Anson George
A Voyage Round the World
CHAPTER X
FROM CAPE NOIR TO THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDES
After the mortifying disappointment of falling in with the coast of Terra del Fuego, when we esteemed ourselves ten degrees to the westward of it, as hath been at large recited in the eighth chapter, we stood away to the S.W. till the 22d of April, when we were in upwards of 60° of south latitude, and by our account near 6° to the westward of Cape Noir. In this run, we had a series of as favourable weather as could well be expected in that part of the world, even in a better season, so that this interval, setting the inquietude of our thoughts aside, was by far the most eligible of any we enjoyed from Streights Le Maire to the west coast of America. This moderate weather continued with little variation till the 24th, but on the 24th, in the evening, the wind began to blow fresh, and soon increased to a prodigious storm, and the weather being extremely thick, about midnight we lost sight of the other four ships of the squadron, which, notwithstanding the violence of the preceding storms, had hitherto kept in company with us. Nor was this our sole misfortune, for the next morning, endeavouring to hand the top-sails, the clew-lines and bunt-lines broke, and the sheets being half-flown, every seam in the top-sails was soon split from top to bottom, and the main top-sail shook so strongly in the wind that it carried away the top lanthorn, and endangered the head of the mast; however, at length some of the most daring of our men ventured upon the yard and cut the sail away close to the reefs, though with the utmost hazard of their lives. Whilst at the same time the fore top-sail beat about the yard with so much fury that it was soon blown to pieces; nor was our attention to our top-sails our sole employment, for the main-sail blew loose, which obliged us to lower down the yard to secure the sail, and the fore-yard being likewise lowered, we lay-to under a mizen. In this storm, besides the loss of our top-sails, we had much of our rigging broke, and lost a main-studding sail-boom out of the chains.
On the 25th, about noon, the weather became more moderate, which enabled us to sway up our yards, and to repair, in the best manner we could, our shattered rigging, but still we had no sight of the rest of our squadron, nor indeed were we joined by any of them again till after our arrival at Juan Fernandes, nor did any two of them, as we have since learned, continue in company together. This total and almost instantaneous separation was the more wonderful as we had hitherto kept together for seven weeks, through all the reiterated tempests of this turbulent climate. It must indeed be owned that we had hence room to expect that we might make our passage in a shorter time than if we had continued together, because we could now make the best of our way without being retarded by the misfortunes of the other ships; but then we had the melancholy reflection that we ourselves were hereby deprived of the assistance of others, and our safety would depend upon our single ship, so that if a plank started, or any other accident of the same nature should take place, we must all irrecoverably perish; or should we be driven on shore, we had the uncomfortable prospect of ending our days on some desolate coast, without any reasonable hope of ever getting off again, whereas, with another ship in company, all these calamities are much less formidable, since in every kind of danger there would be some probability that one ship at least might escape, and might be capable of preserving or relieving the crew of the other.
The remaining part of this month of April we had generally hard gales, although we had been every day, since the 22d, edging to the northward; however, on the last day of the month, we flattered ourselves with the expectation of soon terminating all our sufferings, for we that day found ourselves in the latitude of 52° 13', which being to the northward of the Streights of Magellan, we were assured that we had compleated our passage, and had arrived in the confines of the southern ocean; and this ocean being denominated Pacifick, from the equability of the seasons which are said to prevail there, and the facility and security with which navigation is there carried on, we doubted not but we should be speedily cheared with the moderate gales, the smooth water, and the temperate air for which that track of the globe has been so renowned. And under the influence of these pleasing circumstances we hoped to experience some kind of compensation for the complicated miseries which had so constantly attended us for the last eight weeks. But here we were again disappointed, for in the succeeding month of May our sufferings rose to a much higher pitch than they had ever yet done, whether we consider the violence of the storms, the shattering of our sails and rigging, or the diminishing and weakening of our crew by deaths and sickness, and the probable prospect of our total destruction. All this will be sufficiently evident from the following circumstantial account of our diversified misfortunes.
Soon after our passing Streights Le Maire, the scurvy began to make its appearance amongst us, and our long continuance at sea, the fatigue we underwent, and the various disappointments we met with, had occasioned its spreading to such a degree that at the latter end of April there were but few on board who were not in some degree afflicted with it, and in that month no less than forty-three died of it on board the Centurion. But though we thought that the distemper had then risen to an extraordinary height, and were willing to hope that as we advanced to the northward its malignity would abate, yet we found, on the contrary, that in the month of May we lost near double that number; and as we did not get to land till the middle of June, the mortality went on increasing, and the disease extended itself so prodigiously that, after the loss of above two hundred men, we could not at last muster more than six fore-mast men in a watch capable of duty.
This disease, so frequently attending long voyages, and so particularly destructive to us, is surely the most singular and unaccountable of any that affects the human body. Its symptoms are inconstant and innumerable, and its progress and effects extremely irregular; for scarcely any two persons have complaints exactly resembling each other, and where there hath been found some conformity in the symptoms, the order of their appearance has been totally different. However, though it frequently puts on the form of many other diseases, and is therefore not to be described by any exclusive and infallible criterions, yet there are some symptoms which are more general than the rest, and, occurring the oftenest, deserve a more particular enumeration. These common appearances are large discoloured spots dispersed over the whole surface of the body, swelled legs, putrid gums, and, above all, an extraordinary lassitude of the whole body, especially after any exercise, however inconsiderable; and this lassitude at last degenerates into a proneness to swoon, and even die, on the least exertion of strength, or even on the least motion.
This disease is likewise usually attended with a strange dejection of the spirits, and with shiverings, tremblings, and a disposition to be seized with the most dreadful terrors on the slightest accident. Indeed it was most remarkable, in all our reiterated experience of this malady, that whatever discouraged our people, or at any time damped their hopes, never failed to add new vigour to the distemper; for it usually killed those who were in the last stages of it, and confined those to their hammocks who were before capable of some kind of duty; so that it seemed as if alacrity of mind, and sanguine thoughts, were no contemptible preservatives from its fatal malignity.
But it is not easy to compleat the long roll of the various concomitants of this disease; for it often produced putrid fevers, pleurisies, the jaundice, and violent rheumatic pains, and sometimes it occasioned an obstinate costiveness, which was generally attended with a difficulty of breathing, and this was esteemed the most deadly of all the scorbutick symptoms; at other times the whole body, but more especially the legs, were subject to ulcers of the worst kind, attended with rotten bones, and such a luxuriancy of fungous flesh as yielded to no remedy. But a most extraordinary circumstance, and what would be scarcely credible upon any single evidence, is, that the scars of wounds which had been for many years healed were forced open again by this virulent distemper. Of this there was a remarkable instance in one of the invalids on board the Centurion, who had been wounded above fifty years before at the battle of the Boyne, for though he was cured soon after, and had continued well for a great number of years past, yet on his being attacked by the scurvy, his wounds, in the progress of his disease, broke out afresh, and appeared as if they had never been healed: nay, what is still more astonishing, the callus of a broken bone, which had been compleatly formed for a long time, was found to be hereby dissolved, and the fracture seemed as if it had never been consolidated. Indeed, the effects of this disease were in almost every instance wonderful; for many of our people, though confined to their hammocks, appeared to have no inconsiderable share of health, for they eat and drank heartily, were chearful, and talked with much seeming vigour, and with a loud strong tone of voice; and yet, on their being the least moved, though it was from only one part of the ship to the other, and that too in their hammocks, they have immediately expired; and others, who have confided in their seeming strength, and have resolved to get out of their hammocks, have died before they could well reach the deck; nor was it an uncommon thing for those who were able to walk the deck, and to do some kind of duty, to drop down dead in an instant, on any endeavours to act with their utmost effort, many of our people having perished in this manner during the course of this voyage.
With this terrible disease we struggled the greatest part of the time of our beating round Cape Horn; and though it did not then rage with its utmost violence, yet we buried no less than forty-three men on board the Centurion in the month of April, as hath been already observed; however, we still entertained hopes that when we should have once secured our passage round the Cape, we should put a period to this, and all the other evils which had so constantly pursued us. But it was our misfortune to find that the Pacifick Ocean was to us less hospitable than the turbulent neighbourhood of Terra del Fuego and Cape Horn. For being arrived, on the 8th of May, off the island of Socoro, which was the first rendezvous appointed for the squadron, and where we hoped to have met with some of our companions, we cruised for them in that station several days. But here we were not only disappointed in our expectations of being joined by our friends, and were thereby induced to favour the gloomy suggestions of their having all perished; but we were likewise perpetually alarmed with the fears of being driven on shore upon this coast, which appeared too craggy and irregular to give us the least prospect that in such a case any of us could possibly escape immediate destruction. For the land had indeed a most tremendous aspect: the most distant part of it, and which appeared far within the country, being the mountains usually called the Andes or Cordilleras, was extremely high and covered with snow; and the coast itself seemed quite rocky and barren, and the water's edge skirted with precipices. In some places indeed we discerned several deep bays running into the land, but the entrance into them was generally blocked up by numbers of little islands; and though it was not improbable but there might be convenient shelter in some of those bays, and proper channels leading thereto, yet, as we were utterly ignorant of the coast, had we been driven ashore by the western winds which blew almost constantly there, we did not expect to have avoided the loss of our ship, and of our lives.
This continued peril, which lasted for above a fortnight, was greatly aggravated by the difficulties we found in working the ship, as the scurvy had by this time destroyed so great a part of our hands, and had in some degree affected almost the whole crew. Nor did we, as we hoped, find the winds less violent as we advanced to the northward; for we had often prodigious squalls which split our sails, greatly damaged our rigging, and endangered our masts. Indeed, during the greatest part of the time we were upon this coast, the wind blew so hard, that in another situation, where we had sufficient sea room, we should certainly have lain-to; but in the present exigency we were necessitated to carry both our courses and top-sails in order to keep clear of this lee shore. In one of these squalls, which was attended by several violent claps of thunder, a sudden flash of fire darted along our decks, which, dividing, exploded with a report like that of several pistols, and wounded many of our men and officers as it passed, marking them in different parts of the body. This flame was attended with a strong sulphureous stench, and was doubtless of the same nature with the larger and more violent blasts of lightning which then filled the air.
It were endless to recite minutely the various disasters, fatigues, and terrors which we encountered on this coast; all these went on increasing till the 22d of May, at which time the fury of all the storms which we had hitherto encountered seemed to be combined, and to have conspired our destruction. In this hurricane almost all our sails were split, and great part of our standing rigging broken; and, about eight in the evening, a mountainous over-grown sea took us upon our starboard-quarter, and gave us so prodigious a shock that several of our shrouds broke with the jerk, by which our masts were greatly endangered; our ballast and stores too were so strangely shifted that the ship heeled afterwards two streaks to port. Indeed it was a most tremendous blow, and we were thrown into the utmost consternation from the apprehension of instantly foundering; and though the wind abated in a few hours, yet, as we had no more sails left in a condition to bend to our yards, the ship laboured very much in a hollow sea, rolling gunwale to, for want of sail to steady her: so that we expected our masts, which were now very slenderly supported, to come by the board every moment. However, we exerted ourselves the best we could to stirrup our shrouds, to reeve new lanyards, and to mend our sails; but while these necessary operations were carrying on, we ran great risque of being driven on shore on the island of Chiloe, which was not far distant from us; but in the midst of our peril the wind happily shifted to the southward, and we steered off the land with the main-sail only, the master and myself undertaking the management of the helm, while every one else on board was busied in securing the masts, and bending the sails as fast as they could be repaired. This was the last effort of that stormy climate; for in a day or two after we got clear of the land, and found the weather more moderate than we had yet experienced since our passing Streights Le Maire. And now having cruized in vain for more than a fortnight in quest of the other ships of the squadron, it was resolved to take the advantage of the present favourable season, and the offing we had made from this terrible coast, and to make the best of our way for the island of Juan Fernandes. For though our next rendezvous was appointed off the harbour of Baldivia, yet as we had hitherto seen none of our companions at this first rendezvous, it was not to be supposed that any of them would be found at the second: indeed we had the greatest reason to suspect that all but ourselves had perished. Besides, we were by this time reduced to so low a condition, that instead of attempting to attack the places of the enemy, our utmost hopes could only suggest to us the possibility of saving the ship, and some part of the remaining enfeebled crew, by our speedy arrival at Juan Fernandes; for this was the only road in that part of the world where there was any probability of our recovering our sick, or refitting our vessel, and consequently our getting thither was the only chance we had left to avoid perishing at sea.
Our deplorable situation then allowing no room for deliberation, we stood for the island of Juan Fernandes; and to save time, which was now extremely precious (our men dying four, five, and six in a day), and likewise to avoid being engaged again with a lee shore, we resolved, if possible, to hit the island upon a meridian. And, on the 28th of May, being nearly in the parallel upon which it is laid down, we had great expectations of seeing it: but not finding it in the position in which the charts had taught us to expect it, we began to fear that we had gone too far to the westward; and therefore, though the commodore himself was strongly persuaded that he saw it on the morning of the 28th, yet his officers believing it to be only a cloud, to which opinion the haziness of the weather gave some kind of countenance, it was, on a consultation, resolved to stand to the eastward, in the parallel of the island, as it was certain that by this course we should either fall in with the island, if we were already to the westward of it, or should at least make the mainland of Chili, from whence we might take a new departure, and assure ourselves, by running to the westward afterwards, of not missing the island a second time.
On the 30th of May we had a view of the continent of Chili, distant about twelve or thirteen leagues; the land made exceeding high and uneven, and appeared quite white; what we saw being doubtless a part of the Cordilleras, which are always covered with snow. Though by this view of the land we ascertained our position, yet it gave us great uneasiness to find that we had so needlessly altered our course, when we were, in all probability, just upon the point of making the island; for the mortality amongst us was now increased to a most dreadful degree, and those who remained alive were utterly dispirited by this new disappointment, and the prospect of their longer continuance at sea. Our water too began to grow scarce; so that a general dejection prevailed amongst us, which added much to the virulence of the disease, and destroyed numbers of our best men; and to all these calamities there was added this vexatious circumstance, that when, after having got a sight of the main, we tacked and stood to the westward in quest of the island, we were so much delayed by calms and contrary winds, that it cost us nine days to regain the westing which, when we stood to the eastward, we ran down in two. In this desponding condition, with a crazy ship, a great scarcity of fresh water, and a crew so universally diseased that there were not above ten fore-mast men in a watch capable of doing duty, and even some of these lame, and unable to go aloft: under these disheartening circumstances, we stood to the westward; and, on the 9th of June, at daybreak, we at last discovered the long-wished-for island of Juan Fernandes. With this discovery I shall close this chapter and the first book, after observing (which will furnish a very strong image of our unparalleled distresses) that by our suspecting ourselves to be to the westward of the island on the 28th of May, and in consequence of this standing in for the main, we lost between seventy and eighty of our men, whom we should doubtless have saved had we made the island that day, which, had we kept on our course for a few hours longer, we could not have failed to have done.