Anson George
A Voyage Round the World
CHAPTER IV
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 apprized of the fatigues and distresses to which we, whom the Centurion carried 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 then 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 shrouds were loose, and our top-masts unrigged, and we had struck our fore and main-yards close down before the hurricane 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 but lately recovered from the scurvy, had not yet arrived at half their former 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 we knew that this leakage, by being a short time neglected, would inevitably end in our destruction, yet we had other dangers then hanging over us 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 imminent peril. Urged therefore by this pressing emergency, we immediately applied ourselves to work, endeavouring with 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 soon esteemed ourselves 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 uncertainty of the point of time when it should 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 daybreak, 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 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 again and killed one of our people, 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 endeavour 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 it would be to our navigation, and hazard 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 fell in with 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 twelve hours, when we had indeed made a considerable progress, having brought the anchor in sight; but it growing dark, and we being excessively fatigued, we were obliged to desist, and to leave our work unfinished till the next morning, and then, refreshed by the benefit of a night's rest, we compleated it, and hung the anchor at our bow.
It was the 27th of September, that is, five days after our departure, before we had thus secured our anchor. However, we the same day got up our main-yard, so that 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, since, by our accounts, we were only forty-seven leagues distant to the south-west. Hence, 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 here we were unhappily disappointed, and were thereby convinced that a current had driven us considerably to the westward. This discovery threw us into a new perplexity; for 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 would prove deficient, since we were doubtful about the quantity we had on board, finding many of our casks so decayed as to be half leaked out. However, we were delivered from our uncertainty the next day, having then a sight of the island of Guam, and hence we computed that the currents had driven us forty-four leagues to the westward of our accounts. Being now satisfied of our situation by this sight of land, 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 was 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 related; and on the evening of the same day we, 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.
CHAPTER V
EMPLOYMENT AT TINIAN TILL THE FINAL DEPARTURE OF THE "CENTURION" FROM THENCE; WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE LADRONES
When the commodore came on board the Centurion after her return to Tinian, he resolved to stay no longer at the island than was absolutely necessary to compleat our stock of water, a work which we immediately set ourselves about. But the loss of our long-boat, which was staved against our poop before we were driven out to sea, put us to great inconveniences in getting our water on board, for we were obliged to raft off all our cask, and the tide ran so strong, that besides the frequent delays and difficulties it occasioned, we more than once lost the whole raft. Nor was this our only misfortune; for on the 14th of October, being but the third day after our arrival, a sudden gust of wind brought home our anchor, forced us off the bank, and drove the ship out to sea a second time. The commodore, it is true, and the principal officers were now on board; but we had near seventy men on shore, who had been employed in filling our water and procuring provisions. These had with them our two cutters: but as they were too many for the cutters to bring off at once, we sent the eighteen-oared barge to assist them, and at the same time made a signal for all that could to embark. The two cutters soon came off to us full of men; but forty of the company, who were busied in killing cattle in the woods, and in bringing them down to the landing-place, remained behind; and though the eighteen-oared barge was left for their conveyance, yet as the ship soon drove to a considerable distance, it was not in their power to join us. However, as the weather was favourable, and our crew was now stronger than when we were first driven out, we in about five days' time returned again to an anchor at Tinian, and relieved those we had left behind us from their second fears of being deserted by their ship.
On our arrival, we found that the Spanish bark, the old object of their hopes, had undergone a new metamorphosis: for those on shore despairing of our return, and conceiving that the lengthening the bark, as formerly proposed, was both a toilsome and unnecessary measure, considering the small number they consisted of, they had resolved to join her again and to restore her to her first state; and in this scheme they had made some progress, for they had brought the two parts together, and would have soon compleated her, had not our coming back put a period to their labours and disquietudes.
These people we had left behind informed us that just before we were seen in the offing two proas had stood in very near the shore, and had continued there for some time; but on the appearance of our ship they crowded away, and were presently out of sight. And on this occasion I must mention an incident, which though it happened during the first absence of the ship, was then omitted, to avoid interrupting the course of the narration.
It hath been already observed that a part of the detachment sent to this island under the command of the Spanish Serjeant lay concealed in the woods. Indeed we were the less solicitous to find them out, as our prisoners all assured us that it was impossible for them to get off, and consequently that it was impossible for them to send any intelligence about us to Guam. But when the Centurion drove out to sea and left the commodore on shore, he one day, attended by some of his officers, endeavoured to make the tour of the island. In this expedition, being on a rising ground, they observed in the valley beneath them the appearance of a small thicket, which by attending to more nicely they found had a progressive motion. This at first surprized them; but they soon perceived that it was no more than several large coco bushes, which were dragged along the ground by persons concealed beneath them. They immediately concluded that these were some of the Serjeant's party, which was indeed true; and therefore the commodore and his people made after them, in hopes of tracing out their retreat. The Indians, remarking that they were discovered, hurried away with precipitation; but Mr. Anson was so near them that he did not lose sight of them till they arrived at their cell, which he and his officers entering, found to be abandoned, there being a passage from it which had been contrived for the conveniency of flight, and which led down a precipice. They here met with an old firelock or two, but no other arms. However, there was a great quantity of provisions, particularly salted sparibs of pork, which were excellent; and from what our people saw, they concluded that the extraordinary appetite which they had acquired at this island was not confined to themselves alone; for it being about noon, the Indians laid out a very plentiful repast, considering their numbers, and had their bread-fruit and coconuts prepared ready for eating, in a manner too which plainly evinced that with them a good meal was neither an uncommon nor an unheeded article. The commodore having in vain searched after the path by which the Indians had escaped, he and his officers contented themselves with sitting down to the dinner which was thus luckily fitted to their present hunger; after which they returned back to their old habitation, displeased at missing the Indians, as they hoped to have engaged them in our service, if they could have had any conference with them. I must add, that notwithstanding what our prisoners had asserted, we were afterwards assured that these Indians were carried off to Guam long before we left the place. But to return to our history.
On our coming to an anchor again, after our second driving off to sea, we laboured indefatigably at getting in our water; and having, by the 20th of October, compleated it to fifty tun, which we supposed would be sufficient during our passage to Macao, we on the next day sent one of each mess on shore to gather as large a quantity of oranges, lemons, coconuts, and other fruits of the island as they possibly could, for the use of themselves and their messmates when at sea. And these purveyors returning on the evening of the same day, we then set fire to the bark and proa, hoisted in our boats and got under sail, steering away towards the south end of the island of Formosa, and taking our leaves, for the third and last time, of the island of Tinian: an island which, whether we consider the excellence of its productions, the beauty of its appearance, the elegance of its woods and lawns, the healthiness of its air, or the adventures it gave rise to, may in all these views be justly stiled romantic.
And now, postponing for a short time our run to Formosa, and thence to Canton, I shall interrupt the narration with a description of that range of islands usually called the Ladrones, or Marian Islands, of which this of Tinian is one.
These islands were discovered by Magellan in the year 1521; and from the account given of the two he first fell in with, it should seem that they were those of Saypan and Tinian, for they are described as very beautiful islands, and as lying between 15 and 16 degrees of north latitude. These characteristics are particularly applicable to the two above-mentioned places; for the pleasing appearance of Tinian hath occasioned the Spaniards to give it the additional name of Buenavista; and Saypan, which is in the latitude of 15° 22' north, affords no contemptible prospect when seen at sea, as is sufficiently evident from a view of its north-west side.
There are usually reckoned twelve of these islands; but it will appear that if the small islets and rocks are counted, that their whole number will amount to above twenty. They were formerly most of them well inhabited; and even not sixty years ago, the three principal islands, Guam, Rota, and Tinian together, are asserted to have contained above fifty thousand people: but since that time Tinian had been entirely depopulated; and no more than two or three hundred Indians have been left at Rota to cultivate rice for the island of Guam; so that now Guam alone can properly be said to be inhabited. This island of Guam is the only settlement of the Spaniards; here they keep a governor and garrison, and here the Manila ship generally touches for refreshment in her passage from Acapulco to the Philippines. It is esteemed to be about thirty leagues in circumference, and contains, by the Spanish accounts, near four thousand inhabitants, of which a thousand are supposed to live in the city of San Ignatio de Agana, where the governor generally resides, and where the houses are represented as considerable, being built with stone and timber, and covered with tiles, a very uncommon fabric for these warm climates and savage countries. Besides this city, there are upon the island thirteen or fourteen villages. As Guam is a post of some consequence, on account of the refreshment it yields to the Manila ship, there are two castles on the seashore; one is the castle of St. Angelo, which lies near the road where the Manila ship usually anchors, and is but an insignificant fortress, mounting only five guns, eight-pounders; the other is the castle of St. Lewis, which is N.E. from St. Angelo, and four leagues distant, and is intended to protect a road where a small vessel anchors which arrives here every other year from Manila. This fort mounts the same number of guns as the former: and besides these forts, there is a battery of five pieces of cannon on an eminence near the seashore. The Spanish troops employed at this island consist of three companies of foot, betwixt forty and fifty men each, and this is the principal strength the governor has to depend on; for he cannot rely on any assistance from the Indian inhabitants, being generally upon ill terms with them, and so apprehensive of them that he has debarred them the use both of firearms and lances.
The rest of these islands, though not inhabited, do yet abound with many kinds of refreshment and provision; but there is no good harbour or road amongst them all. Of that of Tinian we have treated largely already; nor is the road of Guam much better, since it is not uncommon for the Manila ship, though she proposes to stay there but twenty-four hours, to be forced to sea, and to leave her boat behind her. This is an inconvenience so sensibly felt by the commerce at Manila, that it is always recommended to the Governor of Guam to use his best endeavours for the discovery of some secure port in the neighbouring ocean. How industrious he may be to comply with his instructions I know not; but this is certain, that notwithstanding the many islands already found out between the coast of Mexico and the Philippines, there is not any one safe port to be met with in that whole track, though in other parts of the world it is not uncommon for very small islands to furnish most excellent harbours.
From what has been said, it appears that the Spaniards on the island of Guam are extremely few compared to the Indian inhabitants; and formerly the disproportion was still greater, as may be easily conceived from the account given in another chapter of the numbers heretofore on Tinian alone. These Indians are a bold, strong, well-limbed people, and, as it should seem from some of their practices, are no ways defective in understanding, for their flying proas in particular, which during ages past have been the only vessels employed by them, are so singular and extraordinary an invention that it would do honour to any nation, however dextrous and acute. Since, if we consider the aptitude of this proa to the navigation of these islands, which lying all of them nearly under the same meridian, and within the limits of the trade-wind, require the vessels made use of in passing from one to the other to be peculiarly fitted for sailing with the wind upon the beam; or if we examine the uncommon simplicity and ingenuity of its fabric and contrivance, or the extraordinary velocity with which it moves, we shall, in each of these articles, find it worthy of our admiration, and deserving a place amongst the mechanical productions of the most civilized nations where arts and sciences have most eminently flourished. As former navigators, though they have mentioned these vessels, have yet treated of them imperfectly, and, as I conceive that besides their curiosity they may furnish both the shipwright and seaman with no contemptible observations, I shall here insert a very exact description of the build, rigging, and working of these vessels, which I am the better enabled to perform, as one of them fell into our hands on our first arrival at Tinian, and Mr. Brett took it to pieces that he might delineate its fabric and dimensions with greater accuracy: so that the following account may be relied on.
The name of flying proa, appropriated to these vessels, is owing to the swiftness with which they sail. Of this the Spaniards assert such stories as must appear altogether incredible to one who has never seen these vessels move; nor are they the only people who recount these extraordinary tales of their celerity, for those who shall have the curiosity to enquire at Portsmouth dock about an experiment tried there some years since with a very imperfect one built at that place, will meet with accounts not less wonderful than any the Spaniards have related. However, from some rude estimations made by us of the velocity with which they crossed the horizon at a distance while we lay at Tinian, I cannot help believing that with a brisk trade-wind they will run near twenty miles an hour; which, though greatly short of what the Spaniards report of them, is yet a prodigious degree of swiftness. But let us give a distinct idea of its figure.
The construction of this proa is a direct contradiction to the practice of all the rest of mankind: for as it is customary to make the head of the vessel different from the stern, but the two sides alike, the proa, on the contrary, has her head and stern exactly alike, but her two sides very different; the side intended to be always the lee side being flat, whilst the windward side is built rounding, in the manner of other vessels: and to prevent her oversetting, which from her small breadth and the strait run of her leeward side, would, without this precaution, infallibly happen, there is a frame laid out from her to windward, to the end of which is fastened a log fashioned into the shape of a small boat, and made hollow. The weight of the frame is intended to balance the proa, and the small boat is by its buoyancy (as it is always in the water) to prevent her oversetting to windward; and this frame is usually called an outrigger. The body of the proa (at least of that we took) is formed of two pieces joined endways and sewed together with bark, for there is no iron used in her construction. She is about two inches thick at the bottom, which at the gunwale is reduced to less than one. The proa generally carries six or seven Indians, two of which are placed in the head and stern, who steer the vessel alternately with a paddle according to the tack she goes on, he in the stern being the steersman; the other Indians are employed either in baling out the water which she accidentally ships, or in setting and trimming the sail. From the description of these vessels it is sufficiently obvious how dexterously they are fitted for ranging this collection of islands called the Ladrones: since as these islands bear nearly N. and S. of each other, and are all within the limits of the trade-wind, the proas, by sailing most excellently on a wind, and with either end foremost, can run from one of these islands to the other and back again only by shifting the sail, without ever putting about; and by the flatness of their lee side, and their small breadth, they are capable of lying much nearer the wind than any other vessel hitherto known, and thereby have an advantage which no vessels that go large can ever pretend to.
The advantage I mean is that of running with a velocity nearly as great, and perhaps sometimes greater, than what the wind blows with. This, however paradoxical it may appear, is evident enough in similar instances on shore, since it is well known that the sails of a windmill often move faster than the wind; and one great superiority of common windmills over all others that ever were, or ever will be, contrived to move with an horizontal motion, is analogous to the case we have mentioned of a vessel upon a wind and before the wind: for the sails of an horizontal windmill, the faster they move the more they detract from the impulse of the wind upon them; whereas the common windmills, by moving perpendicular to the torrent of air, are nearly as forcibly acted on by the wind when they are in motion as when they are at rest.
Thus much may suffice as to the description and nature of these singular embarkations. I must add that vessels bearing some obscure resemblance to these are to be met with in various parts of the East Indies, but none of them, that I can learn, to be compared with those of the Ladrones, either for their construction or celerity; which should induce one to believe that this was originally the invention of some genius of these islands, and was afterwards imperfectly copied by the neighbouring nations: for though the Ladrones have no immediate intercourse with any other people, yet there lie to the S. and S.W. of them a great number of islands, which are imagined to extend to the coast of New Guinea. These islands are so near the Ladrones that canoes from them have sometimes by distress been driven to Guam, and the Spaniards did once dispatch a bark for their discovery, which left two Jesuits amongst them, who were afterwards murthered. Whence it may be presumed that the inhabitants of the Ladrones, with their proas, may by storms or casualties have been driven amongst those islands. Indeed, I should conceive that the same range of islands stretches to the S.E. as well as the S.W., and to a prodigious distance, for Schouten, who traversed the south part of the Pacific Ocean in the year 1615, met with a large double canoe full of people above a thousand leagues from the Ladrones, towards the S.E. If that double canoe was any distant imitation of the flying proa, which is no very improbable conjecture, it must then be supposed that a range of islands, near enough to each other to be capable of an accidental communication, is continued thither from the Ladrones. This seems to be farther evinced from hence, that all those who have crossed from America to the East Indies in a southern latitude have never failed of discovering several very small islands scattered over that immense ocean.
And as there may be hence some reason to conclude that there is a chain of islands spreading themselves southward towards the unknown boundaries of the Pacific Ocean of which the Ladrones are only a part, so it appears that the same chain is extended from the northward of the Ladrones to Japan: whence in this light the Ladrones will be only one small portion of a range of islands reaching from Japan perhaps to the unknown southern continent. After this short account of these places, I shall now return to the prosecution of our voyage.