A Voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, etc./Chapter 10
1794.
May 13.On the thirteenth of May, having over-hauled the rigging, caulked, wooded, &c. we set sail with the intention to cruize for seven days off Rock Rodondo, and then to proceed to the Isles Saint Felix and Saint Ambrose, on the coast of Chili. We accordingly hove to for the night, off the North end of Albemarle Isle, and at break of day, saw several spermaceti whales, of which we killed two. The winds had set in from the Southward and Eastward, with a strong Northerly current; so that all our endeavours were in vain to get to the Westward and round to the South, without wasting us much time as we had before done, to get to the Eastward, when we wanted to reach James's Isle. From the South the current set from three to four miles an hour, due North, and we had in general, thick, foggy weather. We frequently saw whales; and on May 16.the 16th of May, got sight of Wenam's Isle, bearing West North West, seven or eight Leagues. It is small, but of considerable height, like Culpepper's Isle, and I make it in Latitude 1° 21′ North, and Longitude 91° 45′ West. The time of our proposed cruize off these isles was expired, and the winds obliged me to stand away to the Eastward and Northward, with the strong current setting against me, to the Westward and Northward; so that I was fifteen days making Cape Blanco, the South Cape of the Gulf of Guiaquil, a distance we had run before in four days. Half way over we fell in with a body of spermaceti whales, we got up with them, though not without some difficulty, and killed three, but were so unfortunate as to have two boats stove in the struggle.
Within Cape Blanco, we saw a sail crouding every thing from us, which induced us to conjecture that it was no longer peace between Great Britain and Spain. But this vessel was too far up the Gulf, as well as in too shallow water for us to follow her. On the following morning, being June 5.the fifth of June, we got a steady wind from the South West, but as we distanced the shore and Southerd our Latitude, it hauled to the South East, encreasing daily in strength, with an heavy sea. The weather was sometimes squally, with frequent showers of rain; and when we got into Latitude 17° South, and Longitude 90° West, the wind hauled well to the East.
19.On the 19th of June, when we were in Latitude 24°, and Longitude 90° 30′, an heavy gale of wind blew from the Northward. From the time of our leaving Cape Blanco the ship had made water, which now began to gain on us: and in the afternoon of the twenty-first, in a violent squall of wind and rain, our fair weather top-sails and courses were blown to pieces, and having neither canvas or twine to repair them, we were under the necessity of bending our best and only suit.
At night, being in the supposed situation of Saint Felix and Saint Ambrose Isles by different navigators, we hove to till day-light, and then scudded till night and again hove to, as we did, on the succeeding night, at which time the weather moderated. Having now run down both to the East and West in the supposed Latitude of these isles. I am convinced that there are no other near this situation than those I visited in my outward-bound passage; and where I was at this time determined to land a party for the purpose of salting and drying seal-skins; intending then to proceed to the Eastward as far as Easter Isle, to search for isles mentioned in the following extract of a letter in the possession of Philip Stephens, Esq., and of whose existence I entertain not the least doubt, as in their description they differ much from Easter Isle, which I visited with Captain Cook, there not being a tree on it.
Extract.
"The Achilles left Calloa the seventh of April, and arrived at Cadiz the tenth, by which we learn that the frigate Le Lievre (the Hare) had discovered five islands in the South sea, in about 27° of South Latitude; that one of them was considerably large, and inhabited by Indians somewhat tractable, and governed by a chief. They have hatchets and other utensils, which they say the English left there three months before the Lievre arrived there."
Extract.
"The tenth instant came into Cadiz, the merchant ship Achilles, which left Calloa off Lima, the seventh of April last. This vessel brought news to the court of the discovery, and the taking possession, in the name of the King, of several small islands in the South seas, to 27° of Latitude South of Lima. There is one island rather large, and has an excellent harbour. This island they have called Saint Charles; and the discovery was made by the King's frigate the Eagle, which the Viceroy of Peru sent upon that expedition. They say that these islands are inhabited by savage Indians, but that they were very well disposed; and that the country abounded with wood, fowls, hogs, and certain roots of which they made bread, perhaps cassada."
"It would appear that the court means to make use of this discovery; and that they mean to build forts thereon, and to establish a communication between these islands, and the continent of South America. It is probable that the famous Mr. Hudson had discovered these isles in his voyage round the world, and that the largest of them are called Davis's land. What renders this conjecture more probable is, that they found the interior inhabitants possessed of hatchets, spades and hoes."
Roggewein's account of an isle in this Latitude, differs so much from Easter Isle, that I cannot suppose it to be the same. Mr. Wafer, who was surgeon with Captain Davis, in 1685, and after whom land in this Latitude is named, differs very widely from Roggewein's account, and also Captain Cook.
If I had not found these isles, the potatoes which I entertained the hopes of procuring at Easter Isle, would have enabled me to lengthen my voyage, and to double Cape Horn in the summer season.
June 22.On the twenty-second at noon, we made the Isles Saint Ambrose and Saint Felix, and prepared every thing for landing. During the last twenty-four hours, the wind had hauled to the Southward, and we had to beat up against it. Throughout the night it blew very strong in squalls, while the ship laboured very much, and the leak increased so as to keep both pumps employed. By the quantity of water perceived in the hold, we suspected that it rushed in forward, and that part of the wooding ends were started.
On the North side of the Westernmost isle, at half a mile distance from the shore, there was safe anchorage, with a southerly wind, which now blew: but as we had so lately experienced an heavy Northerly gale, which is the prevailing wind in winter, and blows directly into the anchoring birth, the general opinion was to make sail back to the Northward, to get into better weather or in with the main land, and endeavour to stop the leak.—In short, any situation however inconvenient, or even dangerous, was preferred by the whole crew, to the putting into a Spanish port, and trusting to the tender mercies we might find there. It becomes an act of justice in me to declare that, in every awkward and unpleasant circumstance, in which we sometimes found ourselves, every person on board, from the whaling-master to the lowest seaman, manifested a perfect confidence in me, and paid an implicit obedience to my opinion.—But the superstition of a sailor's mind is not easily subdued, and it was with some difficulty that I could preserve an hen who had been hatched and bred on board, and who at this time was accompanied by a small brood of chickens, from being destroyed, in order to quit the ill omen that had been occasioned by the unexpected crowing of the animal during the preceding night.
June 23.On the twenty-third, Latitude 26° 0′, the weather moderated so much as to afford an opportunity of examining the leak, when we found the lower cheek of the head loosened, and the wash-boards of the starboard cheek, entirely washed away; the oakum worked out of the wooden ends, so as to admit an arm-full to be stuffed in by hand, and no one was yet convinced but that the plank had started from the stem. We made our utmost exertions to get every thing aft, in order to raise the leak above water: and here, to add to our disappointment, it became necessary, for want of food to sustain them, to kill our small flock of pigs which had been reserved to regale us on our homeward passage round Cape Horn.
27.By the twenty-seventh we had returned again to the Northward as far as 18° South, when we finished caulking and leading over the leak, the only method we had of securing it, having neither pitch, tar, or rosin on board, for marine stores being all expended. Our bread was not fit to eat, and our other provisions so short, that owing to its bad qualities we could scarce exist on it: thus situated, we proposed, as our last trial in these seas, to continue on to the Northward till we made the land, in hopes to fall in with some European vessel to obtain supplies to enable us to wait for a more favourable period to round Cape Horn.
How far I may be right in my conjecture must be decided by future trials, but I am very much disposed to believe, that the tar we had on board was of a bad quality, and destroyed not only the copper but iron, and was, in some degree, the cause of our leak: for the copper, wherever it was paid with it, was become as thin as paper, and the copper-headed nails, as well as those of iron, had received considerable injury.
June 29.On the twenty-ninth we reached as far Northward as 16° 50′ South, and made the coast of Peru; 30.on the thirtieth at noon we were within a few miles of the shore, and not seeing any ships, we conceived our opinion of a war with Spain was confirmed, and the only rational alternative left us, was to brave all the difficulties that we experienced and was further threatened with; and force ourselves as soon as possible out of them, by losing no time in getting round the Cape into the Atlantic; this being determined we took our departure for England. As we stretched to the Southward, the wind hung more to the Eastward of South, than on the former part of our voyage.
When we were in Latitude 24°, a very singular circumstance happened, which as it spread some alarm among my people, and awakened their superstitious apprehensions, I shall beg leave to mention. About eight o'clock in the evening an animal rose alongside the ship, and uttered such shrieks and tones of lamentation so like those produced by the female human voice, when expressing the deepest distress, as to occasion no small degree of alarm among those who first heard it. These cries continued for upwards of three hours, and seemed to increase as the ship sailed from it: I conjectured it to be a female seal that had lost its cub, or a cub that had lost its dam; but I never heard any noise whatever that approached so near those sounds which proceed from the organs of utterance in the human species. The crew considered this as another evil omen, and the difficulties of our situation were sufficient, without the additional inconvenience of these accidental events, to cause any temporary depression of those spirits which were so necessary to meet the distresses we might be obliged to encounter.
As we sailed up the coast of Chili and Peru, from the Latitude 38° South, we never had occasion to reef from the strength of the wind; while the barometer, from that Latitude, stood mostly at 29-9, and the thermometer at 60, rising gradually till in the Latitude of 1° 30′ South, till it reached 72; but in the evening, it was generally below summer heat in England. Along the whole of this coast, the dews were very heavy during the night: and in proportion as they were heavier, the succeeding day was more or less clear. At the full and change of the moon we perceived no dew, which appeared to be supplied by a heavy drizzling rain and misty weather. The morning, evening, and night, were always cloudy, but the middle of the day was generally clear, so that I seldom enjoyed a distinct view of the Cordileras des Andes. The mistiness of the early part of the day, proceeded from the sun rising behind the Andes, and the clearness of the noon was occasioned by the sun, which had then over-topped the mountains; but I am yet to learn the cause of the haziness of the evening.
The currents on this coast are very irregular. I tried them several times, and found that they set as often one way as the other, and generally from half a mile to two miles an hour. The set, may at all times be discovered by observing the direction of large beds of small blubber, with which this coast abounds, and from whence the water derives a colour like that of blood; I have sometimes been engaged for a whole day in passing through the various sets of them.
The fish, common to this coast, are dolphins, and all those which inhabit tropical Latitudes; and in calm nights, there are seen large shoals of small fish which have the appearance of breakers. Of turtle, we saw none till we were North of Lima, they were of that kind called the loggerhead, and North of the Equator we found the hump-backed species on the surface of the water in great numbers. We frequently took out of the seals and porpoises large quantities of squid, which is the food of the spermaceti whales, and at times we saw many devil-fish and sun-fish, the latter of which proved an agreeable and wholesome addition to our daily fare.
All the birds which are usually seen at sea in similar Latitudes are to be found on this coast. There are also the Port Egmont hen and albatross, which are generally supposed to be the constant inhabitants of colder climates.
We sometimes passed great numbers of small birds, lying dead on the water; a circumstance for which I am not able to assign a probable conjecture. The greatest number of pelicans appeared off Lobas le Mar, and if that place should be their constant resort, they will, in thick weather, determine the vicinity of the island.
I tried for soundings, in many parts of the coast, at the distance of five and six leagues from the shore, but could not obtain any bottom with one hundred and fifty fathoms of line. In thick weather, however, when you draw near land, large quantities of sea-weed will appear, and birds, in great numbers, sitting on the water. Seals are no certain criterion for being near the shore; as I have often seen them, at the distance of an hundred and fifty leagues from land, sleeping in great numbers on the surface of the water, with the tail and one fin out of it, so as to offer the appearance of a crooked billet. On any part of the coast of Chili, or Peru, a sealing voyage might be made with great prospect of success, as well as at the Isles of Saint Felix and Saint Ambrose.
In our passage down the coast of Chili, we had South East and Easterly winds, with variable, but in general pleasant weather, accompanied with occasional showers. In Latitude 33° South, the wind Southerd on us and the next day veered to the West, and continued mostly between the West and North till we got into 47° South. It would sometimes blow, for a few hours, between the West and South West, but never continued. In the Latitudes of 48° and 49°, the winds were light for forty-eight hours in the South East quarter, with a strong Southerly current.
July 26.On the twenty-sixth of July, in Latitude 48° South, the coast of Chili presented to us a range of high mountains covered with snow. We had now frequent showers of rain, hail and snow, and, on August 1.the first of August, doubled Cape Horn at the distance of fifteen Leagues. During the whole of the passage, the weather was not, by many degrees, so bad as we had apprehended, and was much better than that we had experienced when we came from Europe.
When we had rounded the Cape, and had advanced to the North, the weather improved every hour. In the Latitude 49°, the wind blew for twenty-four hours in the South East quarter, with delightful weather. Our spirits, as may be supposed, were greatly cheered by such a favourable passage, and were in a state to be enlivened by the sea-birds who flew twittering around us.
During the succeeding twenty-four hours, the winds varied from North West to North East, and became at last very changeable. The past hour we were hurried along by a strong gale, and the next at rest in a dead calm. At noon our Latitude was 47° 30′, Longitude 48° 40′, with a very heavy irregular sea, in which the ship greatly laboured: This lasted, however, but for a few moments, when a heavy gale from the South West sprang up, which was accompanied with rain, hail and snow.
Under reefed fore-sail, and close-reefed main-top-sail, all the sail we could carry, we shaped our course, on the nearest angle, to Saint Helena, but before midnight, the sea rose to a prodigious height, broke on board of us, and stove in the dead lights, filled the after part of the ship with water, rendered useless a chronometer, a sextant, and destroyed charts and drawings that I had been seven months employed in completing: also damaged every thing in the cabin. We soon, however, fixed and secured temporary dead lights, and pumped out the water, but some of the mischief done was irreparable.
When we were at our greatest Southern Latitude, the thermometer stood at 42-5, and the barometer was never lower than 28-8-0. In the last gale, the thermometer stood at 38-5, and barometer 28-7-6, which was the lowest point to which it sunk during the voyage.
Between the Latitude 53° and 40° South, and Longitude 59° and 38° West, we saw large bodies of sea-weed, and great numbers of birds: and on the August 11.eleventh of August, we crossed near the supposed situation of the Isle Grande. At this time my vessel was almost a wreck, very short of provisions, and what remained in a very bad state, to which may be added an hurricane of wind and the winter season: circumstances that, I trust, will be a sufficient excuse for my not renewing my search of it as I had intended.
The wind remained in the South West quarter, during five days, at which period our Latitude was 35° 45′, and Longitude 31° 22′ West, when we had light and variable winds. On 18.the eighteenth of August, at noon, the Latitude being 33° 41′, the wind settled in the North East quarter, and blew a fresh breeze for four days, but on the succeeding four, it varied round the compass, with frequent rain. By August 31.the last day of August, in Latitude 19°, the wind inclined to, and continued in„ the East and South East quarter.
Sept. 1.On the first of September, at Noon, we made the Island of Saint Helena, after a passage of one month from Cape Horn. At this time I had no more than two of my crew, who were affected by the Scurvy, and the same number beginning to complain, which was not so much owing to the length of the Voyage as to their own want of care and cleanliness after getting out of the South Seas and never shifting their wet clothes. The disease seized them in a manner very different from any appearance of this disorder which I had yet seen: they were principally affected in their hips first, and then down their legs. We had one man indeed, who was literally panic-struck by the appearance and cries of the seal in the Pacific Ocean; if we had remained twenty-four hours at sea, he would not have recovered.