_Account of the Proceedings on board the Centurion when driven out to
Sea._
The Centurion being now once more safely arrived at Tinian, to the
mutual respite of the labours of our divided crew, it is high time
that the reader, after the relation already given of the projects and
employment of those left on shore, should be apprised of the fatigues
and distresses to which we, who were driven off to sea, were exposed
during the long interval of nineteen, days that we were absent from
the island.
It has been already mentioned, that it was the 22d of September, about
one o'clock, in an extreme dark night, when, by the united violence of
a prodigious storm, and an exceeding rapid tide, we were driven from
our anchors and forced to sea. Our condition was truly deplorable; we
were in a leaky ship, with three cables in our hawses, to one of which
hung our only remaining anchor; we had not a gun on board lashed, nor
a port barred in; our shrowds were loose, and our top-masts unrigged,
and we had struck our fore and main-yards close down, before the storm
came on, so that there were no sails we could set, except our mizen.
In this dreadful extremity we could muster no more strength on board
to navigate the ship, than an hundred and eight hands, several
negroes and Indians included: This was scarcely the fourth part of our
complement, and of these the greater number were either boys, or such
as, being lately recovered from the scurvy, had not yet arrived at
half their vigour. No sooner were we at sea, but by the violence of
the storm, and the working of the ship, we made a great quantity of
water through our hawse-holes, ports, and scuppers, which, added to
the constant effect of our leak, rendered our pumps alone a sufficient
employment for us all: But though this leakage, by being a short time
neglected, would inevitably end in our destruction, yet we had other
dangers then impending, which occasioned this to be regarded as a
secondary consideration only. For we all imagined that we were driving
directly on the neighbouring island of Aguiguan, which was about two
leagues distant; and as we had lowered our main and fore-yards close
down, we had no sails we could set but the mizen, which was altogether
insufficient to carry us clear of this instant peril; we therefore
immediately applied ourselves to work, endeavouring, by the utmost of
our efforts, to heave up the main and fore-yards, in hopes that, if
we could but be enabled to make use of our lower canvass, we might
possibly weather the island, and thereby save ourselves from this
impending shipwreck. But after full three hours ineffectual labour,
the jeers broke, and the men being quite jaded, we were obliged, by
mere debility, to desist, and quietly to expect our fate, which we
then conceived to be unavoidable: For we imagined ourselves by this
time to be driven just upon the shore, and the night was so extremely
dark, that we expected to discover the island no otherwise than by
striking upon it; so that the belief of our destruction, and the
uncertainly of the point of time when it would take place, occasioned
us to pass several hours under the most serious apprehensions, that
each succeeding moment would send us to the bottom. Nor did these
continued terrors of instantly striking and sinking end but with the
day-break, when we, with great transport, perceived that the island
we had thus dreaded was at a considerable distance, and that a strong
northern current had been the cause of our preservation.
The turbulent weather which forced us from Tinian, did not begin to
abate till three days after; and then we swayed up the fore-yard, and
began to heave up the main-yard, but the jeers broke and killed one of
our men, and prevented us at that time from proceeding. The next day,
being the 26th of September, was a day of most severe fatigue to us
all; for it must be remembered, that in these exigences no rank or
office exempted any person from the manual application and bodily
labour of a common sailor. The business of this day was no less than
an attempt to heave up the sheet-anchor, which we had hitherto
dragged at our bows with two cables an end. This was a work of
great importance to our future preservation: For, not to mention the
impediment to our navigation, and the hazard it would be to our ship,
if we attempted to make sail with the anchor in its present situation,
we had this most interesting consideration to animate us, that it was
the only anchor we had left; and, without securing it, we should be
under the utmost difficulties and hazards, whenever we made the
land again; and therefore, being all of us fully apprized of the
consequence of this enterprize, we laboured at it with the severest
application for full twelve hours, when we had indeed made a
considerable progress, having brought the anchor in sight; but, it
then growing dark, and we being excessively fatigued, we were obliged
to desist, and to leave our work unfinished till the next morning,
when, by the benefit of a night's rest, we completed it, and hung the
anchor at our bow.
It was the 27th of September in the morning, that is, five days after
our departure, when we thus secured our anchor; And the same day we
got up our main-yard: And having now conquered in some degree the
distress and disorder which we were necessarily involved in at
our first driving out to sea, and being enabled to make use of our
canvass, we set our courses, and for the first time stood to the
eastward, in hopes of regaining the island of Tinian, and joining
our commodore in a few days: For we were then, by our accounts, only
forty-seven leagues to the south-west of Tinian; so that on the first
day of October, having then run the distance necessary for making
the island according to our reckoning, we were in full expectation
of seeing it; but we were unhappily disappointed, and were thereby
convinced that a current had driven us to the westward. And as
we could not judge how much we might hereby have deviated, and
consequently how long we might still expect to be at sea, we had great
apprehensions that our stock of water might prove deficient; for we
were doubtful about the quantity we had on board, and found many
of our casks so decayed, as to be half leaked out. However, we were
delivered from our uncertainty the next day by having a sight of the
island of Guam, by which we discovered that the currents had driven us
forty-four leagues to the westward of our accounts. This sight of land
having satisfied us of our situation, we kept plying to the eastward,
though with excessive labour, for the wind continuing fixed in the
eastern board, we were obliged to tack often, and our crew were so
weak, that, without the assistance of every man on board, it was not
in our power to put the ship about: This severe employment lasted
till the 11th of October, being the nineteenth day from our departure;
when, arriving in the offing of Tinian, we were reinforced from the
shore, as hath been already mentioned; and on the evening of the same
day, to our inexpressible joy, came to an anchor in the road, thereby
procuring to our shipmates on shore, as well as to ourselves, a
cessation from the fatigues and apprehensions which this disastrous
incident had given rise to.