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Other errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Please
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the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.
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A
_VOYAGE_
ROUND THE
_WORLD._
Performed by Order of
HIS MOST CHRISTIAN MAJESTY,
In the Years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769.
BY
LEWIS DE BOUGAINVILLE,
Colonel of Foot, and Commodore of the Expedition, in the
Frigate La Boudeuse, and the Store-ship L’Etoile.
Translated from the French
By JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER, F. A. S.
LONDON,
Printed for J. NOURSE, Bookseller to HIS MAJESTY, in the Strand; and
T. DAVIES, Bookseller to the Royal Academy, in Russel-street,
Covent-garden.
M DCC LXXII.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TO
JAMES WEST, ESQ.
High Steward of St. Alban’s, Recorder of Pool,
AND
PRESIDENT of the ROYAL SOCIETY.
SIR,
I Beg leave to offer you the Translation of a Work written by a learned,
intelligent, and judicious Traveller, which abounds with remarkable
events and curious observations; equally instructive to future
navigators, and interesting to science in general, and Geography in
particular.
The place you occupy with great honour in the Royal Society, the zeal
with which you promote and countenance whatever has a tendency towards
the advancement of Science, and the remarkable kindness and favour you
always have treated me with, encourage me to prefix your name to this
publication.
Accept then, Sir, this public acknowledgement of the deep sense of
gratitude and attachment your benevolence has raised, with the sincerest
wishes for your health, prosperity, and the enjoyment of every
intellectual and moral pleasure. Believe me to be, with the truest
esteem,
SIR,
Your most obliged,
and obedient
humble servant,
JOHN REINHOLD FORSTER.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE
TRANSLATOR’s PREFACE.
The present translation of Mr. de Bougainville’s Voyage round the World
merits, in more than one respect, the attention of the public.
Circumnavigations of the globe have been of late the universal topics of
all companies: every one takes upon him to be a competent judge in
matters which very few understand, mostly for want of good and authentic
information: this work will enable the reader to judge with greater
precision of the vague discourses held on this subject.
Nautical advices and observations are always interesting, from whatever
quarter they may happen to come, provided they are communicated by a man
of known abilities; and nobody, we think, will question those of Mr. de
Bougainville.
The superiority of the British discoveries in the great ocean, between
America and Asia, cannot be ascertained, unless by an authentic account
of the discoveries of the rival nation; who, after a great exertion, and
the advantage of being supplied by the Spaniards with all the
necessaries at a great distance from home, before they entered the South
Pacific Ocean, however discovered very little; and what they discovered,
had partly been seen by English navigators, or some Spanish ones of
older date; so that the honour of the greatest discoveries made within
two centuries, in those remote seas, is entirely reserved to the British
nation, and their spirit and perseverance in conducting this great and
interesting event.
The envious and scandalous behaviour of the Portuguese viceroy, at Rio
de Janeiro, towards our philosophers, which will for ever brand that
mean barbarian with indelible ignominy, is confirmed by a similar act of
despotic barbarism towards another nation, related in this work.
The French, who are so remarkable for the gravings with which they
ornament their principal publications, will find, that the charts joined
to this translation, though reduced to a sixteenth part of the surface
of the originals, are, however, infinitely superior to them in point of
neatness, convenience, and accuracy. Without being less useful, we have
connected, in our charts, the whole run of their ships, from the
beginning of their discoveries to Batavia. The chart of the Magellanic
Straits is of the same size, and upon the same scale as in the original,
but more accurate; and the names by which the English call the several
points of land, the bays and the reaches, are all added to the French
names. The omission of the charts of Rio de la Plata, and of the
Falkland Isles, is by no means an imperfection; because, very lately,
two charts have been published in England, one equally good of the
first, and a better one of the latter; it would therefore be needless to
multiply the identical charts, or to give the public some imperfect
ones.
Though Mr. de Bougainville is a man of undoubted veracity and abilities,
he has, however, in a few instances, been misled by false reports, or
prejudiced in favour of his nation: we have, in some additional notes,
corrected as far as it was in our power these mistakes, and impartially
vindicated the British nation, where we thought the author had been
unjustly partial; for the love of one’s country is, in our opinion, very
consistent with common justice and good breeding; qualities which never
should be wanting in a philosopher.
Our author endeavours to make it highly probable, that the spice-trade,
which has hitherto been the great source of the grandeur and wealth of
the Dutch East India Company, will soon be divided among them, the
French, and the English. We have reason to believe the French to be in a
fair way of getting the spices in their plantations, as Mr. de Poivre
has actually planted at Isle de France some hundreds of clove and
nutmeg-trees. Every true patriot will join in the wish, that our English
East India Company, prompted by a noble zeal for the improvement of
natural history, and every other useful branch of knowledge, might send
a set of men properly acquainted with mathematics, natural history,
physic, and other branches of literature, to their vast possessions in
the Indies, and every other place where their navigations extend, and
enable them to collect all kinds of useful and curious informations; to
gather fossils, plants, seeds, and animals, peculiar to these regions;
to observe the manners, customs, learning, and religion of the various
nations of the East; to describe their agriculture, manufactures, and
commerce; to purchase Hebrew, Persian, Braminic manuscripts, and such as
are written in the various characters, dialects, and languages of the
different nations; to make observations on the climate and constitution
of the various countries; the heat and moisture of the air, the
salubrity and noxiousness of the place, the remedies usual in the
diseases of hot countries, and various other subjects. A plan of this
nature, once set on foot in a judicious manner, would not only do honour
to the East India Company, but it must at the same time become a means
of discovering many new and useful branches of trade and commerce; and
there is likewise the highest probability, that some unsearched island,
with which the Eastern Seas abound, might produce the various spices,
which would greatly add to the rich returns of the Indian cargoes, and
amply repay the expences caused by such an expedition.
Mr. de Bougainville’s work abounds in marine phrases, which makes the
translation of it very difficult, even to a native; but a foreigner, and
a man unacquainted with nautical affairs, must be under still greater
difficulties: we should have been under this predicament, had it not
been for the kind assistance of two worthy friends, who not only enabled
us to do justice to the original, but also to make the whole
intelligible to men conversant with navigation: it is therefore no more
than justice to acknowledge this favour publicly[1].
------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION.
I think it would be of use to give, at the head of my relation, an
account of all the voyages that ever were performed round the world, and
of the different discoveries which have hitherto been made in the South
Sea or Pacific Ocean.
Ferdinand Magalhaens, a Portuguese, commanding five Spanish ships, left
Seville in 1519, discovered the straits which bear his name, and through
them he came into the Pacific Ocean, where he first discovered two
little desart isles, on the south side of the Line, afterwards the
Ladrones, and last of all the Philippines. His ship, called la Victoria,
was the only one out of the five that returned to Spain by the Cape of
Good Hope: On her return she was carried on shore at Seville, and set up
as a monument of this expedition, which was the boldest that had
hitherto been undertaken by men. Thus it was for the first time
physically demonstrated, that the earth was of a spherical figure, and
its circumference ascertained.
Sir Francis Drake, an Englishman, set sail from Plymouth, with five
ships, the 15th of September, 1577, and returned thither with only one,
the 3d of November, 1580. He was the second that sailed round the world.
Queen Elizabeth dined on board his ship, called the Pelican, which was
afterwards preserved in a dock at Deptford, with a very honourable
inscription on the main-mast. The discoveries attributed to Drake are
very precarious. The charts of the South Seas contain a coast which is
placed below the polar circle, some isles to the north of the Line, and
likewise New Albion to the north.
Sir Thomas Cavendish, an Englishman, left Plymouth the 21st of July,
1586, with three ships, and returned with two on 9th of September, 1588.
This voyage, which was the third round the world, was productive of no
new discoveries.
Oliver Van Noort, a Dutchman, sailed from Rotterdam the 2d of July,
1598, with four ships, passed through the straits of Magalhaens, sailed
along the western coasts of America, from whence he went to the
Ladrones, the Philippines, the Moluccas, the Cape of Good Hope, and
returned to Rotterdam with one ship the 26th of August, 1601. He made no
discoveries in the South Seas.
George Spilberg, a Dutchman, sailed from Zeeland the 8th of August,
1614, with six ships; he lost two ships before he came to the straits of
Magalhaens, passed through them, attacked several places on the coasts
of Peru and Mexico; from whence, without discovering any thing on his
course, he sailed to the Ladrones and Moluccas. Two of his ships
re-entered the ports of Holland, on the first of July, 1617.
James Lemaire and William Cornelius Schouten immortalized their names
much about the same time. They sailed from the Texel the 14th of June,
1615, with the ships Concord and Horn, discovered the straits that bear
the name of Lemaire, and were the first that ever entered the South Seas
by doubling Cape Horn. In that ocean they discovered the Isle of Dogs,
in 15° 15′ south latitude, and about 142° west longitude from Paris; the
Isle without Bottom (_Zonder Grond_) in 15° south latitude, one hundred
leagues westward: Water Island in 14° 46′ south latitude, and fifteen
leagues more to the west; at twenty leagues westward of this, Fly
Island, in 16° 10′ south latitude; and between 173° and 175° west
longitude from Paris, two isles, which they called Cocos and Traitor’s;
fifty leagues more westward, the Isle of Hope; next the Isle of Horn, in
14° 56′ south latitude, and about 179° east longitude from Paris; they
then coasted New Guinea, passed between its western extremity and the
Isle of Gilolo, and arrived at Batavia in October 1616. George Spilberg
stopped them there, and they were sent to Europe, on board the East
India company’s ships; Lemaire died of a sickness at the Isle of
Mauritius; Schouten returned to his country; the Concord and Horn came
back in two years and ten days.
James l’Hermite, a Dutchman, commanding a fleet of eleven ships, sailed
in 1623, with the scheme of making the conquest of Peru; he got into the
South Seas round Cape Horn, and harrassed the Spanish coasts, from
whence he went to the Ladrones, and thence to Batavia, without making
any discoveries in the South Seas. He died, after clearing the straits
of Sonda; and his ship, almost the only one of the whole fleet, arrived
in the Texel the 9th of July, 1626.
In 1683, Cowley, an Englishman, sailed from Virginia, doubled Cape Horn,
made several attacks upon the Spanish coasts, came to the Ladrones, and
returned to England by the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived on the
12th of October, 1686. This navigator has made no discoveries in the
South Seas; he pretends to have found out the Isle of Pepis in the North
Sea[2], in 47° southern latitude, about eighty leagues from the coast of
Patagonia; I have sought it three times, and the English twice, without
finding it.
Woodes Rogers, an Englishman, left Bristol the 2d of August, 1708,
doubled Cape Horn, attacked the Spanish coast up to California, from
whence he took the same course which had already been taken several
times before him, went to the Ladrones, Moluccas, Batavia, and doubling
the Cape of Good Hope, he arrived in the Downs the first of October,
1711.
Ten years after, Roggewein, a Dutchman, left the Texel, with three
ships; he came into the South Seas round Cape Horn, fought for Davis’s
Land without finding it; discovered to the south of the Tropic of
Capricorn, an isle which he called Easter Island, the latitude of which
is uncertain; then, between 15° and 16° south latitude, the Pernicious
Isles, where he lost one of his ships; afterwards, much about the same
latitude, the isles Aurora, Vesper, the Labyrinth composed of six
islands, and Recreation Island, where he touched at. He next discovered
three isles in 12° south, which he called the Bauman’s Isles; and
lastly, in 11° south, the Isles of Tienhoven and Groningen; then sailing
along New Guinea and Papua, he came at length to Batavia, where his
ships were confiscated. Admiral Roggewein returned to Holland, on board
a Dutch India-man, and arrived in the Texel the 11th of July, 1723, six
hundred and eighty days after his departure from the same port.
The taste for great navigations seemed entirely extinct, when, in 1741,
Admiral Anson made a voyage round the world, the excellent account of
which is in every body’s hands, and has made no new improvement in
geography.
After this voyage of Lord Anson’s, there was no considerable one
undertaken for above twenty years. The spirit of discovery seems to have
been but lately revived. Commodore Byron sailed from the Downs the 20th
of June, 1764, passed through the straits of Magalhaens; discovered some
isles in the South Sea, sailing almost due north-west, arrived at
Batavia the 28th of November, 1765, at the Cape the 24th of February,
1766, and in the Downs the 9th of May, having been out upon this voyage
six hundred and forty-eight days.
Two months after commodore Byron’s return, captain Wallace sailed from
England, with the Dolphin and Swallow sloops; he went through the
straits of Magalhaens, and as he entered the South Seas, he was
separated from the Swallow, commanded by captain Carteret; he discovered
an isle in about 18°, some time in August, 1767: he sailed up to the
Line, passed near Papua, arrived at Batavia in January, 1768, touched at
the Cape of Good Hope, and returned to England in May the same year.
His companion Carteret, after having suffered many misfortunes in the
South Sea, and lost almost all his crew, came to Macassar in March 1768,
to Batavia the 15th of September, and to the Cape of Good Hope towards
the end of December. It will appear in the sequel, that I overtook him
on the 18th of February, 1769, in 11° north latitude. He arrived in
England in June.
It appears, that of these thirteen voyages which have been made round
the world[3], none belongs to the French nation, and that only six of
them have been made with the spirit of discovery; viz. those of
Magalhaens, Drake, Le Maire, Roggewein, Byron, and Wallace; the other
navigators, who had no other view than to enrich themselves by their
attacks upon the Spaniards, followed the known tracks, without
increasing the knowledge of geography.
In 1714, a Frenchman, called la Barbinais le Gentil, sailed, on board a
private merchant ship, in order to carry on an illicit trade, upon the
coast of Chili and Peru. From thence he went to China, where, after
staying some time in various factories, he embarked in another ship than
that which had brought him, and returned to Europe, having indeed gone
in person round the world, though that cannot be considered as a
circumnavigation by the French nation[4].
Let us now speak of those who going out either from Europe, or from the
western coasts of South-America, or from the East-Indies, have made
discoveries in the South Seas, without sailing round the world.
It appears that one Paulmier de Gonneville, a Frenchman, was the first
who discovered any thing that way, in 1503 and 1504. The countries which
he visited are not known; he brought however with him a native of one of
them, whom the government did not send back, for which reason,
Gonneville, thinking himself personally engaged, gave him his heiress in
marriage.
Alfonzo de Salazar, a Spaniard, discovered in 1525 the Isle of St.
Bartholomew, in 14° north latitude, and 158° east longitude from Paris.
Alvaro de Saavedra, left one of the ports of Mexico in 1526, discovered,
between 9° and 10° north, a heap of isles, which he called the King’s
Isles, much about the same longitude with the Isle St. Bartholomew; he
then went to the Philippines, and to the Moluccas, and on his return to
Mexico, he was the first that had any knowledge of New Guinea and Papua.
He discovered likewise, in twelve degrees north, about eighty leagues
east of the King’s Isles, a chain of low islands, which he called Islas
de los Barbudos.
Diego Hurtado and Hernando de Grijalva, who sailed from Mexico in 1533,
to search the South Seas, discovered only one isle, situated in 20° 30′
north latitude, and about 100° west longitude from Paris; they called it
St. Thomas Island.
Juan Gaëtan sailed from Mexico in 1542, and likewise kept to the north
of the æquator. He there discovered, between 20° and 9° in various
longitudes, several isles; viz. Rocca Partida, the Coral Isles, the
Garden Isles, the Sailor Isles, the Isle of Arezisa, and at last he
touched at New Guinea, or rather, according to his report, at the isles
that were afterwards called New Britain; but Dampier had not yet
discovered the passage which bears his name.
The following voyage is more famous than all the preceding ones.
Alvaro de Mendoça and Mindaña, leaving Peru in 1567, discovered those
celebrated isles, which obtained the name of Solomon’s Islands, on
account of their riches; but supposing that the accounts we have of the
riches of these isles be not fabulous, yet their situation is not known,
and they have been sought for since without any success. It appears
only, that they are on the south side of the Line, between 8° and 12°.
The Isle Isabella, and the land of Guadalcanal, which those voyages
mention, are not better known.
In 1595, Alvaro de Mindaña, the companion of Mendoça, in the preceding
voyage, sailed again from Peru, with four ships, in search of the
Solomon’s Isles: he had with him Fernando de Quiros, who afterwards
became celebrated by his own discoveries. Mindaña discovered between 9°
and 11° south latitude, about 108° west from Paris, the isles of San
Pedro, Magdalena, Dominica St. Christina, all which he called _las
Marquesas de Mendoça_, in honour of Donna Isabella de Mendoça, who made
the voyage with him: about twenty-four degrees more to the westward, he
discovered the Isle of San Bernardo; almost two hundred leagues to the
west of that, the Solitary Isle; and lastly, the Isle of Santa Cruz,
situated nearly in 140° east longitude from Paris. The fleet sailed from
thence to the Ladrones, and lastly to the Philippines, where general
Mindaña did not arrive, nor did any one know since what became of him.
Fernando de Quiros, the companion of the unhappy Mindaña, brought Donna
Isabella back to Peru. He sailed from thence again with two ships, on
the 21st of December, 1605, and steered his course almost
west-south-west. He discovered at first a little isle, in about 25°
south latitude, and about 124° west longitude from Paris; then, between
18° and 19° south, seven or eight low, and almost inundated islands,
which bear his name, and in 13° south lat. about 157° west from Paris,
the isle which he called Isle of Beautiful People. Afterwards he sought
in vain for the Isle of Santa Cruz, which he had seen on his first
voyage, but discovered, in 13° south lat. and near 176° east longitude
from Paris, the Isle of Taumaco; likewise, about a hundred leagues west
of that isle, in 15° south lat. a great continent, which he called
_Tierra austral del Espiritù Santo_ and which has been differently
placed by the several geographers. There he ceased to go westward, and
sailed towards Mexico, where he arrived at the end of the year 1606,
having again unsuccessfully sought the Isle of Santa Cruz.
Abel Tasman sailed from Batavia the 14th of August, 1642, discovered
land in 42° south latitude, and about 155° east longitude from Paris,
which he called Van Diemen’s land: he sailed from thence to the
eastward, and in about 160° of our east longitude, he discovered New
Zeeland, in 42° 10′ south. He coasted it till to 34° south lat. from
whence he sailed N. E. and discovered, in 22° 35′ south lat. and nearly
174° east of Paris, the Isles of Pylstaart, Amsterdam, and Rotterdam. He
did not extend his researches any farther, and returned to Batavia,
sailing between New Guinea and Gilolo.
The general name of New Holland has been given to a great extent of
continent, or chain of islands, reaching from 6° to 34° south lat.
between 105° and 140° east longitude from Paris. It was reasonable to
give it the name of New Holland, because the different parts of it have
chiefly been discovered by Dutch navigators. The first land which was
found in these parts, was called the Land of Eendraght, from the
person[5] that discovered it in 1616, in 24° and 25° south latitude. In
1618, another part of this coast, situated nearly in 15° south, was
discovered by Zeachen, who gave it the name of Arnhem and Diemen; though
this is not the same with that which Tasman called Diemen’s land
afterwards. In 1619, Jan van Edels gave his name to a southern part of
New Holland. Another part, situated between 30° and 33°, received the
name of Leuwen. Peter van Nuitz communicated his name in 1627 to a coast
which makes as it were a continuation of Leuwen’s land to the westward.
William de Witts called a part of the western coast, near the tropic of
Capricorn, after his own name, though it should have born that of
captain Viane, a Dutchman, who paid dear for the discovery of this coast
in 1628, by the loss of his ship, and of all his riches.
In the same year 1628, Peter Carpenter, a Dutchman, discovered the great
Gulph of Carpentaria, between 10° and 20° south latitude, and the Dutch
have often since sent ships to reconnoitre that coast.
Dampier, an Englishman, setting out from the great Timor Isle, made his
first voyage in 1687, along the coasts of New Holland; and touched
between the land of Arnhem and of Diemen: this short expedition was
productive of no discovery. In 1699 he left England, with an express
intention of visiting all that region, concerning which, the Dutch would
not publish the accounts they had of it. He sailed along the western
coast of it, from 28° to 15°. He saw the land of Eendraght, and of De
Witt, and conjectured that there might exist a passage to the south of
Carpentaria. He then returned to Timor, from whence he went out again,
examined the Isles of Papua, coasted New Guinea, discovered the passage
that bears his name, called a great isle which forms this passage or
strait on the east side, New Britain, and sailed back to Timor along New
Guinea. This is the same Dampier who between 1683 and 1691, partly as a
free-booter or privateer, and partly as a trader, sailed round the
world, by changing his ships.
This is the short abstract of the several voyages round the world, and
of the various discoveries made in that vast Pacific Ocean before our
departure from France[6]. Before I begin the narrative of the
expedition, with which I was charged, I must beg leave to mention, that
this relation ought not to be looked upon as a work of amusement; it has
chiefly been written for seamen. Besides, this long navigation round the
globe does not offer such striking and interesting scenes to the polite
world, as a voyage made in time of war. Happy, if by being used to
composition, I could have learnt to counterbalance, the dulness of the
subject by elegance of stile! But, though I was acquainted with the
sciences from my very youth, when the lessons which M. d’Alembert was so
kind to give me, enabled me to offer to the indulgent public, a work
upon geometry, yet I am now far from the sanctuary of science and
learning; the rambling and savage life I have led for these twelve years
past, have had too great an effect upon my ideas and my stile. One does
not become a good writer in the woods of Canada, or on the seas, and I
have lost a brother, whose productions were admired by the public, and
who might have assisted me in that respect.
Lastly, I neither quote nor contradict any body, and much less do I
pretend to establish or to overthrow any hypothesis; and supposing that
the great differences which I have remarked in the various countries
where I have touched at, had not been able to prevent my embracing that
spirit of system-making, so peculiar in our present age, and however so
incompatible with true philosophy, how could I have expected that my
whim, whatever appearance of probability I could give it, should meet
with success in the world? I am a voyager and a seaman; that is, a liar
and a stupid fellow, in the eyes of that class of indolent haughty
writers, who in their closets reason in _infinitum_ on the world and its
inhabitants, and with an air of superiority, confine nature within the
limits of their own invention. This way of proceeding appears very
singular and inconceivable, on the part of persons who have observed
nothing themselves, and only write and reason upon the observations
which they have borrowed from those same travellers in whom they deny
the faculty of seeing and thinking.
I shall conclude this preliminary discourse by doing justice to the
zeal, courage, and unwearied patience of the officers and crew of my two
ships[7]. It has not been necessary to animate them by any extraordinary
incitement, such as the English thought it necessary to grant to the
crew of commodore Byron. Their constancy has stood the test of the most
critical situations, and their good will has not one moment abated. But
the French nation is capable of conquering the greatest difficulties,
and nothing is impossible to their efforts, as often as she will think
herself equal at least to any nation in the world[8].
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Illustration:
CHART
_shewing the Track round_
_THE WORLD_
_of the_
_BOUDEUSE and ETOILE_
_under the Command_
_OF_
M. de Bougainville
_1766-1769_
]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
_VOYAGE_
ROUND THE
_WORLD._
PART the FIRST.
Departure from France——clearing the Straits of
Magalhaens.
_CHAP. I._
_Departure of the Boudeuse from Nantes; puts in at Brest; run from Brest
to Montevideo; junction with the Spanish frigates, intended for
taking possession of the Malouines, or Falkland’s islands._
In February 1764, France began to make a settlement on the Isles
Malouines. [Sidenote: Object of the voyage. 1766, November.] Spain
reclaimed these isles as belonging to the continent of South America;
and her right to them having been acknowledged by the king, I received
orders to deliver our settlement to the Spaniards, and to proceed to the
East Indies by crossing the South Seas between the Tropics. For this
expedition I received the command of the frigate la Boudeuse, of
twenty-six twelve-pounders, and I was to be joined at the Malouines by
the store-ship[9] l’Etoile, which was intended to bring me the
provisions necessary for a voyage of such a length, and to follow me
during the whole expedition. Several circumstances retarded the junction
of this store-vessel, and consequently made my whole voyage near eight
months longer than it would otherwise have been.
[Sidenote: Departure from Nantes.]
In the beginning of November, 1766, I went to Nantes, where the Boudeuse
had just been built, and where M. Duclos Guyot, a captain of a fireship,
my second officer, was fitting her out. The 5th of this month we came
down from Painbeuf to Mindin, to finish the equipment of her; and on the
15th we sailed from this road for the river de la Plata. There I was to
find the two Spanish frigates, called la Esmeralda and la Liebre, that
had left Ferrol the 17th of October, and whose commander was ordered to
receive the _Isles Malouines_, or Falkland’s islands, in the name of his
Catholic majesty.
[Sidenote: Squall of wind.]
The 17th in the morning we suffered a sudden gust of wind from W. S. W.
to N. W. it grew more violent in the night, which we passed under our
bare poles, with our lower-yards lowered, the clue of the fore-sail,
under which we tried before, having been carried away. The 18th, at four
in the morning, our fore-top-mast broke about the middle of its height;
the main-top-mast resisted till eight o’clock, when it broke in the cap,
and carried away the head of the main-mast. [Sidenote: Putting in at
Brest.] This last event made it impossible for us to continue our
voyage, and I determined to put into Brest, where we arrived the 21st of
November.
This squall of wind, and the confusion it had occasioned, gave me room
to make the following observations upon the state and qualities of the
frigate which I commanded.
1. The prodigious tumbling home of her top-timbers, leaving too little
opening to the angles which the shrouds make with the masts, the latter
were not sufficiently supported.
2. The preceding fault became of more consequence by the nature of the
ballast, which we had been obliged to take in, on account of the
prodigious quantity of provisions we had stowed. Forty tuns of ballast,
distributed on both sides of the kelson, and at a short distance from
it, and a dozen twelve-pounders placed at the bottom of the pump-well
(we had only fourteen upon deck) added a considerable weight, which
being much below the center of gravity, and almost entirely rested upon
the kelson, put the masts in danger, if there had been any rolling.
These reflections induced me to get the excessive height of our masts
shortened, and to exchange the cannon, which were twelve-pounders, for
eight-pounders. Besides the diminution of near twenty ton weight, both
in the hold and upon deck, gained by exchanging the artillery, the
narrow make of the frigate alone was sufficient to render it necessary.
She wanted about two feet of the beam which such frigates have as are
intended to carry twelve-pounders.
Notwithstanding these alterations, which I was allowed to make, I could
not help observing that my ship was not fit for navigating in the seas
round Cape Horn. I had found, during the squall of wind, that she made
water from all her upper-works, which might expose part of my biscuit to
be spoiled by the water getting into the store-rooms in bad weather; an
inconvenience, the consequences of which we should not be able to remedy
during the voyage. I therefore asked leave to send the Boudeuse back to
France from the Falkland’s islands, under the command of the chevalier
Bournand, lieutenant of a ship, and to continue the voyage with the
store-ship l’Etoile alone, if the long winter nights should prevent my
passing the Straits of Magalhaens[10]. I obtained this permission, and
the 4th of December, our masts being repaired, the artillery exchanged,
and the frigate entirely caulked in her upper-works, we went out of the
port and anchored in the road, where we continued a whole day, in order
to embark the powder, and to set up the shrouds.
[Sidenote: December. Departure from Brest.]
The 5th at noon we got under sail in the road of Brest. I was obliged to
cut my cable, because the fresh east-wind and the ebb prevented my
tacking about, as I was apprehensive of falling off too near the shore.
I had eleven commissioned officers, and three volunteers; and the crew
consisted of two hundred sailors, warrant-officers, soldiers, boys, and
servants. The prince of Nassau-Sieghen had got leave from the king to go
upon this expedition. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the middle of
the isle of Ushant bore N. by E. and from thence I took my departure.
[Sidenote: Description of the Salvages.]
During the first days, we had the wind pretty constant from W. N. W. to
W. S. W. and S.W., very fresh. The 17th, afternoon, we got sight of the
Salvages; the 18th, of the Isle of Palma; and the 19th, of the Isle of
Ferro. What is called the Salvages, is a little isle of about a league
in extent from E. to W. it is low in the middle, and at each end a
little hillock; a chain of rocks, some of which appear above water,
extend to the westward about two leagues off the island; there are
likewise some breakers on the east-side, but they are not far from the
shore.
[Sidenote: Error in the calculation of the course.]
The sight of these rocks convinced us of a great error in our reckoning;
but I would not make a computation before I had seen the Canaries, whose
position is exactly determined. The sight of the Isle of Ferro gave me
with certainty the correction which I was desirous to make. The 19th, at
noon, I took the latitude, and comparing it with the bearings of the
Isle of Ferro taken that same hour, I found a difference of four degrees
and seven minutes, which I was more to the eastward, than by my
reckoning. This error is frequent in crossing from Cape Finisterre to
the Canaries, and I had found it on other voyages, as the currents
opposite the straits of Gibraltar set to the eastward with great
rapidity.
[Sidenote: Position of the Salvages rectified.]
I had, at the same time, an opportunity of remarking, that the Salvages
are improperly placed on M. de Bellin’s Chart. Indeed, when we got sight
of them the 17th, after noon, the longitude which their bearings gave us
differed from our calculation by three degrees seventeen minutes to the
eastward. However, this same difference appeared the 19th of four
degrees seven minutes, by correcting our place, according to the
bearings of the isle of Ferro, whose longitude has been determined by
astronomical observations. It must be observed, that during the two days
which passed between our getting sight of the Salvages and of Ferro, we
sailed with a fair wind; and consequently there can be very little
miscalculation in that part of the course. Besides, the 18th, we set the
Isle of Palma, bearing S. W. by W. corrected; and, according to M.
Bellin, it was to bear S. W. I concluded, from these two observations,
that M. Bellin has placed the Isle of Salvages about 32′ more to the W.
than it really is.
I therefore took a fresh departure the 19th of December at noon. We met
with no remarkable occurrences on our voyage, till we came to the Rio de
la Plata; our course furnished us only with the following observations,
which may be interesting to navigators.
[Sidenote: 1767.
January.
Nautical observations.]
1. The 6th and 7th of January 1767, being between 1° 40′ and 0° 38′
north latitude; and about 28° longitude, we saw many birds, which
induced me to believe, that we were near the rock of Penedo San Pedro;
though M. Bellin does not mark it on his chart.
[Sidenote: Passing the line.]
2. The 8th of January, in the afternoon, we passed the line between 27°
and 28° of longitude.
[Sidenote: Remark on the variations.]
3. Since the 2nd of January we could no longer observe the variations;
and I only reckoned them by the charts of William Mountain and James
Obson. The 11th, at sun-set, we observed 3° 17′ of N. W. variation; and
the 14th, in the morning, I observed again 10′ of N. W. variation with
an azimuth-compass, the ship then being in 10° 30′ or 40′ S. latitude,
and about 33° 20′ W. longitude, from Paris. Therefore it is certain,
that, if my estimated longitude is exact, and I verified it as such at
the land-fall[11], the line of no variation is still further advanced to
the westward since the observation of Mountain and Obson; and it seems
the progress of this line westward is pretty uniform. Indeed, upon the
same degree of latitude, where Mountain and Obson found 12° or 13° of
difference in the space of forty-four years, I have found a little more
than 6° after an interval of 22 years. This progression deserves to be
confirmed by a chain of observations. The discovery of the law by which
these changes happen that are observed in the declination of the
magnetic needle, besides furnishing us with a method of finding out the
longitude at sea, might perhaps lead us to the causes of this variation,
and perhaps even to that of the magnetic power.
[Sidenote: Causes of the variations found in going to the Brasils.]
4. About the line we have almost always observed very great variations
on the north-side, though it is more common to observe them on the
south-side. We had an opportunity of guessing at the cause of it, the
18th of January passing over a bank with young fish, which extended
beyond the reach of our sight, from S. W. by W. to N. E. by E. upon a
line of reddish white, about two fathoms broad. Our meeting with it,
taught us that since some days the currents set in to the N. E. by E.
for all fish spawn upon the coasts, whence the currents detach the fry
and carry them into the open sea. On observing these variations N. of
which I have spoken, I did not infer from thence, that it was necessary
there should be variations westward together with them; likewise the
29th of January, in the evening, when we saw land, I had calculated at
noon that it was ten or twelve leagues off, which gave rise to the
following observations.
It has long ago been a complaint among navigators, and still continues,
that the charts, and especially those of M. Bellin, lay down the coasts
of Brasil too much to the eastward. They ground this complaint upon
their having got sight of these coasts in their several voyages, when
they thought themselves at least eighty or a hundred leagues off. They
add, that they have several times observed on these coasts, that the
currents had carried them S. W. and they rather choose to tax the charts
and astronomical observations as erroneous, than suspect their ships
reckoning subject to mistakes.
Upon the like reasonings we might have concluded the contrary on our
course to Rio de la Plata, if by chance we had not discovered the reason
of the variations N. which we met with. It was evident that the bank
with the fry of fish, that we met with the 29th, was subject to the
direction of a current; and its distance from the coast proved, that the
current had already existed several days. It was therefore the cause of
constant errors in our course; and the currents which navigators have
often found to set in to the S. W. on these shores, are subject to
variations, and sometimes take contrary directions.
This observation being well confirmed, and our course being nearly S. W.
were my authorities for correcting our mistakes as to the distances,
making them agree with the observations of the latitude, and not to
correct the points of the compass. By this method I got sight of the
land, almost the same moment when I expected to see it by my
calculation. Those amongst us, who always reckoned our course to the
westward, according to the ship’s journals, being contented to correct
the difference of latitude by the observations at noon, expected to be
close to the shore, according to their calculation, long before we had
so much as got sight of it: but can this give them reason to conclude,
that the coast of the Brasils is much more westward than Mr. Bellin has
laid it down?
[Sidenote: Observations on the currents.]
In general it seems, that in this part the currents vary, and sometimes
set to the N. E. but more frequently to S. W. One glance at the bearings
and position of the coast is sufficient to prove that they can only
follow one or the other of these directions; and it is always easy to
distinguish which of the two then takes place by the differences north
or south, which the latitude gives. To these currents we may impute the
frequent errors of which navigators complain; and I am of opinion Mr.
Bellin has laid down the coasts of the Brasils with exactness. I believe
it the more readily, as the longitude of Rio Janeiro has been determined
by Messrs. Godin, and the Abbé de la Caille, who met there in 1751; and
as some observations of the longitude have likewise been made at
Fernambuco and Buenos Ayres. These three points being determined, there
can be no considerable error in regard to the longitude of the eastern
coasts of America, from 8° to 35° S. latitude; and this has been
confirmed to us by experience.
[Sidenote: Entry into Rio de la Plata.]
Since the 27th of January we found ground, and on the 29th, in the
evening, we saw the land, though we could not take the bearings, as
night was coming on, and the shore very low. The night was dark, with
rain and thunder. We lay-to under our reefed top-sails, the head towards
the offing. On the 30th, by break of day, we perceived the mountains of
Maldonado: it was then easily discovered that the land we saw the
evening before, was the isle of Lobos. [Sidenote: Necessary correction
in M. Bellin’s chart.] However, as our latitude, when we arrived, was
35° 16′ 20″ we must have taken it for cape Santa Maria, which Mr. Bellin
places in 35° 15′, though its true latitude is 34° 55′; I take notice of
this false position, because it might prove dangerous. A ship sailing in
35° 15′ S. latitude, and expecting to find cape Santa Maria, might run
the risk of getting upon the English Bank without having seen any land.
However, the soundings would caution them against the approaching
danger; for, near the sand, you find no more than six or seven fathoms
of water. The French Bank, or Sand, which is no more than a prolongation
of cape San Antonio, would be more dangerous; just before you come to
the northern point of it, you find from twelve to fourteen fathoms of
water.
[Sidenote: Anchoring-place at the Maldonados.]
The Maldonados are the first high lands one sees on the north-side after
entering the Rio de la Plata, and almost the only ones till you come to
Montevideo. East of these mountains there is an anchorage upon a very
low coast; it is a creek sheltered by a little island. The Spaniards
have a little town at the Maldonados, with a garrison. In its
neighbourhood is a poor gold mine, that has been worked these few years;
in it they likewise find pretty transparent stones. About two leagues
inland is a town newly built, and entirely peopled with Portugueze
deserters; it is called Pueblo Nuevo.
[Sidenote: Anchoring at Montevideo.]
The 31st, at eleven in the morning, we anchored in Montevideo bay,
having four fathom water, with a black, soft, muddy bottom. We had
passed the night between the 30th and 31st in nine fathoms, the same
bottom, five or six leagues east of the isle of Flores. The two Spanish
frigates, which were to take possession of the Isles Malouines
(Falkland’s Island) had lain in the road a whole month. [Sidenote:
February.] Their commander, Don Philip Ruis Puente, captain of a man of
war, was appointed governor of those islands; we went together to Buenos
Ayres, in order to concert the necessary measures with the
governor-general, for the cession of the settlement, which I was to
deliver up to the Spaniards. We did not make a long stay there, and I
returned to Montevideo on the 16th of February.
[Sidenote: Journey from Buenos Ayres to Montevideo.]
The prince of Nassau went with me, and as a contrary wind prevented our
returning in a schooner, we landed opposite Buenos Ayres, above the
colony of San Sacramento, and made this tour by land. We crossed those
immense plains, in which travellers are guided by the eye, taking care
not to miss the fords in the rivers, and driving before themselves
thirty or forty horses, among which they must take some with nooses, in
order to have relays, when those on which they ride are fatigued. We
lived upon meat which was almost raw; and passed the nights in huts made
of leather, in which our sleep was constantly interrupted by the
howlings of tygers that lurk around them. I shall never forget in what
manner we crossed the river St. Lucia, which is very deep, rapid, and
wider than the Seine opposite the Hospital of Invalids at Paris. You get
into a narrow, long canoe, one of whose sides is half as high again as
the other; two horses are then forced into the water, one on the
starboard, and the other on the larboard side of the canoe, and the
master of the ferry, being quite naked, (which, though a very wise
precaution, is insufficient to encourage passengers that cannot swim)
holds up the horses heads as well as he can above the water, obliging
them to swim over the river, and to draw the canoe, if they be strong
enough for it.
Don Ruis arrived at Montevideo a few days after us. There arrived at the
same time two boats laden, one with wood and refreshments, the other
with biscuit and flour, which we took on board, in place of that which
had been consumed on our voyage from Brest. The Spanish frigates being
likewise ready, we prepared to leave Rio de la Plata.
-----
Footnote 1:
We have thought proper to omit M. Pereire’s discourse on the nature of
the language of Taiti, as being a very trifling performance, founded
on the imperfect vocabulary, and defective pronunciation of Aotourou.
Footnote 2:
North Sea signifies here the Atlantic Ocean, and is put in opposition
to South Sea; the former taking in the ocean on this side the
Magellanic straits, the latter that which is west of them. The
appellation, though somewhat improper, by calling the sea about the
south pole the North Sea, is however sometimes employed by some
writers. F.
Footnote 3:
Dom Pernetty, in his Dissertation upon America, speaks of a voyage
round the world, in 1719, by captain Shelvock; I have no knowledge of
this voyage. Note of Mr. de B.
As M. de Bougainville’s list of circumnavigators is very imperfect, we
will endeavour to give a more compleat one in few words.
1. Fernando Magalhaens, 1519.
2. Sir Francis Drake sailed from Plymouth the 15th of November, 1577,
but was obliged to put back on account of a storm; after which, he set
sail again the 13th of December, and returned the 16th of September,
1580.
3. Sir Thomas Cavendish, 1586-88.
4. Simon de Cordes, a Dutchman, sailed in 1598-1600.
5. Oliver Van Noort sailed the 13th of September, 1598, and returned
the 22nd of August, 1601.
6. George Spielbergen, a German in the Dutch service, 1614-1617.
7. William Cornelius Schouten with Jacob Le Maire, 1615-1617.
8. Jacob l’Hermite with John Hugo Schapenham sailed from Goeree, in
the province of Holland, the 29th of April, 1623, and arrived in the
Texel the 9th of July, 1626.
9. Henry Brouwer, a Dutchman, in 1643.
10. Cowley, in 1683-1686.
11. William Dampier, an Englishman, sailed in 1689, and returned 1691.
He has been omitted by M. de Bougainville in the list of
circumnavigators, because he did not go round the world in one and the
same ship.
12. Beauchesne Gouin, in 1699.
13. Edward Cooke, an Englishman, made the voyage in the years 1708 and
1711. 14. Woodes Rogers, an Englishman, sailed from Bristol, June
15th, 1708, and returned 1711.