REAPPEARANCE OF THE GLOUCESTER--DISTRESS ON BOARD--HER EFFORTS TO
ENTER THE BAY.
The arrival of the Trial sloop at this island so soon after we came there
ourselves gave us great hopes of being speedily joined by the rest of the
squadron; and we were for some days continually looking out in
expectation of their coming in sight. But near a fortnight being elapsed
without any of them having appeared, we began to despair of ever meeting
them again.
RETURN OF THE GLOUCESTER.
But on the 21st of June some of our people, from an eminence on shore,
discerned a ship to leeward, with her courses even with the horizon.
However, after viewing her for a short time, the weather grew thick and
hazy, and they lost sight of her. On the 26th, towards noon, we discerned
a sail in the north-east quarter, which we conceived to be the very same
ship that had been seen before, and our conjectures proved true; and
about one o'clock she approached so near that we could distinguish her to
be the Gloucester. As we had no doubt of her being in great distress, the
Commodore immediately ordered his boat to her assistance, laden with
fresh water, fish, and vegetables, which was a very seasonable relief to
them; for perhaps there never was a crew in a more distressed situation.
They had already thrown overboard two-thirds of their complement, and of
those that remained alive scarcely any were capable of doing duty except
the officers and their servants. They had been a considerable time at the
small allowance of a pint of fresh water to each man for twenty-four
hours, and yet they had so little left that, had it not been for the
supply we sent them, they must soon have died of thirst.
The ship plied in within three miles of the bay, but, the winds and
currents being contrary, she could not reach the road. However she
continued in the offing the next day, but had no chance of coming to an
anchor unless the wind and current shifted; and therefore the Commodore
repeated his assistance, sending to her the Trial's boat manned with the
Centurion's people, and a further supply of water and other refreshments.
Captain Mitchel, the captain of the Gloucester, was under a necessity of
detaining both this boat and that sent the preceding day; for without the
help of their crews he had no longer strength enough to navigate the
ship. In this tantalising situation the Gloucester continued for near a
fortnight, without being able to fetch the road, though frequently
attempting it, and at some times bidding very fair for it. On the 9th of
July we observed her stretching away to the eastward at a considerable
distance, which we supposed was with a design to get to the southward of
the island; but as we soon lost sight of her and she did not appear for
near a week, we were prodigiously concerned, knowing that she must be
again in extreme distress for want of water. After great impatience about
her, we discovered her again on the 16th, endeavouring to come round the
eastern point of the island; but the wind, still blowing directly from
the bay, prevented her getting nearer than within four leagues of the
land. On this captain Mitchel made signals of distress, and our long-boat
was sent to him with a store of water and plenty of fish and other
refreshments; and the long-boat being not to be spared, the coxswain had
positive orders from the Commodore to return again immediately; but the
weather proving stormy the next day, and the boat not appearing, we much
feared she was lost, which would have proved an irretrievable misfortune
to us all. But the third day after we were relieved from this anxiety by
the joyful sight of the long-boat's sails upon the water, and we sent the
cutter immediately to her assistance, which towed her alongside in a few
hours. The crew of our long-boat had taken in six of the Gloucester's
sick men to bring them on shore, two of whom had died in the boat. And
now we learned that the Gloucester was in a most dreadful condition,
having scarcely a man in health on board, except those they received from
us; and numbers of their sick dying daily, we found that, had it not been
for the last supply sent by our long-boat, both the healthy and diseased
must have all perished together for want of water. And these calamities
were the more terrifying, as they appeared to be without remedy, for the
Gloucester had already spent a month in her endeavours to fetch the bay,
and she was now no farther advanced than at the first moment she made the
island; on the contrary, the people on board her had worn out all their
hopes of ever succeeding in it by the many experiments they had made of
its difficulty. Indeed, the same day her situation grew more desperate
than ever, for after she had received our last supply of refreshments, we
again lost sight of her, so that we in general despaired of her ever
coming to an anchor.
Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about within a few leagues of her
intended harbour, whilst the neighbourhood of that place, and of those
circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamities they
laboured under, served only to aggravate their distress by torturing them
with a view of the relief it was not in their power to reach.
THE GLOUCESTER COMES TO ANCHOR.
But she was at last delivered from this dreadful situation, at a time
when we least expected it, for, after having lost sight of her for
several days, we were pleasingly surprised, on the morning of the 23rd of
July, to see her open the north-west point of the bay with a flowing
sail; when we immediately despatched what boats we had to her assistance,
and in an hour's time from our first perceiving her she anchored safe
within us in the bay.