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The wind blew very hard the next morning, as it had done all night, but being at W.N.W. which was off the land, we sent the boats away soon after it was light, and about ten, they returned with each of them a load of water, and a great number of pintado birds: these birds they got from the people on shore, who told them, that when a gale of wind happened in the night they flew faster into their fire than they could well take them out, so that during the gale of the last night, they got no less than seven hundred of them. The boats were employed in getting water on board all this day, although the surf was so great that several of the casks were staved and lost: they were sent out again a little before it was light the next day, and by seven o'clock a few casks only were wanting to complete our stock. The threatening appearances of the weather made me now very impatient to get the people on board, with the casks that were still at the watering-place; as soon therefore as the boats were cleared of their loading, I dispatched them again, with orders to bring off all the hands, with the tent, and every thing else that was on shore, with all possible expedition. From this time the wind increased, very fast, and by eleven o'clock it blew so hard, with violent gusts from the land, that the ship began to drive off the bank; we heaved the small anchor up, and got it in out of the way of the other; the gale still increased, but as it was right off the land, I was in no pain about the ship, which continued to drive, still dragging the anchor through the sand, with two hundred fathom of cable out; for being very solicitous to give the boats time to bring all on board before we were quite off the bank, I would not weigh. At two o'clock, however, the anchor was quite off the ground, and the ship was in deep water; we were now therefore obliged to bring the cable to the capstern, and with great difficulty we got the anchor up. The gusts off the land were so violent that, not daring to show any canvas, we lay to under our bare poles, and the water was frequently torn up, and whirled round in the air much higher than our masts heads. As the ship now drove from the island at a great rate, and night was coming on, I began to be in great pain for the boats, in which, besides my Lieutenant, there were eight and twenty of my best men; but just in the dusk of the evening, I perceived one of them scudding before the seas and making towards the ship: this proved to be the longboat, which in spight of all the efforts of those on board, had been forced from her grappling, and driven off the land. We took the best opportunity that offered to get her on board, but notwithstanding all our care, she received considerable damage as we were hoisting her in. She had on board ten of my people, who informed me, that when they were first driven from the shore, they had some fire wood on board, but that they were obliged to throw that, and every thing else, into the sea, to lighten the boat. As we had yet seen nothing of the cutter, and had reason to fear that she also, with the tents, and the other eighteen people, besides the Lieutenant, had been driven off the island, I gave her up for lost; knowing that if the night, which was now at hand, should overtake her in such a storm she must inevitably perish. It was however possible that the people might be ashore, and therefore that if the boat should be lost, they might still be preserved; for this reason, I determined to regain the land as soon as possible. At midnight, the weather became more moderate, so that we could carry our courses and topsails, and at four o'clock in the morning we crowded all the sail we could make. At ten o'clock, we were very near the shore; to our great concern, we saw nothing of the cutter, yet we continued to stand on till about noon, when we happily discovered her at a grappling, close under the land: we immediately ran to our glasses, by the help of which we saw the people getting into her, and about three o'clock, to our mutual and inexpressible joy, she came safe on board with all her people: they were however so exhausted with fatigue, that they could scarcely get up the ship's side. The Lieutenant told me, that the night before he had attempted to come off, but that as soon as he had left the shore, a sudden squall so nearly filled the boat with water that she was very near going to the bottom; but that all hands bailing with the utmost diligence and activity, they happily cleared her: that he then made for the land again, which, with the utmost difficulty, he regained, and having left a sufficient number on board the boat, to watch her, and keep her free from water, he with the rest of the people went on shore. That having passed the night in a state of inexpressible anxiety and distress, they looked out for the ship with the first dawn of the morning, and seeing nothing of her, concluded that she had perished in the storm, which they had never seen exceeded. They did not however fit down torpid in despair, but began immediately to clear the ground near the beach of brushes and weeds, and cut down several trees of which they made rollers to assist them in hauling up the boat, in order to secure her; intending, as they had no hope of the ship's return, to wait till the summer season, and then attempt to make the island of Juan Fernandes. They had now better hopes, and all sense of the dangers that were before us was for a while obliterated by the joy of our escape from those that were past.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 550 - 553, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/550.html