_Short Account of what befell the Anna Pink before she rejoined;
with an Account of the Loss of the Wager, and the putting back of the
Severn and Pearl._
On the first recognition of the Anna pink, it seemed quite wonderful
to us how the crew of a vessel, which had thus come to the rendezvous
two months after us, should be capable of working their ship in
the manner they did, and with so little appearance of debility and
distress. This difficulty, however, was soon solved after she came
to anchor; for we then found that she had been in harbour since the
middle of May, near a month before our arrival at Juan Fernandez,
so that their sufferings, excepting the risk they had run of being
shipwrecked, were greatly short of what had been undergone by the rest
of the squadron.
They fell in with the land on the 16th of May, in lat. 45° 15' S.
being then about four leagues from shore. On the first sight of
it, they wore ship and stood to the southward; but their fore-sail
splitting, and the wind being strong at W.S.W. they drove towards the
shore. The captain, either unable to clear the land, or, as others
say, resolved to keep the sea no longer, steered now for the coast,
in order to look out for some shelter among the many islands which
appeared in sight, and had the good fortune to bring the ship to
anchor to the eastward of the island of _Inchin_[1]. But, as they did
not run sufficiently near the east shore of that island, and had not
hands enough to veer away the cable briskly, they were soon driven to
the eastwards, deepening their water from twenty-five to thirty-five
fathoms. Still continuing to drive, they next day, being the 17th May,
let go their sheet anchor, which brought them up for a short time: but
on the 18th they drove again, till they came into sixty-five fathoms;
and, being now within a mile of the land, they expected every moment
to be forced on shore in a place where the coast was so very high and
steep, that there was not the smallest prospect of saving the ship and
cargo. As their boats were very leaky, and there was no appearance of
a landing place, the whole crew, consisting of sixteen men and boys,
gave themselves up for lost, believing, if even any of them happened
to get on shore by some extraordinary chance, that they would be
almost certainly massacred by the savages; as these people, knowing
no other Europeans except Spaniards, might be expected to treat all
strangers with the same cruelty which they have so often, and so
signally, exercised against their Spanish neighbours.
[Footnote 1: The island of Inchin and the bay in which the Anna pink
took shelter is in lat. 46° 30' S. long. 74° 30' in what is called the
Peninsula de tres Montes, to the N. of the Golfo de Penas.--E.]
Under these terrifying circumstances, the Anna continued to drive
towards the rocks which formed the shore; and at last, when expecting
every instant to strike, they perceived a small opening in the land,
which raised their hopes of safety. Wherefore, immediately cutting
away their two anchors, they steered for this opening, which they
found to be a narrow opening between an island and the main, which led
them into a most excellent harbour; which, for its security against
all winds and swells, and the consequent smoothness of its water, may
perhaps vie with any in the known world: And this place being
scarcely two miles from the spot where they deemed their destruction
inevitable, the horrors of shipwreck and immediate death, with which
they had been so long and strongly possessed, vanished almost in
an instant, giving place to the most joyous ideas of security,
refreshment, and repose.
In this harbour, discovered almost by miracle, the Anna came to anchor
in twenty-five fathoms, with only a hawser and small anchor of about
three hundred weight. Here she continued for near two months, and her
people, who were many of them ill of the scurvy, were soon restored
to perfect health by the fresh provisions, which they procured in
abundance, and the excellent water which they found in plenty on the
adjacent shore. As this place may prove of the greatest importance to
future navigators forced upon this coast by the western winds, which
are almost perpetual in that part of the world, it may be proper to
give the best account that could be collected of this port, as to
its situation, conveniences, and productions, before continuing the
adventures of the Anna pink. To facilitate, also, the knowledge of
this place, to such as may be desirous hereafter of using it, there
is annexed a plan both of the harbour and the large bay before it,
through which the Anna drifted. This plan, perhaps, may not be in
all respects as accurate as could be wished, being composed from the
memorandums and rude sketches of the master and surgeon, who were not
the most able draughtsmen; but, as the principal parts were laid down
by their estimates of their distances from each other, in which kind
of computation seamen are commonly very dextrous, the errors are
probably not very considerable.
The latitude, which certainly is a very material point, was not very
accurately ascertained, as the Anna had no observation either on the
day she got there, or within a day of leaving the bay; but is supposed
to be not very distant from 45° 30' S.[2] But the large extent of
the bay, at the bottom of which the harbour is situated, renders this
uncertainty of the less importance. The island lying before this bay,
called _Inchin_ by the Indians, is supposed to be one of the islands
named _Chonos_ by the Spanish accounts, and said to spread along all
this coast,[3] being inhabited by a barbarous people, famous for their
hatred to the Spaniards, and their cruelty to such of that nation as
have fallen into their hands. It is even possible that the land in
which this harbour is situated may be one of these islands, while the
continent may be considerably to the eastward. This harbour, besides
its depth of water and complete shelter, has two coves, where ships
may very conveniently be hove down, as the water is constantly smooth.
There are also several fine runs of excellent fresh water, which fall
into the harbour, some so conveniently situated that the casks may
be filled in the long-boat by means of a hose. The most remarkable of
these is a stream in the N.E. part of the harbour, being a fresh-water
river, where the crew of the Anna caught a few mullets of excellent
flavour, and they were persuaded that it would be found to have plenty
of fish in the proper season, it being winter when they were there.
[Footnote 2: This has already, on the authority of Arrowsmith, been
stated at 46° 30' S.]
[Footnote 3: The gulf and archipelago of Chonos, or Guaytecas, one of
the islands of which is Socora, or Guayteca, is considerably to the
N. of Inchin, between the peninsula de tres Montes and the island of
Chiloe, the centre of that archipelago being in lat. 45° S.--E.]
The principal refreshments of green vegetables met with at this port
were wild cellery, nettle-tops, and the like, which, after so long
a continuance at sea, were highly acceptable. We got abundance
of shell-fish, as cockles and muscles of great size and delicious
flavour, with plenty of geese, shags, and penguins. Though in the
depth of winter the climate was by no means extremely rigorous,
neither were the trees or the face of the country destitute of
verdure; whence it may be concluded, that many other kinds of fresh
provisions would doubtless be found there in summer. Notwithstanding
the relations of the Spaniards respecting the violence and barbarity
of the inhabitants, it does not appear that their numbers are
sufficient to excite any apprehensions in the crew of a ship of any
size, or that their dispositions are by any means so mischievous or
merciless as has been represented. With all these advantages, this
place is so far from the frontiers of the Spanish settlements, and
so little known to the Spaniards themselves, that, with proper
precautions, there is reason to believe a ship might remain here
a long time undiscovered. It is also capable of being made a very
defensible port; as, by possessing the island that closes tip the
port or inner harbour, which island is only accessible in a very few
places, a small force might easily secure this port against all the
force which the Spaniards could muster in that part of the world. For
this island is so steep towards the harbour, having six fathoms close
to the shore, that the Anna anchored within forty yards of its coast;
whence it is obvious how difficult it would prove, either to board
or cut out any vessel protected by a force posted on shore within
pistol-shot, and where those thus posted could not be themselves
attacked. All these circumstances seem to render this port worthy of
a more accurate examination; and it is to be hoped that this rude
attempt to suggest, may hereafter recommend it to the consideration
of the public, and the attention of those who are more immediately
entrusted with the conduct of our naval affairs.
After this account of the place where the Anna lay for two months, it
may be expected that I should relate the discoveries made by her crew
upon the adjacent coast, and the principal incidents that occurred
during their stay here. But, as they were only a few in number, they
durst not venture to detach any of their people on distant searches,
being under continual apprehensions of being attacked either by the
Spaniards or Indians, so that their excursions were generally confined
to the tract of land surrounding the port, where they were never out
of view of the ship: Even if they had known from the first how little
grounds there were for these fears, yet the neighbouring country
was so overgrown with wood, and so traversed by mountains, that
it appeared impracticable to penetrate to any distance, so that no
account of the interior could be expected. They were, however, in a
condition to disprove the relations given by Spanish writers, who have
represented this coast as inhabited by a fierce and powerful people,
as no such inhabitants were to be found, at least in the winter
season; for, during the whole time of their continuance here, they
never saw any more than one small Indian family, which came into the
harbour in a periagua, or canoe, about a month after the arrival of
the Anna, and consisted only of one Indian man, near forty years of
age, his wife, and two children, one about three years of age, and
the other still on the breast. They seemed to have with them all their
property, consisting of a dog and cat, a fishing net, a hatchet, a
knife, a cradle, some bark of trees, intended for covering a hut, a
reel with some worsted, a flint and steel, and a few roots of a yellow
hue, and very disagreeable taste, which served them for bread.
As soon as these were perceived, the master of the Anna sent his yawl
and brought them on board; and, lest they might discover him to the
Spaniards if permitted to go away, he took proper precautions, as he
conceived, for securing them, but without violence or ill usage, as
they were permitted to go about the ship where they pleased in the day
time, but were locked up in the forecastle at night. As they were fed
in the same manner with the crew, and were often indulged with brandy,
which they seemed greatly to relish, it did not appear at first that
they were much dissatisfied with their situation. The master took
the Indian on shore when he went to shoot, and he seemed always much
delighted on seeing the game killed. The crew also treated them with
great humanity; but it was soon apparent, though the woman continued
easy and cheerful, that the man grew pensive and discontented at his
confinement. He seemed to have good natural parts, and though utterly
unable to converse with our people otherwise than by signs, was yet
very curious and inquisitive, and showed great dexterity in his manner
of making himself understood. Seeing so few people on board so large
a ship, he seemed to express his opinion that they had once been more
numerous, and, by way of representing what he imagined had become of
their companions, he laid himself on the deck, closing his eyes, and
stretching himself out motionless, as if to imitate the appearance of
a dead body.
The strongest proof of his sagacity was the manner of his getting
away. After having been on board the Anna for eight days, the scuttle
of the forecastle, where he and his family were locked up every night,
happened to be left unnailed, and on the following night, which
was extremely dark and stormy, he contrived to convey his wife and
children through the scuttle, and then over the ship's side into the
yawl, and immediately rowed on shore, using the precaution to cut
away the long-boat and his own periagua, which were towing astern, to
prevent being pursued. He conducted all this with so much silence
and secrecy, that, though there was a watch on the quarter-deck with
loaded arms, he was not discovered by them till the noise of his oars
in the water gave notice of his escape, after he had put off from the
ship, when it was too late either to prevent or pursue him. Besides,
as their boats were all adrift, it was some time before they could
contrive the means of getting on shore to search for their boats. By
this effort, besides regaining his liberty, the Indian was in some
measure revenged on those who had confined him, both by the perplexity
they were in for the loss of their boats, and by the terror occasioned
by his departure; for, on the first alarm of the watch, who cried,
"The Indians," the whole crew were in the utmost confusion, believing
that the ship had been boarded by a whole fleet of armed canoes.
Had the resolution and sagacity with which this Indian behaved on
this occasion, been exerted on a more extensive object, it might have
immortalized the exploit, and given him a rank among the illustrious
names of antiquity. The people of the Anna, indeed, allowed that it
was a most gallant enterprise, and were grieved at having thus been
under the necessity, from attention to their own safety, to abridge
the liberty of one who had now given so distinguished a proof of
courage and prudence. As he was supposed still to continue in the
woods near the port, where he might suffer for want of provisions,
they easily prevailed on the master to leave a quantity of such food
as they thought would be most agreeable to him in a place where he
was likely to find it, and there was reason to believe this was not
altogether without its use, for, on visiting the place afterwards, the
provisions were gone, and in a manner that made them conclude they had
fallen into his hands.
Although many of the crew of the Anna believed that this Indian still
continued in the neighbourhood, there were some who strongly suspected
he might have gone off to the island of Chiloe, where they feared
he would alarm the Spaniards, and would soon return with a force
sufficient to surprise or overpower the Anna. The master was therefore
prevailed upon to discontinue firing the evening gun, and there is a
particular reason for attending to this circumstance, to be explained
hereafter; for he had hitherto, from an ostentatious imitation of
the men-of-war, fired a gun every evening at setting the night watch.
This, as he pretended, was to awe the enemy, if there were any within
hearing, and to convince them that his ship was always on her
guard. The crew being now well refreshed, and their wood and water
sufficiently replenished, he put to sea a few days after the escape
of the Indian, and had a fortunate passage to the rendezvous at
Juan Fernandez, where he arrived on the 16th of August, as already
mentioned.
The remaining ships of the squadron, none of which rejoined the
commodore, were the Severn, Pearl, and Wager, of the fate of which
it may be proper to make mention. The Severn and Pearl parted company
from the commodore off Cape Voir; and, as we afterwards learnt, put
back to Brazil. The Wager had on board a few field-pieces, and some
coehorn-mortars, mounted for land service, with several kinds of
artillery stores and pioneers tools, intended for operations on shore.
And, as an enterprise had been planned against Baldivia, for the first
operation of the squadron, Captain Cheap was extremely solicitous
that these articles might be forthcoming, and determined to use his
endeavours for that purpose, that no delay or disappointment might
be imputed to him, not knowing the state the squadron was reduced
to. While making the best of his way, with these views, to the first
appointed rendezvous, off Socoro, whence he proposed to proceed
for Baldivia, the Wager made the land on the 14th of May, about the
latitude of 47° S. and while Captain Cheap was exerting himself in
order to get clear of the land, he had the misfortune to fall down the
after-ladder, by which he dislocated his shoulder, and was rendered
incapable of acting. This accident, together with the crazy condition
of the ship, which was little better than a wreck, prevented her from
getting off to sea, and entangled her more and more with the land;
insomuch, that at day-break next morning, the 15th May, she struck on
a sunken rock, and soon afterwards bilged, and grounded between two
small islands, about musket-shot from the shore.
In this situation the ship continued entire a long time, so that all
the crew might have got safe on shore. But a general confusion ensued;
many of them, instead of consulting their safety, or reflecting
on their calamitous condition, fell to pillaging the ship, arming
themselves with the first weapons that came to hand, and threatening
to murder all who should oppose their proceedings. This frenzy was
greatly heightened by the liquors they found on board, with which they
made themselves so excessively intoxicated, that some fell down into
the hold, where they were drowned, as the water flowed into the wreck.
Having done his utmost, ineffectually, to get the whole crew on shore,
the captain was at last obliged to leave the mutineers behind, and to
follow his officers on shore, with such few men as he could prevail
upon to accompany him; but did not fail to send back the boats, with a
message to those who remained, entreating them to have some regard to
their own preservation. All his efforts, however, were for some time
in vain; but next day, the weather proving stormy, and there being
great danger of the ship going to pieces, the refractory part of the
crew began to be afraid of perishing, and were desirous of getting to
land; and, in their madness, as the boat did not come to fetch them
off so soon as they wished, they pointed a four-pounder from the
quarter-deck, against the hut in which the captain resided on shore,
and fired two shots, which passed just over its roof.
From this specimen of the behaviour of part of the crew, some idea
may be formed of the disorder and anarchy which prevailed when they at
length got all on shore. For the men conceived that the authority of
their officers was at an end, in consequence of the loss of the ship;
and, as they were now upon an inhospitable coast, where scarcely any
other provisions could be got beyond what could be saved from the
wreck, this was another insurmountable source of discord: for the
working upon the wreck, and securing the provisions on shore, so that
they might be preserved as much as possible for future exigencies,
and that they might be sparingly and equally distributed for present
subsistence, were matters, however important, that could not be
brought about unless by means of discipline and subordination. At the
same time, the mutinous disposition of the people, stimulated by the
immediate impulses of hunger, rendered every regulation attempted for
these indispensable purposes, quite unavailing; so that there were
continual frauds, concealments, and thefts, which animated every one
against his neighbour, and produced infinite contentions and perpetual
quarrels. Hence a perverse and malevolent disposition was constantly
kept up among them, which rendered them utterly ungovernable.
Besides these heart-burnings, occasioned by petulance and hunger,
there was another important point which set the greatest part of the
people at variance with the captain. This was their difference in
opinion from him, on the measures proper to be pursued on the present
emergency; for the captain was determined, if possible, to fit out
the boats in the best manner he could, and to proceed with them to
the northward, as, having above two hundred men in health, and having
saved some fire-arms and ammunition from the wreck, he had no doubt
of being able to master any Spanish, vessel they might fall in with in
these seas, and he thought that he could not fail of meeting with one
in the neighbourhood of Chiloe or Baldivia, in which, when taken,
he proposed to proceed to the rendezvous at Juan Fernandez. He also
insisted, should they even meet with no prize by the way, that the
boats alone could easily carry them to Juan Fernandez. But this
scheme, however prudent and practicable, was by no means relished by
the generality of the people; for, quite jaded and disgusted with the
fatigues, dangers, and distresses they had already encountered, they
could not be persuaded to prosecute an enterprize which had hitherto
proved so disastrous. The common resolution, therefore, was to
lengthen the long-boat, and, with her and the other boats, to steer to
the southwards, to pass through the Straits of Magellan, and to range
along the eastern coast of South America, till they came to Brazil,
where they had no doubt of being well received, and procuring a
passage to Britain.
This project was evidently a vast deal more tedious, and infinitely
more hazardous, than that proposed by the captain; but, as it had the
air of returning home, and flattered them with the hope of getting
once more to their native country, that circumstance rendered them
blind to all its inconveniences, and made them adhere to it with
insurmountable obstinacy. The captain was therefore obliged to give
way to the torrent, though he never changed his opinion, and had, in
appearance, to acquiesce in this resolution, though he gave it all
the obstruction he could, particularly in regard to lengthening the
long-boat, which he contrived should be of such a size, as, though
it might carry them to Juan Fernandez, he yet hoped might appear
incapable of so long a navigation as that to the coast of Brazil.
But the captain, by his steady opposition at first to this favourite
project, had much embittered the people against him, to which, also,
the following unhappy accident greatly contributed.
A midshipman, named Cozens, had appeared the foremost in all the
refractory proceedings of the crew, had involved himself in brawls
with most of the officers who had adhered to the authority of the
captain, and had even treated the captain himself with much insolence
and abuse. As his turbulence and brutality grew every day more and
more intolerable, it was not in the least doubted that some violent
measures were in agitation, in which Cozens was engaged as the
ringleader; for which reason the captain, and those about him,
constantly kept themselves on their guard. One day the purser having
stopped, by order of the captain, the allowance of a fellow who
would not work, Cozens, though the man had not complained to him,
intermeddled in the affair with great bitterness, and grossly insulted
the purser, who was then delivering out the provisions close by the
captain's tent, and was himself sufficiently violent. Enraged by his
scurrility, and perhaps piqued by former quarrels, the purser cried
out, _A mutiny_; adding, _the dog has pistols_, and then immediately
fired himself a pistol at Cozens, but missed him. On hearing this
outcry, and the report of the pistol, the captain rushed out from
his tent, and not doubting that it had been fired by Cozens as the
commencement of a mutiny, immediately shot him in the head without
farther enquiry. Though he did not die on the spot, the wound proved
mortal in about a fortnight.
Though this accident was sufficiently displeasing to the people, it
yet awed them for a considerable time to their duty, and rendered them
more submissive to the authority of the captain. But at last, towards
the middle of October, when, the long-boat was finished, and they were
preparing to put to sea, the additional provocation given them, by
covertly traversing their project of proceeding through the Straits of
Magellan, and their fears that he might at length engage a sufficient
party to overturn this favourite measure, made them resolve to take
advantage of the death of Cozens as a reason for depriving him of his
command, under pretence of carrying him a prisoner to England to be
tried for murder, and he was accordingly confined under a guard. Yet
they never meant to carry him with them, as they too well knew what
they might expect on their return to England, if their commander
should be present to confront them; and therefore, when just ready to
depart, they set him at liberty, leaving him, and the few who chose to
take their fortunes along with him, no other embarkation but the yawl,
to which the barge was afterwards added, by the people on board her
being prevailed upon to turn back.
When the ship was wrecked, there were about one hundred and thirty
persons alive on board; above thirty of whom died on the place where
they landed, and nearly eight went off in the long-boat and cutter
to the southward; after whose departure, there remained no more than
nineteen persons along with the captain, which were as many,
however, as the barge and yawl could well carry, these being the only
embarkations left them. It was on the 13th of October, five months
after the shipwreck, that the long-boat, converted into a schooner,
weighed and sailed to the southwards, giving three cheers at their
departure to the captain and Lieutenant Hamilton of the land-forces,
and the surgeon, who were then standing on the beach. On the 29th of
January, 1742, they arrived at Rio Grande, on the coast of Brazil;
but having, by various accidents, left about twenty of their people on
shore at the different places where they touched, and a still greater
number having perished of famine in the course of their navigation,
there were not more than thirty of them remaining, when they arrived
at that port. This undertaking was certainly most extraordinary in
itself; for, not to mention the great length of the voyage, the vessel
was scarcely able to contain the number that first put to sea in her;
and their stock of provisions, being only what they saved from the
ship, diminished by five months expenditure on shore, was extremely
slender. They had also this additional misfortune, that the cutter,
the only boat they had along with them, broke loose from their stern,
and was staved to pieces, so that, when their provisions and water
failed, they had frequently no means of getting on shore in search of
a supply.
The captain and those who remained with him, now proposed to proceed
to the northward in the barge and yawl; but the weather was so bad,
and the difficulty of subsisting so great, that it was two months
after the departure of the long boat, before they were able to put to
sea. It seems that the place where the Wager was lost, was not a
part of the continent, but an island at some distance from the main,
affording no other sort of provisions besides shell-fish, and a few
herbs; and, as the greatest part of what they had saved out of the
wreck had been carried off in the long-boat, the captain and his
people were often in extreme want of food, especially as they chose
to preserve what little remained to them of the ship's provisions, to
serve them as sea-store, when they should proceed to the northward.
During their residence at this place, which was called Wager Island
by the seamen, they were now and then visited by a straggling canoe or
two of Indians, who came and bartered their fish and other provisions
with our people. This was some little relief to their necessities,
and might perhaps have been greater at another season; for there were
several Indian huts on the shore, whence it was supposed that, in some
years, many of these savages might resort thither in the height of
summer, to catch fish. Indeed, from what has been related in the
account of the Anna pink, it would seem to be the general practice of
these Indians, to frequent this coast in the summer season, for the
purpose of fishing, and to retire more to the northwards in winter,
into a better climate.
It is worthy of remark, how much it is to be lamented that the people
of the Wager had no knowledge of the Anna pink being so near them on
the coast;[4] for, as she was not above thirty leagues from them at
the most, and came into that neighbourhood about the same time that
the Wager was lost, and was a fine roomy ship, she could easily have
taken them all on board, and have carried them to Juan Fernandez.
Indeed, I suspect that she was still nearer them than is here
estimated; for, at different times, several of the people belonging to
the Wager heard the report of a cannon, which could be no other
than the evening gun fired by the Anna, as formerly mentioned, more
especially as the gun heard at Wager Island was at that time of the
day.
[Footnote 4: Inchin island, where the Anna pink lay, has been formerly
stated to be in lat. 46° 30' S. the supposed latitude in which the
Wager was lost, stated in the text at 47° S. is only _ten_ marine
leagues to the southward, instead of _thirty_, and must therefore
have been on some one of the islands toward the southern coast of the
peninsula de Tres Montes, on the north of the Golfo de Penas.--E.]
Captain Cheap and his people embarked in the barge and yawl, on the
14th of December, in order to proceed to the northward, taking on
board along with them all the provisions they could gather from the
wreck of the ship; but they had scarcely been an hour at sea, when the
wind began to blow hard, and the sea to run so high, that they were
obliged to throw the greatest part of their provisions overboard, to
avoid immediate destruction. This was a terrible misfortune, in a part
of the world where food was so difficult to be got; yet they persisted
in their design, going on shore as often as they could, in search
of subsistence. About a fortnight after their departure from Wager
island, another dreadful accident befel them, as the yawl sunk at
an anchor, and one of her hands was drowned; and, as the barge was
incapable of carrying the whole company, they were reduced to the hard
necessity of leaving four marines behind them, on that desolate
coast. They still, however, kept their course to the northward; though
greatly delayed by cross winds, and by the frequent interruptions
occasioned by the necessity of searching for food on shore, and
constantly struggling with a series of the most sinister events. At
length, about the end of January, 1742, having made three unsuccessful
attempts to double a head-land, which they supposed to be that called
Cape _Tres Montes_ by the Spaniards, and finding the difficulty
insurmountable, they unanimously resolved to return to Wager Island,
which they effected about the middle of February, quite disheartened
and desponding, through their reiterated disappointments, and almost
perishing with hunger and fatigue.
On their return, they had the good fortune to fall in with several
pieces of beef, swimming in the sea, which had been washed out of
the wreck, which afforded them a most seasonable relief, after the
hardships they had endured. To complete their good fortune, there came
shortly afterwards to the place two canoes with Indians, among whom
there happened to be a native of Chiloe, who spoke a little Spanish.
The surgeon who accompanied Captain Cheap understood that language,
and made a bargain with the Chiloe Indian, that, if he would carry the
captain and his people in the barge to Chiloe, he should have her and
all her furniture for his reward. Accordingly, on the 6th of March,
the eleven persons, to which the company was now reduced, embarked
again in the barge on this new expedition. After having proceeded
a few days, the captain and four of his principal officers being on
shore, the six, who remained in the barge along with an Indian, shoved
her off and put to sea, and never returned again.
Captain Cheap, together with Mr Hamilton, lieutenant of marines, the
honourable Mr Byron and Mr Campbell, midshipmen, and Mr Elliot, the
surgeon, were thus left on shore in the most deplorable situation
imaginable. It might be thought that their distresses, long before
this time, were hardly capable of being increased: Yet they found
their present situation much more dismaying than any thing they had
hitherto experienced; being left on a desert coast, far from the
haunts of men, without provisions, or the means of procuring any, and
with no visible prospect of relief; for their arms and ammunition, and
every convenience that had hitherto remained to them, except the few
tattered garments they had on, were all carried away in the barge.
While revolving the various circumstances of this new and unlooked-for
calamity, and sadly persuaded that they had no possible relief to hope
for, they perceived a canoe at a distance, which proved to be that
belonging to the Indian of Chiloe, who had undertaken to convey them
to that island. He it seems had left Captain Cheap and his people,
only a little before, to go a fishing in his canoe, accompanied by his
family, leaving the barge in the mean time under the care of the other
Indian, whom the sailors had carried with them to sea. When he came
on shore, and found the barge and his companion gone, he was much
concerned, and was with difficulty persuaded that his companion had
not been murdered; yet, being at last satisfied with the account that
was given him by Mr Elliot, he still undertook to carry them to the
Spanish settlements, and, being well skilled in fishing and fowling,
he undertook also to provide them in provisions by the way.
About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and his four remaining
companions set out for Chiloe; their Indian conductor having provided
several canoes, and gathered many of his countrymen together for that
purpose. Mr Elliot, the surgeon, soon afterwards died, so that there
now only remained four of the whole company. At last, after a very
complicated passage, partly by sea and partly by land, Captain Cheap,
Mr Byron, and Mr Campbell, arrived at the island of Chiloe, where they
were received by the Spaniards with great humanity; but, on account of
some quarrel among the Indians, Mr Hamilton did not get there till two
months later. It was thus above a twelvemonth, from the loss of the
Wager, before this fatiguing peregrination terminated. The four who
now remained were brought so extremely low, by their fatigues and
privations, that in all probability none of them would have survived,
had their distresses continued only a few days longer. The captain was
with difficulty recovered; and the rest were so reduced by labour, the
severity of the weather, scantiness of food, and want of all kinds of
necessaries, that it was wonderful how they had supported themselves
so long.
After some stay at Chiloe, the captain and the other three who were
with him, were sent to Valparaiso, and thence to St Jago, the capital
of Chili, where they continued above a year, and where they were
joined by Mr Hamilton. News arriving that a cartel had been settled
between Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr Byron, and Mr
Hamilton, were permitted to return to Europe in a French ship. Mr
Campbell, the other midshipman, having changed his religion while at
St Jago, chose to go from thence to Buenos Ayres along with Pizarro
and his officers, overland, and went with them afterwards to Spain in
the Asia: But failing in his endeavours to procure a commission from
the court of Spain, he returned to England, and attempted in vain to
get reinstated in the British navy. He has since published a narration
of his adventures in which he complains of the injustice that has
been done him and strongly disavows having ever been in the Spanish
service: but, as the change of his religion and his offering himself
to the court of Spain, though he was not accepted, are matters which
he must be conscious can be incontestably proved, he has been entirely
silent on these two heads.[5]
[Footnote 5: The circumstances connected with the loss of the Wager,
and of the separation of the Severn and the Pearl, will be given more
at large, by way of supplement to the circumnavigation. The incidents
which occur to bold and unfortunate navigators are certainly curious
and interesting; but the author of Anson's Voyage seems to have
forgotten, that the circumstances respecting the countries they
visited, especially such of these which are so little known, are of
infinitely greater utility.--E.]