of Disappointment. Over the land on this side of the island
we could see a large lake of salt water, or lagoon, which appeared to be
two or three leagues wide, and to reach within a small distance of the
opposite shore. Into this lagoon we saw a small inlet about a league
from the south-west point, off which we brought-to. At this place the
natives have built a little town, under the shade of a fine grove of
cocoa-nut trees. I immediately sent off the boats, with an officer in
each, to sound; but they could find no anchorage, the shore being every
where as steep as a wall, except at the very mouth of the inlet, which
was scarcely a ship's length wide, and there they had thirteen fathom,
with a bottom of coral rock. We stood close in with the ships, and saw
hundreds of the savages, ranged in very good order, and standing up to
their waists in water; they were all armed in the same manner as those
that we had seen at the other islands, and one of them carried a piece
of mat fastened to the top of a pole which we imagined was an ensign.
They made a most hideous and incessant noise, and in a short time many
large canoes came down the lake to join them. Our boats were still out,
and the people on board them made all the signs of friendship that they
could invent, upon which some of the canoes came through the inlet and
drew near them. We now began to hope that a friendly intercourse might
be established; but we soon discovered that the Indians had no other
design than to haul the boats on shore: Many of them leaped off the
rocks, and swam to them; and one of them got into that which belonged to
the Tamar, and in the twinkling of an eye seized a seaman's jacket, and
jumping over board with it, never once appeared above water till he was
close in shore among his companions. Another of them got hold of a
midshipman's hat, but not knowing how to take it off, he pulled it
downward instead of lifting it up so that the owner had time to prevent
its being taken away, otherwise it would probably have disappeared as
suddenly as the jacket. Our men bore all this with much patience, and
the Indians seemed to triumph in their impunity.