FROM MADEIRA TO ST. CATHERINE'S--UNHEALTHINESS OF THE SQUADRON.
On the 3rd of November we weighed from Madeira.
On the 20th the captains of the squadron represented to the Commodore
that their ships' companies were very sickly, and that it was their own
opinion as well as their surgeons' that it would tend to the preservation
of the men to let in more air between decks; but that their ships were so
deep they could not possibly open their lower ports. On this
representation the Commodore ordered six air-scuttles to be cut in each
ship, in such places where they would least weaken it.
We crossed the Equinoctial, with a fine fresh gale at south-east on
Friday, the 28th of November, at four in the morning, being then in the
longitude of 27 degrees 59 minutes west from London.
On the 12th of December we spoke with a Portuguese brigantine from Rio de
Janeiro, who informed us that we were sixty-four leagues from Cape St.
Thomas, and forty leagues from Cape Frio.
DISEASE.
We now began to grow impatient for a sight of land, both for the recovery
of our sick and for the refreshment and security of those who as yet
continued healthier. When we departed from St. Helens, we were in so good
a condition that we lost but two men on board the Centurion in our long
passage to Madeira. But in this present run between Madeira and St.
Catherine's we had been very sickly, so that many died, and great numbers
were confined to their hammocks, both in our own ship and in the rest of
the squadron; and several of these past all hopes of recovery. By our
continuance at sea all our complaints were every day increasing, so that
it was with great joy that we discovered the coast of Brazil on the 18th
of December, at seven in the morning.
We moored at the island of St. Catherine's on Sunday, the 21st of
December, the whole squadron being sickly and in great want of
refreshments: both which inconveniences we hoped to have soon removed at
this settlement, celebrated by former navigators for its healthiness and
its provisions, and for the freedom, indulgence, and friendly assistance
there given to the ships of all European nations in amity with the Crown
of Portugal.
Our first care, after having moored our ships, was to send our sick men
on shore. We sent about eighty sick from the Centurion, and the other
ships I believe, sent nearly as many in proportion to the number of their
hands. As soon as we had performed this necessary duty, we scraped our
decks, and gave our ship a thorough cleansing; then smoked it between
decks, and after all washed every part well with vinegar. Our next
employment was wooding and watering our squadron, caulking our ships'
sides and decks, overhauling our rigging, and securing our masts against
the tempestuous weather we were, in all probability, to meet with in our
passage round Cape Horn in so advanced and inconvenient a season.
In order to render the ships stiffer, and to enable them to carry more
sail abroad, and to prevent their labouring in hard gales of wind, each
captain had orders given him to strike down some of their great guns into
the hold. These precautions being complied with, and each ship having
taken in as much wood and water as there was room for, the whole squadron
was ready for the sea; on which the tents on shore were struck, and all
the sick were received on board. And here we had a melancholy proof how
much the healthiness of this place had been overrated by former writers,
for we found that though the Centurion alone had buried no less than
twenty-eight men since our arrival, yet the number of our sick was in the
same interval increased from eighty to ninety-six.
And now our crews being embarked, and everything prepared for our
departure, the Commodore made a signal for all captains, and delivered
them their orders, containing the successive places of rendezvous from
hence to the coast of China. And then on the next day, being the 18th of
January, 1741, the signal was made for weighing, and the squadron put to
sea.