THE ARRIVAL OF THE "GLOUCESTER" AND THE "ANNA" PINK AT THE ISLAND OF
JUAN FERNANDES, AND THE TRANSACTIONS AT THAT PLACE DURING THIS INTERVAL
The arrival of the _Tryal_ sloop at this island so soon after we came
there ourselves gave us great hopes of being speedily joined by the
rest of the squadron, and we were for some days continually looking
out, in expectation of their coming in sight. But near a fortnight
being elapsed without any of them having appeared, we began to despair
of ever meeting them again, as we knew that if our ship continued so
much longer at sea we should every man of us have perished, and the
vessel, occupied by dead bodies only, would have been left to the
caprice of the winds and waves: and this we had great reason to fear
was the fate of our consorts, as each hour added to the probability of
these desponding suggestions.
But on the 21st of June, some of our people, from an eminence on shore,
discerned a ship to leeward, with her courses even with the horizon;
and they, at the same time, particularly observed that she had no sail
abroad except her courses and her main top-sail. This circumstance
made them conclude that it was one of our squadron, which had probably
suffered in her sails and rigging as severely as we had done: but they
were prevented from forming more definitive conjectures about her, for,
after viewing her for a short time, the weather grew thick and hazy,
and they lost sight of her. On this report, and no ship appearing for
some days, we were all under the greatest concern, suspecting that her
people were in the utmost distress for want of water, and so diminished
and weakened by sickness as not to be able to ply up to windward; so
that we feared that, after having been in sight of the island, her
whole crew would notwithstanding perish at sea. However, on the 26th,
towards noon, we discerned a sail in the north-east quarter, which we
conceived to be the very same ship that had been seen before, and our
conjectures proved true: and about one o'clock she {123} approached so
near that we could distinguish her to be the _Gloucester_. As we had
no doubt of her being in great distress, the commodore immediately
ordered his boat to her assistance, laden with fresh water, fish, and
vegetables, which was a very seasonable relief to them; for our
apprehensions of their calamities appeared to be but too well grounded,
as perhaps there never was a crew in a more distressed situation. They
had already thrown overboard two-thirds of their complement, and of
those which remained alive, scarcely any were capable of doing duty,
except the officers and their servants. They had been a considerable
time at the small allowance of a pint of fresh water to each man for
twenty-four hours, and yet they had so little left, that, had it not
been for the supply we sent them, they must soon have died of thirst.
The ship plied in within three miles of the bay; but, the winds and
currents being contrary, she could not reach the road. However, she
continued in the offing the next day; but as she had no chance of
coming to an anchor, unless the winds and currents shifted, the
commodore repeated his assistance, sending to her the _Tryal's_ boat
manned with the _Centurion's_ people, and a farther supply of water and
other refreshments. Captain Mitchel, the captain of the _Gloucester_,
was under a necessity of detaining both this boat and that sent the
preceding day; for without the help of their crews he had no longer
strength enough to navigate the ship. In this tantalizing situation
the _Gloucester_ continued for near a fortnight, without being able to
fetch the road, though frequently attempting it, and at some times
bidding very fair for it. On the 9th of July, we observed her
stretching away to the eastward at a considerable distance, which we
supposed was with a design to get to the southward of the island; but
as we soon lost sight of her, and she did not appear for near a week,
we were prodigiously concerned, knowing that she must be again in
extreme distress for want of water. After great impatience about her,
we discovered her again on the 16th endeavouring to come round the
eastern point of the island; but the wind, still blowing directly from
the bay, prevented her getting nearer than within four leagues of the
land. On this, Captain Mitchel made signals of distress, and our
long-boat was sent to him with a store of water, and plenty of fish,
and other refreshments. And the long-boat being not to be spared, the
cockswain had positive orders from the {124} commodore to return again
immediately; but the weather proving stormy the next day, and the boat
not appearing, we much feared she was lost, which would have proved an
irretrievable misfortune to us all: however, the third day after, we
were relieved from this anxiety by the joyful sight of the long-boat's
sails upon the water; on which we sent the cutter immediately to her
assistance, who towed her alongside in a few hours, when we found that
the crew of our long-boat had taken in six of the _Gloucester's_ sick
men to bring them on shore, two of which had died in the boat. We now
learnt that the _Gloucester_ was in a most dreadful condition, having
scarcely a man in health on board, except those they received from us:
and, numbers of their sick dying daily, it appeared that, had it not
been for the last supply sent by our long-boat, both the healthy and
diseased must have all perished together for want of water. These
calamities were the more terrifying as they appeared to be without
remedy: for the _Gloucester_ had already spent a month in her
endeavours to fetch the bay, and she was now no farther advanced than
at the first moment she made the island; on the contrary, the people on
board her had worn out all their hopes of ever succeeding in it, by the
many experiments they had made of its difficulty. Indeed, the same day
her situation grew more desperate than ever, for after she had received
our last supply of refreshments, we again lost sight of her; so that we
in general despaired of her ever coming to an anchor.
Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about within a few leagues of her
intended harbour, whilst the neighbourhood of that place and of those
circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamities they
laboured under, served only to aggravate their distress by torturing
them with a view of the relief it was not in their power to reach. But
she was at last delivered from this dreadful situation at a time when
we least expected it; for after having lost sight of her for several
days, we were pleasingly surprized, on the morning of the 23d of July,
to see her open the N.W. point of the bay with a flowing sail, when we
immediately dispatched what boats we had to her assistance, and in an
hour's time from our first perceiving her, she anchored safe within us
in the bay. And now we were more particularly convinced of the
importance of the assistance and refreshments we so often sent them,
and how impossible it would have been for a man of them to {125} have
survived had we given less attention to their wants; for
notwithstanding the water, the greens, and fresh provisions which we
supplied them with, and the hands we sent them to navigate the ship, by
which the fatigue of their own people was diminished, their sick
relieved, and the mortality abated; notwithstanding this indulgent care
of the commodore, they yet buried above three-fourths of their crew,
and a very small proportion of the remainder were capable of assisting
in the duty of the ship. On their coming to an anchor, our first
endeavours were to assist them in mooring, and our next to send their
sick on shore. These were now reduced by deaths to less than
fourscore, of which we expected to lose the greatest part; but whether
it was that those farthest advanced in the distemper were all dead, or
that the greens and fresh provisions we had sent on board had prepared
those which remained for a more speedy recovery, it happened, contrary
to our expectations, that their sick were in general relieved and
restored to their strength in a much shorter time than our own had been
when we first came to the island, and very few of them died on shore.
I have thus given an account of the principal events relating to the
arrival of the _Gloucester_ in one continued narration. I shall only
add, that we never were joined by any other of our ships, except our
victualler, the _Anna_ pink, who came in about the middle of August,
and whose history I shall defer for the present, as it is now high time
to return to the account of our own transactions on board and on shore,
during the interval of the _Gloucester's_ frequent and ineffectual
attempts to reach the island.
Our next employment, after sending our sick on shore from the
_Centurion_, was cleansing our ship and filling our water. The first
of these measures was indispensably necessary to our future health, as
the numbers of sick, and the unavoidable negligence arising from our
deplorable situation at sea, had rendered the decks most intolerably
loathsome. And the filling our water was a caution that appeared not
less essential to our security, as we had reason to apprehend that
accidents might intervene which would oblige us to quit the island at a
very short warning; for some appearances we had discovered on shore
upon our first landing, gave us grounds to believe that there were
Spanish cruisers in these seas, which had left the island but a short
time before our {126} arrival, and might possibly return thither again,
either for a recruit of water, or in search of us, since we could not
doubt but that the sole business they had at sea was to intercept us,
and we knew that this island was the likeliest place, in their own
opinion, to meet with us. The circumstances which gave rise to these
reflections (in part of which we were not mistaken, as shall be
observed more at large hereafter) were our finding on shore several
pieces of earthen jars, made use of in those seas for water and other
liquids, which appeared to be fresh broken: we saw, too, many heaps of
ashes, and near them fish-bones and pieces of fish, besides whole fish
scattered here and there, which plainly appeared to have been but a
short time out of the water, as they were but just beginning to decay.
These were certain indications that there had been ships at this place
but a short time before we came there; and as all Spanish merchantmen
are instructed to avoid the island, on account of its being the common
rendezvous of their enemies, we concluded those who had touched here to
be ships of force; and not knowing that Pizarro was returned to Buenos
Ayres, and ignorant what strength might have been fitted out at Callao,
we were under some concern for our safety, being in so wretched and
enfeebled a condition, that notwithstanding the rank of our ship, and
the sixty guns she carried on board, which would only have aggravated
our dishonour, there was scarcely a privateer sent to sea that was not
an over-match for us. However, our fears on this head proved
imaginary, and we were not exposed to the disgrace which might have
been expected to have befallen us, had we been necessitated (as we must
have been, had the enemy appeared) to fight our sixty-gun ship with no
more than thirty hands.
Whilst the cleaning our ship and the filling our water went on, we set
up a large copper oven on shore near the sick tents, in which we baked
bread every day for our ship's company; for being extremely desirous of
recovering our sick as soon as possible, we conceived that new bread,
added to their greens and fresh fish, might prove a powerful article in
their relief. Indeed we had all imaginable reason to endeavour at the
augmenting our present strength, as every little accident, which to a
full crew would be insignificant, was extremely alarming in our present
helpless situation. Of this we had a troublesome instance on the 30th
of June; for at {127} five in the morning, we were astonished by a
violent gust of wind directly off shore, which instantly parted our
small bower cable about ten fathom from the ring of the anchor: the
ship at once swung off to the best bower, which happily stood the
violence of the jerk, and brought us up with two cables in eighty
fathom. At this time we had not above a dozen seamen in the ship, and
we were apprehensive, if the squall continued, that we should be driven
to sea in this wretched condition. However, we sent the boat on shore
to bring off all who were capable of acting; and the wind soon abating
of its fury, gave us an opportunity of receiving the boat back again
with a reinforcement. With this additional strength we immediately
went to work to heave in what remained of the cable, which we suspected
had received some damage from the foulness of the ground before it
parted; and agreeable to our conjecture, we found that seven fathom and
a half of the outer end had been rubbed, and rendered unserviceable.
In the afternoon we bent the cable to the spare anchor, and got it over
the ship's side; and the next morning, July 1, being favoured with the
wind in gentle breezes, we warped the ship in again, and let go the
anchor in forty-one fathom; the eastermost point now bearing from us
E.½S.; the westermost N.W. by W.; and the bay as before, S.S.W.; a
situation in which we remained secure for the future. However, we were
much concerned for the loss of our anchor, and swept frequently for it,
in hopes to have recovered it; but the buoy having sunk at the very
instant that the cable parted, we were never able to find it.
And now as we advanced in July, some of our men being tolerably
recovered, the strongest of them were put upon cutting down trees, and
splitting them into billets; while others, who were too weak for this
employ, undertook to carry the billets by one at a time to the
water-side: this they performed, some of them with the help of
crutches, and others supported by a single stick. We next sent the
forge on shore, and employed our smiths, who were but just capable of
working, in mending our chain-plates, and our other broken and decayed
iron-work. We began too the repairs of our rigging; but as we had not
junk enough to make spun-yarn, we deferred the general overhale, in
hopes of the daily arrival of the _Gloucester_, who we knew had a great
quantity of junk on board. However, that we might {128} dispatch as
fast as possible in our refitting, we set up a large tent on the beach
for the sail-makers; and they were immediately employed in repairing
our old sails, and making us new ones. These occupations, with our
cleansing and watering the ship (which was by this time pretty well
compleated), the attendance on our sick, and the frequent relief sent
to the _Gloucester_, were the principal transactions of our infirm crew
till the arrival of the _Gloucester_ at an anchor in the bay. And then
Captain Mitchel waiting on the commodore, informed him that he had been
forced by the winds, in his last absence, as far as the small island
called Masa Fuero, lying about twenty-two leagues to the westward of
Juan Fernandes; and that he endeavoured to send his boat on shore there
for water, of which he could observe several streams, but the wind blew
so strong upon the shore, and occasioned such a surf, that it was
impossible for the boat to land, though the attempt was not altogether
useless, for his people returned with a boatload of fish. This island
had been represented by former navigators as a barren rock; but Captain
Mitchel assured the commodore that it was almost everywhere covered
with trees and verdure, and was near four miles in length; and added,
that it appeared to him far from impossible but some small bay might be
found on it which might afford sufficient shelter for any ship desirous
of refreshing there.
As four ships of our squadron were missing, this description of the
island of Masa Fuero gave rise to a conjecture that some of them might
possibly have fallen in with that island, and might have mistaken it
for the true place of our rendezvous. This suspicion was the more
plausible as we had no draught of either island that could be relied
on: and therefore Mr. Anson determined to send the _Tryal_ sloop
thither, as soon as she could be fitted for the sea, in order to
examine all its bays and creeks, that we might be satisfied whether any
of our missing ships were there or not. For this purpose, some of our
best hands were sent on board the _Tryal_ the next morning, to overhale
and fix her rigging; and our long-boat was employed in compleating her
water, and whatever stores and necessaries she wanted were immediately
supplied either from the _Centurion_ or the _Gloucester_. But it was
the 4th of August before the _Tryal_ was in readiness to sail, when,
having weighed, it soon after fell calm, and the tide set her {129}
very near the eastern shore. Captain Saunders hung out lights and
fired several guns to acquaint us with his danger; upon which all the
boats were sent to his relief, who towed the sloop into the bay, where
she anchored until the next morning, and then weighing again, proceeded
on her cruize with a fair breeze.
And now, after the _Gloucester's_ arrival, we were employed in earnest
in examining and repairing our rigging; but in the stripping our
foremast, we were alarmed by discovering it was sprung just above the
partners of the upper deck. The spring was two inches in depth, and
twelve in circumference; however, the carpenters, on inspecting it,
gave it as their opinion that fishing it with two leaves of an
anchor-stock would render it as secure as ever. But, besides this
defect in our mast, we had other difficulties in refitting, from the
want of cordage and canvas; for though we had taken to sea much greater
quantities of both than had ever been done before, yet the continued
bad weather we met with had occasioned such a consumption of these
stores that we were driven to great straits, as after working up all
our junk and old shrouds to make twice-laid cordage, we were at last
obliged to unlay a cable to work into running rigging. And with all
the canvas, and remnants of old sails that could be mustered, we could
only make up one compleat suit.
Towards the middle of August, our men being indifferently recovered,
they were permitted to quit their sick tents, and to build separate
huts for themselves, as it was imagined that by living apart they would
be much cleanlier, and consequently likely to recover their strength
the sooner; but at the same time particular orders were given, that on
the firing of a gun from the ship they should instantly repair to the
water-side. Their employment on shore was now either the procuring of
refreshments, the cutting of wood, or the making of oil from the
blubber of the sea-lions. This oil served us for several purposes, as
burning in lamps, or mixing with pitch to pay the ship's sides, or,
when worked up with wood-ashes, to supply the use of tallow (of which
we had none left) to give the ship boot-hose tops. Some of the men too
were occupied in salting of cod; for there being two Newfoundland
fishermen in the _Centurion_, the commodore set them about laying in a
considerable quantity of salted cod for a sea-store, though very little
of it was used, as it was {130} afterwards thought to be as productive
of the scurvy as any other kind of salt provisions.
I have before mentioned that we had a copper oven on shore to bake
bread for the sick; but it happened that the greatest part of the flour
for the use of the squadron was embarked on board our victualler the
_Anna_ pink: and I should have mentioned that the _Tryal_ sloop, at her
arrival, had informed us, that on the 9th of May she had fallen in with
our victualler not far distant from the continent of Chili, and had
kept company with her for four days, when they were parted in a hard
gale of wind. This afforded us some room to hope that she was safe,
and that she might join us; but all June and July being past without
any news of her, we then gave her over for lost, and at the end of
July, the commodore ordered all the ships to a short allowance of
bread. Nor was it in our bread only that we feared a deficiency; for
since our arrival at this island we discovered that our former purser
had neglected to take on board large quantities of several kinds of
provisions which the commodore had expressly ordered him to receive; so
that the supposed loss of our victualler was on all accounts a
mortifying consideration. However, on Sunday, the 16th of August,
about noon, we espied a sail in the northern quarter, and a gun was
immediately fired from the _Centurion_ to call off the people from
shore, who readily obeyed the summons, repairing to the beach, where
the boats waited to carry them on board. And being now prepared for
the reception of this ship in view, whether friend or enemy, we had
various speculations about her; at first, many imagined it to be the
_Tryal_ sloop returned from her cruize, though as she drew nearer this
opinion was confuted, by observing she was a vessel with three masts.
Then other conjectures were eagerly canvassed, some judging it to be
the _Severn_, others the _Pearl_, and several affirming that it did not
belong to our squadron: but about three in the afternoon our disputes
were ended by an unanimous persuasion that it was our victualler the
_Anna_ pink. This ship, though, like the _Gloucester_, she had fallen
in to the northward of the island, had yet the good fortune to come to
an anchor in the bay, at five in the afternoon. Her arrival gave us
all the sincerest joy; for each ship's company was immediately restored
to their full allowance of bread, and we were now freed from the {131}
apprehensions of our provisions falling short before we could reach
some amicable port; a calamity which in these seas is of all others the
most irretrievable. This was the last ship that joined us; and the
dangers she encountered, and the good fortune which she afterwards met
with, being matters worthy of a separate narration, I shall refer them,
together with a short account of the other missing ships of the
squadron, to the ensuing chapter.
{132}