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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




Bull-feasts are a common diversion here, and surpass any thing of that kind
I ever saw at Lisbon, or any where else. Indeed, it is amazing to see the
activity and dexterity of those who attack the bulls. It is always done
here by those only who follow it as a trade, for it is too dangerous to be
practised as a diversion; as a proof of which, it is found, that though
some may hold out longer than others, there are few who constantly practise
it that die a natural death. The bulls are always the wildest that can be
brought in from the mountains or forests, and have nothing on their horns
to prevent their piercing a man at the first stroke, as they have at
Lisbon. I have seen a man, when the bull came at him with the utmost fury,
spring directly over the beast's head, and perform this feat several times,
and at last jump on his back, and there sit a considerable time, the bull
the whole time attempting every means to throw him. But though this
practitioner was successful, several accidents happened while I was there.
The ladies, at these feasts, are always dressed as fine as possible; and, I
imagine, go rather to be admired than to receive any amusement from a sight
that one should think would give them pain.

Another amusement for the ladies here, are the nights of their great
processions, when they go out veiled; and in that dress, they amuse
themselves in talking to people much in the manner that is done at our
masquerades. One night in Lent, as I was standing close to the houses while
the procession went by, and having nothing but a thin waistcoat on under my
cloak, and happening to have my arm out, a lady came by, and gave me a
pinch with so good a will, that I thought she had taken the piece out; and,
indeed, I carried the marks for a long time after. I durst not take the
least notice of this at the time, for had I made any disturbance, I should
have been knocked on the head. This kind lady immediately after mixed with
the crowd, and I never could find out who had done me that favour. I have
seen fifty or sixty penitents following these processions; they wear a long
white garment with a long train to it, and high caps of the same, which
fall down before and cover all their faces, having only two small holes for
their eyes, so that they are never known. Their backs are bare, and they
lash themselves with a cat-o'-nine-tails till the long train behind is
covered all over with blood. Others follow them with great heavy crosses
upon their backs, so that they groan under the weight as they walk
barefooted, and often faint away. The streets swarm with friars of all the
different orders. The president has always a guard at his palace regularly
clothed. The rest of their forces consists of militia, who are numerous.

All European goods are very dear. English cloth of fourteen or fifteen
shillings a yard, sells there for ten or eleven dollars, and every other
article in proportion. We found many Spaniards here that had been taken by
Commodore Anson, and had been for some time prisoners on board the
Centurion.. They all spoke in the highest terms of the kind treatment they
had received; and it is natural to imagine, that it was chiefly owing to
that laudable example of humanity our reception here was so good. They had
never had any thing but privateers and buccaneers amongst them before, who
handled their prisoners very roughly, so that the Spaniards in general,
both of Peru and Chili, had the greatest dread of being taken by the
English; but some of them told us, that they were so happy on board the
Centurion, that they should not have been sorry if the commodore had taken
them with him to England.

After we had been here some time, Mr Campbell changed his religion, and of
course left us. At the end of two years, the president sent for us, and
informed us a French ship from Lima, bound to Spain, had put into
Valparaiso, and that we should embark in her. After taking leave of our
good friend Mr Gedd, and all our acquaintance at St Jago, we set out for
Valparaiso, mules and a guide being provided for us. I had forgot to say
before, that Captain Cheap had been allowed by the president six reals a
day, and we had four for our maintenance the whole time we were at St Jago,
which money we took up as we wanted it. Our journey back was much
pleasanter than we found it when we were first brought hither, as we had
now no mules to drive. The first person I met, upon our entrance into
Valparaiso, was the poor soldier whom I mentioned to have been so kind to
us when we were imprisoned in the fort. I now made him a little present,
which, as it came quite unexpected, made him very happy. We took lodgings
till the ship was ready to sail, and diverted ourselves as we pleased,
having the good fortune, at this time, to have nothing to do with the
governor or his fort. The town is but a poor little place; there are,
indeed, a good many storehouses built by the water-side for the reception
of goods from the shipping.

About the 20th of December, 1744, we embarked on board the Lys frigate,
belonging to St Malo. She was a ship of four hundred and twenty tons,
sixteen guns, and sixty men. She had several passengers on board, and
amongst the rest Don George Juan, a man of very superior abilities, (and
since that time well known in England) who, with Don Antonio Ulloa, had
been several years in Peru, upon a design of measuring some degrees of the
meridian near the equator. We were now bound to Conception, in order to
join three other French ships that were likewise bound home. As this was a
time of the year when the southerly winds prevailed upon this coast, we
stood off a long way to the westward, making the island of Juan Fernandez.
We did not get into the Bay of Conception till the 6th of January, 1745,
where we anchored at Talcaguana, and there found the Louis Erasme, the
Marquis d'Antin, and the Delivrance, the three French ships that we were to
accompany. It is but sixty leagues from Valparaiso to Conception, though we
had been so long making this passage; but there is no beating up, near the
shore, against the southerly wind, which is the trade at this season, as
you are sure to have a lee-current; so that the quickest way of making a
passage is to stand off a hundred and twenty or thirty leagues from the
land.

The Bay of Conception is a large fine bay, but there are several shoals in
it, and only two good anchoring places, though a ship may anchor within a
quarter of a league of the town, but this only in the very fine months, as
you lay much exposed. The best anchoring-place is Talcaguana, the
southernmost neck of the bay, in five or six fathom water, good holding
ground, and where you are sheltered from the northerly winds. The town has
no other defence but a low battery, which only commands the anchoring-place
before it. The country is extremely pleasant, and affords the greatest
plenty of provisions of all kinds. In some excursions we made daily from
Talcaguana, we saw great numbers of very large snakes, but we were told
they were quite harmless.

I have read some former accounts of Chili, by the Jesuits, wherein they
tell you that no venomous creature is to be found in it, and that they even
made the experiment of bringing bugs here, which died immediately, but I
never was in any place that swarmed with them so much as St Jago; and they
have a large spider there, whose bite is so venomous, that I have seen from
it some of the most shocking sights I ever saw in my life; and it certainly
proves mortal, if proper remedies are not applied in time. I was once bit
by one on the cheek whilst asleep, and presently after all that part of my
face turned as black as ink. I was cured-by the application of a bluish
kind of stone (the same, perhaps, they call the serpent-stone in the East
Indies, and which is a composition.) The stone stuck for some time of
itself on my face, and dropping off, was put into milk till it had digested
the poison it had extracted, and then applied again till the pain abated,
and I was soon afterwards well.

Whilst the ships remained at Conception, the people were employed in
killing of cattle and salting them for the voyage, and every ship took on
board as many bullocks and sheep as their decks could well hold, and having
completed their business here, they sailed the 27th of January; but about
eight days after our ship sprung a very dangerous leak forward, but so low,
that there was no possibility of stopping it without returning into port,
and lightening her till they could come at it. Accordingly we separated
from the other ships, and made the best of our way for Valparaiso, keeping
all hands at the pump night and day, passengers and all. However, as it
happened, this proved a lucky circumstance for the Lys, as the three other
ships were taken, and which certainly would have been her fate likewise had
she kept company with the rest. As soon as we got into port, they lightened
the ship forwards, and brought her by the stern till they came at the leak,
which was soon, stopped. They made all the dispatch possible in completing
the water again. Whilst at Valparaiso, we had one of the most violent
shocks of an earthquake that we had ever felt yet.

On the first of March we put to sea again, the season being already far
advanced for passing Cape Horn. The next day we went to an allowance of a
quart of water a day for each man, which continued the whole passage. We
were obliged to stand a long way to the westward, and went to the northward
of Juan Fernandez above a degree, before we had a wind that we could make
any southing with. On the 25th, in the latitude of 46 degrees, we met with
a violent hard gale at west, which obliged us to lie-to under a reefed
mainsail for some days, and before we got round the cape, we had many very
hard gales, with a prodigious sea and constant thick snow; and after being
so long in so delightful a climate as Chili, the cold was almost
insupportable. After doubling the cape, we got but slowly to the northward;
and indeed, at the best of times, the ship never went above six knots, for
she was a heavy-going thing. On the 27th of May we crossed the Line, when
finding that our water was grown extremely short, and that it would be
almost impossible to reach Europe without a supply, it was resolved to bear
away for Martinico. On the 29th of June, in the morning, we made the island
of Tobago, and then shaped a course for Martinico, and on the first of
July, by our reckonings, expected to see it, but were disappointed. This
was imputed to the currents, which, whether they had set the ship to the
eastward or westward, nobody could tell; but, upon looking over the charts,
it was imagined, if the current had driven her to the westward, it must
have been among the Granadillos, which was thought impossible without
seeing any of them, as they are so near together, and a most dangerous
place for rocks. It was then concluded we were to the eastward, and
accordingly we steered S.W. by W.; but having run this course for above
thirty leagues, and no land appearing, it was resolved to stand to the
northward till we should gain the latitude of Porto Rico, and on the 4th in
the evening we made that island, so that it was now certain the ship had
been hustled through the Granadillos in the night, which was, without
doubt, as extraordinary a passage as ever ship made.

It was now resolved to go between the islands of Porto Rico and St. Domingo
for Cape Francois, therefore we lay-to that night. In the morning, we made
sail along shore; and about ten o'clock, as I was walking the quarter-deck,
Captain Cheap came out of the cabin, and told me he had just seen a beef-
barrel go by the ship, that he was sure it had but lately been thrown
overboard, and that he would venture any wager we saw an English cruizer
before long. In about half an hour after, we saw two sail to leeward from,
off the quarter-deck, for they kept no look-out from the mast-head, and we
presently observed they were in chace of us. The French and Spaniards on
board now began to grow a good deal alarmed, when it fell stark calm, but
not before the ships had neared us so much, that we plainly discerned them
to be English men of war, the one a two-decker, the other a twenty-gun
ship. The French had now thoughts, when a breeze should spring up, of
running the ship on shore upon Porto Rico; but when they came to consider
what a set of banditti inhabited that island, and that in all probability
they would have their throats cut for the sake of plundering the wreck,
they were resolved to take their chance, and stand to the northward between
the two islands.

In the evening, a fresh breeze sprung up, and we shaped a course
accordingly. The two ships had it presently afterwards, and neared us
amazingly fast. Now every body on board gave themselves up; the officers
were busy in their cabins filling their pockets with what was most
valuable; the men put on their best clothes, and many of them came to me
with little lumps of gold, desiring I would take them, as they said they
had much rather I should benefit by them, whom they were acquainted with,
than those that chaced them. I told them there was time enough, though I
thought they were as surely taken as if the English had been already on
board. A fine moonlight night came on, and we expected every moment to see
the ships alongside of us; but we saw nothing of them in the night, and to
our great astonishment in the morning no ships were to be seen even from
the mast-head. Thus did these two cruizers lose one of the richest prizes
by not chasing an hour or two longer. There were near two millions of
dollars on board, besides a valuable cargo.

On the eighth, at six in the morning, we were off Cape La Grange; and, what
is very remarkable, the French at Cape Francois told us afterwards that was
the only day they ever remembered since the war, that the cape had been
without one or two English privateers cruising off it; and but the evening
before two of them had taken two outward-bound St Domingo-men, and had gone
with them for Jamaica, so that this ship might be justly esteemed a most
lucky one. In the afternoon we came to an anchor in Cape Francois harbour.

In this long run we had not buried a single man, nor do I remember that
there was one sick the whole passage, but at this place many were taken
ill, and three or four died, for there is no part of the West Indies more
unhealthy than this; yet the country is beautiful, and extremely well
cultivated. After being here some time, the governor ordered us to wait
upon him, which we did, when he took no more notice of us than if we had
been his slaves, never asking us even to sit down.

Towards the end of August, a French squadron of five men of war came in,
commanded by Monsieur L'Etanducre, who were to convoy the trade to France.
Neither he nor his officers ever took any kind of notice of Captain Cheap,
though we met them every day ashore. One evening, as we were going aboard
with the captain of our ship, a midshipman belonging to Monsieur
L'Etanducre jumped into our boat, and ordered the people to carry him on
board the ship he belonged to, leaving us to wait upon the beach for two
hours before the boat returned.

On the sixth of September, we put to sea, in company with the five men of
war and about fifty sail of merchantmen. On the eighth, we made the Cayco
Grande; and the next day a Jamaica privateer, a large fine sloop, hove in
sight, keeping a little to windward of the convoy, resolving to pick up one
or two of them in the night if possible. This obliged Monsieur L'Etanducre
to send a frigate to speak to all the convoy, and order them to keep close
to him in the night, which they did, and in such a manner, that sometimes
seven or eight of them were on board one another together, by which they
received much damage; and to repair which, the whole squadron was obliged
to lay-to sometimes for a whole day. The privateer kept her station,
jogging on with the fleet. At last, the commodore ordered two of his best
going ships to chace her. She appeared to take no notice of them till they
were pretty near her, and then would make sail and be out of sight
presently. The chacing ships no sooner returned, than the privateer was in
company again.

As by this every night some accident happened to some of the convoy by
keeping so close together, a fine ship of thirty guns belonging to
Marseilles, hauled out a little to windward of the rest of the fleet, which
L'Etanducre perceiving in the morning, ordered the frigate to bring the
captain of her on board of him; and then making a signal for all the convoy
to close to him, he fired a gun, and hoisted a red flag at the ensign
staff, and immediately after the captain of the merchantman was run up to
the main-yard-arm, and from thence ducked three times. He was then sent on
board his ship again, with orders to keep his colours flying the whole day,
in order to distinguish him from the rest. We were then told, that the
person who was treated in this cruel manner was a young man of an exceeding
good family in the south of France, and likewise a man of great spirit, and
that he would not fail to call Monsieur L'Etanducre to an account when an
opportunity should offer; and the affair made much noise in France
afterwards. One day, the ship we were in happened to be out of her station,
by sailing so heavily, when the commodore made the signal to speak to our
captain, who seemed frightened out of his wits. When we came near him, he
began with the grossest abuse, threatening our captain, that if ever he was
out of his station again, he would serve him as he had done the other. This
rigid discipline, however, preserved the convoy; for though the privateer
kept company a long time, she was not so fortunate as to meet with the
reward of her perseverance.

On the 27th of October, in the evening, we made Cape Ortegal, and on the
31st came to an anchor in Brest road. The Lys, having so valuable a cargo
on board, was towed into the harbour next morning, and lashed alongside one
of their men of war. The money was soon landed; and the officers and men,
who had been so many years absent from their native country, were glad to
get on shore. Nobody remained on board but a man or two to look after the
ship, and we three English prisoners, who had no leave to go ashore. The
weather was extremely cold, and felt particularly so to us, who had been so
long used to hot climates; and what made it still worse, we were very
thinly clad. We had neither fire nor candle, for they were allowed on board
of no ship in the harbour for fear of accidents, being close to their
magazines in the dock-yard. Some of the officers belonging to the ship were
so kind as to send us off victuals every day, or we might have starved, for
Monsieur L'Intendant never sent us even a message; and though there was a
very large squadron of men of war fitting out at that time, not one officer
belonging to them ever came near Captain Cheap. From five in the evening we
were obliged to sit in the dark; and if we chose to have any supper, it was
necessary to place it very near us before that time, or we never could have
found it.

We had passed seven or eight days in this melancholy manner, when one
morning a kind of row-galley came alongside with a number of English
prisoners belonging to two large privateers the French had taken. We were
ordered into the same boat with them, and were carried four leagues up the
river to Landernaw. At this town we were upon our parole, so took the best
lodgings we could get, and lived very well for three months, when an order
came from the court of Spain to allow us to return home by the first ship
that offered. Upon this, hearing there was a Dutch ship at Morlaix ready to
sail, we took horses and travelled to that town, where we were obliged to
remain six weeks before we had an opportunity of getting away. At last we
agreed with the master of a Dutch dogger to land us at Dover, and paid him
beforehand.

When we had got down the river into the road, a French privateer that was
almost ready to sail upon a cruize, hailed the Dutchman, and told him to
come to an anchor, and that if he offered to sail before him he would sink
him. This he was forced to comply with, and lay three days in the road,
cursing the Frenchman, who at the end of that time put to sea, and then we
were at liberty to do the same. We had a long uncomfortable passage. About
the ninth day, before sunset, we saw Dover, and reminded the Dutchman of
his agreement to land us there. He said he would, but instead of that in
the morning we were off the coast of France. We complained loudly of this
piece of villainy, and insisted upon his returning to land us, when an
English man of war appeared to windward, and presently bore down, to us.
She sent her boat on board with an officer, who informed us that the ship
he came from was the Squirrel, commanded by Captain Masterton. We went on
board of her, and Captain Masterton immediately sent one of the cutters he
had with him to land us at Dover, where we arrived that afternoon, and
directly set out for Canterbury upon post-horses; but Captain Cheap was so
tired by the time he got there, that he could proceed no farther that
night.

The next morning he still found himself so much fatigued, that he could
ride no longer; therefore it was agreed that he and Mr Hamilton should take
a post-chaise, and that I should ride: but here an unlucky difficulty was
started, for upon sharing the little money we had, it was found to be not
sufficient to pay the charges to London; and my proportion fell so short,
that it was, by calculation, barely enough to pay for horses, without a
farthing for eating a bit upon the road, or even for the very turnpikes.
Those I was obliged to defraud, by riding as hard as I could through them
all, not paying the least regard to the men, who called out to stop me. The
want of refreshment I bore as well as I could.

When I got to the Borough, I took a coach and drove to Marlborough-street,
where my friends had lived when I left England; but when I came there, I
found the house shut up. Having been absent so many years, and in all that
time never having heard a word from home, I knew not who was dead or who
was living, or where to go next, or even how to pay the coachman. I
recollected a linen-draper's shop, not far from thence, which our family
had used. I therefore drove there next, and making myself known, they paid
the coachman. I then enquired after our family, and was told my sister had
married Lord Carlisle, and was at that time in Soho-square. I immediately
walked to the house, and knocked at the door; but the porter not liking my
figure, which was half French half Spanish, with the addition of a large
pair of boots covered with dirt, he was going to shut the door in my face,
but I prevailed with him to let me come in.

I need not acquaint my readers with what surprise and joy my sister
received me. She immediately furnished me with money sufficient to appear
like the rest of my countrymen; and till that time I could not be properly
said to have finished all the extraordinary scenes which a series of
unfortunate adventures had kept me in for the space of five years and
upwards.






A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH-SEAS, IN THE YEARS 1740, AND 1741:

CONTAINING

A faithful NARRATIVE of the Loss of his Majesty's Ship the WAGER, on a
desolate Island in the Latitude 47 South, Longitude 81: 40 West: With the
Proceedings and Conduct of the Officers and Crew, and the Hardships they
endured in the said Island for the Space of five Months; their bold Attempt
for Liberty, in coasting the Southern Part of the vast Region of Patagonia;
setting out with upwards of eighty Souls in their Boats; the Loss of the
Cutter; their Passage through the Streights of Magellan; an Account of
their Manner of Living in the Voyage on Seals, Wild Horses, Dogs, &c. and
the incredible Hardships they frequently underwent for want of Food of any
Kind; a Description of the several Places where they touched in the
Streights of Magellan, with an Account of the Inhabitants, &c. and their
safe Arrival to the Brazil, after sailing one thousand Leagues in a Long-
boat; their Reception from the Portuguese; an Account of the Disturbances
at Rio Grand; their Arrival at Rio Janeiro; their Passage and Usage on
board a Portuguese Ship to Lisbon; and their Return to England.

Interspersed with many entertaining and curious Observations, not taken
Notice of by Sir John Narborough, or any other Journalist:


_The Whole compiled by Persons concerned in the Facts related_, viz.

JOHN BULKELEY AND JOHN CUMMINS,

Late Gunner and Carpenter of the WAGER.



_Bold were the Men who on the Ocean first
Spread the new Sails, when Shipwreck was the worst;
More Dangers now from Man alone we find,
Than from the Rocks, the Billows, and the Wind_. WALLER.[119]






BULKELEYS NARRATIVE.




TO THE HONOURABLE EDWARD VERNON, ESQ. VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE, &c.

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