The inhabitants came wondering down the shore to look at us; and seeing
the ship lie down on one side in such a manner, and heeling in towards
the shore, and not seeing our men, who were at work on her bottom with
stages, and with their boats on the off-side, they presently concluded
that the ship was cast away, and lay fast on the ground. On this
supposition they came about us in two or three hours' time with ten or
twelve large boats, having some of them eight, some ten men in a boat,
intending, no doubt, to have come on board and plundered the ship, and if
they found us there, to have carried us away for slaves.
When they came up to the ship, and began to row round her, they
discovered us all hard at work on the outside of the ship's bottom and
side, washing, and graving, and stopping, as every seafaring man knows
how. They stood for a while gazing at us, and we, who were a little
surprised, could not imagine what their design was; but being willing to
be sure, we took this opportunity to get some of us into the ship, and
others to hand down arms and ammunition to those that were at work, to
defend themselves with if there should be occasion. And it was no more
than need: for in less than a quarter of an hour's consultation, they
agreed, it seems, that the ship was really a wreck, and that we were all
at work endeavouring to save her, or to save our lives by the help of our
boats; and when we handed our arms into the boat, they concluded, by that
act, that we were endeavouring to save some of our goods. Upon this,
they took it for granted we all belonged to them, and away they came
directly upon our men, as if it had been in a line-of-battle.
Our men, seeing so many of them, began to be frightened, for we lay but
in an ill posture to fight, and cried out to us to know what they should
do. I immediately called to the men that worked upon the stages to slip
them down, and get up the side into the ship, and bade those in the boat
to row round and come on board. The few who were on board worked with
all the strength and hands we had to bring the ship to rights; however,
neither the men upon the stages nor those in the boats could do as they
were ordered before the Cochin Chinese were upon them, when two of their
boats boarded our longboat, and began to lay hold of the men as their
prisoners.
The first man they laid hold of was an English seaman, a stout, strong
fellow, who having a musket in his hand, never offered to fire it, but
laid it down in the boat, like a fool, as I thought; but he understood
his business better than I could teach him, for he grappled the Pagan,
and dragged him by main force out of their boat into ours, where, taking
him by the ears, he beat his head so against the boat's gunnel that the
fellow died in his hands. In the meantime, a Dutchman, who stood next,
took up the musket, and with the butt-end of it so laid about him, that
he knocked down five of them who attempted to enter the boat. But this
was doing little towards resisting thirty or forty men, who, fearless
because ignorant of their danger, began to throw themselves into the
longboat, where we had but five men in all to defend it; but the
following accident, which deserved our laughter, gave our men a complete
victory.
Our carpenter being prepared to grave the outside of the ship, as well as
to pay the seams where he had caulked her to stop the leaks, had got two
kettles just let down into the boat, one filled with boiling pitch, and
the other with rosin, tallow, and oil, and such stuff as the shipwrights
use for that work; and the man that attended the carpenter had a great
iron ladle in his hand, with which he supplied the men that were at work
with the hot stuff. Two of the enemy's men entered the boat just where
this fellow stood in the foresheets; he immediately saluted them with a
ladle full of the stuff, boiling hot which so burned and scalded them,
being half-naked that they roared out like bulls, and, enraged with the
fire, leaped both into the sea. The carpenter saw it, and cried out,
"Well done, Jack! give them some more of it!" and stepping forward
himself, takes one of the mops, and dipping it in the pitch-pot, he and
his man threw it among them so plentifully that, in short, of all the men
in the three boats, there was not one that escaped being scalded in a
most frightful manner, and made such a howling and crying that I never
heard a worse noise.
I was never better pleased with a victory in my life; not only as it was
a perfect surprise to me, and that our danger was imminent before, but as
we got this victory without any bloodshed, except of that man the seaman
killed with his naked hands, and which I was very much concerned at.
Although it maybe a just thing, because necessary (for there is no
necessary wickedness in nature), yet I thought it was a sad sort of life,
when we must be always obliged to be killing our fellow-creatures to
preserve ourselves; and, indeed, I think so still; and I would even now
suffer a great deal rather than I would take away the life even of the
worst person injuring me; and I believe all considering people, who know
the value of life, would be of my opinion, if they entered seriously into
the consideration of it.
All the while this was doing, my partner and I, who managed the rest of
the men on board, had with great dexterity brought the ship almost to
rights, and having got the guns into their places again, the gunner
called to me to bid our boat get out of the way, for he would let fly
among them. I called back again to him, and bid him not offer to fire,
for the carpenter would do the work without him; but bid him heat another
pitch-kettle, which our cook, who was on board, took care of. However,
the enemy was so terrified with what they had met with in their first
attack, that they would not come on again; and some of them who were
farthest off, seeing the ship swim, as it were, upright, began, as we
suppose, to see their mistake, and gave over the enterprise, finding it
was not as they expected. Thus we got clear of this merry fight; and
having got some rice and some roots and bread, with about sixteen hogs,
on board two days before, we resolved to stay here no longer, but go
forward, whatever came of it; for we made no doubt but we should be
surrounded the next day with rogues enough, perhaps more than our pitch-
kettle would dispose of for us. We therefore got all our things on board
the same evening, and the next morning were ready to sail: in the
meantime, lying at anchor at some distance from the shore, we were not so
much concerned, being now in a fighting posture, as well as in a sailing
posture, if any enemy had presented. The next day, having finished our
work within board, and finding our ship was perfectly healed of all her
leaks, we set sail. We would have gone into the bay of Tonquin, for we
wanted to inform ourselves of what was to be known concerning the Dutch
ships that had been there; but we durst not stand in there, because we
had seen several ships go in, as we supposed, but a little before; so we
kept on NE. towards the island of Formosa, as much afraid of being seen
by a Dutch or English merchant ship as a Dutch or English merchant ship
in the Mediterranean is of an Algerine man-of-war.
When we were thus got to sea, we kept on NE., as if we would go to the
Manillas or the Philippine Islands; and this we did that we might not
fall into the way of any of the European ships; and then we steered
north, till we came to the latitude of 22 degrees 30 seconds, by which
means we made the island of Formosa directly, where we came to an anchor,
in order to get water and fresh provisions, which the people there, who
are very courteous in their manners, supplied us with willingly, and
dealt very fairly and punctually with us in all their agreements and
bargains. This is what we did not find among other people, and may be
owing to the remains of Christianity which was once planted here by a
Dutch missionary of Protestants, and it is a testimony of what I have
often observed, viz. that the Christian religion always civilises the
people, and reforms their manners, where it is received, whether it works
saving effects upon them or no.
From thence we sailed still north, keeping the coast of China at an equal
distance, till we knew we were beyond all the ports of China where our
European ships usually come; being resolved, if possible, not to fall
into any of their hands, especially in this country, where, as our
circumstances were, we could not fail of being entirely ruined. Being
now come to the latitude of 30 degrees, we resolved to put into the first
trading port we should come at; and standing in for the shore, a boat
came of two leagues to us with an old Portuguese pilot on board, who,
knowing us to be an European ship, came to offer his service, which,
indeed, we were glad of and took him on board; upon which, without asking
us whither we would go, he dismissed the boat he came in, and sent it
back. I thought it was now so much in our choice to make the old man
carry us whither we would, that I began to talk to him about carrying us
to the Gulf of Nankin, which is the most northern part of the coast of
China. The old man said he knew the Gulf of Nankin very well; but
smiling, asked us what we would do there? I told him we would sell our
cargo and purchase China wares, calicoes, raw silks, tea, wrought silks,
&c.; and so we would return by the same course we came. He told us our
best port would have been to put in at Macao, where we could not have
failed of a market for our opium to our satisfaction, and might for our
money have purchased all sorts of China goods as cheap as we could at
Nankin.
Not being able to put the old man out of his talk, of which he was very
opinionated or conceited, I told him we were gentlemen as well as
merchants, and that we had a mind to go and see the great city of Pekin,
and the famous court of the monarch of China. "Why, then," says the old
man, "you should go to Ningpo, where, by the river which runs into the
sea there, you may go up within five leagues of the great canal. This
canal is a navigable stream, which goes through the heart of that vast
empire of China, crosses all the rivers, passes some considerable hills
by the help of sluices and gates, and goes up to the city of Pekin, being
in length near two hundred and seventy leagues."--"Well," said I,
"Seignior Portuguese, but that is not our business now; the great
question is, if you can carry us up to the city of Nankin, from whence we
can travel to Pekin afterwards?" He said he could do so very well, and
that there was a great Dutch ship gone up that way just before. This
gave me a little shock, for a Dutch ship was now our terror, and we had
much rather have met the devil, at least if he had not come in too
frightful a figure; and we depended upon it that a Dutch ship would be
our destruction, for we were in no condition to fight them; all the ships
they trade with into those parts being of great burden, and of much
greater force than we were.
The old man found me a little confused, and under some concern when he
named a Dutch ship, and said to me, "Sir, you need be under no
apprehensions of the Dutch; I suppose they are not now at war with your
nation?"--"No," said I, "that's true; but I know not what liberties men
may take when they are out of the reach of the laws of their own
country."--"Why," says he, "you are no pirates; what need you fear? They
will not meddle with peaceable merchants, sure." These words put me into
the greatest disorder and confusion imaginable; nor was it possible for
me to conceal it so, but the old man easily perceived it.
"Sir," says he, "I find you are in some disorder in your thoughts at my
talk: pray be pleased to go which way you think fit, and depend upon it,
I'll do you all the service I can." Upon this we fell into further
discourse, in which, to my alarm and amazement, he spoke of the
villainous doings of a certain pirate ship that had long been the talk of
mariners in those seas; no other, in a word, than the very ship he was
now on board of, and which we had so unluckily purchased. I presently
saw there was no help for it but to tell him the plain truth, and explain
all the danger and trouble we had suffered through this misadventure,
and, in particular, our earnest wish to be speedily quit of the ship
altogether; for which reason we had resolved to carry her up to Nankin.
The old man was amazed at this relation, and told us we were in the right
to go away to the north; and that, if he might advise us, it should be to
sell the ship in China, which we might well do, and buy, or build another
in the country; adding that I should meet with customers enough for the
ship at Nankin, that a Chinese junk would serve me very well to go back
again, and that he would procure me people both to buy one and sell the
other. "Well, but, seignior," said I, "as you say they know the ship so
well, I may, perhaps, if I follow your measures, be instrumental to bring
some honest, innocent men into a terrible broil; for wherever they find
the ship they will prove the guilt upon the men, by proving this was the
ship."--"Why," says the old man, "I'll find out a way to prevent that;
for as I know all those commanders you speak of very well, and shall see
them all as they pass by, I will be sure to set them to rights in the
thing, and let them know that they had been so much in the wrong; that
though the people who were on board at first might run away with the
ship, yet it was not true that they had turned pirates; and that, in
particular, these were not the men that first went off with the ship, but
innocently bought her for their trade; and I am persuaded they will so
far believe me as at least to act more cautiously for the time to come."
In about thirteen days' sail we came to an anchor, at the south-west
point of the great Gulf of Nankin; where I learned by accident that two
Dutch ships were gone the length before me, and that I should certainly
fall into their hands. I consulted my partner again in this exigency,
and he was as much at a loss as I was. I then asked the old pilot if
there was no creek or harbour which I might put into and pursue my
business with the Chinese privately, and be in no danger of the enemy. He
told me if I would sail to the southward about forty-two leagues, there
was a little port called Quinchang, where the fathers of the mission
usually landed from Macao, on their progress to teach the Christian
religion to the Chinese, and where no European ships ever put in; and if
I thought to put in there, I might consider what further course to take
when I was on shore. He confessed, he said, it was not a place for
merchants, except that at some certain times they had a kind of a fair
there, when the merchants from Japan came over thither to buy Chinese
merchandises. The name of the port I may perhaps spell wrong, having
lost this, together with the names of many other places set down in a
little pocket-book, which was spoiled by the water by an accident; but
this I remember, that the Chinese merchants we corresponded with called
it by a different name from that which our Portuguese pilot gave it, who
pronounced it Quinchang. As we were unanimous in our resolution to go to
this place, we weighed the next day, having only gone twice on shore
where we were, to get fresh water; on both which occasions the people of
the country were very civil, and brought abundance of provisions to sell
to us; but nothing without money.
We did not come to the other port (the wind being contrary) for five
days; but it was very much to our satisfaction, and I was thankful when I
set my foot on shore, resolving, and my partner too, that if it was
possible to dispose of ourselves and effects any other way, though not
profitably, we would never more set foot on board that unhappy vessel.
Indeed, I must acknowledge, that of all the circumstances of life that
ever I had any experience of, nothing makes mankind so completely
miserable as that of being in constant fear. Well does the Scripture
say, "The fear of man brings a snare"; it is a life of death, and the
mind is so entirely oppressed by it, that it is capable of no relief.
Nor did it fail of its usual operations upon the fancy, by heightening
every danger; representing the English and Dutch captains to be men
incapable of hearing reason, or of distinguishing between honest men and
rogues; or between a story calculated for our own turn, made out of
nothing, on purpose to deceive, and a true, genuine account of our whole
voyage, progress, and design; for we might many ways have convinced any
reasonable creatures that we were not pirates; the goods we had on board,
the course we steered, our frankly showing ourselves, and entering into
such and such ports; and even our very manner, the force we had, the
number of men, the few arms, the little ammunition, short provisions; all
these would have served to convince any men that we were no pirates. The
opium and other goods we had on board would make it appear the ship had
been at Bengal. The Dutchmen, who, it was said, had the names of all the
men that were in the ship, might easily see that we were a mixture of
English, Portuguese, and Indians, and but two Dutchmen on board. These,
and many other particular circumstances, might have made it evident to
the understanding of any commander, whose hands we might fall into, that
we were no pirates.
But fear, that blind, useless passion, worked another way, and threw us
into the vapours; it bewildered our understandings, and set the
imagination at work to form a thousand terrible things that perhaps might
never happen. We first supposed, as indeed everybody had related to us,
that the seamen on board the English and Dutch ships, but especially the
Dutch, were so enraged at the name of a pirate, and especially at our
beating off their boats and escaping, that they would not give themselves
leave to inquire whether we were pirates or no, but would execute us off-
hand, without giving us any room for a defence. We reflected that there
really was so much apparent evidence before them, that they would scarce
inquire after any more; as, first, that the ship was certainly the same,
and that some of the seamen among them knew her, and had been on board
her; and, secondly, that when we had intelligence at the river of
Cambodia that they were coming down to examine us, we fought their boats
and fled. Therefore we made no doubt but they were as fully satisfied of
our being pirates as we were satisfied of the contrary; and, as I often
said, I know not but I should have been apt to have taken those
circumstances for evidence, if the tables were turned, and my case was
theirs; and have made no scruple of cutting all the crew to pieces,
without believing, or perhaps considering, what they might have to offer
in their defence.
But let that be how it will, these were our apprehensions; and both my
partner and I scarce slept a night without dreaming of halters and yard-
arms; of fighting, and being taken; of killing, and being killed: and one
night I was in such a fury in my dream, fancying the Dutchmen had boarded
us, and I was knocking one of their seamen down, that I struck my doubled
fist against the side of the cabin I lay in with such a force as wounded
my hand grievously, broke my knuckles, and cut and bruised the flesh, so
that it awaked me out of my sleep. Another apprehension I had was, the
cruel usage we might meet with from them if we fell into their hands;
then the story of Amboyna came into my head, and how the Dutch might
perhaps torture us, as they did our countrymen there, and make some of
our men, by extremity of torture, confess to crimes they never were
guilty of, or own themselves and all of us to be pirates, and so they
would put us to death with a formal appearance of justice; and that they
might be tempted to do this for the gain of our ship and cargo, worth
altogether four or five thousand pounds. We did not consider that the
captains of ships have no authority to act thus; and if we had
surrendered prisoners to them, they could not answer the destroying us,
or torturing us, but would be accountable for it when they came to their
country. However, if they were to act thus with us, what advantage would
it be to us that they should be called to an account for it?--or if we
were first to be murdered, what satisfaction would it be to us to have
them punished when they came home?
I cannot refrain taking notice here what reflections I now had upon the
vast variety of my particular circumstances; how hard I thought it that
I, who had spent forty years in a life of continual difficulties, and was
at last come, as it were, to the port or haven which all men drive at,
viz. to have rest and plenty, should be a volunteer in new sorrows by my
own unhappy choice, and that I, who had escaped so many dangers in my
youth, should now come to be hanged in my old age, and in so remote a
place, for a crime which I was not in the least inclined to, much less
guilty of. After these thoughts something of religion would come in; and
I would be considering that this seemed to me to be a disposition of
immediate Providence, and I ought to look upon it and submit to it as
such. For, although I was innocent as to men, I was far from being
innocent as to my Maker; and I ought to look in and examine what other
crimes in my life were most obvious to me, and for which Providence might
justly inflict this punishment as a retribution; and thus I ought to
submit to this, just as I would to a shipwreck, if it had pleased God to
have brought such a disaster upon me.
In its turn natural courage would sometimes take its place, and then I
would be talking myself up to vigorous resolutions; that I would not be
taken to be barbarously used by a parcel of merciless wretches in cold
blood; that it were much better to have fallen into the hands of the
savages, though I were sure they would feast upon me when they had taken
me, than those who would perhaps glut their rage upon me by inhuman
tortures and barbarities; that in the case of the savages, I always
resolved to die fighting to the last gasp, and why should I not do so
now? Whenever these thoughts prevailed, I was sure to put myself into a
kind of fever with the agitation of a supposed fight; my blood would
boil, and my eyes sparkle, as if I was engaged, and I always resolved to
take no quarter at their hands; but even at last, if I could resist no
longer, I would blow up the ship and all that was in her, and leave them
but little booty to boast of.