Memoirs of James Hardy Vaux/Volume 1/Chapter 18
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE morning after our sailing, Captain King, (as I shall in future style him,) called me into his cabin, and presented me with a free pardon, which, as he rightly observed, was merely a matter of form, as it was probable we should not arrive in England before the expiration of my time. This instrument, though only made out a few days before, was antedated the 12th of August, 1806, being the day before Governor Bligh assumed the command, and was consequently the last official document, to which Governor King had affixed his signature, and the last public act of his government.
In about a week, we made the island of New Zealand, at which it was captain King's intention to have touched, having some live pigs, brought from Port Jackson, for the purpose of presenting to the native chiefs, two of whom had lately visited, and resided for some months in New South Wales; but this kind idea was frustrated by a squall of wind, which took us aback while in sight of the island, and night coming on, it was not considered prudent to approach the land; we therefore hauled our wind, and shaped our course to the southward.
Captain King had given orders to the ship's steward, that I should receive his (Captain King's) own ration of provisions, on which I was to subsist as well as I could. This quota (according to the usual allowance of the navy,) would, have been amply sufficient, but by some unaccountable want of management, the Buffalo, notwithstanding the length of time occupied in preparation, was at last sent to sea with a very limited supply of provisions; nor was what she really had of the kind or quality invariably allowed in the King's service; the consequence was, that on the very day of our sailing, all hands were put upon half-allowance of bread, (that is, half a pound per day,) and the other half of rice: this latter grain was also substituted on banyan days for pease and for oatmeal: of cheese and butter we were also destitute; so that we had not a prospect of much good living before us. Of the rice, the crew soon became so much tired, that they ceased to draw any from the purser, leaving it in his hands, to be compensated for at the end of our voyage. The salt-meat was also barely adequate to the computed length of our passage to Rio de Janeiro, the first port at which we could hope for a further supply. The reader will allow that half a pound of bread was little enough for a man's daily ration, (being just two biscuits) but ere we had been six weeks at sea, it was found necessary to reduce the allowance to one-third of a pound; and, in a few weeks more, it was lowered to one quarter, that is, a biscuit a day! The necessity of these reductions arose from a discovery that the rats, cockroaches, and other vermin, with which the ship was infested, had made a most destructive devastation in the bread-room, besides which, a leak in the side had admitted so much salt-water, that a great many bags of biscuit were totally spoiled, thereby adding to our distress, which was before sufficiently great. Even the small portion of bread we did receive, was scarcely eatable, most of it being very old stores, and full of maggots, and what was baked in the colony being of a very coarse quality, and every biscuit more or less excavated by the vermin before-mentioned. The Buffalo, as I have before shewn, was detained several months, for the purpose of being properly victualled, and after all, the purser had been obliged to take a quantity of wheat in casks, for consumption in some shape or other, as it was found inexpedient to wait longer for a further supply of biscuit. This wheat, when the crew were tired of rice, was boiled in lieu of pease, and served out at dinner-time, but it was so unpalatable a mess, that I, among many others, could never stomach it, being thrown into the coppers, dust and all, boiled in stinking water, and when taken up, it was nearly as hard as when first put in, and much inferior to the food of pigs in England. The ship's company at length were convinced of their folly, in suffering such a mode of cookery, or rather waste, for very few could eat it; and, there being luckily a steel-mill on board, it was ordered to be put up in the after gun-room, and every mess in the ship, in its turn, ground the next day's portion of wheat over night, and sifting the meal, produced a bag of tolerable flour, of which the cook composed a certain food for breakfast, known among sailors by the name of skilligolee, being, in plain English, paste, similar to that used by the sons of Crispins only not quite of so thick a consistence: however, it was much preferable to the hog-wash before-mentioned, and, with a little sugar, served as an apology for a meal.
I have before observed, that I drew Captain King's ration of provisions, but he withheld the daily allowance of spirits, forming part of the said ration, which he himself received, and deposited in his private liquor-case. It is, however, probable that his lady, who was a rigid economist, was the suggester of this practice. By way of composition, this good lady gave directions that I should receive a dram every day from her own steward. This trifling indulgence by the by, was not ordered me, until the severity of the climate compelled me to give a hint on the subject, and after about three week's continuance it was put a stop to, on pretence of the stock becoming low. Upon the whole, I suffered a great deal from the scantiness, as well as the quality of my allowance, and the want of certain comforts to which I had been accustomed, particularly during the severe weather which we encountered in our voyage round Cape Horn. It soon appeared that I was not to eat the bread of idleness; I was employed from morning till night in copying and arranging Captain King's papers, of which he had several large trunks full. I had also the tuition of his daughter Miss King, who was about twelve years of age, and performed the same duty towards Mr. Marsden's two children, as well as a native boy about fourteen, who had been brought up in the family of Mr. Marsden. This youth had received the rudiments of a good education, and discovered a most susceptible genius. He could read and write tolerably well, was perfectly docile, and well behaved, and would doubtless have been an object of general admiration, and reflected the highest credit on his humane benefactors had he ever reached England, but unhappily during our stay at Rio Janeiro, he absconded from the house of his protectors, in consequence of some chastisement for misconduct, and, notwithstanding every exertion was used, he could not be recovered before the ship's departure.
To add to our sufferings from the dearth of provisions, we had not been a month at sea, before the ship was discovered to be in a very leaky state, and these leaks increased so rapidly, that she at length made above five feet water in the well, every four hours.
As we approached the higher latitudes, the climate, became every day more intensely cold, and we had continual tempestuous gales for several weeks, but fortunately they were from the right quarter, so that we were in general before the wind, and, considering that our ship was a very heavy sailer, made a pretty rapid progress.
On the 10th of March, having reached a certain degree of longitude, I witnessed the remarkable circumstance of gaining a day, the consequence of circumnavigating the globe. The effect was, that the following day, as well as this, was called in the ship's log, the 10th of March, so that we had actually two Tuesdays in one week! This was a favourable circumstance in one respect to myself and the ship's company, for as Tuesday is a sumptuous day in point of allowance in the navy, beef and pudding being the prescribed fare for dinner, we by this accident feasted two days together; whereas had it occurred on a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, two successive banyan (or starvation) days would have been our dismal portion. On our arrival in England our account of time after this alteration, corresponded exactly with the almanack for the year.
On the 15th of March, we rounded Cape Horn, passing within five miles of that inhospitable shore. This point of the American continent, is situated in fifty-six degrees of south latitude, and had we passed it in the winter season, instead of the autumn, the cold would have been hardly bearable; as it was, it had the effect of destroying almost every natural production of New South Wales, with some very fine specimens of which our ship was at first literally crowded, so as to resemble Noah's Ark. There were kangaroos, black swans, a noble emu, and cockatoos, parrots, and smaller birds without number; all of which, except one cockatoo, which was carefully nursed by its mistress, and half a dozen swans, fell victims to the severity of the weather. The latter birds, indeed, being natives of Van Diemen's Land, which is a colder climate than Port Jackson, were of a hardy nature, and survived our long and tedious voyage. On their arrival in England, they were sent by Captain King as a present to the Royal Menagerie in Kew-gardens.
In our passage round Cape Horn, we had frequent storms of snow; a native of New Zealand, who had been for some time on board the Buffalo, and was a very active intelligent fellow, expressed the utmost surprise on observing a phenomenon, which in the happy clime of his nativity is never experienced, and in the first emotions of his admiration, exclaimed, "Look, look, white rain, white rain!" This man would have been an object of curiosity in England, for he had a very handsome person, and was punctured or tattooed in a most fanciful and extraordinary manner from head to foot, including his face, which was covered with ornamental devices; but unhappily he contracted the small-pox, which, notwithstanding all possible attention, carried him off before we arrived at the Brazils.
I must not omit a remarkable and awful phenomenon, which occurred during this part of our passage. In the middle of a tempestuous night, a sudden concussion was heard, resembling the report of a cannon close to us; it alarmed three parts of the people who were below asleep, as well as the watch on deck; and the general opinion was at first, that a ship was close aboard us. Every one hurried upon deck, when the cause was found to have been, what is called a Fire-ball, which had been probably attracted by the spindle at the mast-head, for it made a rapid descent down the main-mast, exploded at the break of the quarter-deck; the concussion had knocked down a qnarter-master who stood near the binnacle, and two men who were at the wheel. The former was for some minutes insensible, but happily they were no further injured than by the fright. Captain King was instantly on deck with his usual promptness, and fearing the effects of the fire, gave orders to cover the magazine-scuttle with wet-swabs; then to sound the pump-well for some were in dread of the ball having gone through the ship's bottom; however, it appeared the ship made only the usual quantity of water, and that no real injury was sustained. Another night, as we were scudding before a heavy gale of wind, and a tremendous sea rolling after us, we had the misfortune to be pooped, as the phrase is, by a wave or sea striking our stern, which stove in the cabin-windows, and rushing impetuously through the cabin, and along the main-deck, bore down all before it. Luckily no further damage was done than breaking the windows, which rendered it necessary to put up the dead-lights during the remainder of the passage.
When within a day or two's sail of the River Plate, as we were running down the coast of Brazil, we fell in with a frigate, which, on hailing, we found to be His Majesty's ship Thisbe, bound to Buenos Ayres, having on board, General Whitelocke and his staff. This officer was going to conduct the attack upon the city above mentioned, as well as upon Monte Video, both belonging to the Spaniards. A formidable expedition had been fitted out in England for the service, and a numerous army was already collected in the River Plate, waiting the arrival of General Whitelocke. Captain King complimented this officer with a visit on board the Thisbe, which the latter returned. On arriving abreast of the River Plate, the Thisbe parted from us, steering for the entrance of that river, and we continued our course along-shore. In a few days we came in sight of Rio de Janeiro, but were becalmed for two days in sight of the port. At length, on the 22d of May, we entered that beautiful harbour, after a most hazardous and blowing passage of fifteen weeks. It was remarkable that on the day before we got in, the last biscuit was issued to the ship's company, and the last cask of salt-meat we possessed, was broached; so that had our passage been longer protracted, we must have endured still greater privations.