CONCLUSION OF OUR PROCEEDINGS AT JUAN FERNANDES, FROM THE ARRIVAL OF
THE "ANNA" PINK TO OUR FINAL DEPARTURE FROM THENCE
About a week after the arrival of our victualler, the _Tryal_ sloop,
that had been sent to the island of Masa Fuero, returned to an anchor
at Juan Fernandes, having been round that island without meeting any
part of our squadron. As upon this occasion the island of Masa Fuero
was more particularly examined than I dare say it had ever been before,
or perhaps ever will be again, and as the knowledge of it may, in
certain circumstances, be of great consequence hereafter, I think it
incumbent on me to insert the accounts given of this place by the
officers of the _Tryal_ sloop.
The Spaniards have generally mentioned two islands under the name of
Juan Fernandes, styling them the greater and the less: the greater
being that island where we anchored, and the less being the island we
are now describing, which, because it is more distant from the
continent, they have distinguished by the name of Masa Fuero. The
_Tryal_ sloop found that it bore from the greater Juan Fernandes W. by
S., and was about twenty-two leagues distant. It is a much larger and
better spot than has been generally reported; for former writers have
represented it as a small barren rock, destitute of wood and water, and
altogether inaccessible; whereas our people found it was covered with
trees, and that there were several fine falls of water pouring down its
sides into the sea. They found, too, that there was a place where a
ship might come to an anchor on the north side of it, though indeed the
anchorage is inconvenient; for the bank extends but a little way, is
steep too, and has very deep water upon it, so that you must come to an
anchor very near the shore, and there lie exposed to all the winds but
a southerly one. And besides the inconvenience of the anchorage, there
is also a reef of rocks running off the eastern point of the island,
about two miles in length, though there is little danger to be {149}
feared from them, because they are always to be seen by the seas
breaking over them. This place has at present one advantage beyond the
island of Juan Fernandes; for it abounds with goats, who, not being
accustomed to be disturbed, were no ways shy or apprehensive of danger
till they had been frequently fired at. These animals reside here in
great tranquillity, the Spaniards having not thought the island
considerable enough to be frequented by their enemies, and have not
therefore been solicitous to destroy the provisions upon it, so that
no dogs have been hitherto set on shore there. Besides the goats, our
people found there vast numbers of seals and sea-lions: and upon the
whole, they seemed to imagine that though it was not the most eligible
place for a ship to refresh at, yet in case of necessity it might
afford some sort of shelter, and prove of considerable use, especially
to a single ship, who might apprehend meeting with a superior force at
Fernandes.
The latter part of the month of August was spent in unlading the
provisions from the _Anna_ pink, when we had the mortification to find
that great quantities of our provisions, as bread, rice, grots, etc.,
were decayed, and unfit for use. This was owing to the water the pink
had made by her working and straining in bad weather; for hereby
several of her casks had rotted, and her bags were soaked through. And
now, as we had no farther occasion for her service, the commodore,
pursuant to his orders from the Board of Admiralty, sent notice to Mr.
Gerard, her master, that he discharged the _Anna_ pink from attending
the squadron, and gave him, at the same time, a certificate specifying
how long she had been employed. In consequence of this dismission, her
master was at liberty either to return directly to England, or to make
the best of his way to any port where he thought he could take in such
a cargo as would answer the interest of his owners. But the master
being sensible of the bad condition of the ship, and of her unfitness
for any such voyage, wrote the next day an answer to the commodore's
message, acquainting Mr. Anson, that from the great quantity of water
the pink had made in her passage round Cape Horn, and since, that in
the tempestuous weather she had met with on the coast of Chili, he had
reason to apprehend that her bottom was very much decayed. He added
that her upper works were rotten abaft; that she was extremely leaky;
{150} that her fore beam was broke; and that, in his opinion, it was
impossible to proceed to sea with her before she had been thoroughly
refitted; and he therefore requested the commodore that the carpenters
of the squadron might be directed to survey her, that their judgment of
her condition might be known. In compliance with this desire, Mr.
Anson immediately ordered the carpenters to take a careful and strict
survey of the _Anna_ pink, and to give him a faithful report, under
their hands, of the condition in which they found her, directing them
at the same time to proceed herein with such circumspection that, if
they should be hereafter called upon, they might be able to make oath
of the veracity of their proceedings. Pursuant to these orders, the
carpenters immediately set about the examination, and the next day made
their report; which was, that the pink had no less than fourteen knees
and twelve beams broken and decayed; that one breast hook was broken,
and another rotten; that her water-ways were open and decayed; that two
standards and several clamps were broken, besides others which were
rotten; that all her iron-work was greatly decayed; that her spirkiting
and timbers were very rotten; and that, having ripped off part of her
sheathing, they found her wales and outside planks extremely defective,
and her bows and decks very leaky; and in consequence of these defects
and decays, they certified that in their opinion she could not depart
from the island without great hazard, unless she was first of all
thoroughly refitted.
The thorough refitting of the _Anna_ pink, proposed by the carpenters,
was, in our present situation, impossible to be complied with, as all
the plank and iron in the squadron was insufficient for that purpose.
And now the master, finding his own sentiments confirmed by the opinion
of all the carpenters, he offered a petition to the commodore in behalf
of his owners, desiring that, since it appeared he was incapable of
leaving the island, Mr. Anson would please to purchase the hull and
furniture of the pink for the use of the squadron. Hereupon the
commodore ordered an inventory to be taken of every particular
belonging to the pink, with its just value; and as by this inventory it
appeared that there were many stores which would be useful in refitting
the other ships, and which were at present very scarce in the squadron,
by reason of the great quantities that had been already expended, he
{151} agreed with Mr. Gerard to purchase the whole together for £300.
The pink being thus broken up, Mr. Gerard, with the hands belonging to
the pink, were sent on board the _Gloucester_, as that ship had buried
the greatest number of men in proportion to her complement. But
afterwards, one or two of them were received on board the _Centurion_,
on their own petition, they being extremely averse to sailing in the
same ship with their old master, on account of some particular
ill-usage they conceived they had suffered from him.
This transaction brought us down to the beginning of September, and our
people by this time were so far recovered of the scurvy, that there was
little danger of burying any more at present; and therefore I shall now
sum up the total of our loss since our departure from England, the
better to convey some idea of our past sufferings, and of our present
strength. We had buried on board the _Centurion_, since our leaving
St. Helens, two hundred and ninety-two, and had now remaining on board
two hundred and fourteen. This will doubtless appear a most
extraordinary mortality: but yet on board the _Gloucester_ it had been
much greater, for out of a much smaller crew than ours they had lost
the same number, and had only eighty-two remaining alive. It might be
expected that on board the _Tryal_ the slaughter would have been the
most terrible, as her decks were almost constantly knee-deep in water;
but it happened otherwise, for she escaped more favourably than the
rest, since she only buried forty-two, and had now thirty-nine
remaining alive. The havock of this disease had fallen still severer
on the invalids and marines than on the sailors; for on board the
_Centurion_, out of fifty invalids and seventy-nine marines, there
remained only four invalids, including officers, and eleven marines:
and on board the _Gloucester_ every invalid perished, and out of
forty-eight marines only two escaped. From this account it appears
that the three ships together departed from England with nine hundred
and sixty-one men on board, of whom six hundred and twenty-six were
dead before this time; so that the whole of our remaining crews, which
were now to be distributed amongst three ships, amounted to no more
than three hundred and thirty-five men and boys: a number greatly
insufficient for the manning the _Centurion_ alone, and barely capable
of navigating all the three, with the utmost exertion of their strength
and vigour. This prodigious {152} reduction of our men was still the
more terrifying as we were hitherto uncertain of the fate of Pizarro's
squadron, and had reason to suppose that some part of it at least had
got round into these seas. Indeed, we were satisfied from our own
experience that they must have suffered greatly in their passage; but
then every port in the South Seas was open to them, and the whole power
of Chili and Peru would doubtless be united in refreshing and refitting
them, and recruiting the numbers they had lost. Besides, we had some
obscure knowledge of a force to be sent out from Callao; and, however
contemptible the ships and sailors of this part of the world may have
been generally esteemed, it was scarcely possible for anything bearing
the name of a ship of force to be feebler or less considerable than
ourselves. And had there been nothing to be apprehended from the naval
power of the Spaniards in this part of the world, yet our enfeebled
condition would nevertheless give us the greatest uneasiness, as we
were incapable of attempting any of their considerable places; for the
risquing of twenty men, weak as we then were, was risquing the safety
of the whole: so that we conceived we should be necessitated to content
ourselves with what few prizes we could pick up at sea before we were
discovered; after which we should in all probability be obliged to
depart with precipitation, and esteem ourselves fortunate to regain our
native country, leaving our enemies to triumph on the inconsiderable
mischief they had received from a squadron whose equipment had filled
them with such dreadful apprehensions. This was a subject on which we
had reason to imagine the Spanish ostentation would remarkably exert
itself, though the causes of our disappointment and their security were
neither to be sought for in their valour nor our misconduct.
Such were the desponding reflections which at that time arose on the
review and comparison of our remaining strength with our original
numbers. Indeed, our fears were far from being groundless, or
disproportioned to our feeble and almost desperate situation; for
though the final event proved more honourable than we had foreboded,
yet the intermediate calamities did likewise greatly surpass our most
gloomy apprehensions, and could they have been predicted to us at this
island of Juan Fernandes, they would doubtless have appeared
insurmountable. But to return to our narration.
{153}
In the beginning of September, as has been already mentioned, our men
were tolerably well recovered; and now, the season for navigation in
this climate drawing near, we exerted ourselves in getting our ships in
readiness for the sea. We converted the fore-mast of the victualler
into a main-mast for the _Tryal_ sloop; and still flattering ourselves
with the possibility of the arrival of some other ships of our
squadron, we intended to leave the main-mast of the victualler to make
a mizen-mast for the _Wager_. Thus all hands being employed in
forwarding our departure, we, on the 8th, about eleven in the morning,
espied a sail to the N.E. which continued to approach us till her
courses appeared even with the horizon. Whilst she advanced, we had
great hopes she might prove one of our own squadron; but as at length
she steered away to the eastward without haling in for the island, we
thence concluded she must be a Spaniard. And now great disputes were
set on foot about the possibility of her having discovered our tents on
shore, some of us strongly insisting that she had doubtless been near
enough to have perceived something that had given her a jealousy of an
enemy, which had occasioned her standing to the eastward without haling
in. However, leaving these contests to be settled afterwards, it was
resolved to pursue her, and, the _Centurion_ being in the greatest
forwardness, we immediately got all our hands on board, set up our
rigging, bent our sails, and by five in the afternoon got under sail.
We had at this time very little wind, so that all the boats were
employed to tow us out of the bay; and even what wind there was, lasted
only long enough to give us an offing of two or three leagues, when it
flatted to a calm. The night coming on, we lost sight of the chace,
and were extremely impatient for the return of daylight, in hopes to
find that she had been becalmed as well as we, though I must confess
that her greater distance from the land was a reasonable ground for
suspecting the contrary, as we indeed found in the morning to our great
mortification, for though the weather continued perfectly clear, we had
no sight of the ship from the mast-head. But as we were now satisfied
that it was an enemy, and the first we had seen in these seas, we
resolved not to give over the search lightly; and, a small breeze
springing up from the W.N.W., we got up our top-gallant masts and
yards, set all the sails, and steered to the S.E. in hopes of
retrieving our chace, which we imagined to {154} be bound to
Valparaiso. We continued on this course all that day and the next, and
then, not getting sight of our chace, we gave over the pursuit,
conceiving that by that time she must, in all probability, have reached
her port. Being therefore determined to return to Juan Fernandes, we
haled up to the S.W. with that view, having but very little wind till
the 12th, when, at three in the morning, there sprung up a fresh gale
from the W.S.W. which obliged us to tack and stand to the N.W. At
daybreak we were agreeably surprized with the sight of a sail on our
weather-bow, between four and five leagues distant. We immediately
crouded all the sail we could, and stood after her, and soon perceived
it not to be the same ship we originally gave chace to. She at first
bore down upon us, shewing Spanish colours, and making a signal as to
her consort; but observing that we did not answer her signal, she
instantly loofed close to the wind, and stood to the southward. Our
people were now all in spirits, and put the ship about with great
briskness; and as the chace appeared to be a large ship, and had
mistaken us for her consort, we conceived that she was a man-of-war,
and probably one of Pizarro's squadron. This induced the commodore to
order all the officers' cabins to be knocked down and thrown overboard,
with several casks of water and provisions which stood between the
guns, so that we had soon a clear ship, ready for an engagement. About
nine o'clock we had thick hazy weather and a shower of rain, during
which we lost sight of the chace; and we were apprehensive, if this
dark weather should continue, that by going upon the other tack, or by
some other artifice, she might escape us; but it clearing up in less
than an hour, we found that we had both weathered and fore-reached upon
her considerably, and were then near enough to discover that she was
only a merchantman, without so much as a single tier of guns. About
half an hour after twelve, being got within a reasonable distance of
her, we fired four shot amongst her rigging; on which they lowered
their top-sails, and bore down to us, but in very great confusion,
their top-gallant sails and stay-sails all fluttering in the winds:
this was owing to their having let run their sheets and halyards just
as we fired at them, after which not a man amongst them had courage
enough to venture aloft (for there the shot had passed but just before)
to take them in. As soon as the vessel came within hale of us, the
commodore {155} ordered them to bring-to under his lee quarter, and
then hoisted out the boat, and sent Mr. Saumarez, his first lieutenant,
to take possession of the prize, with directions to send all the
prisoners on board the _Centurion_, but first the officers and
passengers. When Mr. Saumarez came on board them, they received him at
the side with the strongest tokens of the most abject submission, for
they were all of them (especially the passengers, who were twenty-five
in number) extremely terrified, and under the greatest apprehensions of
meeting with very severe and cruel usage; but the lieutenant
endeavoured, with great courtesy, to dissipate their fright, assuring
them that their fears were altogether groundless, and that they would
find a generous enemy in the commodore, who was not less remarkable for
his lenity and humanity than for his resolution and courage. The
prisoners, who were first sent on board the _Centurion_, informed us
that our prize was called _Neustra Senora del Monte Carmelo_, and was
commanded by Don Manuel Zamorra. Her cargo consisted chiefly of sugar,
and great quantities of blue cloth made in the province of Quito,
somewhat resembling our English coarse broadcloths, but inferior to
them. They had besides several bales of a coarser sort of cloth, of
different colours, somewhat like Colchester bays, called by them Pannia
da Tierra, with a few bales of cotton, and some tobacco, which, though
strong, was not ill flavoured. These were the principal goods on board
her; but we found besides what was to us much more valuable than the
rest of the cargoe: this was some trunks of wrought plate, and
twenty-three serons of dollars, each weighing upwards of 200 lb.
averdupois. The ship's burthen was about four hundred and fifty tons;
she had fifty-three sailors on board, both whites and blacks; she came
from Callao, and had been twenty-seven days at sea before she fell into
our hands. She was bound to the port of Valparaiso, in the kingdom of
Chili, and proposed to have returned from thence loaded with corn and
Chili wine, some gold, dried beef, and small cordage, which at Callao
they convert into larger rope. Our prize had been built upwards of
thirty years; yet, as they lie in harbour all the winter months, and
the climate is favourable, they esteemed it no very great age. Her
rigging was very indifferent, as were likewise her sails, which were
made of cotton. She had only three four-pounders, which were
altogether {156} unserviceable, their carriages being scarcely able to
support them: and there were no small arms on board, except a few
pistols belonging to the passengers. The prisoners informed us that
they left Callao in company with two other ships, whom they had parted
with some days before, and that at first they conceived us to be one of
their company; and by the description we gave them of the ship we had
chased from Juan Fernandes, they assured us she was of their number,
but that the coming in sight of that island was directly repugnant to
the merchants' instructions, who had expressly forbid it, as knowing
that if any English squadron was in those seas, the island of Fernandes
was most probably the place of their rendezvous.
After this short account of the ship and her cargoe, it is necessary
that I should relate the important intelligence which we met with on
board her, partly from the information of the prisoners, and partly
from the letters and papers which fell into our hands. We here first
learnt with certainty the force and destination of that squadron which
cruized off the Maderas at our arrival there, and afterwards chased the
_Pearl_ in our passage to Port St. Julian. This we now knew was a
squadron composed of five large Spanish ships, commanded by Admiral
Pizarro, and purposely fitted out to traverse our designs, as hath been
already more amply related in the third chapter of the first book. We
had at the same time, too, the satisfaction to find that Pizarro, after
his utmost endeavours to gain his passage into these seas, had been
forced back again into the river of Plate, with the loss of two of his
largest ships. And besides this disappointment of Pizarro, which,
considering our great debility, was no unacceptable intelligence, we
farther learnt, that though an embargo had been laid upon all shipping
in these seas by the Viceroy of Peru, in the month of May preceding, on
a supposition that about that time we might arrive upon the coast, yet
it now no longer subsisted: for on the account sent overland by Pizarro
of his own distresses, part of which they knew we must have
encountered, as we were at sea during the same time, and on their
having no news of us in eight months after we were known to set sail
from St. Catherine's, they were fully satisfied that we were either
shipwrecked, or had perished at sea, or, at least, had been obliged to
put back again, as it was conceived impossible for any ships to {157}
continue at sea during so long an interval: and therefore, on the
application of the merchants, and the firm persuasion of our having
miscarried, the embargo had been lately taken off.
This last article made us flatter ourselves that, as the enemy was
still a stranger to our having got round Cape Horn, and the navigation
of these seas was restored, we might meet with some valuable captures,
and might thereby indemnify ourselves for the incapacity we were under
of attempting any of their considerable settlements on shore. And thus
much we were certain of, from the information of our prisoners, that,
whatever our success might be, as to the prizes we might light on, we
had nothing to fear, weak as we were, from the Spanish force in this
part of the world, though we discovered that we had been in most
imminent peril from the enemy when we least apprehended it, and when
our other distresses were at the greatest height; for we learnt, from
the letters on board, that Pizarro, in the express he dispatched to the
Viceroy of Peru, after his return to the river of Plate, had intimated
to him that it was possible some part at least of the English squadron
might get round; but that, as he was certain from his own experience
that if they did arrive in those seas it must be in a very weak and
defenceless condition, he advised the viceroy, in order to be secure at
all events, to send what ships of war he had to the southward, where,
in all probability, they would intercept us singly, before we had an
opportunity of touching at any port for refreshment; in which case he
doubted not but we should prove an easy conquest. The Viceroy of Peru
approved of this advice, and as he had already fitted out four ships of
force from Callao--one of fifty guns, two of forty guns, and one of
twenty-four guns, which were intended to join Pizarro when he arrived
on the coast of Chili--the viceroy now stationed three of these off the
Port of Conception, and one of them at the island of Fernandes, where
they continued cruizing for us till the 6th of June, and then not
seeing anything of us, and conceiving it to be impossible that we could
have kept the seas so long, they quitted their cruise and returned to
Callao, fully persuaded that we had either perished, or at least had
been driven back. Now, as the time of their quitting their stations
was but a few days before our arrival at the island of Fernandes, it is
evident that had we made that island on our first search for it,
without haling in for the main to secure our easting (a circumstance
which at that time we considered {158} as very unfortunate to us, on
account of the numbers which we lost by our longer continuance at
sea)--had we, I say, made the island on the 28th of May, when we first
expected to see it, and were in reality very near it, we had doubtless
fallen in with some part of the Spanish squadron; and in the distressed
condition we were then in, the meeting with a healthy, well-provided
enemy was an incident that could not but have been perplexing, and
might perhaps have proved fatal, not only to us, but to the _Tryal_,
the _Gloucester_, and the _Anna_ pink, who separately joined us, and
who were each of them less capable than we were of making any
considerable resistance. I shall only add, that these Spanish ships
sent out to intercept us had been greatly shattered by a storm during
their cruise, and that, after their arrival at Callao, they had been
laid up. And our prisoners assured us that whenever intelligence was
received at Lima of our being in these seas, it would be at least two
months before this armament could be again fitted out.
The whole of this intelligence was as favourable as we, in our reduced
circumstances, could wish for. And now we were no longer at a loss as
to the broken jars, ashes, and fishbones which we had observed at our
first landing at Juan Fernandes, these things being doubtless the
relicts of the cruisers stationed off that port. Having thus satisfied
ourselves in the material articles of our inquiry, and having gotten on
board the _Centurion_ most of the prisoners, and all the silver, we, at
eight in the same evening, made sail to the northward, in company with
our prize, and at six the next morning discovered the island of
Fernandes, where, the following day, both we and our prize came to an
anchor.
And here I cannot omit one remarkable incident which occurred when the
prize and her crew came into the bay where the rest of the squadron
lay. The Spaniards in the _Carmelo_ had been sufficiently informed of
the distresses we had gone through, and were greatly surprized that we
had ever surmounted them; but when they saw the _Tryal_ sloop at
anchor, they were still more astonished that after all our fatigues we
had the industry (besides refitting our other ships) to complete such a
vessel in so short time, they taking it for granted that we had built
her upon the spot: nor was it without great difficulty they were at
last prevailed upon to believe that she came from England with the rest
of the squadron, they long insisting that it was impossible such {159}
a bauble as that could pass round Cape Horn, when the best ships of
Spain were obliged to put back.
By the time we arrived at Juan Fernandes, the letters found on board
our prize were more minutely examined: and, it appearing from them, and
from the accounts of our prisoners, that several other merchantmen were
bound from Callao to Valparaiso, Mr. Anson dispatched the _Tryal_ sloop
the very next morning to cruise off the last-mentioned port,
reinforcing her with ten hands from on board his own ship. Mr. Anson
likewise resolved, on the intelligence recited above, to separate the
ships under his command, and employ them in distinct cruises, as he
thought that by this means we should not only increase our chance for
prizes, but that we should likewise run a less risque of alarming the
coast, and of being discovered. And now the spirits of our people
being greatly raised, and their despondency dissipated by this earnest
of success, they forgot all their past distresses, and resumed their
wonted alacrity, and laboured indefatigably in completing our water,
receiving our lumber, and in preparing to take our farewell of the
island: but as these occupations took us up four or five days with all
our industry, the commodore, in that interval, directed that the guns
belonging to the _Anna_ pink, being four six-pounders, four
four-pounders, and two swivels, should be mounted on board the
_Carmelo_, our prize: and having sent on board the _Gloucester_ six
passengers and twenty-three seamen to assist in navigating the ship, he
directed Captain Mitchel to leave the island as soon as possible, the
service demanding the utmost dispatch, ordering him to proceed to the
latitude of five degrees south, and there to cruise off the highland of
Paita, at such a distance from shore as should prevent his being
discovered. On this station he was to continue till he should be
joined by the commodore, which would be whenever it should be known
that the viceroy had fitted out the ships at Callao, or on Mr. Anson's
receiving any other intelligence that should make it necessary to unite
our strength. These orders being delivered to the captain of the
_Gloucester_, and all our business compleated, we, on the Saturday
following, being the 19th of September, weighed our anchor, in company
with our prize, and got out of the bay, taking our last leave of the
island of Juan Fernandes, and steering to the eastward, with an
intention of joining the _Tryal_ sloop in her station off Valparaiso.
{160}