_The Passage from Cape Monday, in the Streight of Magellan, into the
South Seas; with some general Remarks on the Navigation of that
Strait._
AT eight the next morning we weighed, and soon after we made sail opened
the South Sea, from which such a swell rolled in upon us as I have
seldom seen. At four o'clock in the afternoon, we anchored in a very
good bay, with a deep sound at the bottom of it, by which it may be
known, about a league to the eastward of Cape Upright, in fourteen
fathom. The extreme point of the bay bore from N.W. to N.E. by E. and
Cape Upright W.N.W. about a cable's length to the eastward of a low
island which makes the bay.
At three o'clock in the morning of the 24th, I sent a boat with an
officer from each ship, to look for anchoring-places to the westward;
but at four in the afternoon, they returned without having been able to
get round Cape Upright.
The next morning I sent the boats again to the westward, and about six
in the evening they returned, having been about four leagues, and found
two anchoring-places, but neither of them were very good. We made sail,
however, about eight in the forenoon of the next day, and at three, Cape
Upright bore E.S.E. distant about three leagues, a remarkable cape on
the north shore at the same time bearing N.E. distant four or five
miles. This cape, which is very lofty and steep, lies N.N.W. by compass
from Cape Upright, at the distance of about three leagues. The south
shore in this place had a very bad appearance, many sunken rocks lying
about it to a considerable distance, upon which the sea breaks very
high. At four the weather became very thick, and in less than half an
hour we saw the south shore at the distance of about a mile, but could
get no anchoring-place; we therefore tacked, and stood over to the north
shore. At half an hour after six, I made the Tamar signal to come under
our stern, and ordered her to keep a-head of us all night, and to show
lights, and fire a gun every time she changed her tack. At seven it
cleared up for a moment just to show us the north shore, bearing W. by
N. We tacked immediately, and at eight the wind shifted from N.N.W. to
W.N.W. and blew with great violence. Our situation was now very
alarming; the storm increased every minute, the weather was extremely
thick, the rain seemed to threaten another deluge, we had a long dark
night before us, we were in a narrow channel, and surrounded on every
side by rocks and breakers. We attempted to clue up the mizen top-sail,
but before this service could be done it was blown all to rags: We then
brought-to, with the main and fore-topsail close-reefed, and upon the
cap, keeping the ship's head to the southwest; but there being a
prodigious sea, it broke over us so often that the whole deck was almost
continually under water. At nine, by an accidental breaking of the fog,
we saw the high cape on the north shore that has been just mentioned,
bearing east, at about a mile distance; but we had entirely lost sight
of the Tamar. At half an hour after three in the morning, we suddenly
perceived ourselves close to a high land on the south shore, upon which
we wore, and brought to the northward. The gale still continued, if
possible, with increasing violence, and the rain poured down in
torrents, so that we were in a manner immersed in water, and expected
every moment to be among the breakers. The long-wished-for day at length
broke, but the weather was still so thick that no land was to be seen,
though we knew it could not be far distant, till after six, when we saw
the south shore at about the distance of two miles; and soon after, to
our great satisfaction, we saw the Tamar: At this time Cape Monday bore
S.E. distant about four miles, and the violence of the gale not abating,
we bore away. About seven, both ships came to an anchor in the bay which
lies to the eastward of Cape Monday, notwithstanding the sea that rolled
in; for we were glad to get anchorage any where[32] We had now been
twice within four leagues of Tuesday's Bay, at the western entrance of
the streight, and had been twice driven back ten or twelve leagues by
such storms as we had now just experienced. When the season is so far
advanced as it was when we attempted the passage of this streight, it is
a most difficult and dangerous undertaking, as it blows a hurricane
incessantly night and day, and the rain is as violent and constant as
the wind, with such fogs as often render it impossible to discover any
object at the distance of twice the ship's length. This day our best
bower cable being quite rubbed to pieces, we cut it into junk, and bent
a new one, which we rounded with old rigging, eight fathom from the
anchor.
[Footnote 32: "The straits are here four or five leagues over, and the
mountains seem to be ten times as high as the mast-head of our ships;
but not much covered with snow; or encompassed with trees."]
In the afternoon of the day following, the Tamar parted a new best
bower cable, it being cut by the rock, and drove over to the east side
of the bay, where she was brought up at a very little distance from some
rocks, against which she must otherwise have been dashed to pieces.
At seven o'clock in the morning of the 29th, we weighed, and found our
small bower-cable very much rubbed by the foul ground, so that we were
obliged to cut no less than six-and-twenty fathom of it off, and bend it
again. In about half an hour, the Tamar, being very near the rocks, and
not being able to purchase her anchor, made signals of distress. I was
therefore obliged to stand into the bay again, and having anchored, I
sent hawsers on board the Tamar, and heaved her up while she purchased
her anchor, after which we heaved her to windward, and at noon, being
got into a proper birth, she anchored again. We continued in our station
all night, and the next morning a gale came on at W.N.W. which was still
more violent than any that had preceded it; the water was torn up all
around us, and carried much higher than the mast heads, a dreadful sea
at the same time rolling in; so that, knowing the ground to be foul, we
were in constant apprehension of parting our cables, in which case we
must have been almost instantly dashed to atoms against the rocks that
were just to leeward of us, and upon which the sea broke with
inconceivable fury, and a noise not less loud than thunder. We lowered
all the main and fore-yards, let go the small bower, veered a cable and
a half on the best bower, and having bent the sheet-cable, stood by the
anchor all the rest of the day, and till midnight, the sea often
breaking half way up our main shrouds. About one in the morning, the
weather became somewhat more moderate, but continued to be very dark,
rainy, and tempestuous, till midnight, when the wind shifted to the S.W.
and soon afterwards it became comparatively calm and clear.
The next morning, which was the first of April, we had a stark calm,
with now and then some light airs from the eastward; but the weather was
again, thick with hard rain, and we found a current setting strongly to
the eastward. At four o'clock we got up the lower yards, unbent the
sheet-cable, and weighed the small bower; at eight we weighed the best
bower, and found the cable very much rubbed in several places, which we
considered as a great misfortune, it being a fine new cable, which
never had been wet before. At eleven, we hove short on the
stream-anchor; but soon after, it being calm, and a thick fog coming on
with hard rain, we veered away the stream-cable, and with a warp to the
Tamar, heaved the ship upon the bank again, and let go the small bower
in two-and-twenty fathom.
At six in the evening, we had strong gales at W.N.W. with violent
squalls and much rain, and continued in our station till the morning of
the 3d, when I sent the Tamar's boat, with an officer from each ship, to
the westward, in search of anchoring-places on the south shore; and at
the same time I sent my own cutter with an officer to seek
anchoring-places on the north shore.
The cutter returned the next morning, at six o'clock, having been about
five leagues to the westward upon the north shore, and found two
anchoring-places. The officer reported, that having been on shore, he
had fallen in with some Indians, who had with them a canoe of a
construction very different from any that they had seen in the strait
before: This vessel consisted of planks sewed together, but all the
others were nothing more than the bark of large trees, tied together at
the ends, and kept open by short pieces of wood, which were thrust in
transversely between the two sides, like the boats which children make
of a bean-shell. The people, he said, were the nearest to brutes in
their manner and appearance of any he had seen: They were, like some
which we had met with before, quite naked, notwithstanding the severity
of the weather, except part of a seal-skin which was thrown over their
shoulders; and they eat their food, which was such as no other animal
but a hog would touch, without any dressing: They had with them a large
piece of whale blubber, which stunk intolerably, and one of them tore it
to pieces with his teeth, and gave it about to the rest, who devoured it
with the voracity of a wild beast. They did not, however, look upon what
they saw in the possession of our people with indifference; for while
one of them was asleep, they cut off the hinder part of his jacket with
a sharp flint which they use as a knife.
About eight o'clock, we made sail, and found little or no current. At
noon, Cape Upright bore W.S.W. distant three leagues; and at six in the
evening, we anchored in the bay, on the southern shore, which lies about
a league to the eastward of the cape, and had fifteen fathom water.
While we were lying here, and taking in wood and water, seven or eight
Indians in a canoe came round the western point of the bay, and having
landed opposite to the ship, made a fire. We invited them to come on
board by all the signs we could devise, but without success; I therefore
took the jolly-boat, and went on shore to them. I introduced myself by
making them presents of several trifles, with which they seemed to be
much gratified, and we became very intimate in a few minutes: After we
had spent some time together, I sent away my people, in the boat, for
some bread, and remained on shore with them alone. When the boat
returned with the bread, I divided it among them, and I remarked with
equal pleasure and surprise, that if a bit of the biscuit happened to
fall, not one of them offered to touch it till I gave my consent. In the
mean time some of my people were cutting a little grass for two or three
sheep which I had still left on board, and at length the Indians
perceiving what they were doing, ran immediately, and tearing up all the
weeds they could get, carried them to the boat, which in a very short
time was filled almost up to her gunwale. I was much gratified by this
token of their good-will, and I could perceive that they were pleased
with the pleasure that I expressed upon the occasion: They had indeed
taken such a fancy to us, that when I returned on board the boat, they
all got into their canoe, and followed me. When we came near the ship,
however, they stopped, and gazed at her as if held in surprise by a
mixture of astonishment and terror; but at last, though not without some
difficulty, I prevailed upon four or five of them to venture on board.
As soon as they entered the ship I made them several, presents, and in a
very little time they appeared to be perfectly at ease. As I was very
desirous to entertain them, one of the midshipmen played upon the
violin, and some of my people danced; at this they were so much
delighted, and so impatient to show their gratitude, that one of them
went over the ship's side into the canoe, and fetched up a seal-skin bag
of red paint, and immediately smeared the fiddler's face all over with
it: He was very desirous to pay me the same compliment, which, however,
I thought fit to decline; but he made many very vigorous efforts to get
the better of my modesty, and it was not without some difficulty that I
defended myself from receiving the honour he designed me in my own
despight. After having diverted and entertained them several hours, I
intimated to them that it would be proper for them to go on shore; but
their attachment was such, that it was by no means an easy matter to get
them out of the ship. Their canoe was not of bark, but of planks sewed
together.
On Sunday the 7th, at six o'clock in the morning, we weighed, with a
moderate breeze at E.N.E. and fine weather. At seven, we were abreast of
Cape Upright; and at noon, it bore E.S.E. distant four leagues: Soon
after we tried the current, and found it set to the eastward at the rate
of a knot and a half an hour. At three it fell calm, and the current
driving us to the eastward very fast, we dropped an anchor, which before
it took the ground was in one hundred and twenty fathom.
This day, and not before, the Tamar's boat returned from the westward:
She had been within two or three leagues of Cape Pillar, and had found
several very good anchoring-places on the south shore.
At one o'clock the next morning, having a fresh gale at west, we
weighed, notwithstanding the weather was thick, and made sail; at eleven
it blew very hard, with violent rain and a great sea, and as we
perceived that we rather lost than gained ground, we stood in for a bay
on the south shore, about four leagues to the westward of Cape Upright,
and anchored in twenty fathom: The ground was not good, but in other
respects this was one of the best harbours that we had met with in the
streight, for it was impossible that any wind should hurt us. There
being less wind in the afternoon, and it inclining a little towards the
south, we unmoored at two, and at four, the wind having then come round
to the S.S.E. and being a moderate breeze, we weighed and steered to the
westward: We made about two leagues and a half, but night then coming
on, we anchored, not without great difficulty, in a very good bay on the
south shore in twenty fathom. As very violent gusts came from the land,
we were very near being driven off before we could let go an anchor, and
if we had not at last succeeded we must have passed a dreadful night in
the strait; for it blew a hurricane from the time we came to an anchor
till the morning, with violent rain, which was sometimes intermingled
with snow.
At six o'clock, the wind being still fresh and squally at S.S.E. we
weighed and steered W. by N. along the south shore. At eleven, we were
abreast of Cape Pillar, which by compass is about fourteen leagues
W.1/2 N. from Cape Upright. Cape Pillar may be known by a large gap upon
the top, and when it bears W.S.W. an island appears off it which has an
appearance somewhat like a hay-stack, and about which lie several rocks.
The strait to the eastward of the cape is between seven and eight
leagues over; the land on each side is of a moderate height, but it is
lowest on the north shore, the south shore being much the boldest,
though both are craggy and broken. Westminster Island is nearer to the
north than the south shore; and, by the compass, lies N.E. from Cape
Pillar. The land on the north shore, near the west end of the strait,
makes in many islands and rocks, upon which the sea breaks in a
tremendous manner. The land about Cape Victory is distant from Cape
Pillar about ten or eleven leagues, in the direction of N.W. by N. From
the cape westward, the coast trends S.S.W.1/2 W. to Cape Deseada, a low
point, off which lie innumerable rocks and breakers. About four leagues
W.S.W. from Cape Deseada, lie some dangerous rocks, called by Sir John
Narborough the Judges, upon which a mountainous surf always breaks with
inconceivable fury. Four small islands, called the Islands of Direction,
are distant from Cape Pillar about eight leagues, in the direction of
N.W. by W. When we were off this cape it was stark calm; but I never saw
such a swell as rolled in here, nor such a surge as broke on each shore.
I expected every moment that the wind would spring up from its usual
quarter, and that the best which could happen to us would be to be
driven many leagues up the streight again. Contrary, however, to all
expectation, a fine steady gale sprung up at S. E. to which I spread all
the sail that it was possible for the ship to bear, and ran off from
this frightful and desolate coast at the rate of nine miles an hour; so
that by eight o'clock in the evening we had left it twenty leagues
behind us. And now, to make the ship as stiff as possible, I knocked
down our after bulk-head, and got two of the boats under the half-deck;
I also placed my twelve-oared cutter under the boom; so that we had
nothing upon the skids but the jolly-boat; and the alteration which this
made in the vessel is inconceivable: For the weight of the boats upon,
the skids made her crank, and in a great sea they were also in danger
of being lost.
It is probable, that whoever shall read this account of the difficulties
and dangers which attended our passage through the Streight of Magellan,
will conclude, that it ought never to be attempted again; but that all
ships which shall hereafter sail a western course from Europe into the
South Seas ought to go round Cape Horn. I, however, who have been twice
round Cape Horn, am of a different opinion. I think that at a proper
season of the year, not only a single vessel, but a large squadron might
pass the streight in less than three weeks; and I think, to take the
proper season, they should be at the eastern entrance some time in the
month of December.[33] One great advantage of this passage, is the
facility with which fish is almost every where to be procured, with wild
celery, scurvy-grass, berries, and many other vegetables in great
abundance; for to this I impute the healthiness of my ship's company,
not a single man being affected with the scurvy in the slightest degree,
nor upon the sick list for any other disorder, notwithstanding the
hardship and labour which they endured in the passage, which cost us
seven weeks and two days, as we entered the streight on Sunday the 17th
of February, and quitted it on Tuesday the 9th of April. Wood and water
are also to be procured almost at every anchoring-place beyond
Freshwater Bay. Our sufferings I impute wholly to our passing the
streight just as the sun approached the equinox, when, in this high
latitude, the worst weather was to be expected; and indeed the weather
we had was dreadful beyond all description.
[Footnote 33: Bougainville gives the same advice as to preferring the
passage through the streights, from the month of September till the end
of March, but at all other periods he recommends to go round Cape Horn.
He was 52 days in going the whole length of the streights, reckoning
from Cape Virgin Mary to Cape Pillar, a distance of 342 miles, and he
says that 36 hours of fair wind were sufficient to carry him from Port
Gallant to the Pacific Ocean. Captain Wallis, we shall see, did not
realize this opinion, or the hopes formed on it--he was almost four
months in getting through the streights, although he attempted the
passage at the very time recommended by Byron. On the other hand,
Captain Krusenstern doubled the cape in four weeks only, after his
leaving St Catharine's Island, which the reader will observe is
considerably northward of the river La Plata, "a voyage," says he,
"which perhaps was never made in a shorter time." In weathering the
cape, he took the advice of Cook, not to approach the land nearer than
30 or 36 miles, by which means he avoided the strong currents which,
according to our great navigator's assertion, seem to lose all their
force at that distance.--E.]