THE LOSSES FROM SCURVY--STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE SQUADRON.
EXTRAORDINARY MORTALITY.
Our people by the beginning of September were so far recovered of the
scurvy that there was little danger of burying any more at present; and
therefore I shall now sum up the total of our loss since our departure
from England, the better to convey some idea of our past sufferings and
of our present strength. We had buried on board the Centurion since our
leaving St. Helens 292, and had now remaining on board 214. This will
doubtless appear a most extraordinary mortality; but yet on board the
Gloucester it had been much greater, for out of a much smaller crew than
ours they had buried the same number, and had only eighty-two remaining
alive. It might be expected that on board the Trial the slaughter would
have been the most terrible, as her decks were almost constantly
knee-deep in water; but it happened otherwise, for she escaped more
favourably than the rest, since she only buried forty-two, and had now
thirty-nine remaining alive. The havoc of this disease had fallen still
severer on the invalids and marines than on the sailors; for on board the
Centurion, out of fifty invalids and seventy-nine marines there remained
only four invalids, including officers, and eleven marines; and on board
the Gloucester every invalid perished, and out of forty-eight marines
only two escaped. From this account it appears that the three ships
together departed from England with 961 men on board, of whom 626 were
dead before this time; so that the whole of our remaining crews, which
were now to be distributed among three ships, amounted to no more than
335 men and boys, a number greatly insufficient for manning the Centurion
alone, and barely capable of navigating all the three with the utmost
exertion of their strength and vigour. This prodigious reduction of our
men was still the more terrifying as we were hitherto uncertain of the
fate of Pizarro's squadron, and had reason to suppose that some part of
it at least had got round into these seas. Indeed we were satisfied from
our own experience that they must have suffered greatly in their passage;
but then every port in the South Seas was open to them, and the whole
power of Chile and Peru would doubtless be united in refreshing and
refitting them, and recruiting the numbers they had lost. Besides, we had
some obscure knowledge of a force to be fitted out at Callao; and,
however contemptible the ships and sailors of this part of the world may
have been generally esteemed, it was scarcely possible for anything
bearing the name of a ship of force to be feebler or less considerable
than ourselves. And had there been nothing to be apprehended from the
naval power of the Spaniards in this part of the world, yet our enfeebled
condition would nevertheless give us the greatest uneasiness, as we were
incapable of attempting any of their considerable places; for the risking
of twenty men, weak as we then were, was risking the safety of the whole.
So that we conceived we should be necessitated to content ourselves with
what few prizes we could pick up at sea before we were discovered, after
which we should in all probability be obliged to depart with
precipitation, and esteem ourselves fortunate to regain our native
country, leaving our enemies to triumph on the inconsiderable mischief
they had received from a squadron whose equipment had filled them with
such dreadful apprehensions. It is true the final event proved more
honourable than we had foreboded; but the intermediate calamities did
likewise greatly surpass our most gloomy apprehensions, and could they
have been predicted to us at this island of Juan Fernandez, they would
doubtless have appeared insurmountable.