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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 by Robert Kerr

R >> Robert Kerr >> A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17




The shore, which forms the western side of the road, is in a N.W.
direction, and has a bank of coral stretching into the sea, about one-third
of a cable's length, which makes the landing difficult for boats, except at
high water; but the anchoring-ground is very good, and free from rocks. The
place where the Resolution watered is a small spring, situated abreast of
the S. end of the small island, at a short distance from the water-side. A
little to the southward there is a very hot spring, which is used by the
natives as a bath. Whilst we were lying off the S. end of this island, we
sent a boat with the master, on shore, to look for water; but, after having
landed with some difficulty, he returned unsuccessful.

Cracatoa is esteemed very healthy, in comparison of the neighbouring
countries. It consists of high land, rising gradually on all sides from the
sea; and the whole is covered with trees, except a few spots which the
natives have cleared for rice-fields. The number of people on the island is
very inconsiderable. Their chief, as are those of all the other islands in
the Strait, is subject to the king of Bantam. The coral reefs afford plenty
of small turtles, but other refreshments are very scarce, and sold at an
enormous price.


Latitude of the road where the Resolution
anchored 8 deg. 6' south.
Longitude, by Mr Bayley's timekeeper 104 48 east.
Ditto, by observation 105 36 east.
Dip of the south end of the magnetic
needle 26 3
Variation of the compass 1 0 west.


On the full and change days, it is high-water at 7h in the morning. The
water rises three feet two inches perpendicular.

At eight o'clock in the evening, it began to blow afresh from the westward,
with violent thunder, lightning, and rain; and at three the next morning,
we weighed and stood over for Prince's Island, but the westerly wind dying
away, was succeeded by a breeze from the S.E., and at the same time a
strong tide setting to the S.W., prevented our fetching the island, and
obliged us, at two in the afternoon, to drop anchor in sixty-five fathoms,
over a muddy bottom, at three leagues distance from it; the high hill
bearing S.W. by S., and the peak on Cracatoa N. by E. We had light airs and
calms till six next morning, when we weighed and made sail, having, in our
endeavours to heave the anchor out of the ground, twice broken the old
messenger, and afterwards a new one, cut out of our best hawser. This,
however, was entirely owing to the wretched state of our cordage; as the
strain was not very considerable, and we had besides assisted the cable in
coming in, by clapping the cat-tackle on it. The wind continuing fair, at
noon we came to an anchor off the S.E. end of Prince's Island, in twenty-
six fathoms, over a sandy bottom; the east end of the island bearing
N.N.E., the southernmost point in sight S.W. by S., the high peak N.W. 1/2
W., distant from the nearest shore half a mile.

As soon as we had come to anchor, Lieutenant Lannyon, who had been here
before with Captain Cook, in the year 1770, was sent, along with the
master, to look for the watering-place. The brook from which, according to
the best of his recollection, the Endeavour had been supplied, was found
quite salt. Further inland, they saw a dry bed, where the water seemed to
have lodged in rainy seasons; and, about a cable's length below, another
run, supplied from an extensive pool, the bottom of which, as well, as the
surface, was covered with dead leaves. This, though a little brackish,
being much preferable to the other, we began watering here early the next
morning, and finished the same day.

The natives, who came to us soon after we anchored, brought a plentiful
supply of large fowls, and some turtles; but the last were, for the most
part, very small. In the course of the night we had heavy rain; and on the
14th, at daylight, we saw the Resolution to the northward, standing toward
the island; and at two in the afternoon, she dropped anchor close to us. In
the course of the day we heeled the ship, and scrubbed and hogged her
bottom, which was very foul; and got ready for sea.

The next day, Captain Gore not having completed his stock of water at
Cracatoa, sent his men on shore, who now found the brook that was first
mentioned rendered perfectly sweet by the rain, and flowing in great
abundance. This being too valuable a treasure to be neglected, I gave
orders, that the casks we had filled before should be started, and
replenished with the fresh water, which was accordingly done before noon
the next day; and in the evening we cleared the decks, and both ships were
ready for sea.

In the forenoon of the 18th we had heavy rains and variable winds, which
prevented our getting under way till two in the afternoon, when a light
wind sprung up from the northward; but this soon after leaving us, we were
obliged to drop our anchor again, at eight o'clock that night, in fifty
fathoms water, and wait till the same hour the next morning. At that time,
being favoured by a breeze from the N.W., we broke ground, to our
inexpressible satisfaction, for the last time in the Strait of Sunda, and
the next day had entirely lost sight of Prince's Island,

This island having been already described by Captain Cook, in the history
of a former voyage, I shall only add, that we were exceedingly struck with
the great general resemblance of the natives, both in figure, colour,
manners, and even language, to the nations we had been so much conversant
with in the South Seas. The effects of the Javanese climate, and I did not
escape without my full share of it, made me incapable of pursuing the
comparison so minutely as I could have wished.

The country abounds with wood to such a degree, that, notwithstanding the
quantity cut down every year by the ships which put into the road, there is
no appearance of its diminution. We were well supplied with small turtle,
and fowls of a moderate size; the last were sold at the rate of ten for a
Spanish dollar. The natives also brought us many hog-deer, and a prodigious
number of monkeys, to our great annoyance, as most of our sailors provided
themselves with one, if not two, of these troublesome animals.

As we should have met with some difficulty in finding the watering-place,
if Mr Lannyon had not been with us, it may be worth while, for the use of
future navigators, to describe its situation more particularly. The peaked
hill on the island bears from it N.W. by N.; a remarkable tree, growing
upon a coral reef, and quite detached from the neighbouring shrubs, stands
just to the northward; and close by it there is a small plot of reedy
grass, the only piece of the kind that can be seen hereabout. These marks
will shew the place where the pool empties itself into the sea; but the
water here is generally salt, as well as that which is in the pool. The
casks must therefore be filled about fifty yards higher up; where, in dry
seasons, the fresh water that comes down from the hills is lost among the
leaves, and must be searched for by clearing them away.


The latitude of the anchoring-place
at Prince's Island was 6 deg. 36' 15" south.
Longitude 105 17 30 east.
Dip of the south pole of the magnetic
needle 28 15 0
Variation of the compass 0 54 0 west.
Mean of the thermometer 83 1/2


From the time of our entering the Strait of Banca, we began to experience
the powerful effects of this pestilential climate. Two of our people fell
dangerously ill of malignant putrid fevers; which, however, we prevented
from spreading, by putting the patients apart from the rest in the most
airy births. Many were attacked with teazing coughs; others complained of
violent pains in the head; and even the healthiest among us felt a
sensation of suffocating heat, attended by an insufferable languor, and a
total loss of appetite. But though our situation was for a time thus uneasy
and alarming, we had at last the singular satisfaction of escaping from
these fatal seas, without the loss of a single life; A circumstance which
was probably owing in part to the vigorous health of the crews, when we
first arrived here, as well as to the strict attention, now become habitual
in our men, to the salutary regulations introduced amongst us by Captain
Cook.

On our leaving Prince's Island, and during the whole time of our run from
thence to the Cape of Good Hope, the crew of the Resolution was in a much
more sickly state than that of the Discovery; for though many of us
continued for some time complaining of the effects of the noxious climate
we had left, yet happily we all recovered from them. Of the two who had
been ill of fevers, one, after being seized with violent convulsions, on
the 12th of February, which made us despair of his life, was relieved by
the application of blisters, and was soon after out of danger. The other
recovered, but more slowly. On board the Resolution, besides the obstinate
coughs and fevers under which they very generally laboured, a great many
were afflicted with fluxes, the number of whom, contrary to our
expectations, continued increasmg till our arrival at the Cape.

Captain Gore attributed this difference in part, and probably with some
reason, to the Discovery having her fire-place between decks; the heat and
smoke of which, he conceived, might help to mitigate the bad effects of the
damp night air. But I am rather inclined to believe, that we escaped the
flux by the precautions that were taken to prevent our catching it from
others. For if some kinds of fluxes be, as I apprehend there is no doubt
they are, contagious, it is not improbable, that the Resolution caught this
disorder from the Dutch ships at Cracatoa. In order to avoid this danger,
when Mr Williamson was sent to the Indiaman in the entrance of the Strait
of Sunda, he had the strictest orders not to suffer any of our people, on
any account whatever, to go on board; and whenever we had afterward
occasion to have any communication with the Resolution, the same caution
was constantly observed.

We were no sooner clear of Prince's Island, than we had a gentle breeze
from the W.N.W.; but this did not last long; for the following day the wind
became again variable, and continued so till the noon of the 25th, when it
grew squally, and blew fresh from the north.

On the 22d at noon, being in latitude 10 deg. 28' S., and longitude 104 deg. 14',
we saw great quantities of boobies, and other fowls, that seldom go far
from land; from which we conjectured, that we were near some small unknown
island.

In the evening of the 25th, the wind changed suddenly to the southward,
accompanied with heavy rains, and began to blow with great violence. During
the night, almost every sail we had bent gave way, and most of them were
split to rags; our rigging also suffered materially, and we were, the next
day, obliged to bend our last suit of sails, and to knot and splice the
rigging, our cordage being all expended. This sudden storm, we attributed
to the change from the monsoon to the regular trade-wind; our latitude was
about 13 deg. 10' S., and we had made by our reckoning about 4-1/2 deg. of
longitude west from Java head.

From the 26th of this month to the 28th of March, we had a regular trade-
wind from the S.E. to E. by S., with fine weather; and being in an old
beaten track, met no occurrence that deserved the smallest notice.

In the morning of the 28th of March, being in latitude 31 deg. 42' S., and
longitude 35 deg. 26' E., the trade-wind left us in a violent thunder-storm.
From this time to the 3d of April, when our latitude was 35 deg. 1' S., and
longitude 26 deg. 3' E., the winds were moderate, and generally from the south
quarter. A fresh breeze then sprung up from the eastward, which continued
till the afternoon of the 4th; after which we had a calm that lasted the
two following days.

It had hitherto been Captain Gore's intention to proceed directly to St
Helena, without stopping at the Cape; but the rudder of the Resolution
having been, for some time, complaining, and, on being examined, reported
to be in a dangerous state, he resolved to steer immediately for the Cape,
as the most eligible place, both for the recovery of his sick, and for
procuring a new main-piece to the rudder.

From the 21st of March, when we were in latitude 27 deg. 22' S., longitude 52 deg.
25' E., to the 5th of April, when we had got into latitude 36 deg. 12' S.,
longitude 22 deg. 7' E., we were strongly affected by the currents, which set
to the S.S.W., and S.W. by W., sometimes at the rate of eighty knots a day.
On the 6th, having got under the lee of the African coast, we lost them
entirely.

In the morning of the 6th, a sail was seen to the S.W. standing toward us;
and, as the wind soon after rose from the same quarter, we cleared our
ships for action. We now discovered, from the mast-head, five sail more on
our lee-bow, standing to the eastward; but the weather coming on hazy, we
lost sight of them all in an hour's time. Our latitude at noon was 35 deg. 49'
S., longitude 21 deg. 32' E. At seven o'clock the next morning (the 7th), we
made the land to the northward at a considerable distance.

On the 8th, the weather was squally, and blew fresh from the N.W.; the
following day it settled to the W., and we passed pretty close to the sail
seen on the 6th, but did not hail her. She was clumsy in figure, and, to
appearance, unskilfully managed; yet she outsailed us exceedingly. The
colours which she hoisted were different from any we had seen; some
supposed them to be Portugueze, others Imperial.

At day-light, the next morning, the land again appeared to the N.N.W.; and
in the forenoon, a snow was seen bearing down to us, which proved to be an
English East India packet, that had left Table Bay three days before, and
was cruising with orders for the China fleet, and other India ships. She
told us, that, about three weeks before, Mons. Trongoller's squadron,
consisting of six ships, had sailed from the Cape, and was gone to cruise
off St Helena, for our East India fleet. This intelligence made us
conjecture, that the five sail we had seen standing to the eastward must
have been the French squadron, who, in that case, had given over their
cruise, and were probably proceeding to the Mauritius. Having informed the
packet of our conjectures, and also of the time we understood the China
ships were to sail from Canton, we left them, and proceeded toward the
Cape.

In the evening of the 10th, the Gunner's Quoin bore N. by E., and False
Cape, E.N.E.; but the wind being at S.W., and variable, prevented our
getting into False Bay, till the evening of the 12th, when we dropt anchor
abreast of Simon's Bay. We found a strong current setting to the westward,
round the Cape, which, for some time, we could but just stem, with a breeze
that would have carried us four knots an hour. The next morning we stood
into Simon's Bay; and at eight came to anchor, and moored a cable each way;
the best bower to the E.S.E., and small bower, W.N.W.; the S.E. point of
the bay bearing S. by E., Table Mountain, N.E. 1/2 N.; distant from the
nearest shore one-third of a mile. We found lying here, the Nassau and
Southampton East-Indiamen, waiting for convoy for Europe. The Resolution
saluted the fort with eleven guns, and the same number was returned.

Mr Brandt, the governor of this place, came to visit us, as soon as we had
anchored. This gentleman had conceived a great affection for Captain Cook,
who had been his constant guest, the many times he had visited the Cape;
and though he had received the news of his melancholy fate some time
before, he was exceedingly affected at the sight of our ships returning
without their old commander. He appeared much surprised to see our crew in
so stout and healthy a condition, as the Dutch ship that had left Macao, on
our arrival there, and had touched at the Cape some time before, reported,
that we were in a most wretched state, having only fourteen hands left on
board the Resolution, and seven on board the Discovery. It is not easy to
conceive the motive these people could have had for propagating so wanton
and malicious a falsehood.

On the 15th, I accompanied Captain Gore to Cape Town; and, the next
morning, we waited on Baron Plettenberg, the governor, by whom we were
received with every possible attention and civility. He had also conceived
a great personal affection for Captain Cook, as well as the highest
admiration of his character, and heard the recital of his misfortune, with
many expressions of unaffected sorrow. In one of the principal apartments
of the governor's house, he shewed us two pictures, of Van Trump and de
Ruyter, with a vacant space left between them, which he said he meant to
fill up with the portrait of Captain Cook; and, for that purpose, he
requested our assistance when we should arrive in England, in purchasing
one for him, at any price.

We were afterward informed by the governor, that all the powers at this
time at war with England had given orders to their cruisers to let us pass
unmolested. This, as far as related to the French, we had sufficient reason
to think true; as Mr Brandt had already delivered to Captain Gore, a letter
from Mr Stephens, inclosing a copy of Mons. de Sartine's orders, taken on
board the Licorne. With respect to the Americans, the matter still rested
on report; but Baron Plettenberg assured us, that he had been expressly
told, by the commander of a Spanish ship, which had touched at the Cape,
that he, and all the officers of his nation, had received orders to the
same effect. These assurances confirmed Captain Gore in the resolution he
had taken of maintaining, on his part, a neutral conduct; and accordingly,
when on the arrival of the Sybil, to convoy the India ships home, it was
proposed to him to accompany them on their passage, he thought proper to
decline an offer, the acceptance of which might, in case we had fallen in
with any of the enemy's ships, have brought him into a very difficult and
embarrassing situation.

During our stay at the Cape, we met with every proof of the most friendly
disposition toward us, both in the governor and principal persons of the
place, as well Africans as Europeans. At our first arrival, Colonel Gordon,
the commander of the Dutch forces, with whom I had the happiness of being
on a footing of intimacy and friendship, was absent on a journey into the
interior parts of Africa, but returned before our departure. He had, on
this occasion, penetrated farther up the country than any other traveller
had done before him, and made great additions to the valuable collection of
natural curiosities with which he has enriched the museum of the Prince of
Orange. Indeed, a long residence at the Cape, and the powerful assistance
he has derived from his rank and situation there, joined to an active and
indefatigable spirit, and an eager thirst after knowledge, have enabled him
to acquire a more intimate and perfect knowledge of this part of Africa,
than could have fallen to the lot of any other person; and it is with great
pleasure I can congratulate the public on the information I have received
of his intentions to give the world, from his own-hand, a history of his
travels.[114]

False Bay, situated to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, is frequented
by shipping during the prevalence of the N.W. winds, which begin to blow in
May, and make it dangerous to lie in Table Bay. It is terminated on the
west by the Cape of Good Hope, and on the eastward by False Cape.

The entrance of the bay is six leagues wide, the two capes bearing from
each other due east and west. About eleven miles from the Cape of Good
Hope, on the west side, is situated Simon's Bay, the only convenient
station for ships to lie in; for although the road without it affords good
anchorage, it is too open, and but ill circumstanced for procuring
necessaries, the town being small, and supplied with provisions from Cape
Town, which is about twenty-four miles distant. To the N.N.E. of Simon's
Bay, there are several others, from which it may be easily distinguished,
by a remarkable sandy way to the northward of the town, which makes a
striking object. In steering for the harbour, along the west shore, there
is a small flat rock, called Noah's Ark, and about a mile to the north-east
of it, several others, called the Roman Rocks. These lie one mile and a
half from the anchoring-place; and either between them, or to the northward
of the Roman Rocks, there is a safe passage into the bay. When the north-
west gales are set in, the following bearings will direct the mariner to a
safe and commodious berth: Noah's Ark, S. 51 deg. E., and the centre of the
hospital, S. 53 deg. W., in seven fathoms. But if the south-east winds have not
done blowing, it is better to stay further out in eight or nine fathoms.
The bottom is sandy, and the anchors settle considerably before they get
hold. All the north part of the bay is low sandy land, but the east side is
very high. About six miles east of Noah's Ark lies Seal Island, the south
part of which is said to be dangerous, and not to be approached, with
safety, nearer than in twenty-two fathoms. Off the Cape of Good Hope are
many sunk rocks, some of which appear at low water; and others have
breakers constantly on them.


The latitude of the anchoring-place in Simon's
Bay, by observation 34 deg.20'S.
The longitude 18 29 E.
Dip of the south end of the magnetic needle 46 47
Variation of the compass 22 16 W.


On the full and change days, it was high-water at 5^h 55^m apparent time;
the tide rose and fell five feet five inches; at the neap tides, it rose
four feet one inch.

From the observations taken by Mr Bayley and myself, on the 11th of this
month, when the Cape of Good Hope bore due west, we found its latitude to
be 34 deg. 23' S., which is 4' to the northward of its position, as determined
by the Abbe de la Caille.

Having completed our victualling, and furnished ourselves with the
necessary supply of naval stores, we sailed out of the bay on the 9th of
May, and on the 14th, we got into the south-east trade-wind, and steered to
the westward of the islands of St Helena and Ascension. On the 31st, being
in latitude 12 deg. 48' S., longitude 15 deg. 40' W., the magnetic needle was found
to have no dip.

On the 12th of June, we passed the equator for the fourth time during this
voyage, in longitude 26 deg. 16' W. We now began to perceive the effects of a
current setting N. by E., half a knot an hour. It continued in this
direction till the middle of July, when it began to set a little to the
southward of the west.

On the 12th of August, we made the western coast of Ireland, and after a
fruitless attempt to get into Port Galway, from whence it was Captain
Gore's intentions to have sent the journals and maps of our voyage to
London, we were obliged, by strong southerly winds, to steer to the
northward. Our next object was to put into Lough Swilly; but the wind
continuing in the same quarter, we stood on to the northward of Lewis
Island; and on the 22d of August, at eleven in the morning, both ships came
to an anchor at Stromness. From hence, I was dispatched by Captain Gore, to
acquaint the Board of Admiralty with our arrival; and on the 4th day of
October the ships arrived safe at the Nore, after an absence of four years,
two months, and twenty-two days.

On quitting the Discovery at Stromness, I had the satisfaction of leaving
the whole crew in perfect health; and at the same time, the number of
convalescents on board the Resolution did not exceed two or three, of whom
only one was incapable of service. In the course of our voyage, the
Resolution lost but five men by sickness, three of whom were in a
precarious state of health at our departure from England; the Discovery did
not lose a man. An unremitting attention to the regulations established by
Captain Cook, with which the world is already acquainted, may be justly
considered as the principal cause, under the blessing of Divine Providence,
of this singular success. But the baneful effects of salt provisions might
perhaps, in the end, have been felt, notwithstanding these salutary
precautions, if we had not assisted them, by availing ourselves of every
substitute, our situation at various times afforded. These frequently
consisting of articles, which our people had not been used to consider as
food for men, and being sometimes exceedingly nauseous, it required the
joint aid of persuasion, authority, and example, to conquer their
prejudices and disgusts.

The preventives we principally relied on were sour krout and portable soup.
As to the antiscorbutic remedies, with which we were amply supplied, we had
no opportunity of trying their effects, as there did not appear the
slightest symptoms of the scurvy, in either ship, during the whole voyage.
Our malt and hops had also been kept as a resource, in case of actual
sickness; and on examination at the Cape of Good Hope, were found entirely
spoiled. About the same time, were opened some casks of biscuit, flour,
malt, pease, oatmeal, and groats, which, by way of experiment, had been put
up in small casks, lined with tin-trail, and found all, except the pease,
in a much better state, than could have been expected in the usual manner
of package.

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