Departure from New York.--Reflections of the Author.--Navigation,
falling in with other Ships, and various Incidents, till the Vessel
comes in Sight of the Falkland Isles.
All being ready for our departure, we went on board ship, and weighed
anchor on the 6th of September, in the morning. The wind soon fell off,
and the first day was spent in drifting down to Staten island, where we
came to anchor for the night. The next day we weighed anchor again; but
there came on another dead calm, and we were forced to cast anchor near
the lighthouse at Sandy Hook. On the 8th we weighed anchor for the third
time, and by the help of a fresh breeze from the southwest, we succeeded
in passing the bar; the pilot quitted us at about eleven o'clock, and
soon after we lost sight of the coast.
One must have experienced it one's self, to be able to conceive the
melancholy which takes possession of the soul of a man of sensibility,
at the instant that he leaves his country and the civilized world, to go
to inhabit with strangers in wild and unknown lands. I should in vain
endeavor to give my readers an idea, even faintly correct, of the
painful sinking of heart that I suddenly felt, and of the sad glance
which I involuntarily cast toward a future so much the more frightful to
me, as it offered nothing but what was perfectly confused and uncertain.
A new scene of life was unfolded before me, but how monotonous, and ill
suited to diminish the dejection with which my mind was overwhelmed! For
the first time in my life, I found myself under way upon the main sea,
with nothing to fix my regards and arrest my attention but the frail
machine which bore me between the abyss of waters and the immensity of
the skies. I remained for a long time with my eyes fixed in the
direction of that land which I no longer saw, and almost despaired of
ever seeing again; I made serious reflections on the nature and
consequences of the enterprise in which I had so rashly embarked; and I
confess that if at that moment the offer had been made to release me
from my engagement, I should have accepted the proposal with all my
heart. It is true that the hopeless confusion and incumberment of the
vessel's deck, the great number of strangers among whom I found myself,
the brutal style which the captain and his subalterns used toward our
young Canadians; all, in a word, conspired to make me augur a vexatious
and disagreeable voyage. The sequel will show that I did not deceive
myself in that.
We perceived very soon in the S.W., which was our weather-side, a vessel
that bore directly toward us; she made a signal that was understood by
our captain; we hove to, and stood on her bow. It turned out to be the
American frigate _Constitution_. We sent our boat on board of her, and
sailed in company till toward five o'clock, when, our papers having been
sent back to us, we separated.
The wind having increased, the motion of the vessel made us sea-sick,
those of us, I mean, who were for the first time at sea. The weather was
fine, however; the vessel, which at first sailing was lumbered in such a
manner that we could hardly get in or out of our berths, and scarcely
work ship, by little and little got into order, so that we soon found
ourselves more at ease.
On the 14th we commenced to take flying fish. The 24th, we saw a great
quantity of dolphins. We prepared lines and took two of the latter,
which we cooked. The flesh of this fish appeared to me excellent.
After leaving New York, till the 4th of October, we headed southeast. On
that day we struck the trade winds, and bore S.S.E.; being, according to
our observations, in latitude 17° 43" and longitude 22° 39".
On the 5th, in the morning, we came in sight of the Cape-Verd islands,
bearing W.N.W., and distant about eight or nine miles, having the coast
of Africa to the E.S.E. We should have been very glad to touch at these
islands to take in water; but as our vessel was an American bottom, and
had on board a number of British subjects, our captain did not think fit
to expose himself to meet the English ships-of-war cruising on these
coasts, who certainly would not have failed to make a strict search, and
to take from us the best part of our crew; which would infallibly have
proved disastrous to the object for which we had shipped them.
Speaking of water, I may mention that the rule was to serve it out in
rations of a quart a day; but that we were now reduced to a pint and a
half. For the rest, our fare consisted of fourteen ounces of hard bread,
a pound and a quarter of salt beef or one of pork, per day, and half a
pint of souchong tea, with sugar, per man. The pork and beef were served
alternately: rice and beans, each once a week; corn-meal pudding with
molasses, ditto; on Sundays the steerage passengers were allowed a
bottle of Teneriffe wine. All except the four partners, Mr. Lewis,
acting as captain's clerk, and Mr. T. M'Kay, were in the steerage; the
cabin containing but six berths, besides the captain's and first-mate's
state-rooms.
As long as we were near the coast of Africa, we had light and variable
winds, and extremely hot weather; on the 8th, we had a dead calm, and
saw several sharks round the vessel; we took one which we ate. I found
the taste to resemble sturgeon. We experienced on that day an excessive
heat, the mercury being at 94° of Fahrenheit. From the 8th to the 11th
we had on board a canary bird, which we treated with the greatest care
and kindness, but which nevertheless quitted us, probably for a certain
death.
The nearer we approached to the equator the more we perceived the heat
to increase: on the 16th, in latitude 6°, longitude 22° west from
Greenwich, the mercury stood at 108°. We discovered on that day a sail
bearing down upon us. The next morning she reappeared, and approached
within gun-shot. She was a large brig, carrying about twenty guns: we
sailed in company all day by a good breeze, all sail spread; but toward
evening she dropped astern and altered her course to the S.S.E.
On the 18th, at daybreak, the watch alarmed us by announcing that the
same brig which had followed us the day before, was under our lee, a
cable's length off, and seemed desirous of knowing who we were, without
showing her own colors. Our captain appeared to be in some alarm; and
admitting that she was a better sailer than we, he called all the
passengers and crew on deck, the drum beat to quarters, and we feigned
to make preparations for combat.
It is well to observe that our vessel mounted ten pieces of cannon, and
was pierced for twenty; the forward port-holes were adorned with sham
guns. Whether it was our formidable appearance or no, at about ten A.M.
the stranger again changed her course, and we soon lost sight of her
entirely.
Nothing further remarkable occurred to us till the 22d, when we passed
the line in longitude 25° 9". According to an ancient custom the crew
baptized those of their number who had never before crossed the
equator; it was a holyday for them on board. About two o'clock in the
afternoon we perceived a sail in the S.S.W. We were not a little
alarmed, believing that it was the same brig which we had seen some days
before; for it was lying to, as if awaiting our approach. We soon drew
near, and to our great joy discovered that she was a Portuguese; we
hailed her, and learned that she came from some part of South America,
and was bound to Pernambuco, on the coasts of Brazil. Very soon after we
began to see what navigators call the _Clouds of Magellan_: they are
three little white spots that one perceives in the sky almost as soon as
one passes the equator: they were situated in the S.S.W.
The 1st November, we began to see great numbers of aquatic birds. Toward
three o'clock P.M., we discovered a sail on our larboard, but did not
approach sufficiently near to speak her. The 3d, we saw two more sails,
making to the S.E. We passed the tropic of Capricorn on the 4th, with a
fine breeze, and in longitude 33° 27". We lost the trade-winds, and as
we advanced south the weather became cold and rainy. The 11th, we had a
calm, although the swell was heavy. We saw several turtles, and the
captain having sent out the small boat, we captured two of them. During
the night of the 11th and 12th, the wind changed to the N.E., and raised
a terrible tempest, in which the gale, the rain, the lightning, and
thunder, seemed to have sworn our destruction; the sea appeared all
a-fire, while our little vessel was the sport of winds and waves. We
kept the hatches closed, which did not prevent us from passing very
uncomfortable nights while the storm lasted; for the great heats that we
had experienced between the tropics, had so opened the seams of the deck
that every time the waves passed over, the water rushed down in
quantities upon our hammocks. The 14th, the wind shifted to the S.S.W.,
which compelled us to beat to windward. During the night we were struck
by a tremendous sea; the helm was seized beyond control, and the man at
the wheel was thrown from one side of the ship to the other, breaking
two of his ribs, which confined him to his berth for a week.
In latitude 35° 19", longitude 40°, the sea appeared to be covered with
marine plants, and the change that we observed in the color of the
water, as well as the immense number of gulls and other aquatic birds
that we saw, proved to us that we were not far from the mouth of the
_Rio de la Plata_. The wind continued to blow furiously till the 21st,
when it subsided a little, and the weather cleared up. On the 25th,
being in the 46th degree, and 30 minutes of latitude, we saw a penguin.
We began to feel sensibly the want of water: since passing the tropic of
Capricorn the daily allowance had been always diminishing, till we were
reduced to three gills a day, a slender modicum considering that we had
only salt provisions. We had indeed a still, which we used to render the
sea-water drinkable; but we distilled merely what sufficed for the daily
use of the kitchen, as to do more would have required a great quantity
of wood or coal. As we were not more than one hundred and fifty leagues
from the Falkland isles, we determined to put in there and endeavor to
replenish our casks, and the captain caused the anchors to be got ready.
We had contrary winds from the 27th of November to the 3d December. On
the evening of that day, we heard one of the officers, who was at the
mast head, cry "Land! Land!" Nevertheless, the night coming on, and the
barren rocks which we had before us being little elevated above the
ocean, we hove to.