AMONGST THE CANARY ISLES.
[Sidenote: 1708 _Sept._]
Considering that Captain Rogers' main object in cruising among the
Grand Canaries was to lay in a store of liquor for his voyage "about
Cape Horn," this small Spanish bark, with a cargo of two butts of wine,
and a hogshead of brandy, was a lucky windfall.
[Sidenote: _A letter from Port Oratava._]
A trifling hitch occurred, however, about her ransom, owing to the
headstrong conduct of Mr. Carlton Vanbrugh, the "Duke's" agent, "who,
against his Captain's judgement," went ashore with the master of the
prize to settle this matter, and was there detained; the authorities
refusing to let him go unless the bark was restored to them free of
charge; they claiming protection from capture for all vessels trading
between these Islands; which view of the case was supported, not only
by the British Consul at Oratava, but by certain English merchants
there, and from whom Rogers received a long letter actually advising
him to give up his prize; which he answered in full, with his reasons
for not doing this; the chief of which was, that possession is
nine-tenths of the law.
[Sidenote: _Our Answer._]
[Sidenote: _Capt. Rogers' generosity._]
The answer of the Spanish authorities, however, "being," as Rogers
tells us, "of a dilatory character," he at once wrote the following
dispatch; informing them "that had it not been out of respect for his
officer ashoar, he would not have staid one minute, and that now he
should stay only till morning for their answer, taking meanwhile a
cruise among the Islands in order to make reprisals, and tho' he could
not land his men, that he would visit the town with his guns by eight
next morning; when he hoped to meet the Governor's Frigate, and repay
his civility in his own way." "Which letter," says Rogers, "had its
effect, for as we stood in close to the town at eight o'clock next
morning, we spy'd a boat coming off, in which proved to be one Mr.
Crosse, an English merchant, and our agent Mr. Vanbrugh, with wine,
grapes, hogs, and other necessaries for the ransom of the bark. And
so, upon his coming up, we immediately went to work, discharged the
bark, and parted her cargo between our ships. We treated Mr. Crosse as
well as we could, and at his desire, gave the prisoners back as much
as we could find of what belonged to their persons, particularly to
the fryars their books, Crucifixes, and Reliques. We presented the old
Padre with a cheese, and such as were strip'd with other clothes, so
that we parted well satisfied on all sides."
After which very comfortable arrangement, Captain Rogers, carefully
concealing his destination from the Spaniards by stating that he was
"bound to the English West Indies," sailed on his way rejoicing, "that
now we are indifferently well stocked with liquors, and shall be better
able to endure cold when we get the length of Cape Horn."
On the afternoon of the 22nd another sail was spy'd and chased to the
westward, until "a stiff gale coming on, put us," says Rogers, "out
of hopes of seeing her again to advantage." The next day, the weather
being fine, with fresh gales, the officers of both ships again dine
together on board the "Duke," when a committee is held, and a vote of
censure passed upon Mr. Carlton Vanbrugh for landing against the wish
of his Captain. No doubt also the quality of the Canary was discussed,
and perhaps helped to smooth the course of this debate.
[Sidenote: _Pass the Tropick._]
It would seem, from the next entry in the log, that the penalties
usually exacted by Neptune of those crossing the _Line_ for the first
time, then became his due somewhat earlier in the voyage; or upon first
entering what sailors call the "Horse latitudes." For Rogers says that
September the 25th "we passed the tropick, and according to custom
duck'd those that had not done so before. The manner of doing it was
by a rope thro' a block from the main yard to hoist 'em above halfway
up to the yard and let 'em fall at once into the water, having a stick
cross thro their legs, and well fastened to the rope, that they might
not be surprised and let go their hold.
[Illustration: _Crossing the Tropick._]
"This prov'd of great use to our freshwater sailors to recover the
colour of their skins, which were grown very black and nasty. Those
that we duck'd after this manner three times, were about sixty, and
others that would not undergo it chose to pay half a crown fine; the
money to be levy'd and spent at a public meeting of all the ships
companies when we return to England. The Dutchmen and some Englishmen
desir'd to be duck'd, some six, others eight, ten, and twelve times, to
have the better title for being treated when they come home."
The "Duke" and "Dutchess" made the Island of Sal, one of the Cape de
Verds, on the morning of September 29th, and "after being satisfied,"
says Rogers, "it was Sal, we stood from it W. and W. by N. for St.
Vincent, going under easy sail all night because we had none aboard
either ship that was acquainted with these islands; but on the 30th
when day broke we saw 'em all in a range much as is laid down in the
draughts, and at ten o'clock anchored in the bay of St. Vincent in five
fathom water." When one considers the means by which these early master
mariners determined their position at sea, and that for want of good
timekeepers they were almost quite dependent upon dead reckoning for
their longitude, the accuracy and boldness with which Rogers made his
landfalls is truly surprising.
The accompanying figures, from a standard work upon navigation of the
period,[6] are interesting as showing the curious form of nautical
instruments used by old shipmen, like Woodes Rogers, for taking
altitudes of the sun, moon, pole, stars, &c., before the invention of
Hadley's quadrant.
[Illustration: The Figure of the Quadrant and Manner of Observation.
(Davis's Quadrant.)]
[Illustration: The Figure of the Cross-Staff and the Manner of
Observation.]
"Davis's Quadrant," invented by the celebrated navigator of that name
in Queen Elizabeth's time, was the best of these. This instrument
was known also as "the back-staff" from the position of the observer
with his back to the sun when using it. The cross-staff or fore-staff
was, however, still used, as it was in the time of Columbus; this was
simply a four-sided straight staff of hard wood, about three feet long,
having four cross-pieces of different lengths made to slide upon it as
the cross-piece does upon a shoemaker's rule. These cross-pieces were
called respectively the ten, thirty, sixty, and ninety cross, and were
placed singly upon the staff according to the altitude of the sun or
star at time of observation; the angle measured being shown by a scale
of degrees and minutes intersected by the cross-piece on that side the
staff to which it (the cross) belonged. Besides the cross-staff, a
form of small quadrant, called an "Almacantas staff," was used just
after sunrise, and before sunset, for finding the sun's azimuth, and
the variation of the compass, while in latitudes north of the line, the
"Nocturnal" gave the hour of the night, by observing with it the hands
of the great star-clocks, Ursa Major and Minor, as they turned about
the Pole Star.
[Illustration: The Figure of the Nocturnal.]
[Sidenote: _Letter to the Governor of St. Antonio._]
"The day after anchoring at St. Vincent," Rogers says, "we clear'd
our ships, but it blow'd too hard to row our boatloads of empty
butts ashoar; and we could do little to wooding and watering, till
this morning, we were forc'd to get a rope from the ship to the
watering-place, which is a good half mile from our anchorage, and
so haul'd our empty casks ashoar by boatloads, in order to have 'em
burnt and cleaned in the inside, being oil-casks, and for want of
cleaning our water stunk insufferably. But borrowing a cooper from
the 'Dutchess,' and having five of my own, we made quick dispatch."
"We also sent a boat to St. Antonio, with one Joseph Alexander a good
linguist, and a respectful letter to the Govenour, who accounts himself
a great man here, tho' very poor, to get in truck for our prize goods
what we wanted; they having plenty of cattel, goats, hogs, fowls,
melons, potatoes, limes, ordinary brandy, tobacco, &c." And while here
Rogers adds, "that tho' our people were meanly stock'd with clothes,
and the 'Dutchess's' crew much worse, yet we are both forc'd to watch
'em very narrowly, and punish'd some of 'em, to prevent their selling
what they have to the negroes that come over with little things from
St. Antonio's." In his letter to the Govenour, Rogers tells him that
"as our stay cannot exceed two days, despatch is necessary, and that
the bearer can inform his Honour of the public occurrences of Europe,
and the great successes of the Confederate arms against the French and
Spaniards, which no doubt must soon be follow'd with a lasting peace,
which God grant."
[Sidenote: _Desertion of a Linguist._]
From an entry in the journal a few days later to the effect "that our
boat return'd yesterday with two good black cattel, one for each ship,
but no news of our linguist;" it appears that worse luck befell him
than that which attended Mr. Carlton Vanbrugh, or it may be that he
took less real interest in the cruise than that gentleman. Whether
this was so or not, the officers of both frigates at once agreed, on
the return of the boat "with the two good black cattel," that they
"had better leave him behind than to wait with two ships for one man
that had not follow'd his orders;" or as Captain Rogers puts it in a
marginal note, "our linguist deserts."
That there was honour as well as method among the leaders in these
"undertakings to the South Seas," is clear from the minutes of a debate
now held on board the "Duke," "to prevent those mutinies and disorders
amongst the men who were not yet reconcil'd since the taking of the
small Canary prize."
[Sidenote: _Regulations about plunder._]
[Sidenote: _The reasons that forc'd us to allow plunder._]
Among these regulations it was agreed "that what is plunder be
adjudg'd by the superior officers and agents in each ship; and that
if any person do conceal any plunder exceeding in value one piece
of eight, twenty-four hours after capture of a prize, he shall be
severely punished and lose his share of the plunder. The same penalty
to be inflict'd for being drunk in time of action or disobeying his
officer's commands, or deserting his post in sea or land service.
That public books of plunder are to be kept in each ship, the plunder
to be appraised and divided as soon as possible after capture. Every
person to be sworn and searched so soon as they shall come aboard, any
person refusing, to forfeit his share of the plunder; and that whereas
Captain Rogers and Captain Courtney to make both ships companies easy,
have given the whole cabin plunder (which in all probability is the
major part), to be divided among the crew, it is agreed that the said
Captains Woodes Rogers and Steph: Courtney, shall have 5 per cent. each
of 'em over and above their respective shares, &c. That a reward of
twenty pieces of eight be given to him that first sees a prize of good
value exceeding 50 tuns." Rogers adds that this arrangement was "agreed
on in order to make the men easy, without which we must unavoidably
have run into such continual scenes of mischief and disorder, which
have not only tended to the great hindrance, but generally to the total
disappointment of all voyages of this nature, that have been attempted
so far abroad in the memory of man."
Hearing nothing more of "their good linguist," the "Duke" and
"Dutchess" "came to sail at seven in the evening," of Oct. 8th, from
St. Vincent. After having "put the deputy Govenour of S. Antonio (a
negro), ashoar, where he must lie in a hole of the rocks there being
no house on that part of the island." In his description of these
islands Rogers mentions "that they have here very large spiders, which
weave their webs so strong that 'tis difficult to get thro' 'em, and
that the heats are excessive to us who came newly from Europe, so that
several of our men began to be sick and were blooded;" while "some of
the officers that went ashore a hunting could meet no game but a wild
ass, which, after a long chase they got within shot and wounded; yet
he afterwards held out so as to tire them, and they return'd weary and
empty-handed."
The piety of the expedition appears to have increased steadily as it
got further from home, for as they draw near the Equator "in close
cloudy weather with squalls of rain," we read how first "having put up
the smith's forge, and he began to work on such things as we wanted,"
that a day or two after "We began to read prayers in both ships,
mornings and evenings, as opportunity would permit, according to the
Church of England; designing to continue it the term of the voyage."
[Sidenote: _A Second Mate punish'd for Mutiny._]
The number of junior officers on board the frigates was not always
unattended with troubles, in all which cases the first remedy tried by
Captain Rogers was that of shuffling, or exchanging them from ship to
ship. But it is a significant fact that it was the day after a dinner
party on board the "Dutchess," that her captain came on board the
"Duke" with his second mate, Mr. Page, desiring to exchange him into
the "Duke" in the room of Mr. Ballet. Page, however, who seems to have
held views of his own upon this subject, having declined to get into
the "Dutchess's" boat, and thereby "caused his superior officer to
strike him, whereupon Page struck again and several blows past," was on
his arrival on board the "Duke" at once "ordered on the forecastle into
the bilboes;[7] where, it being calm, he slipped through the ship's
corporal's hands overboard, thinking to swim back to the 'Dutchess.'
A boat, however, being alongside, he was soon overtaken, brought on
board, and lash'd to the main gears,[8] where for this, and his abusive
language exciting the men to mutiny, he was drub'd and afterwards
confined in irons on board the 'Duke.'"
A week later Rogers mentions incidentally in his log, "that this
morning I let Mr. Page out of irons on his humble submission, and
promises of amendment; fair pleasant weather with fresh gales."
[Sidenote: _Concealers of plunder punish'd._]
On board the "Duke," however, the bilboes must have been kept in fair
working order, with little time to get rusty, for two days after Mr.
Page got clear of them, "two persons being accus'd of concealing a
peruke, two shirts, and a pair of stockings from the plunder of the
Canary bark, are found guilty and order'd into them."
[Sidenote: _Extraordinary lightning._]
[Sidenote: _Fluttering weather._]
Beyond noting what Rogers calls a "turnado" with lightning, "which fell
as if it had been liquid," and that "while the storm held, which was
not above an hour, the ships even with all sail furl'd lay along very
much," nothing remarkable is recorded after leaving the Cape de Verds
until November 16th, when "with a brave breeze at E. they stood in with
the land, and suppos'd it to be the island of Cape Frio on the coast
of Brazil." But "the brave breeze" failing them near land, they were
two days "towing and rowing the ships," in foggy, rainy weather, before
anchoring in the cove off the Isle of Grande, where they designed to
wood, water, and careen their frigates.
[Sidenote: _Frenchmen's graves._]
Terror of past depredations, committed by the French Corsairs, had made
the Brazilians very suspicious of strangers, and Rogers says "his boat
was fir'd on several times when trying to land with a present to the
Govenour of Angre de Reys; but on finding them to be English the fryars
begged pardon and invited them to their Convent." Besides wooding,
watering, and careening his frigates, while at the Isle of Grande,
Rogers appears to have unrigged the "Duke's" main and fore masts, for
he speaks of "seeking for wood to repair our main and fore trustle
trees" (supports of the round tops) "which were broke," and that while
so engaged "they found abundance of Frenchmen's graves, which the
Portuguese told them were those of near half the crews of two great
French ships that water'd in this place nine months before. But," adds
Rogers, "God be thank'd ours are very healthy."
[Illustration: _Captain Rogers gives the "Duke" a great list._]
[Sidenote: _A monstrous animal eaten here by the inhabitants._]
The weather is now described "as violent hot," spite of which Rogers
speaks of "cleaning one side of the 'Dutchess,' on the afternoon of
the 24th, and the other side the next morning; giving the ships great
lists; and that having men enough, he let the pinnace, with Captain
Dover, Mr. Vanbrugh, and others, go whilst the 'Duke' was cleaning, to
take their pleasure, but to return by twelve o'clock, when we should
want our boat. And when they did so, they brought with 'em a monstrous
creature, which they had kill'd, having prickles like a hedgehog, with
fur between them, and a head and tail like a monkey's. It stunk," says
Rogers, "intolerably, which the Portuguese told us was only the
skin, that the meat of it is very delicious and that they often kill'd
them for the table. But our men, being not yet at very short allowance,
none of 'em had stomach good enough to try the experiment, so that we
were forc'd to throw it overboard to make a sweet ship." That some of
those forming the crews of the "Duke" and "Dutchess," should not enjoy
their cruising voyage as well as Rogers and his officers did, is not
surprising, and this was evidently the case with "Michael Jones and
another, two Irish land-men who," says Rogers, "while we lay at the
Isle of Grande run into the woods thinking to get away;" in spite of
the experiences "of two such sparks that run away the day before from
the 'Dutchess,' and in the night were so frighted with tygers as they
thought, but really by monkeys and baboons, that they ran into the
water hollowing to the ship till they were fetch'd aboard again."
[Sidenote: _A Portuguese canoe attack'd by mistake, and one of their
men kill'd._]
Captain Rogers evidently regarded desertion from his ship as an act
of foolish ingratitude, and that men incapable of appreciating the
advantages of prosecuting to the bitter end a voyage with him to
the South Seas, deserved the severest form of punishment; for upon
recovering these two ungrateful "Irish land-men," a few days later,
they were at once "order'd to be severely whip'd and put in irons."
It was while engaged in intercepting a canoe, suspected of helping
these men to escape, that the "Duke's" agent, Mr. Vanbrugh, again got
into trouble, through unluckily shooting an "indian, the property of a
certain fryar who own'd and steer'd that canoe." While, as the friar
alleged that "in the confusion," he not only "lost his slave, but
gold amounting to £200, and threatened to seek justice in Portugal or
England," Rogers was not able, "though he made the 'fryar' as welcome
as he could, to reconcile him." A committee of inquiry was therefore
wisely called upon Mr. Vanbrugh's conduct in firing, without orders,
upon the canoe.
[Sidenote: _Mr. Vanbrugh remov'd from on board the "Duke."_]
The result of which inquiry was, that after first entering a protest
in the ship's books against Mr. Vanbrugh, he was shifted into the
"Dutchess," her agent, Mr. Bathe, taking his place on board the "Duke."
[Sidenote: _A Procession at Angre de Reys: our comical assistance at it
and entertainment._]
[Sidenote: _The Govenour and fathers entertain'd on board._]
Having completed their refit in rather less than a week, which as it
included the lifting of the rigging of the "Duke's" main and fore
mast, besides the wooding, watering, and careening of both frigates
under a tropical sun, was not bad work; they wound up their stay at the
Isle de Grande, by "assisting with both ship's musick," at an important
religious function, or as Rogers calls it, "entertainment," at Angre
de Reys; "where," he says, "we waited on the Govenour, Signior Raphael
de Silva Lagos, in a body, being ten of us, with two trumpets and a
hautboy, which he desir'd might play us to church, where our musick
did the office of an organ, but separate from the singing, which was
by the fathers well perform'd. Our musick played 'Hey boys up go we!'
and all manner of noisy paltry tunes. And after service, our musicians,
who were by that time more than half drunk, march'd at the head of
the company; next to them an old father and two fryars carrying lamps
of incense, then an image dressed with flowers and wax candles, then
about forty priests, fryars, &c., followed by the Govenour of the town,
myself, and Capt. Courtney, with each of us a long wax candle lighted.
The ceremony held about two hours; after which we were splendidly
entertained by the fathers of the Convent, and then by the Govenour.
They unanimously told us they expected nothing from us but our
Company, and they had no more but our musick." The day after, however,
before sailing, Rogers in return, entertained the Governor and fathers
on board the "Duke," "When," he says, "they were very merry, and in
their cups propos'd the Pope's health to us. But we were quits with 'em
by toasting the Archbishop of Canterbury; and to keep up the humour, we
also proposed William Pen's health, and they liked the liquor so well,
that they refused neither;" while as "in the evening it came on blowing
with thick showers," the Governor, the fathers and friars, made a night
of it on board the frigates, not being landed till next morning, "when
we saluted 'em with a huzza from each ship, because," as Rogers says,
"we were not overstock'd with powder, and made them a handsome present
of butter and cheese from both ships in consideration of the small
presents and yesterday's favours from 'em, and as a farther obligation
on 'em to be careful of our letters which we took this opportunity to
deliver into their own hands."
[Illustration: _The Bird "Alcatros."_]
FOOTNOTES:
[6] J. Seller's "Practical Navigation," 1694.
[7] Bilboes, long bars of iron with shackles sliding on them, and a
lock at the end, used to confine the feet of prisoners as the hands are
by handcuffs.
[8] Main-geers; an assemblage of tackles coming down to the deck at the
main mast, by which the mainyard was hoisted or lowered in ships of
that time.
[Illustration]