CHAPTER XIV

A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN EXPECTED FROM OUR SQUADRON HAD

IT ARRIVED IN THE SOUTH SEAS IN GOOD TIME

After the recital of the transactions of the commodore, and the ships

under his command, on the coasts of Peru and Mexico, contained in the

preceding narration, it will be no useless digression to examine what

the whole squadron might have been capable of atchieving had it arrived

on its destined scene of action in so good a plight as it would

probably have done had the passage round Cape Horn been attempted at a

more seasonable time of the year. This disquisition may be serviceable

to those who shall hereafter form projects of the like nature for that

part of the world, or who may be entrusted with their execution. And

therefore I propose, in this chapter, to consider, as succinctly as I

can, the numerous advantages which the public might have received from

the operations of the squadron had it set sail from England a few

months sooner than it did.

To begin then: I presume it will be granted me that in the summer time

we might have got round Cape Horn with an inconsiderable loss, and

without any material damage to our ships or rigging. For the _Duke_

and _Duchess of Bristol_, who between them had above three hundred men,

buried no more than two from the coast of Brazil to Juan Fernandez; and

out of a hundred and eighty-three hands which were on board the _Duke_

alone, there were only twenty-one sick of the scurvy when they arrived

at that island. Whence as men-of-war are much better provided with all

conveniences than privateers, we might doubtless have appeared before

Baldivia in full strength, and in a condition of entering immediately

on action; and therefore, as that place was in a very defenceless

state, its cannon incapable of service, and its garrison in great

measure unarmed, it was impossible that it could have opposed our

force, or that its half-starved inhabitants, most of whom {258} are

convicts banished thither from other parts, could have had any other

thoughts than that of submitting. This would have been a very

important acquisition; since when Baldivia, which is an excellent port,

had been once in our possession, we should immediately have been

terrible to the whole kingdom of Chili, and should doubtless have awed

the most distant parts of the Spanish Empire in America. Indeed it is

far from improbable that, by a prudent use of this place, aided by our

other advantages, we might have given a violent shock to the authority

of Spain on that whole continent, and might have rendered some at least

of her provinces independent. This would certainly have turned the

whole attention of the Spanish ministry to that part of the world where

the danger would have been so pressing, and thence Great Britain and

her allies might have been rid of the numerous difficulties which the

wealth of the Spanish Indies, operating in conjunction with the Gallick

intrigues, have constantly thrown in their way.

But that I may not be thought to over-rate the force of this squadron

by ascribing to it a power of overturning the Spanish Government in

America, it is necessary to enter into a more particular discussion,

and to premise a few observations on the condition of the provinces

bordering near the South Seas, and on the disposition of the

inhabitants, both Spaniards and Indians, at that time. For hence it

will appear that the conjuncture was the most favourable we could have

desired, since we shall find that the Creolian subjects were

disaffected and their governors at variance, that the country was

wretchedly provided with arms and stores, and they had fallen into a

total neglect of all military regulations in their garrisons; and that

the Indians on their frontier were universally discontented, and seemed

to be watching with impatience the favourable moment when they might

take a severe revenge for the barbarities they had groaned under during

more than two ages: so that every circumstance concurred to facilitate

the enterprizes of our squadron. Of all these articles we were amply

informed by the letters we took on board our prizes; none of these

vessels, as I remember, having had the precaution to throw their papers

overboard.

The ill blood amongst the governors was greatly augmented by their

apprehensions of our squadron; for every one being {259} willing to

have it believed that the bad condition of his government was not the

effect of negligence, there were continual demands and remonstrances

among them in order to throw the blame upon each other. Thus, for

instance, the President of St. Jago in Chili, the President of Panama,

and many other governors and military officers were perpetually

soliciting the Viceroy of Peru to furnish them with the necessary sums

of money for putting their provinces and places in a proper state of

defence to oppose our designs: but the customary answer of the viceroy

to these representations was that he was unable to comply with their

requests, urging the emptiness of the royal chest at Lima, and the

difficulties he was under to support the expences of his own

government: he in one of his letters (which we intercepted) mentioning

his apprehensions that he might soon be necessitated to stop the pay of

the troops and even of the garrison of Callao, the key of the whole

kingdom of Peru. Indeed he did at times remit to these governors some

part of their demands; but as what he sent them was greatly short of

their wants, these partial supplies rather tended to the raising

jealousies and heart-burnings among them than contributed to the

purposes for which they had at first been desired.

Besides these mutual janglings amongst the governors, the whole body of

the people were extremely dissatisfied, they being fully persuaded that

the affairs of Spain for many years before had been managed by the

influence of a particular foreign interest, which was altogether

detached from the advantages of the Spanish nation: so that the

inhabitants of these distant provinces believed themselves to be

sacrificed to an ambition which never considered their convenience or

emoluments nor paid any regard to the reputation of their name or the

honour of their country. That this was the temper of the Creolian

Spaniards at that time might be proved from a hundred instances; but I

shall content myself with one which is indeed conclusive: this is the

testimony of the French mathematicians sent into America to measure the

magnitude of an equatorial degree of latitude. For in the relation of

the murther of a surgeon belonging to their company in one of the

cities of Peru, and of the popular tumult thence occasioned, written by

one of those astronomers, the author confesses that the multitude

during the uproar universally joined in imprecations on their bad

government, {260} and bestowed the most abusive language upon the

French, detesting them, in all probability, more particularly as being

of a nation to whose influence in the Spanish counsels the Spaniards

imputed all their misfortunes.

And whilst the Creolian Spaniards were thus dissatisfied, it appears by

the letters we intercepted that the Indians on almost every frontier

were ripe for a revolt, and would have taken up arms upon the slightest

encouragement; particularly the Indians in the southern parts of Peru,

as likewise the Arraucos, and the rest of the Chilian Indians, the most

powerful and terrible to the Spanish name of any on that continent.

For it seems in some disputes between the Spaniards and the Indians,

which happened a short time before our arrival, the Spaniards had

insulted the Indians with an account of the force which they expected

from Old Spain under the command of Admiral Pizarro, and had vaunted

that he was coming thither to compleat the great work which had been

left unfinished by his ancestors. These threats alarmed the Indians,

and made them believe that their extirpation was resolved on. For the

Pizarros being the first conquerors of that coast, the Peruvian Indians

held the name, and all that bore it, in execration; not having forgot

the destruction of their monarchy, the massacre of their beloved Inca,

Atapalipa, the extinction of their religion, and the slaughter of their

ancestors, all perpetrated by the family of the Pizarros. The Chilian

Indians too abhorred a chief who was descended of a race which, by its

lieutenants, had first attempted to inslave them, and had necessitated

the stoutest of their tribes for more than a century to be continually

wasting their blood in defence of their independency.

Nor let it be supposed that among barbarous nations the traditions of

these distant transactions could not be preserved for so long an

interval; since those who have been acquainted with that part of the

world agree that the Indians, in their publick feasts and annual

solemnities, constantly revive the memory of these tragick incidents;

and such as have been present at these spectacles have constantly

observed that all the recital and representations of this kind were

received with emotions so vehement, and with so enthusiastick a rage,

as plainly demonstrated how strongly the memory of their former wrongs

was implanted in them, and how acceptable the means of revenge would at

{261} all times prove. To this I must add too, that the Spanish

governors themselves were so fully informed of the disposition of the

Indians at this conjuncture, and were so apprehensive of a general

defection among them, that they employed all their industry to

reconcile the most dangerous tribes, and to prevent them from

immediately taking up arms. Among the rest, the President of Chili in

particular made large concessions to the Arraucos and the other Chilian

Indians, by which, and by distributing considerable presents to their

leading men, he at last got them to consent to a prolongation of the

truce between the two nations. But these negociations were not

concluded at the time when we might have been in the South Seas; and

had they been compleated, yet the hatred of these Indians to the

Spaniards was so great that it would have been impossible for their

chiefs, how deeply soever corrupted, to have kept them from joining us

against their old detested enemy.

Thus then it appears that on our arrival in the South Seas we might

have found the whole coast unprovided with troops and destitute even of

arms: for we well know, from very particular intelligence, that there

were not three hundred fire-arms, of which too the greatest part were

matchlocks, in all the province of Chili. Whilst at the same time, the

Indians were ripe for a revolt, the Spaniards disposed to mutiny, and

the governors enraged with one another, and each prepared to rejoice in

the disgrace of his antagonist. At this fortunate crisis we, on the

other hand, might have consisted of near two thousand men, the greatest

part in health and vigour, all well armed, and united under a chief

whose enterprising genius (as we have seen) could not be depressed by a

continued series of the most sinister events, and whose equable and

prudent turn of temper would have remained unvaried in the midst of the

greatest degree of good success; and who besides possessed, in a

distinguished manner, the two qualities the most necessary for these

uncommon undertakings--I mean that of maintaining his authority and

preserving, at the same time, the affections of his people. Our other

officers too, of every rank, appear, by the experience the public hath

since had of them, to have been equal to any attempt they might have

been charged with by their commander: and our men (at all times brave

if well conducted) in such a cause, where treasure was the {262}

object, and under such leaders, would doubtless have been prepared to

rival the most celebrated achievements hitherto performed by British

mariners.

It cannot then be contested but that Baldivia must have surrendered on

the appearance of our squadron: after which, it may be presumed, that

the Arraucos, the Pulches, and Penguinches, inhabiting the banks of the

river Imperial, about twenty-five leagues to the northward of this

place, would have immediately taken up arms, being disposed thereto, as

hath been already related, and encouraged by the arrival of so

considerable a force in their neighbourhood. As these Indians can

bring into the field near thirty thousand men, the greatest part of

them horse, their first step would have been the invading the province

of Chili, which they would have found totally unprovided both of

ammunition and weapons; and as its inhabitants are a luxurious and

effeminate race, they would have been incapable, on such an emergency,

of giving any opposition to this rugged enemy: so that it is no

strained conjecture to imagine that the Indians would have been soon

masters of the whole country. Moreover, the other Indians, on the

frontiers of Peru, being equally disposed with the Arraucos to shake

off the Spanish yoke, it is highly probable that they likewise would

have embraced this favourable occasion, and that a general insurrection

would have taken place through all the Spanish territories of South

America; in which case, the only resource left to the Creolians

(dissatisfied as they were with the Spanish government) would have been

to have made the best terms they could with their Indian neighbours,

and to have withdrawn themselves from the obedience of a master who had

shown so little regard to their security. This last supposition may

perhaps appear chimerical to those who measure the possibility of all

events by the scanty standard of their own experience; but the temper

of the times, and the strong dislike of the natives to the measures

then pursued by the Spanish court, sufficiently evince at least its

possibility. However, not to insist on the presumption of a general

revolt, it is sufficient for our purpose to conclude that the Arraucos

would scarcely have failed of taking arms on our appearance: since this

alone would so far have terrified the enemy that they would no longer

have employed their thoughts on the means of opposing us, but {263}

would have turned all their care to the Indian affairs; as they still

remember, with the utmost horror, the sacking of their cities, the

rifling of their convents, the captivity of their wives and daughters,

and the desolation of their country by these resolute savages in the

last war between the two nations. For it must be observed that the

Chilian Indians have been frequently successful against the Spaniards,

and possess at this time a large tract of country which was formerly

full of Spanish towns and villages, whose inhabitants were all either

destroyed or carried into captivity by the Arraucos and the other

neighbouring Indians, who in a war against the Spaniards never fail to

join their forces.

But even, independent of an Indian revolt, there were two places only,

on all the coast of the South Sea, which could be supposed capable of

resisting our squadron; these were the cities of Panama and Callao: as

to the first of these, its fortifications were so decayed, and it was

so much in want of powder, that the president himself, in an

intercepted letter, acknowledged it was incapable of being defended;

whence I take it for granted it would have given us but little trouble,

especially if we had opened a communication across the isthmus with our

fleet on the other side. And with regard to the city and port of

Callao, its condition was not much better than that of Panama; since

its walls are built upon the plain ground, without either out-work or

ditch before them, and consist only of very slender feeble masonry,

without any earth behind them; so that a battery of five or six pieces

of cannon, raised anywhere within four or five hundred paces of the

place, would have had a full view of the whole rampart, and would have

opened it in a short time; and the breach hereby formed, as the walls

are so extremely thin, could not have been difficult of ascent; for the

ruins would have been but little higher than the surface of the ground;

and it would have yielded this particular advantage to the assailants,

that the bullets, which grazed upon it, would have driven before them

such shivers of brick and stone as would have prevented the garrison

from forming behind it, supposing that the troops employed in defence

of the place should have so far surpassed the usual limits of Creolian

bravery as to resolve to stand a general assault. Indeed, such a

resolution cannot be imputed to them; for the garrison and people were

in general dissatisfied with the viceroy's {264} behaviour, and were

never expected to act a vigorous part. On the contrary, the viceroy

himself greatly apprehended that the commodore would make him a visit

at Lima, the capital of the kingdom of Peru; to prevent which, if

possible, he had ordered twelve gallies to be built at Guaiaquil and

other places, which were intended to oppose the landing of our boats,

and to hinder us from pushing our men on shore. But this was an

impracticable project of defence, and proceeded on the supposition that

our ships, when we should land our men, would keep at such a distance

that these gallies, by drawing little water, would have been out of the

reach of our guns; whereas the commodore, before he had made such an

attempt, would doubtless have been possessed of several prize ships,

which he would not have hesitated to have run on shore for the

protection of his boats; and besides, there were many places on that

coast, and one particularly in the neighbourhood of Callao, where there

was good anchoring, though a great depth of water, within a cable's

length of the shore; consequently the cannon of the man-of-war would

have swept all the coast to above a mile's distance from the water's

edge, and would have effectually prevented any force from assembling to

oppose the landing and forming of our men. And this landing-place had

the additional advantage that it was but two leagues distant from Lima;

so that we might have been at that city within four hours after we

should have been first discovered from the shore. The place I have in

view is about two leagues south of Callao, and just to the northward of

the headland called, in Frezier's draught of that coast, Morro Solar.

Here there is seventy or eighty fathom of water within two cables'

length of the shore; and here the Spaniards themselves were so

apprehensive of our attempting to land, that they had projected to

build a fort close to the water; but as there was no money in the royal

chests, they could not compleat so considerable a work, and therefore

they contented themselves with keeping a guard of a hundred horse

there, that they might be sure to receive early notice of our

appearance on that coast. Indeed some of them (as we were told),

conceiving our management at sea to be as pusillanimous as their own,

pretended that this was a road where the commodore would never dare to

hazard his ships, for fear that in so great a depth of water their

anchors could not hold them.

{265}

And let it not be imagined that I am proceeding upon groundless and

extravagant presumptions, when I conclude that fifteen hundred or a

thousand of our people, well conducted, should have been an over-match

for any numbers the Spaniards could muster in South America. Since,

not to mention the experience we had of them at Paita and Petaplan, it

must be remembered that our commodore was extremely solicitous to have

all his men trained to the dexterous use of their fire-arms; whereas

the Spaniards, in this part of the world, were wretched provided with

arms, and were very awkward in the management of the few they had: and

though on their repeated representations the court of Spain had ordered

several thousand firelocks to be put on board Pizarro's squadron, yet

those, it is evident, could not have been in America time enough to

have been employed against us. Hence then by our arms, and our

readiness in the use of them (not to insist on the timidity and

softness of our enemy), we should in some degree have had the same

advantages which the Spaniards themselves had on the first discovery of

this country against its naked and unarmed inhabitants.

Now let it in the next place be considered what were the events which

we had to fear, or what were the circumstances which could have

prevented us from giving law to all the coast of South America, and

thereby cutting off from Spain the resources which she drew from those

immense provinces. By sea there was no force capable of opposing us;

for how soon soever we had sailed, Pizarro's squadron could not have

sailed sooner than it did, and therefore could not have avoided the

fate it met with. As we should have been masters of the ports of

Chili, we could thereby have supplied ourselves with the provisions we

wanted in the greatest plenty; and from Baldivia to the equinoctial we

ran no risque of losing our men by sickness (that being of all climates

the most temperate and healthy), nor of having our ships disabled by

bad weather. And had we wanted sailors to assist in the navigating of

our squadron whilst a considerable proportion of our men were employed

on shore, we could not have failed of getting whatever numbers we

pleased in the ports we should have taken, and from the prizes which

would have fallen into our hands. For I must observe that the Indians,

who are the principal mariners in that part of the world, {266} are

extremely docile and dexterous; and though they are not fit to struggle

with the inclemencies of a cold climate, yet in temperate seas they are

most useful and laborious seamen.

Thus then it appears what important revolutions might have been brought

about by our squadron had it departed from England as early as it ought

to have done: and from hence it is easy to conclude what immense

advantages might have thence accrued to the public. For, as on our

success it would have been impossible that the kingdom of Spain should

have received any treasure from the provinces bordering on the South

Seas, or should even have had any communication with them, it is

certain that the whole attention of that monarchy would have been

immediately employed in endeavouring to regain these inestimable

territories, either by force of arms or compact. By the first of these

methods it was scarcely possible they could succeed; for it must have

been at least a twelvemonth after our arrival before any ships from

Spain could have got into the South Seas, and when they had been there,

they would have found themselves without resource, since they would

probably have been separated, disabled, and sickly, and would then have

had no port remaining in their possession where they could either

rendezvous or refit. Whilst we might have been supplied across the

isthmus with whatever necessaries, stores, or even men we wanted; and

might thereby have supported our squadron in as good a plight as when

it first set sail from St. Helens. In short, it required but little

prudence so to have conducted this business as to have rendered all the

efforts of Spain, seconded by the power of France, ineffectual, and to

have maintained our conquest in defiance of them both. Whence they

must either have resolved to have left Great Britain mistress of the

wealth of South America (the principal support of all their destructive

projects), or they must have submitted to her terms, and have been

contented to receive these provinces back again, as an equivalent for

such restrictions to their future ambition as she in her prudence

should have dictated to them. Having thus discussed the prodigious

weight which the operations of our squadron might have added to the

national influence of this kingdom, I shall here end this second book,

referring to the next the passage of the shattered remains of our force

across the Pacific Ocean, and all their subsequent transactions till

the commodore's arrival in England.

{267}

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

THE RUN FROM THE COAST OF MEXICO TO THE LADRONES OR MARIAN ISLANDS

When, on the 6th of May 1642, we left the coast of America, we stood to

the S.W. with a view of meeting the N.E. tradewind, which the accounts

of former writers taught us to expect at seventy or eighty leagues from

the land. We had besides another reason for standing to the southward,

which was the getting into the latitude of 13° or 14° north, that being

the parallel where the Pacific Ocean is most usually crossed, and

consequently where the navigation is esteemed the safest: this last

purpose we had soon answered, being in a day or two sufficiently

advanced to the south. But though we were at the same time more

distant from the shore than we had presumed was necessary for the

falling in with the trade-wind, yet in this particular we were most

grievously disappointed, the wind still continuing to the westward, or

at best variable. As the getting into the N.E. trade was to us a

matter of the last consequence, we stood yet more to the southward, and

made many experiments to meet with it; but all our efforts were for a

long time unsuccessful; so that it was seven weeks from our leaving the

coast before we got into the true trade-wind. This was an interval in

which we had at first believed we should well-nigh have reached the

eastermost parts of Asia; but we were so baffled with the contrary and

variable winds, which for all that time perplexed us, that we were not

as yet advanced above a fourth of the way. The delay alone would have

been a sufficient mortification; but there were other circumstances

attending it which rendered this situation not less terrible, and our

apprehensions perhaps still greater, than in any of our past

calamities. For our two ships were by this time extremely crazy; and

many days had not passed before we {268} discovered a spring in the

fore-mast of the _Centurion_, which rounded about twenty-six inches of

its circumference, and which was judged to be at least four inches

deep. And no sooner had the carpenters secured this mast with fishing

it, than the _Gloucester_ made a signal of distress to inform us that

she had a spring in her main-mast, twelve feet below the trussel trees;

which appeared so dangerous that she could not carry any sail upon it.

Our carpenters on a strict examination of this mast found it

excessively rotten and decayed; and it being judged necessary to cut it

down as low as it was defective, it was by this means reduced to

nothing but a stump, which served only as a step to the top-mast.

These accidents augmented our delay, and being added to our other

distresses occasioned us great anxiety about our future safety. For

though after our departure from Juan Fernandes we had enjoyed a most

uninterrupted state of health, till our leaving the coast of Mexico,

yet the scurvy now began to make fresh havock amongst our people: and

we too well knew the effects of this disease by our former fatal

experience to suppose that anything except a speedy passage could

secure the greater part of our crew from being destroyed thereby. But

as, after being seven weeks at sea, there did not appear any reasons

that could persuade us we were nearer the trade-wind than when we set

out, there was no ground for us to imagine that our passage would not

prove at least three times as long as we at first expected; and

consequently we had the melancholy prospect either of dying by the

scurvy or of perishing with the ship for want of hands to navigate her.

Indeed, several amongst us were willing to believe that in this warm

climate, so different from what we felt in passing round Cape Horn, the

violence of this disease, and its fatality, might be in some degree

mitigated; as it had not been unusual to suppose that its particular

virulence during that passage was in a great measure owing to the

severity of the weather: but the ravage of the distemper, in our

present circumstances, soon convinced us of the falsity of this

speculation; as it likewise exploded certain other opinions which

usually pass current about the cause and nature of this disease.

For it has been generally presumed that sufficient supplies of water

and of fresh provisions are effectual preventives of this malady; but

it happened that in the present case we {269} had a considerable stock

of fresh provisions on board, being the hogs and fowls which were taken

at Paita; we besides almost daily caught great abundance of bonitos,

dolphins, and albicores; and the unsettled season, which deprived us of

the benefit of the trade-wind, proved extremely rainy; so that we were

enabled to fill up our water-casks almost as fast as they were empty;

and each man had five pints of water allowed him every day during the

passage. But notwithstanding this plenty of water, notwithstanding

that the fresh provisions were distributed amongst the sick, and the

whole crew often fed upon fish; yet neither were the sick hereby

relieved or the progress or malignity of the disease at all abated.

Nor was it in these instances only that we found the general maxims

upon this head defective: for tho' it has been usually esteemed a

necessary piece of management to keep all ships where the crews are

large as clean and airy between decks as possible; and it hath been

believed by many that this particular alone, if well attended to, would

prevent the appearance of the scurvy, or at least mitigate its

virulence; yet we observed during the latter part of our run that,

though we kept all our ports open and took uncommon pains in cleansing

and sweetning the ships, the disease still raged with as much violence

as ever; nor did its advancement seem to be thereby sensibly retarded.

However, I would not be understood to assert that fresh provisions,

plenty of water, and a constant supply of sweet air between decks are

matters of no moment: I am, on the contrary, well satisfied that they

are all of them articles of great importance, and are doubtless

extremely conducive to the health and vigour of a crew, and may in many

cases prevent this fatal malady from taking place. All I have aimed at

in what I have advanced is only to evince that, in some instances, both

the cure and prevention of this malady is impossible to be effected by

any management, or by the application of any remedies which can be made

use of at sea. Indeed, I am myself fully persuaded that, when it has

got to a certain head, there are no other means in nature for relieving

the sick but carrying them on shore, or at least bringing them into the

neighbourhood of the land. Perhaps a distinct and adequate knowledge

of the source of this disease may never be discovered; but, in general,

there is no difficulty in conceiving that, as a continued supply of

fresh {270} air is necessary to all animal life, and as this air is so

particular a fluid that, without losing its elasticity, or any of its

obvious properties, it may be rendered unfit for this purpose by the

mixing with it some very subtle and otherwise imperceptible effluvia;

it may be easily conceived, I say, that the steams arising from the

ocean may have a tendency to render the air they are spread through

less properly adapted to the support of the life of terrestrial

animals, unless these steams are corrected by effluvia of another kind,

which perhaps the land alone can afford.

To what hath been already said in relation to this disease, I shall add

that our surgeon (who during our passage round Cape Horn had ascribed

the mortality we suffered to the severity of the climate) exerted

himself in the present run to the utmost: but he at last declared that

all his measures were totally ineffectual, and did not in the least

avail his patients. On this it was resolved by the commodore to try

the success of two medicines which, just before his departure from

England, were the subject of much discourse, I mean the pill and drop

of Mr. Ward. For however violent the operations of these medicines are

said to have sometimes proved, yet in the present instance, where,

without some remedy, destruction seemed inevitable, the experiment at

least was thought adviseable: and, therefore, one or both of them at

different times were administred to persons in every stage of the

distemper. Out of the numbers who took them, one, soon after

swallowing the pill, was seized with a violent bleeding at the nose.

He was before given over by the surgeon and lay almost at the point of

death; but he immediately found himself much better, and continued to

recover, tho' slowly, till we arrived on shore, which was near a

fortnight after. A few others too were relieved for some days, but the

disease returned again with as much virulence as ever. Though neither

did these, nor the rest, who received no benefit, appear to be reduced

to a worse condition than they would have been if they had taken

nothing. The most remarkable property of these medicines, and what was

obvious in almost every one that took them, was that they acted in

proportion to the vigour of the patient; so that those who were within

two or three days of dying were scarcely affected; and as the patient

was differently advanced in the disease, the operation was either a

gentle perspiration, an {271} easy vomit, or a moderate purge: but if

they were taken by one in full strength, they then produced all the

forementioned effects with considerable violence, which sometimes

continued for six or eight hours together with little intermission.

However, let us return to the prosecution of our voyage.

I have already observed that a few days after our running off the coast

of Mexico the _Gloucester_ had her main-mast cut down to a stump, and

we were obliged to fish our foremast; and that these misfortunes were

greatly aggravated by our meeting with contrary and variable winds for

near seven weeks. I shall now add that when we reached the trade-wind,

and it settled between the north and the east, yet it seldom blew with

so much strength that the _Centurion_ might not have carried all her

small sails abroad without the least danger; so that, had we been a

single ship, we might have run down our longitude apace, and have

arrived at the Ladrones soon enough to have recovered great numbers of

our men who afterwards perished. But the _Gloucester_, by the loss of

her main-mast, sailed so very heavily that we had seldom any more than

our top-sails set, and yet were frequently obliged to lie to for her:

and, I conceive, that on the whole we lost little less than a month by

our attendance upon her, in consequence of the various mischances she

encountered. During all this run it was remarkable that we were rarely

many days together without seeing great numbers of birds; which is a

proof that there are several islands, or at least rocks, scattered all

along, at no very considerable distance from our track: but the

frequency of these birds seem to ascertain that there are many more

than have been hitherto discovered; for the most part of the birds we

observed were such as are known to roost on shore; and the manner of

their appearance sufficiently evinced that they came from some distant

haunt every morning, and returned thither again in the evening, since

we never saw them early or late; and the hour of their arrival and

departure gradually varied, which we supposed was occasioned by our

running nearer their haunts or getting farther from them.

The trade-wind continued to favour us, without any fluctuation, from

the end of June till towards the end of July. But on the 26th of July,

being then, as we esteemed, about three hundred leagues from the

Ladrones, we met with a westerly wind, which did not come about again

to the {272} eastward in four days' time. This was a most dispiriting

incident, as it at once damped all our hopes of speedy relief,

especially too as it was attended with a vexatious accident to the

_Gloucester_: for in one part of these four days the wind flatted to a

calm, and the ships rolled very deep; by which means the _Gloucester's_

forecap splitting, her fore top-mast came by the board, and broke her

fore-yard directly in the slings. As she was hereby rendered incapable

of making any sail for some time, we were under a necessity, as soon as

a gale sprung up, to take her in tow; and near twenty of the healthiest

and ablest of our seamen were removed from the duty of our own ship,

and were continued eight or ten days together on board the _Gloucester_

to assist in repairing her damages. But these things, mortifying as we

thought them, were only the commencement of our disasters; for scarce

had our people finished their business in the _Gloucester_ before we

met with a most violent storm from the western board, which obliged us

to lie to. At the beginning of this storm our ship sprung a leak, and

let in so much water that all our people, officers included, were

constantly employed about the pumps: and the next day we had the

vexation so see the _Gloucester_ with her fore top-mast once more by

the board. Nor was that the whole of her calamity, since whilst we

were viewing her with great concern for this new distress, we saw her

main top-mast, which had hitherto served her as a jury main-mast, share

the same fate. This compleated our misfortunes, and rendered them

without resource: for we knew the _Gloucester's_ crew were so few and

feeble that without our assistance they could not be relieved; whilst

at the same time our sick were now so far increased, and those who

remained in health so continually fatigued with the additional duty of

our pumps, that it was impossible for us to lend them any aid. Indeed

we were not as yet fully apprized of the deplorable situation of the

_Gloucester's_ crew; for when the storm abated, which during its

continuance prevented all communication with them, the _Gloucester_

bore up under our stern, and Captain Mitchel informed the commodore

that besides the loss of his masts, which was all that was visible to

us, the ship had then no less than seven feet of water in her hold,

although his officers and men had been kept constantly at the pumps for

the last twenty-four hours.

This new circumstance was indeed a most terrible {273} accumulation to

the other extraordinary distresses of the _Gloucester_, and required if

possible the most speedy and vigorous assistance, which Captain Mitchel

begged the commodore to afford him. But the debility of our people,

and our own immediate preservation, rendered it impracticable for the

commodore to comply with his request. All that could be done was to

send our boat on board for a more particular account of the ship's

condition, as it was soon suspected that the taking her people on board

us, and then destroying her, was the only measure that could be

prosecuted in the present emergency, both for the security of their

lives and of our own.

Our boat soon returned with a representation of the state of the

_Gloucester_, and of her several defects, signed by Captain Mitchel and

all his officers; whence it appeared that she had sprung a leak by the

stern post being loose, and working with every roll of the ship, and by

two beams amidships being broken in the orlope, no part of which, as

the carpenters reported, could possibly be repaired at sea; that both

officers and men had wrought twenty-four hours at the pump without

intermission, and were at length so fatigued that they could continue

their labour no longer, but had been forced to desist, with seven feet

of water in the hold, which covered all their casks, so that they could

neither come at fresh water nor provision: that they had no mast

standing, except the foremast, the mizen-mast, and the mizen top-mast,

nor had they any spare masts to get up in the room of those they had

lost: that the ship was, besides, extremely decayed in every part; for

her knees and clamps were all become quite loose, and her upper works

in general were so crazy that the quarter-deck was ready to drop down:

that her crew was greatly reduced, as there remained alive on board

her, officers included, no more than seventy-seven men, eighteen boys,

and two prisoners, and that of this whole number only sixteen men and

eleven boys were capable of keeping the deck, several of these too

being very infirm.

The commodore, on the perusal of this melancholy representation,

presently ordered them a supply of water and provisions, of which they

seemed to be in the most pressing want, and at the same time sent his

own carpenter on board them to examine into the truth of every

particular; and it being found on the strictest enquiry that the

preceding account was in no instance exaggerated, it plainly appeared

{274} there was no possibility of preserving the _Gloucester_ any

longer, as her leaks were irreparable, and the united hands on board

both ships would not be able to free her, could we have spared the

whole of our crew to her relief. What then could be resolved on, when

it was the utmost we ourselves could do to manage our own pumps?

Indeed there was no room for deliberation; the only step to be taken

was the saving the lives of the few that remained on board the

_Gloucester_, and the getting out of her as much as we could before she

was destroyed. The commodore therefore immediately sent an order to

Captain Mitchel to put his people on board the _Centurion_ as

expeditiously as he could, now the weather was calm and favourable, and

to take out such stores as he could get at whilst the ship could be

kept above water. And as our leak required less attention whilst the

present easy weather continued, we sent our boats with as many men as

we could spare to Captain Mitchel's assistance.

The removing the _Gloucester's_ people on board us, and the getting out

such stores as could most easily be come at, gave us full employment

for two days. Mr. Anson was extremely desirous to have saved two of

her cables and an anchor, but the ship rolled so much, and the men were

so excessively fatigued, that they were incapable of effecting it; nay,

it was even with the greatest difficulty that the prize-money which the

_Gloucester_ had taken in the South Seas was secured and sent on board

the _Centurion_. However, the prize goods in the _Gloucester_, which

amounted to several thousand pounds in value, and were principally the

_Centurion's_ property, were entirely lost; nor could any more

provision be got out than five casks of flour, three of which were

spoiled by the salt water. Their sick men, amounting to near seventy,

were conveyed into the boats with as much care as the circumstances of

that time would permit; but three or four of them expired as they were

hoisting them into the _Centurion_.

It was the 15th of August, in the evening, before the _Gloucester_ was

cleared of everything that was proposed to be removed; and though the

hold was now almost full of water, yet, as the carpenters were of

opinion that she might still swim for some time, if the calm should

continue and the water become smooth, it was resolved she should be

burnt, as we knew not how little distant we might be at present from

the island of Guam, which was in the possession of our {275} enemies,

to whom the wreck of such a ship would have been no contemptible

acquisition. When she was set on fire, Captain Mitchel and his

officers left her, and came on board the _Centurion_: and we

immediately stood from the wreck, not without some apprehensions (as we

had only a light breeze) that if she blew up soon the concussion of the

air might damage our rigging; but she fortunately continued burning the

whole night, so that though her guns fired successively as the flames

reached them, yet it was six in the morning, when we were about four

leagues distant, before she blew up. The report she made upon this

occasion was but small, although the blast produced an exceeding black

pillar of smoke, which shot up into the air to a very considerable

height.

Thus perished his Majesty's ship the _Gloucester_. And now it might

have been expected that, being freed from the embarrassments which her

frequent disasters had involved us in, we should have proceeded on our

way much brisker than we had hitherto done, especially as we had

received some small addition to our strength by the taking on board the

_Gloucester's_ crew. However, we were soon taught that our anxieties

were not yet to be relieved, and that, notwithstanding all we had

already suffered, there remained much greater distresses which we were

still to struggle with. For the late storm, which had proved so fatal

to the _Gloucester_, had driven us to the northward of our intended

course; and the current setting the same way, after the weather abated,

had forced us yet a degree or two farther, so that we were now in 17-¼°

of north latitude, instead of being in 13-½°, which was the parallel we

proposed to keep, in order to reach the island of Guam. As it had been

a perfect calm for some days since the cessation of the storm, and we

were ignorant how near we were to the meridian of the Ladrones, though

we supposed ourselves not to be far from it, we apprehended that we

might be driven to the leeward of them by the current without

discovering them. On this supposition, the only land we could make

would be some of the eastern parts of Asia, where, if we could arrive,

we should find the western monsoon in its full force, so that it would

be impossible for the stoutest, best-manned ship to get in. Besides,

this coast being between four and five hundred leagues distant from us,

we, in our languishing circumstances, could expect no other than to be

destroyed {276} by the scurvy long before the most favourable gale

could enable us to compleat so extensive a navigation. For our deaths

were by this time extremely alarming, no day passing in which we did

not bury eight or ten, and sometimes twelve, of our men; and those who

had as yet continued healthy began to fall down apace. Indeed we made

the best use we could of our present calm, by employing our carpenters

in searching after the leak, which, notwithstanding the little wind we

had, was now considerable. The carpenters at length discovered it to

be in the gunner's fore store-room, where the water rushed in under the

breast-hook on each side of the stern: but though they found where it

was, they agreed it was impossible to stop it till they could come at

it on the outside, which was evidently a matter not to be attempted

till we should arrive in port. However, they did the best they could

within board, and were fortunate enough to reduce it, which was a

considerable relief to us.

We hitherto considered the calm which succeeded the storm, and which

had now continued for some days, as a very great misfortune, since the

currents were all the time driving us to the northward of our parallel,

and we thereby risqued the missing of the Ladrones, which we at present

conceived ourselves to be very near. But when a gale sprung up our

condition was still worse; for it blew from the S.W., and consequently

was directly opposed to the course we wanted to steer: and though it

soon veered to the N.E., yet this served only to tantalize us, as it

returned back again in a very short time to its old quarter. However,

on the 22d of August we had the satisfaction to find that the current

was shifted, and had set us to the southward; and the 23d, at daybreak,

we were cheered with the discovery of two islands in the western board.

This gave us all great joy, and raised our drooping spirits, for till

then an universal dejection had seized us, and we almost despaired of

ever seeing land again. The nearest of these islands, as we learnt

afterwards, was Anatacan; this we judged to be full fifteen leagues

from us; it seemed to be high land, though of an indifferent length.

The other was the island of Serigan, which had rather the appearance of

a rock than of a place we could hope to anchor at. We were extremely

impatient to get in with the nearest island, where we expected to find

anchoring ground and an opportunity of refreshing our sick. But the

wind proved so {277} variable all day, and there was so little of it

that we advanced towards it but slowly; however, by the next morning we

were got so far to the westward that we were in sight of a third

island, which was that of Paxaros, and which is marked in the chart

only as a rock. This was very small, and the land low, so that we had

passed within less than a mile of it in the night without observing it.

At noon, being then not four miles from the island of Anatacan, the

boat was sent away to examine the anchoring ground and the produce of

the place, and we were not a little solicitous for her return, as we

conceived our fate to depend upon the report we should receive; for the

other two islands were obviously enough incapable of furnishing us with

any assistance, and we knew not that there were any besides which we

could reach. In the evening the boat came back, and the crew informed

us that there was no road for a ship to anchor in, the bottom being

everywhere foul ground, and all except one small spot not less than

fifty fathom in depth; that on that spot there was thirty fathom,

though not above half a mile from the shore; and that the bank was

steep too, and could not be depended on. They farther told us that

they had landed on the island, not without some difficulty on account

of the greatness of the swell; that they found the ground was

everywhere covered with a kind of wild cane or rush; but that they met

with no water, and did not believe the place to be inhabited, though

the soil was good and abounded with groves of coconut trees.

The account of the impossibility of anchoring at this island occasioned

a general melancholy on board, for we considered it as little less than

the prelude to our destruction; and our despondency was increased by a

disappointment we met with the succeeding night, when, as we were

plying under top-sails, with an intention of getting nearer to the

island, and of sending our boat on shore to load with coconuts for the

refreshment of our sick, the wind proved squally, and blew so strong

off shore, that we were driven too far to the southward to venture to

send off our boat. And now the only possible circumstance that could

secure the few which remained alive from perishing, was the accidental

falling in with some other of the Ladrone Islands better prepared for

our accommodation; but as our knowledge of these islands was extremely

imperfect, we were to trust entirely to chance {278} for our guidance;

only as they are all of them usually laid down near the same meridian,

and we conceived those we had already seen to be part of them, we

concluded to stand to the southward, as the most probable means of

discovering the rest. Thus, with the most gloomy persuasion of our

approaching destruction, we stood from the island of Anatacan, having

all of us the strongest apprehensions (and those not ill grounded)

either of dying by the scurvy, or of being destroyed with the ship,

which, for want of hands to work her pumps, might in a short time be

expected to founder.

{279}

CHAPTER II

OUR ARRIVAL AT TINIAN, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND AND OF OUR

PROCEEDINGS THERE TILL THE "CENTURION" DROVE OUT TO SEA

It was the 26th of August, 1742, in the morning, when we lost sight of

the island of Anatacan, dreading that it was the last land we should

ever fix our eyes on. But the next morning we discovered three other

islands to the eastward, which were between ten and fourteen leagues

distant from us. These were, as we afterwards learnt, the island of

Saypan, Tinian, and Aguigan. We immediately steered towards Tinian,

which was the middlemost of the three; but we had so much of calms and

light airs, that though we were helped forwards by the currents, yet on

the morrow, at daybreak, we had not advanced nearer than within five

leagues of it. However, we kept on our course, and about ten o'clock

we perceived a proa under sail to the southward between Tinian and

Aguigan. As we imagined from hence that these islands were inhabited,

and knew that the Spaniards had always a force at Guam, we took the

necessary precautions for our own security: and endeavoured to prevent

the enemy as much as possible from making an advantage of our present

wretched circumstances, of which we feared they would be sufficiently

informed by the manner of our working the ship. We therefore mustered

all our hands who were capable of standing to their arms, and loaded

our upper and quarter-deck guns with grape shot; and that we might the

more readily procure some intelligence of the state of these islands,

we showed Spanish colours, and hoisted a red flag at the fore

top-mast-head, hoping thereby to give our ship the appearance of the

Manila galeon, and to decoy some of the inhabitants on board us. Thus

preparing ourselves, and standing towards the land, we were near

enough, at three in the afternoon, to send the cutter on shore to find

out a proper birth for the ship; and we soon perceived that {280} a

proa put off from the island to meet the cutter, fully persuaded, as we

afterwards found, that we were the Manila ship. As we saw the cutter

returning with the proa in tow, we instantly sent the pinnace to

receive the proa and the prisoners, and to bring them on board, that

the cutter might proceed on her errand. The pinnace came back with a

Spaniard and four Indians, which were the people taken in the proa: and

the Spaniard being immediately examined as to the produce and

circumstances of this island of Tinian, his account of it surpassed

even our most sanguine hopes. For he informed us that though it was

uninhabited (which in itself, considering our present defenceless

condition, was a convenience not to be despised), yet it wanted but few

of the accommodations that could be expected in the most cultivated

country. In particular, he assured us that there was plenty of very

good water; that there were an incredible number of cattle, hogs, and

poultry running wild on the island, all of them excellent in their

kind; that the woods afforded sweet and sour oranges, limes, lemons,

and coconuts in great abundance, besides a fruit peculiar to these

islands, which served instead of bread; that from the quantity and

goodness of the provisions produced here, the Spaniards at Guam made

use of it as a store for supplying the garrison; and that he himself

was a serjeant of that garrison, who was sent hither with twenty-two

Indians to jerk beef, which he was to load for Guam on board a small

bark of about fifteen tun, which lay at anchor near the shore.

This relation was received by us with inexpressible joy. Part of it we

were ourselves able to verify on the spot, as we were by this time near

enough to discover several numerous herds of cattle feeding in

different places of the island; and we did not any ways doubt the rest

of his narration, since the appearance of the shore prejudiced us

greatly in its favour, and made us hope that not only our necessities

might be there fully relieved, and our diseased recovered, but that,

amidst those pleasing scenes which were then in view, we might procure

ourselves some amusement and relaxation, after the numerous fatigues we

had undergone. For the prospect of the country did by no means

resemble that of an uninhabited and uncultivated place; but had much

more the air of a magnificent plantation where large lawns and stately

woods had been laid out together with great skill, {281} and where the

whole had been so artfully combined, and so judiciously adapted to the

slopes of the hills, and the inequalities of the ground, as to produce

a most striking effect, and to do honour to the invention of the

contriver. Thus (an event not unlike what we had already seen) we were

forced upon the most desirable and salutary measures by accidents which

at first sight we considered as the greatest of misfortunes; for had we

not been driven by the contrary winds and currents to the northward of

our course (a circumstance which at that time gave us the most terrible

apprehensions), we should, in all probability, never have arrived at

this delightful island, and consequently we should have missed of that

place where alone all our wants could be most amply relieved, our sick

recovered, and our enfeebled crew once more refreshed, and enabled to

put again to sea.

The Spanish serjeant, from whom we received the account of the island,

having informed us that there were some Indians on shore under his

command, employed in jerking beef, and that there was a bark at anchor

to take it on board, we were desirous, if possible, to prevent the

Indians from escaping, since they would certainly have given the

Governor of Guam intelligence of our arrival: we therefore immediately

dispatched the pinnace to secure the bark, as the serjeant told us that

was the only embarkation on the place; and then about eight in the

evening we let go our anchor in twenty-two fathom. But though it was

almost calm, and whatever vigour and spirit was to be found on board

was doubtless exerted to the utmost on this pleasing occasion, when,

after having kept the sea for some months, we were going to take

possession of this little paradise, yet we were full five hours in

furling our sails. It is true we were somewhat weakened by the crews

of the cutter and pinnace which were sent on shore; but it is not less

true that, including those absent with the boats and some negroes and

Indians prisoners, all the hands we could muster capable of standing at

a gun amounted to no more than seventy-one, most of which too were

incapable of duty except on the greatest emergencies. This,

inconsiderable as it may appear, was the whole force we could collect

in our present enfeebled condition from the united crews of the

_Centurion_, the _Gloucester_, and the _Tryal_, which, when we departed

from England, consisted all together of near a thousand hands.

{282}

When we had furled our sails, our people were allowed to repose

themselves during the remainder of the night, to recover them from the

fatigue they had undergone. But in the morning a party was sent on

shore well armed, of which I myself was one, to make ourselves masters

of the landing-place, since we were not certain what opposition might

be made by the Indians on the island. We landed, however, without

difficulty, for the Indians having perceived, by our seizure of the

bark the night before, that we were enemies, they immediately fled into

the woody parts of the island. We found on shore many huts which they

had inhabited, and which saved us both the time and trouble of erecting

tents. One of these huts, which the Indians made use offer a

store-house, was very large, being twenty yards long and fifteen broad:

this we immediately cleared of some bales of jerked beef which had been

left in it, and converted it into an hospital for our sick, who as soon

as the place was ready to receive them, were brought on shore, being in

all a hundred and twenty-eight. Numbers of these were so very helpless

that we were obliged to carry them from the boats to the hospital upon

our shoulders, in which humane employment (as before at Juan Fernandes)

the commodore himself, and every one of his officers, were engaged

without distinction; and notwithstanding the extreme debility and the

dying aspects of the greatest part of our sick, it is almost incredible

how soon they began to feel the salutary influence of the land: for,

though we buried twenty-one men on this and the preceding day, yet we

did not lose above ten men more during the whole two months we staid

here; but our diseased in general reaped so much benefit from the

fruits of the island, particularly those of the acid kind, that in a

week's time there were but few of them who were not so far recovered as

to be able to move about without help.

Being now in some sort established at this place, we were enabled more

distinctly to examine its qualities and productions; and that the

reader may the better judge of our manner of life here, and future

navigators be better apprized of the conveniencies we met with, I

shall, before I proceed any farther in the history of our own

adventures, throw together the most interesting particulars that came

to our knowledge relating to the situation, soil, produce, and

accommodations of this island of Tinian.

{283}

This island lies in the latitude of 15° 8' north, and longitude from

Acapulco 114° 50' west. Its length is about twelve miles, and its

breadth about half as much, it extending from the S.S.W. to N.N.E. The

soil is everywhere dry and healthy, and being withal somewhat sandy, it

is thereby the less disposed to a rank and over-luxuriant vegetation;

and hence the meadows and the bottoms of the woods are much neater and

smoother than is customary in hot climates. The land rose in gentle

slopes from the very beach where we watered to the middle of the

island, though the general course of its ascent was often interrupted

by vallies of an easy descent, many of which wind irregularly through

the country. These vallies and the gradual swellings of the ground

which their different combinations gave rise to were most beautifully

diversified by the mutual encroachments of woods and lawns, which

coasted each other and traversed the island in large tracts. The woods

consisted of tall and well-spread trees, the greatest part of them

celebrated either for their aspect or their fruit: whilst the lawns

were usually of a considerable breadth, their turf quite clean and

uniform, it being composed of a very fine trefoil, which was intermixed

with a variety of flowers. The woods too were in many places open, and

free from all bushes and underwood, so that they terminated on the

lawns with a well-defined outline, where neither shrubs nor weeds were

to be seen; but the neatness of the adjacent turf was frequently

extended to a considerable distance under the hollow shade formed by

the trees. Hence arose a great number of the most elegant and

entertaining prospects, according to the different blendings of these

woods and lawns, and their various intersections with each other, as

they spread themselves differently through the vallies, and over the

slopes and declivities in which the place abounded. Nor were the

allurements of Tinian confined to the excellency of its landskips only;

since the fortunate animals, which during the greatest part of the year

are the sole lords of this happy soil, partake in some measure of the

romantic cast of the island, and are no small addition to its wonderful

scenery; for the cattle, of which it is not uncommon to see herds of

some thousands feeding together in a large meadow, are certainly the

most remarkable in the world, as they are all of them milk-white,

except their ears, which are generally brown or black. And though

there are {284} no inhabitants here, yet the clamour and frequent

parading of domestic poultry, which range the woods in great numbers,

perpetually excite the idea of the neighbourhood of farms and villages,

and greatly contribute to the chearfulness and beauty of the place.

The cattle on Tinian we computed were at least ten thousand; we had no

difficulty in getting near them, for they were not at all shy of us.

Our first method of killing them was shooting them; but at last, when

by accidents to be hereafter recited we were obliged to husband our

ammunition, our men ran them down with ease. Their flesh was extremely

well tasted, and was believed by us to be much more easily digested

than any we had ever met with. The fowls too were exceeding good, and

were likewise run down with little trouble; for they could scarce fly

further than an hundred yards at a flight, and even that fatigued them

to such a degree that they could not readily rise again, so that, aided

by the openness of the woods, we could at all times furnish ourselves

with whatever number we wanted. Besides the cattle and the poultry we

found here abundance of wild hogs. These were most excellent food, but

as they were a very fierce animal, we were obliged either to shoot

them, or to hunt them with large dogs, which we found upon the place at

our landing, and which belonged to the detachment which was then upon

the island amassing provisions for the garrison of Guam. As these dogs

had been purposely trained to the killing of the wild hogs, they

followed us very readily and hunted for us; but though they were a

large bold breed, the hogs fought with so much fury that they

frequently destroyed them, whence we by degrees lost the greatest part

of them.

This place was not only extremely grateful to us, from the plenty and

excellency of its fresh provisions, but was as much perhaps to be

admired on account of its fruits and vegetable productions, which were

most fortunately adapted to the cure of the sea scurvy, the disease

which had so terribly reduced us. For in the woods there were

inconceivable quantities of coco-nuts, with the cabbages growing on the

same tree. There were besides, guavoes, limes, sweet and sour oranges,

and a kind of fruit peculiar to these islands, called by the Indians

Rhymay, but by us the Bread Fruit, for it was constantly eaten by us

during our stay upon the island instead of bread, and so universally

preferred to it {285} that no ship's bread was expended in that whole

interval. It grew upon a tree which is somewhat lofty, and which

towards the top divides into large and spreading branches. The leaves

of this tree are of a remarkable deep green, are notched about the

edges, and are generally from a foot to eighteen inches in length. The

fruit itself is found indifferently on all parts of the branches; it is

in shape rather elliptical than round; it is covered with a rough rind,

and is usually seven or eight inches long; each of them grows singly

and not in clusters. This fruit is fittest to be used when it is full

grown but still green, in which state, after it is properly prepared by

being roasted in the embers, its taste has some distant resemblance to

that of an artichoke's bottom, and its texture is not very different,

for it is soft and spongy. As it ripens it becomes softer and of a

yellow colour, when it contracts a luscious taste and an agreeable

smell, not unlike a ripe peach; but then it is esteemed unwholsome and

is said to produce fluxes. I shall only add that it is described both

by Dampier and in Ray's _History of Plants_. Besides the fruits

already enumerated, there were many other vegetables extremely

conducive to the cure of the malady we had long laboured under, such as

water melons, dandelion, creeping purslan, mint, scurvy grass, and

sorrel; all which, together with the fresh meats of the place, we

devoured with great eagerness, prompted thereto by the strong

inclination which, in scorbutic disorders, nature never fails of

exciting for those powerful specifics.

It will easily be conceived from what hath been already said that our

chear upon this island was in some degree luxurious; but I have not yet

recited all the varieties of provision which we here indulged in.

Indeed we thought it prudent totally to abstain from fish, the few we

caught at our first arrival having surfeited those who eat of them; but

considering how much we had been inured to that species of food we did

not regard this circumstance as a disadvantage, especially as the

defect was so amply supplied by the beef, pork, and fowls already

mentioned, and by great plenty of wild fowl; for it is to be remembered

that near the centre of the island there were two considerable pieces

of fresh water, which abounded with duck, teal, and curlew; not to

mention the whistling plover, which we found there in prodigious plenty.

{286}

It may now perhaps be wondered at that an island so exquisitely

furnished with the conveniencies of life, and so well adapted not only

to the subsistence but likewise to the enjoyment of mankind, should be

entirely destitute of inhabitants, especially as it is in the

neighbourhood of other islands, which in some measure depend upon this

for their support. To obviate this difficulty, I must observe that it

is not fifty years since the island was depopulated. The Indians we

had in our custody assured us that formerly the three islands of

Tinian, Rota, and Guam were all full of inhabitants; and that Tinian

alone contained thirty thousand souls: but a sickness raging amongst

these islands which destroyed multitudes of the people, the Spaniards,

to recruit their numbers at Guam, which were extremely diminished by

the mortality, ordered all the inhabitants of Tinian thither; where,

languishing for their former habitations and their customary method of

life, the greatest part of them in a few years died of grief. Indeed,

independent of that attachment which all mankind have ever shown to the

places of their birth and bringing up, it should seem from what has

been already said that there were few countries more worthy to be

regretted than this of Tinian.

These poor Indians might reasonably have expected, at the great

distance from Spain where they were placed, to have escaped the

violence and cruelty of that haughty nation, so fatal to a large

proportion of the whole human race: but it seems their remote situation

could not protect them from sharing in the common destruction of the

western world; all the advantage they received from their distance

being only to perish an age or two later. It may perhaps be doubted if

the number of the inhabitants of Tinian, who were banished to Guam, and

who died there pining for their native home, was so considerable as

what we have related above; but not to mention the concurrent assertion

of our prisoners and the commodiousness of the island and its great

fertility, there are still remains to be met with on the place which

show it to have been once extremely populous. For there are in all

parts of the island many ruins of a very particular kind. These

usually consist of two rows of square pyramidal pillars, each pillar

being about six feet from the next, and the distance between the rows

being about twelve feet; the pillars themselves are about five feet

square at the {287} base, and about thirteen feet high; and on the top

of each of them there is a semi-globe with the flat surface upwards;

the whole of the pillars and semi-globe is solid, being composed of

sand and stone cemented together and plaistered over. If the account

our prisoners gave us of these structures was true, the island must

indeed have been most extraordinary well peopled; since they assured us

that they were the foundations of particular buildings set apart for

those Indians only who had engaged in some religious vow; monastic

institutions being often to be met with in many Pagan nations.

However, if these ruins were originally the basis of the common

dwelling-houses of the natives, their numbers must have been

considerable; for in many parts of the island they are extremely thick

planted, and sufficiently evince the great plenty of its former

inhabitants. But to return to the present state of the island.

Having briefly recounted the conveniencies of this place, the

excellency and quantity of its fruits and provisions, the neatness of

its lawns, the stateliness, freshness, and fragrance of its woods, the

happy inequality of its surface, and the variety and elegance of the

views it afforded, I must now observe that all these advantages were

greatly enhanced by the healthiness of its climate, by the almost

constant breezes which prevail there, and by the frequent showers which

fell there; for these, instead of the heavy continued rains which in

some countries render great part of the year so unpleasing, were

usually of a very short and almost momentary duration. Hence they were

extremely grateful and refreshing, and were perhaps one cause of the

salubrity of the air, and of the extraordinary influence it was

observed to have upon us in increasing and invigorating our appetites

and digestion. This effect was indeed remarkable, since those amongst

our officers who were at all other times spare and temperate eaters,

who, besides a slight breakfast, used to make but one moderate repast a

day, were here, in appearance, transformed into gluttons; for instead

of one reasonable flesh meal, they were now scarcely satisfied with

three, each of them too so prodigious in quantity as would at another

time have produced a fever or a surfeit. And yet our digestion so well

corresponded to the keenness of our appetites that we were neither

disordered nor even loaded by this uncommon repletion; for after

having, according to the custom of the {288} island, made a large beef

breakfast, it was not long before we began to consider the approach of

dinner as a very desirable, though somewhat tardy, incident.

After giving these large encomiums to this island, in which, however, I

conceive I have not done it justice, it is necessary I should speak of

those circumstances in which it is defective, whether in point of

beauty or utility. And, first, with respect to its water. I must own

that, before I had seen this spot, I did not conceive that the absence

of running water, of which it is entirely destitute, could have been so

well replaced by any other means as it is in this island; since though

there are no streams, yet the water of the wells and springs, which are

to be met with everywhere near the surface, is extremely good; and in

the midst of the island there are two or three considerable pieces of

excellent water, the turf of whose banks was as clean, as even, and as

regularly disposed as if they had been basons purposely made for the

decoration of the place. It must, however, be confessed that with

regard to the beauty of the prospects, the want of rills and streams is

a very great defect, not to be compensated either by large pieces of

standing water or by the neighbourhood of the sea, though that, from

the smallness of the island generally, makes a part of every extensive

landskip.

As to the residence upon the island, the principal inconvenience

attending it is the vast numbers of muscatos, and various other species

of flies, together with an insect called a tick; this, though

principally attached to the cattle, would yet frequently fasten upon

our limbs and bodies, and if not perceived and removed in time would

bury its head under the skin and raise a painful inflammation. We

found here too centipedes and scorpions, which we supposed were

venomous, though none of us ever received any injury from them.

But the most important and formidable exception to this place remains

still to be told. This is the inconvenience of the road and the little

security there is in some seasons for a ship at anchor. The only

proper anchoring place for ships of burthen is at the S.W. end of the

island. Here the _Centurion_ anchored in twenty and twenty-two fathom

water about a mile and an half distant from the shore opposite to a

sandy bay. The bottom of this road is full of {289} sharp-pointed

coral rocks, which, during four months of the year, that is from the

middle of June to the middle of October, render it a very unsafe

anchorage. This is the season of the western monsoons, when near the

full and change of the moon, but more particularly at the change, the

wind is usually variable all round the compass, and seldom fails to

blow with such fury that the stoutest cables are not to be confided in.

What adds to the danger at these times is the excessive rapidity of the

tide of flood which sets to the S.E. between this island and that of

Aguiguan, a small islet near the southern extremity of Tinian. This

tide runs at first with a vast head and overfall of water, occasioning

such a hollow and overgrown sea as is scarcely to be conceived; so that

(as will be more particularly recited in the sequel) we were under the

dreadful apprehensions of being pooped by it, though we were in a

sixty-gun ship. In the remaining eight months of the year, that is

from the middle of October to the middle of June, there is a constant

season of settled weather, when, if the cables are but well armed,

there is scarcely any danger of their being even rubbed, so that during

all that interval it is as secure a road as could be wished for. I

shall only add that the anchoring bank is very shelving, and stretches

along the S.W. end of the island, and is entirely free from shoals,

except a reef of rocks which is visible, and lies about half a mile

from the shore, affording a narrow passage into a small sandy bay,

which is the only place where boats can possibly land. Having given

this account of the island and its produce, it is necessary to return

to our own history.

Our first undertaking after our arrival was the removal of our sick on

shore, as hath been related. Whilst we were thus employed, four of the

Indians on the island, being part of the Spanish Serjeant's detachment,

came and surrendered themselves to us, so that with those we took in

the proa, we had now eight of them in our custody. One of the four who

submitted undertook to show us the most convenient places for killing

cattle, and two of our men were ordered to attend him on that service;

but one of them unwarily trusting the Indian with his firelock and

pistol, the Indian escaped with them into the woods. His countrymen,

who remained behind, were apprehensive of suffering for this perfidy of

their comrade, and therefore begged leave to send one of {290} their

own party into the country, who they engaged should both bring back the

arms and persuade the whole detachment from Guam to submit to us. The

commodore granted their request, and one of them was dispatched on this

errand, who returned next day and brought back the firelock and pistol,

but assured us he had found them in a pathway in the wood, and

protested that he had not been able to meet with any one of his

countrymen. This report had so little the air of truth that we

suspected there was some treachery carrying on, and therefore to

prevent any future communication amongst them, we immediately ordered

all the Indians who were in our power on board the ship, and did not

permit them to go any more on shore.

When our sick were well settled on the island, we employed all the

hands that could be spared from attending them in arming the cables

with a good rounding, several fathom from the anchor, to secure them

from being rubbed by the coral rocks which here abounded. This being

compleated, our next occupation was our leak, and in order to raise it

out of water, we, on the first of September, began to get the guns aft

to bring the ship by the stern; and now the carpenters, being able to

come at it on the outside, they ripped off what was left of the old

sheathing, caulked all the seams on both sides the cut-water, and

leaded them over, and then new sheathed the bows to the surface of the

water. By this means we conceived the defect was sufficiently secured,

but upon our beginning to return the guns to their ports, we had the

mortification to perceive that the water rushed into the ship in the

old place with as much violence as ever. Hereupon we were necessitated

to begin again, and that our second attempt might be more successful,

we cleared the fore store-room and sent a hundred and thirty barrels of

powder on board the small Spanish bark we had seized here, by which

means we raised the ship about three feet out of the water forwards.

The carpenters now ripped off the sheathing lower down, new caulked all

the seams, and afterwards laid on new sheathing; and then, supposing

the leak to be effectually stopped, we began to move the guns forwards;

but the upper deck guns were scarcely replaced when, to our amazement,

it burst out again. As we durst not cut away the lining within board,

lest a but end or a plank might start, and we might go down

immediately, we had no other resource {291} left than chincing and

caulking within board. Indeed by this means the leak was stopped for

some time; but when our guns were all fixed in their ports, and our

stores were taken on board, the water again forced its way through a

hole in the stem where one of the bolts was driven in. We on this

desisted from all farther efforts, being at last well assured that the

defect was in the stem itself, and that it was not to be remedied till

we should have an opportunity of heaving down.

In the first part of the month of September, several of our sick were

tolerably recovered by their residence on shore; and on the 12th of

September all those who were so far relieved since their arrival as to

be capable of doing duty were sent on board the ship: and then the

commodore, who was himself ill of the scurvy, had a tent erected for

him on shore, where he went with the view of staying a few days to

establish his health, being convinced by the general experience of his

people that no other method but living on the land was to be trusted to

for the removal of this dreadful malady. The place where his tent was

pitched on this occasion was near the well whence we got all our water,

and was indeed a most elegant spot.

As the crew on board were now reinforced by the recovered hands

returned from the island, we began to send our casks on shore to be

fitted up, which till this time could not be done, for the coopers were

not well enough to work. We likewise weighed our anchors, that we

might examine our cables, which we suspected had by this time received

considerable damage. And as the new moon was now approaching, when we

apprehended violent gales, the commodore, for our greater security,

ordered that part of the cables next to the anchors to be armed with

the chains of the fire-grapnels; besides which, they were cackled

twenty fathom from the anchors and seven fathom from the service with a

good rounding of a 4-½-inch hauser; and being persuaded that the

dangers of this road demanded our utmost foresight, we to all these

precautions added that of lowering the main and fore-yard close down,

that in case of blowing weather the wind might have less power upon the

ship to make her ride a strain.

Thus effectually prepared, as we conceived, we waited till the new

moon, which was the 18th of September, when riding safe that and the

three succeeding days (though the weather proved very squally and

uncertain), we flattered {292} ourselves (for I was then on board) that

the prudence of our measures had secured us from all accidents; but on

the 22d, the wind blew from the eastward with such fury that we soon

despaired of riding out the storm. In this conjuncture we should have

been extremely glad that the commodore and the rest of our people on

shore, which were the greatest part of our hands, had been on board us,

since our only hopes of safety seemed to depend on our putting

immediately to sea; but all communication with the shore was now

absolutely cut off, for there was no possibility that a boat could

live, so that we were necessitated to ride it out till our cables

parted. Indeed we were not long expecting this dreadful event, for the

small bower parted at five in the afternoon, and the ship swung off to

the best bower; and as the night came on the violence of the wind still

increased, tho' notwithstanding its inexpressible fury, the tide ran

with so much rapidity as to prevail over it: for the tide which set to

the northward at the beginning of the hurricane, turning suddenly to

the southward about six in the evening, forced the ship before it, in

despight of the storm which blew upon the beam. The sea now broke most

surprizingly all round us, and a large tumbling swell threatened to

poop us, by which the long-boat at this time, moored astern, was on a

sudden canted so high that it broke the transon of the commodore's

gallery, whose cabin was on the quarter-deck, and would doubtless have

risen as high as the trafferel had it not been for the stroke, which

stove the boat all to pieces; and yet the poor boat-keeper, though

extremely bruised, was saved almost by miracle. About eight the tide

slackened, but the wind not abating, the best bower cable, by which

alone we rode, parted at eleven. Our sheet anchor, which was the only

one we had left, was instantly cut from the bow; but before it could

reach the bottom, we were driven from twenty-two into thirty-five

fathom; and after we had veered away one whole cable and two-thirds of

another, we could not find ground with sixty fathom of line. This was

a plain indication that the anchor lay near the edge of the bank, and

could not hold us long. In this pressing danger, Mr. Saumarez, our

first lieutenant, who now commanded on board, ordered several guns to

be fired and lights to be shown as a signal to the commodore of our

distress; and in a short time after, {293} it being then about one

o'clock and the night excessively dark, a strong gust, attended with

rain and lightning, drove us off the bank, and forced us out to sea,

leaving behind us on the island Mr. Anson with many more of our

officers and great part of our crew, amounting in the whole to a

hundred and thirteen persons. Thus were we all, both at sea and on

shore, reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe; those on

shore conceiving they had no means left them ever to depart from the

island, whilst we on board, being utterly unprepared to struggle with

the fury of the seas and winds we were now exposed to, expected each

moment to be our last.

{294}

CHAPTER III

TRANSACTIONS AT TINIAN AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF THE "CENTURION"

The storm which drove the _Centurion_ to sea blew with too much

turbulence to permit either the commodore or any of the people on shore

to hear the guns which she fired as signals of distress, and the

frequent glare of the lightning had prevented the explosions from being

observed: so that when at daybreak it was perceived from the shore that

the ship was missing, there was the utmost consternation amongst them:

for much the greatest part of them immediately concluded that she was

lost, and intreated the commodore that the boat might be sent round the

island to look after the wreck; and those who believed her safe had

scarcely any expectation that she would ever be able to make the island

again, since the wind continued to blow strong at east, and they well

knew how poorly she was manned and provided for struggling with so

tempestuous a gale. In either of these views their situation was

indeed most deplorable: for if the _Centurion_ was lost, or should be

incapable of returning, there appeared no possibility of their ever

getting off the island, as they were at least six hundred leagues from

Macao, which was their nearest port, and they were masters of no other

vessel than the small Spanish bark of about fifteen tun seized at their

first arrival, which would not even hold a fourth part of their number.

And the chance of their being taken off the island by the casual

arrival of any other ship was altogether desperate, as perhaps no

European ship had ever anchored here before, and it were madness to

expect that like incidents should send another here in an hundred ages

to come: so that their desponding thoughts could only suggest to them

the melancholy prospect of spending the remainder of their days on this

island, and bidding adieu for ever to their country, their friends,

their families, and all their domestic endearments.

{295}

Nor was this the worst they had to fear: for they had reason to

apprehend that the Governor of Guam, when he should be informed of

their circumstances, might send a force sufficient to overpower them,

and to remove them to that island; and then the most favourable

treatment they could expect would be to be detained prisoners during

life; since from the known policy and cruelty of the Spaniards in their

distant settlements, it was rather to be supposed that the governor, if

he once had them in his power, would make their want of commissions

(all of them being on board the _Centurion_) a pretext for treating

them as pirates, and for depriving them of their lives with infamy.

In the midst of these gloomy reflections, Mr. Anson, though he always

kept up his usual composure and steadiness, had doubtless his share of

disquietude. However, having soon projected a scheme for extricating

himself and his men from their present anxious situation, he first

communicated it to some of the most intelligent persons about him; and

having satisfied himself that it was practicable, he then endeavoured

to animate his people to a speedy and vigorous prosecution of it. With

this view he represented to them how little foundation there was for

their apprehensions of the _Centurion's_ being lost: that he should

have presumed they had been all of them better acquainted with sea

affairs than to give way to the impression of so chimerical a fright:

that he doubted not but if they would seriously consider what such a

ship was capable of enduring, they would confess there was not the

least probability of her having perished: that he was not without hopes

that she might return in a few days; but if she did not, the worst that

could be imagined was, that she was driven so far to the leeward of the

island that she could not regain it, and that she would consequently be

obliged to bear away for Macao on the coast of China: that as it was

necessary to be prepared against all events, he had, in this case,

considered of a method of carrying them off the island, and of joining

their old ship the _Centurion_ again at Macao: that this method was to

hale the Spanish bark on shore, to saw her asunder, and to lengthen her

twelve feet, which would enlarge her to near forty tun burthen, and

would enable her to carry them all to China: that he had consulted the

carpenters, and they had agreed that this proposal was very feasible,

and that {296} nothing was wanting to execute it but the united

resolution and industry of the whole body: and having added that for

his own part he would share the fatigue and labour with them, and would

expect no more from any man than what he, the commodore himself, was

ready to submit to, he concluded with representing to them the

importance of saving time, urging that, in order to be the better

secured at all events, it was expedient to set about the work

immediately, and to take it for granted that the _Centurion_ would not

be able to put back (which was indeed the commodore's secret opinion),

since if she did return, they should only throw away a few days'

application; but if she did not, their situation and the season of the

year required their utmost dispatch.

These remonstrances, though not without effect, did not at first

operate so powerfully as Mr. Anson could have wished. He indeed raised

their spirits by showing them the possibility of their getting away, of

which they had before despaired; but then from their confidence in this

resource they grew less apprehensive of their situation, gave a greater

scope to their hopes, and flattered themselves that the _Centurion_

would be able to regain the island, and prevent the execution of the

commodore's scheme, which they could easily foresee would be a work of

considerable labour. Hence it was some days before they were all of

them heartily engaged in the project; but at last being convinced of

the impossibility of the ship's return, they betook themselves

zealously to the different tasks allotted them, and were as industrious

and as eager as their commander could desire, punctually assembling by

daybreak at the rendezvous, whence they were distributed to their

different employments, which they followed with unusual vigour till

night came on.

And here I must interrupt the course of this transaction to relate an

incident which for a short time gave Mr. Anson more concern than all

the preceding disasters. A few days after the ship was driven off,

some of the people on shore cried out, "A sail!" This spread a general

joy, every one supposing that it was the ship returning; but presently,

a second sail was descried, which quite destroyed their first

conjecture, and made it difficult to guess what they were. The

commodore eagerly turned his glass towards them, and saw they were two

boats, on which it immediately occurred {297} to him that the

_Centurion_ was gone to the bottom, and that these were her two boats

coming back with the remains of her people; and this sudden and

unexpected suggestion wrought on him so powerfully that to conceal his

emotion he was obliged (without speaking to any one) instantly to

retire to his tent, where he passed some bitter moments, in the firm

belief that the ship was lost, and that now all his views of farther

distressing the enemy, and of still signalizing his expedition by some

important exploit, were at an end.

However, he was soon relieved from these disturbing thoughts by

discovering that the two boats in the offing were Indian proas; and

perceiving that they made towards the shore, he directed every

appearance that could give them any suspicion to be removed, concealing

his people in the adjacent thickets, ready to secure the Indians when

they should land: but after the proas had stood in within a quarter of

a mile of the beach, they suddenly stopt short, and remaining there

motionless for near two hours, they then got under sail again, and

steered to the southward. Let us now return to the projected

enlargement of the bark.

If we examine how they were prepared for going through with this

undertaking, on which their safety depended, we shall find that,

independent of other matters which were of as much consequence, the

lengthning of the bark alone was attended with great difficulty.

Indeed, in a proper place, where all the necessary materials and tools

were to be had, the embarrassment would have been much less; but some

of these tools were to be made, and many of the materials were wanting,

and it required no small degree of invention to supply all these

deficiencies. And when the hull of the bark should be compleated, this

was but one article, and there were others of equal weight which were

to be well considered: these were the rigging it, the victualling it,

and lastly the navigating it, for the space of six or seven hundred

leagues, through unknown seas where no one of the company had ever

passed before. And in these particulars such obstacles occurred, that

without the intervention of very extraordinary and unexpected

accidents, the possibility of the whole enterprize would have fallen to

the ground, and their utmost industry and efforts must have been

fruitless. Of all these circumstances I shall make a short recital.

It fortunately happened that the carpenters, both of the {298}

_Gloucester_ and of the _Tryal_, with their chests of tools, were on

shore when the ship drove out to sea; the smith too was on shore, and

had with him his forge and several of his tools, but unhappily his

bellows had not been brought from on board, so that he was incapable of

working, and without his assistance they could not hope to proceed with

their design. Their first attention, therefore, was to make him a pair

of bellows, but in this they were for some time puzzled by their want

of leather; however, as they had hides in sufficient plenty, and they

had found a hogshead of lime, which the Indians or Spaniards had

prepared for their own use, they tanned a few hides with this lime; and

though we may suppose the workmanship to be but indifferent, yet the

leather they thus procured answered the intention tolerably well, and

the bellows, to which a gun-barrel served for a pipe, had no other

inconvenience than that of being somewhat strong scented from the

imperfection of the tanner's work.

Whilst the smith was preparing the necessary iron-work, others were

employed in cutting down trees and sawing them into planks; and this

being the most laborious task, the commodore wrought at it himself for

the encouragement of his people. But there being neither blocks nor

cordage sufficient for tackles to haul the bark on shore, this

occasioned a new difficulty; however, it was at length resolved to get

her up on rollers, since for these the body of the coconut tree was

extremely well fitted, as its smoothness and circular turn prevented

much labour, and suited it to the purpose with very little workmanship.

A number of these trees were therefore felled, and the ends of them

properly opened for the insertion of hand-spikes; and in the meantime a

dry dock was dug to receive the bark, and ways were laid from thence

quite into the sea to facilitate the bringing her up. Neither were

these the whole of their occupations, since, besides those who were

thus busied in preparing measures towards the future enlargement of the

bark, a party was constantly ordered to kill and provide provisions for

the rest. And though in these various employments, some of which

demanded considerable dexterity, it might have been expected there

would have been great confusion and delay, yet good order being once

established and all hands engaged, their preparations advanced apace.

Indeed, the common men, I presume, were not the less tractable for

their want of {299} spirituous liquors: for there being neither wine

nor brandy on shore, the juice of the coconut was their constant drink;

and this, though extremely pleasant, was not at all intoxicating, but

kept them very temperate and orderly.

The main work now proceeding successfully, the officers began to

consider of all the articles which would be necessary to the fitting

out the bark for the sea. On this consultation it was found that the

tents on shore and the spare cordage accidentally left there by the

_Centurion_, together with the sails and rigging already belonging to

the bark, would serve to rig her indifferently well when she was

lengthened. And as they had tallow in plenty, they proposed to pay her

bottom with a mixture of tallow and lime, which it was known was not

ill adapted to that purpose: so that with respect to her equipment she

would not have been very defective. There was, however, one exception,

which would have proved extremely inconvenient, and that was her size:

for as they could not make her quite forty tun burthen, she would have

been incapable of containing half the crew below the deck, and she

would have been so top-heavy that if they were all at the same time

ordered upon deck, there would be no small hazard of her oversetting;

but this was a difficulty not to be removed, as they could not augment

her beyond the size already proposed. After the manner of rigging and

fitting up the bark was considered and regulated, the next essential

point to be thought on was how to procure a sufficient stock of

provisions for their voyage; and here they were greatly at a loss what

expedient to have recourse to, as they had neither grain nor bread of

any kind on shore, their bread-fruit, which would not keep at sea,

having all along supplied its place; and though they had live cattle

enough, yet they had no salt to cure beef for a sea-store, nor would

meat take salt in that climate. Indeed, they had preserved a small

quantity of jerked beef, which they found upon the place at their

landing; but this was greatly disproportioned to the run of near six

hundred leagues which they were to engage in, and to the number of

hands they should have on board. It was at last, however, resolved to

put on board as many coconuts as they possibly could, to prolong to the

utmost their jerked beef by a very sparing distribution of it, and to

endeavour to supply their want of bread by rice; to furnish themselves

with which, it was proposed, when the bark was fitted up, to {300} make

an expedition to the island of Rota, where they were told that the

Spaniards had large plantations of rice under the care of the Indian

inhabitants. But as this last measure was to be executed by force, it

became necessary to examine what ammunition had been left on shore, and

to preserve it carefully; and on this enquiry, they had the

mortification to find that their firelocks would be of little service

to them, since all the powder that could be collected, by the strictest

search, did not amount to more than ninety charges, which was

considerably short of one apiece to each of the company, and was indeed

a very slender stock of ammunition for such as were to eat no grain or

bread during a whole month, except what they were to procure by force

of arms.

But the most alarming circumstance, and which, without the providential

interposition of very improbable events, would have rendered all their

schemes abortive, remains yet to be related. The general idea of the

fabric and equipment of the vessel was settled in a few days; and this

being done, it was not difficult to frame some estimation of the time

necessary to compleat her. After this, it was natural to expect that

the officers would consider the course they were to steer, and the land

they were to make. These reflections led them to the disheartning

discovery that there was neither compass nor quadrant on the island.

Indeed the commodore had brought a pocket-compass on shore for his own

use, but Lieutenant Brett had borrowed it to determine the position of

the neighbouring islands, and he had been driven to sea in the

_Centurion_ without returning it. And as to a quadrant, that could not

be expected to be found on shore, since as it was of no use at land,

there could be no reason for bringing it from on board the ship. There

were now eight days elapsed since the departure of the _Centurion_, and

yet they were not in any degree relieved from this terrible perplexity.

At last, in rumaging a chest belonging to the Spanish bark, they

discovered a small compass, which, though little better than the toys

usually made for the amusement of schoolboys, was to them an invaluable

treasure. And a few days after, by a similar piece of good fortune,

they met with a quadrant on the sea-shore, which had been thrown

overboard amongst other lumber belonging to the dead. The quadrant was

eagerly seized, but on examination it unluckily wanted vanes, and

therefore in this present state was altogether useless; {301} however,

fortune still continuing in a favourable mood, it was not long before a

person, through curiosity pulling out the drawer of an old table which

had been driven on shore, found therein some vanes which fitted the

quadrant very well; and it being thus compleated, it was examined by

the known latitude of the place, and upon trial answered to a

sufficient degree of exactness.

When now all these obstacles were in some degree removed (which were

always as much as possible concealed from the vulgar, that they might

not grow remiss with the apprehension of labouring to no purpose), the

business proceeded very successfully and vigorously. The necessary

iron-work was in great forwardness, and the timbers and planks (which,

tho' not the most exquisite performances of the sawyer's art, were yet

sufficient for the purpose) were all prepared; so that on the 6th of

October, being the 14th day from the departure of the ship, they hauled

the bark on shore, and on the two succeeding days she was sawn asunder,

though with the caution not to cut her planks: and her two parts being

separated the proper distance from each other, and the materials being

all ready beforehand, they, the next day, being the 9th of October,

went on with no small dispatch in their proposed enlargement of her;

whence by this time they had all their future operations so fairly in

view, and were so much masters of them, that they were able to

determine when the whole would be finished, and had accordingly fixed

the 5th of November for the day of their putting to sea. But their

projects and labours were now drawing to a speedier and happier

conclusion; for on the 11th of October, in the afternoon, one of the

_Gloucester's_ men being upon a hill in the middle of the island,

perceived the _Centurion_ at a distance, and running down with his

utmost speed towards the landing-place, he, in the way, saw some of his

comrades, to whom he hallooed out with great extasy, "The ship, the

ship!" This being heard by Mr. Gordon, a lieutenant of marines, who

was convinced by the fellow's transport that his report was true, Mr.

Gordon directly hastened towards the place where the commodore and his

people were at work, and being fresh and in breath easily outstripped

the _Gloucester's_ man, and got before him to the commodore, who, on

hearing this pleasing and unexpected news, threw down his axe, with

which he was then at work, and by his joy broke through, for the first

{302} time, the equable and unvaried character which he had hitherto

preserved: whilst the others who were present instantly ran down to the

seaside in a kind of frenzy, eager to feast themselves with a sight

they had so ardently longed after, and of which they had now for a

considerable time despaired. By five in the evening the _Centurion_

was visible in the offing to them all; and, a boat being sent off with

eighteen men to reinforce her, and with fresh meat and fruits for the

refreshment of her crew, she, the next afternoon, happily cast anchor

in the road, where the commodore immediately came on board her, and was

received by us with the sincerest and heartiest acclamations: for, by

the following short recital of the fears, the dangers, and fatigues we

in the ship underwent during our nineteen days' absence from Tinian, it

may be easily conceived that a harbour, refreshments, repose, and the

joining of our commander and shipmates were not less pleasing to us

than our return was to them.

{303}

CHAPTER IV

PROCEEDINGS ON BOARD THE "CENTURION" WHEN DRIVEN OUT TO SEA

The _Centurion_ being now once more safely arrived at Tinian, to the

mutual respite of the labours of our divided crew, it is high time that

the reader, after the relation already given of the projects and

employment of those left on shore, should be apprized of the fatigues

and distresses to which we, whom the _Centurion_ carried off to sea,

were exposed during the long interval of nineteen days that we were

absent from the island.

It has been already mentioned that it was the 22d of September, about

one o'clock, in an extreme dark night, when by the united violence of a

prodigious storm and an exceeding rapid tide, we were driven from our

anchors and forced to sea. Our condition then was truly deplorable; we

were in a leaky ship with three cables in our hawses, to one of which

hung our only remaining anchor: we had not a gun on board lashed, nor a

port barred in; our shrouds were loose, and our top-masts unrigged, and

we had struck our fore and main-yards close down before the hurricane

came on, so that there were no sails we could set, except our mizen.

In this dreadful extremity we could muster no more strength on board to

navigate the ship than an hundred and eight hands, several negroes and

Indians included: this was scarcely the fourth part of our complement,

and of these the greater number were either boys, or such as, being but

lately recovered from the scurvy, had not yet arrived at half their

former vigour. No sooner were we at sea, but by the violence of the

storm and the working of the ship we made a great quantity of water

through our hawse-holes, ports, and scuppers, which, added to the

constant effect of our leak, rendered our pumps alone a sufficient

employment for us all. But though we knew that this leakage, by being

a short time neglected, would inevitably end in our destruction, yet we

had other dangers then hanging over us which occasioned {304} this to

be regarded as a secondary consideration only. For we all imagined

that we were driving directly on the neighbouring island of Aguiguan,

which was about two leagues distant; and as we had lowered our main and

fore-yards close down, we had no sails we could set but the mizen,

which was altogether insufficient to carry us clear of this imminent

peril. Urged therefore by this pressing emergency, we immediately

applied ourselves to work, endeavouring with the utmost of our efforts

to heave up the main and fore-yards, in hopes that if we could but be

enabled to make use of our lower canvass, we might possibly weather the

island, and thereby save ourselves from this impending shipwreck. But

after full three hours' ineffectual labour, the jeers broke, and the

men being quite jaded, we were obliged, by mere debility, to desist,

and quietly to expect our fate, which we then conceived to be

unavoidable. For we soon esteemed ourselves to be driven just upon the

shore, and the night was so extremely dark that we expected to discover

the island no otherwise than by striking upon it; so that the belief of

our destruction, and the uncertainty of the point of time when it

should take place, occasioned us to pass several hours under the most

serious apprehensions that each succeeding moment would send us to the

bottom. Nor did these continued terrors of instantly striking and

sinking end but with the daybreak, when we with great transport

perceived that the island we had thus dreaded was at a considerable

distance, and that a strong northern current had been the cause of our

preservation.