A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels Volume Xvii Part 22

At eight o'clock in the evening, it began to blow afresh from the westward, with violent thunder, lightning, and rain; and at three the next morning, we weighed and stood over for Prince's Island, but the westerly wind dying away, was succeeded by a breeze from the S.E., and at the same time a strong tide setting to the S.W., prevented our fetching the island, and obliged us, at two in the afternoon, to drop anchor in sixty-five fathoms, over a muddy bottom, at three leagues distance from it; the high hill bearing S.W. by S., and the peak on Cracatoa N. by E. We had light airs and calms till six next morning, when we weighed and made sail, having, in our endeavours to heave the anchor out of the ground, twice broken the old messenger, and afterwards a new one, cut out of our best hawser. This, however, was entirely owing to the wretched state of our cordage; as the strain was not very considerable, and we had besides a.s.sisted the cable in coming in, by clapping the cat-tackle on it. The wind continuing fair, at noon we came to an anchor off the S.E. end of Prince's Island, in twenty- six fathoms, over a sandy bottom; the east end of the island bearing N.N.E., the southernmost point in sight S.W. by S., the high peak N.W. 1/2 W., distant from the nearest sh.o.r.e half a mile.

As soon as we had come to anchor, Lieutenant Lannyon, who had been here before with Captain Cook, in the year 1770, was sent, along with the master, to look for the watering-place. The brook from which, according to the best of his recollection, the Endeavour had been supplied, was found quite salt. Further inland, they saw a dry bed, where the water seemed to have lodged in rainy seasons; and, about a cable's length below, another run, supplied from an extensive pool, the bottom of which, as well, as the surface, was covered with dead leaves. This, though a little brackish, being much preferable to the other, we began watering here early the next morning, and finished the same day.

The natives, who came to us soon after we anch.o.r.ed, brought a plentiful supply of large fowls, and some turtles; but the last were, for the most part, very small. In the course of the night we had heavy rain; and on the 14th, at daylight, we saw the Resolution to the northward, standing toward the island; and at two in the afternoon, she dropped anchor close to us. In the course of the day we heeled the ship, and scrubbed and hogged her bottom, which was very foul; and got ready for sea.

The next day, Captain Gore not having completed his stock of water at Cracatoa, sent his men on sh.o.r.e, who now found the brook that was first mentioned rendered perfectly sweet by the rain, and flowing in great abundance. This being too valuable a treasure to be neglected, I gave orders, that the casks we had filled before should be started, and replenished with the fresh water, which was accordingly done before noon the next day; and in the evening we cleared the decks, and both ships were ready for sea.

In the forenoon of the 18th we had heavy rains and variable winds, which prevented our getting under way till two in the afternoon, when a light wind sprung up from the northward; but this soon after leaving us, we were obliged to drop our anchor again, at eight o'clock that night, in fifty fathoms water, and wait till the same hour the next morning. At that time, being favoured by a breeze from the N.W., we broke ground, to our inexpressible satisfaction, for the last time in the Strait of Sunda, and the next day had entirely lost sight of Prince's Island,

This island having been already described by Captain Cook, in the history of a former voyage, I shall only add, that we were exceedingly struck with the great general resemblance of the natives, both in figure, colour, manners, and even language, to the nations we had been so much conversant with in the South Seas. The effects of the Javanese climate, and I did not escape without my full share of it, made me incapable of pursuing the comparison so minutely as I could have wished.

The country abounds with wood to such a degree, that, notwithstanding the quant.i.ty cut down every year by the ships which put into the road, there is no appearance of its diminution. We were well supplied with small turtle, and fowls of a moderate size; the last were sold at the rate of ten for a Spanish dollar. The natives also brought us many hog-deer, and a prodigious number of monkeys, to our great annoyance, as most of our sailors provided themselves with one, if not two, of these troublesome animals.

As we should have met with some difficulty in finding the watering-place, if Mr Lannyon had not been with us, it may be worth while, for the use of future navigators, to describe its situation more particularly. The peaked hill on the island bears from it N.W. by N.; a remarkable tree, growing upon a coral reef, and quite detached from the neighbouring shrubs, stands just to the northward; and close by it there is a small plot of reedy gra.s.s, the only piece of the kind that can be seen hereabout. These marks will shew the place where the pool empties itself into the sea; but the water here is generally salt, as well as that which is in the pool. The casks must therefore be filled about fifty yards higher up; where, in dry seasons, the fresh water that comes down from the hills is lost among the leaves, and must be searched for by clearing them away.

The lat.i.tude of the anchoring-place at Prince's Island was 6 36' 15" south.

Longitude 105 17 30 east.

Dip of the south pole of the magnetic needle 28 15 0 Variation of the compa.s.s 0 54 0 west.

Mean of the thermometer 83 1/2

From the time of our entering the Strait of Banca, we began to experience the powerful effects of this pestilential climate. Two of our people fell dangerously ill of malignant putrid fevers; which, however, we prevented from spreading, by putting the patients apart from the rest in the most airy births. Many were attacked with teazing coughs; others complained of violent pains in the head; and even the healthiest among us felt a sensation of suffocating heat, attended by an insufferable languor, and a total loss of appet.i.te. But though our situation was for a time thus uneasy and alarming, we had at last the singular satisfaction of escaping from these fatal seas, without the loss of a single life; A circ.u.mstance which was probably owing in part to the vigorous health of the crews, when we first arrived here, as well as to the strict attention, now become habitual in our men, to the salutary regulations introduced amongst us by Captain Cook.

On our leaving Prince's Island, and during the whole time of our run from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, the crew of the Resolution was in a much more sickly state than that of the Discovery; for though many of us continued for some time complaining of the effects of the noxious climate we had left, yet happily we all recovered from them. Of the two who had been ill of fevers, one, after being seized with violent convulsions, on the 12th of February, which made us despair of his life, was relieved by the application of blisters, and was soon after out of danger. The other recovered, but more slowly. On board the Resolution, besides the obstinate coughs and fevers under which they very generally laboured, a great many were afflicted with fluxes, the number of whom, contrary to our expectations, continued increasmg till our arrival at the Cape.

Captain Gore attributed this difference in part, and probably with some reason, to the Discovery having her fire-place between decks; the heat and smoke of which, he conceived, might help to mitigate the bad effects of the damp night air. But I am rather inclined to believe, that we escaped the flux by the precautions that were taken to prevent our catching it from others. For if some kinds of fluxes be, as I apprehend there is no doubt they are, contagious, it is not improbable, that the Resolution caught this disorder from the Dutch ships at Cracatoa. In order to avoid this danger, when Mr Williamson was sent to the Indiaman in the entrance of the Strait of Sunda, he had the strictest orders not to suffer any of our people, on any account whatever, to go on board; and whenever we had afterward occasion to have any communication with the Resolution, the same caution was constantly observed.

We were no sooner clear of Prince's Island, than we had a gentle breeze from the W.N.W.; but this did not last long; for the following day the wind became again variable, and continued so till the noon of the 25th, when it grew squally, and blew fresh from the north.

On the 22d at noon, being in lat.i.tude 10 28' S., and longitude 104 14', we saw great quant.i.ties of b.o.o.bies, and other fowls, that seldom go far from land; from which we conjectured, that we were near some small unknown island.

In the evening of the 25th, the wind changed suddenly to the southward, accompanied with heavy rains, and began to blow with great violence. During the night, almost every sail we had bent gave way, and most of them were split to rags; our rigging also suffered materially, and we were, the next day, obliged to bend our last suit of sails, and to knot and splice the rigging, our cordage being all expended. This sudden storm, we attributed to the change from the monsoon to the regular trade-wind; our lat.i.tude was about 13 10' S., and we had made by our reckoning about 4-1/2 of longitude west from Java head.

From the 26th of this month to the 28th of March, we had a regular trade- wind from the S.E. to E. by S., with fine weather; and being in an old beaten track, met no occurrence that deserved the smallest notice.

In the morning of the 28th of March, being in lat.i.tude 31 42' S., and longitude 35 26' E., the trade-wind left us in a violent thunder-storm.

From this time to the 3d of April, when our lat.i.tude was 35 1' S., and longitude 26 3' E., the winds were moderate, and generally from the south quarter. A fresh breeze then sprung up from the eastward, which continued till the afternoon of the 4th; after which we had a calm that lasted the two following days.

It had hitherto been Captain Gore's intention to proceed directly to St Helena, without stopping at the Cape; but the rudder of the Resolution having been, for some time, complaining, and, on being examined, reported to be in a dangerous state, he resolved to steer immediately for the Cape, as the most eligible place, both for the recovery of his sick, and for procuring a new main-piece to the rudder.

From the 21st of March, when we were in lat.i.tude 27 22' S., longitude 52 25' E., to the 5th of April, when we had got into lat.i.tude 36 12' S., longitude 22 7' E., we were strongly affected by the currents, which set to the S.S.W., and S.W. by W., sometimes at the rate of eighty knots a day.

On the 6th, having got under the lee of the African coast, we lost them entirely.

In the morning of the 6th, a sail was seen to the S.W. standing toward us; and, as the wind soon after rose from the same quarter, we cleared our ships for action. We now discovered, from the mast-head, five sail more on our lee-bow, standing to the eastward; but the weather coming on hazy, we lost sight of them all in an hour's time. Our lat.i.tude at noon was 35 49'

S., longitude 21 32' E. At seven o'clock the next morning (the 7th), we made the land to the northward at a considerable distance.

On the 8th, the weather was squally, and blew fresh from the N.W.; the following day it settled to the W., and we pa.s.sed pretty close to the sail seen on the 6th, but did not hail her. She was clumsy in figure, and, to appearance, unskilfully managed; yet she outsailed us exceedingly. The colours which she hoisted were different from any we had seen; some supposed them to be Portugueze, others Imperial.

At day-light, the next morning, the land again appeared to the N.N.W.; and in the forenoon, a snow was seen bearing down to us, which proved to be an English East India packet, that had left Table Bay three days before, and was cruising with orders for the China fleet, and other India ships. She told us, that, about three weeks before, Mons. Trongoller's squadron, consisting of six ships, had sailed from the Cape, and was gone to cruise off St Helena, for our East India fleet. This intelligence made us conjecture, that the five sail we had seen standing to the eastward must have been the French squadron, who, in that case, had given over their cruise, and were probably proceeding to the Mauritius. Having informed the packet of our conjectures, and also of the time we understood the China ships were to sail from Canton, we left them, and proceeded toward the Cape.

In the evening of the 10th, the Gunner's Quoin bore N. by E., and False Cape, E.N.E.; but the wind being at S.W., and variable, prevented our getting into False Bay, till the evening of the 12th, when we dropt anchor abreast of Simon's Bay. We found a strong current setting to the westward, round the Cape, which, for some time, we could but just stem, with a breeze that would have carried us four knots an hour. The next morning we stood into Simon's Bay; and at eight came to anchor, and moored a cable each way; the best bower to the E.S.E., and small bower, W.N.W.; the S.E. point of the bay bearing S. by E., Table Mountain, N.E. 1/2 N.; distant from the nearest sh.o.r.e one-third of a mile. We found lying here, the Na.s.sau and Southampton East-Indiamen, waiting for convoy for Europe. The Resolution saluted the fort with eleven guns, and the same number was returned.

Mr Brandt, the governor of this place, came to visit us, as soon as we had anch.o.r.ed. This gentleman had conceived a great affection for Captain Cook, who had been his constant guest, the many times he had visited the Cape; and though he had received the news of his melancholy fate some time before, he was exceedingly affected at the sight of our ships returning without their old commander. He appeared much surprised to see our crew in so stout and healthy a condition, as the Dutch ship that had left Macao, on our arrival there, and had touched at the Cape some time before, reported, that we were in a most wretched state, having only fourteen hands left on board the Resolution, and seven on board the Discovery. It is not easy to conceive the motive these people could have had for propagating so wanton and malicious a falsehood.

On the 15th, I accompanied Captain Gore to Cape Town; and, the next morning, we waited on Baron Plettenberg, the governor, by whom we were received with every possible attention and civility. He had also conceived a great personal affection for Captain Cook, as well as the highest admiration of his character, and heard the recital of his misfortune, with many expressions of unaffected sorrow. In one of the princ.i.p.al apartments of the governor's house, he shewed us two pictures, of Van Trump and de Ruyter, with a vacant s.p.a.ce left between them, which he said he meant to fill up with the portrait of Captain Cook; and, for that purpose, he requested our a.s.sistance when we should arrive in England, in purchasing one for him, at any price.

We were afterward informed by the governor, that all the powers at this time at war with England had given orders to their cruisers to let us pa.s.s unmolested. This, as far as related to the French, we had sufficient reason to think true; as Mr Brandt had already delivered to Captain Gore, a letter from Mr Stephens, inclosing a copy of Mons. de Sartine's orders, taken on board the Licorne. With respect to the Americans, the matter still rested on report; but Baron Plettenberg a.s.sured us, that he had been expressly told, by the commander of a Spanish ship, which had touched at the Cape, that he, and all the officers of his nation, had received orders to the same effect. These a.s.surances confirmed Captain Gore in the resolution he had taken of maintaining, on his part, a neutral conduct; and accordingly, when on the arrival of the Sybil, to convoy the India ships home, it was proposed to him to accompany them on their pa.s.sage, he thought proper to decline an offer, the acceptance of which might, in case we had fallen in with any of the enemy's ships, have brought him into a very difficult and embarra.s.sing situation.

During our stay at the Cape, we met with every proof of the most friendly disposition toward us, both in the governor and princ.i.p.al persons of the place, as well Africans as Europeans. At our first arrival, Colonel Gordon, the commander of the Dutch forces, with whom I had the happiness of being on a footing of intimacy and friendship, was absent on a journey into the interior parts of Africa, but returned before our departure. He had, on this occasion, penetrated farther up the country than any other traveller had done before him, and made great additions to the valuable collection of natural curiosities with which he has enriched the museum of the Prince of Orange. Indeed, a long residence at the Cape, and the powerful a.s.sistance he has derived from his rank and situation there, joined to an active and indefatigable spirit, and an eager thirst after knowledge, have enabled him to acquire a more intimate and perfect knowledge of this part of Africa, than could have fallen to the lot of any other person; and it is with great pleasure I can congratulate the public on the information I have received of his intentions to give the world, from his own-hand, a history of his travels.[114]

False Bay, situated to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, is frequented by shipping during the prevalence of the N.W. winds, which begin to blow in May, and make it dangerous to lie in Table Bay. It is terminated on the west by the Cape of Good Hope, and on the eastward by False Cape.

The entrance of the bay is six leagues wide, the two capes bearing from each other due east and west. About eleven miles from the Cape of Good Hope, on the west side, is situated Simon's Bay, the only convenient station for ships to lie in; for although the road without it affords good anchorage, it is too open, and but ill circ.u.mstanced for procuring necessaries, the town being small, and supplied with provisions from Cape Town, which is about twenty-four miles distant. To the N.N.E. of Simon's Bay, there are several others, from which it may be easily distinguished, by a remarkable sandy way to the northward of the town, which makes a striking object. In steering for the harbour, along the west sh.o.r.e, there is a small flat rock, called Noah's Ark, and about a mile to the north-east of it, several others, called the Roman Rocks. These lie one mile and a half from the anchoring-place; and either between them, or to the northward of the Roman Rocks, there is a safe pa.s.sage into the bay. When the north- west gales are set in, the following bearings will direct the mariner to a safe and commodious berth: Noah's Ark, S. 51 E., and the centre of the hospital, S. 53 W., in seven fathoms. But if the south-east winds have not done blowing, it is better to stay further out in eight or nine fathoms.

The bottom is sandy, and the anchors settle considerably before they get hold. All the north part of the bay is low sandy land, but the east side is very high. About six miles east of Noah's Ark lies Seal Island, the south part of which is said to be dangerous, and not to be approached, with safety, nearer than in twenty-two fathoms. Off the Cape of Good Hope are many sunk rocks, some of which appear at low water; and others have breakers constantly on them.

The lat.i.tude of the anchoring-place in Simon's Bay, by observation 3420'S.

The longitude 18 29 E.

Dip of the south end of the magnetic needle 46 47 Variation of the compa.s.s 22 16 W.

On the full and change days, it was high-water at 5^h 55^m apparent time; the tide rose and fell five feet five inches; at the neap tides, it rose four feet one inch.

From the observations taken by Mr Bayley and myself, on the 11th of this month, when the Cape of Good Hope bore due west, we found its lat.i.tude to be 34 23' S., which is 4' to the northward of its position, as determined by the Abbe de la Caille.

Having completed our victualling, and furnished ourselves with the necessary supply of naval stores, we sailed out of the bay on the 9th of May, and on the 14th, we got into the south-east trade-wind, and steered to the westward of the islands of St Helena and Ascension. On the 31st, being in lat.i.tude 12 48' S., longitude 15 40' W., the magnetic needle was found to have no dip.

On the 12th of June, we pa.s.sed the equator for the fourth time during this voyage, in longitude 26 16' W. We now began to perceive the effects of a current setting N. by E., half a knot an hour. It continued in this direction till the middle of July, when it began to set a little to the southward of the west.

On the 12th of August, we made the western coast of Ireland, and after a fruitless attempt to get into Port Galway, from whence it was Captain Gore's intentions to have sent the journals and maps of our voyage to London, we were obliged, by strong southerly winds, to steer to the northward. Our next object was to put into Lough Sw.i.l.l.y; but the wind continuing in the same quarter, we stood on to the northward of Lewis Island; and on the 22d of August, at eleven in the morning, both ships came to an anchor at Stromness. From hence, I was dispatched by Captain Gore, to acquaint the Board of Admiralty with our arrival; and on the 4th day of October the ships arrived safe at the Nore, after an absence of four years, two months, and twenty-two days.

On quitting the Discovery at Stromness, I had the satisfaction of leaving the whole crew in perfect health; and at the same time, the number of convalescents on board the Resolution did not exceed two or three, of whom only one was incapable of service. In the course of our voyage, the Resolution lost but five men by sickness, three of whom were in a precarious state of health at our departure from England; the Discovery did not lose a man. An unremitting attention to the regulations established by Captain Cook, with which the world is already acquainted, may be justly considered as the princ.i.p.al cause, under the blessing of Divine Providence, of this singular success. But the baneful effects of salt provisions might perhaps, in the end, have been felt, notwithstanding these salutary precautions, if we had not a.s.sisted them, by availing ourselves of every subst.i.tute, our situation at various times afforded. These frequently consisting of articles, which our people had not been used to consider as food for men, and being sometimes exceedingly nauseous, it required the joint aid of persuasion, authority, and example, to conquer their prejudices and disgusts.

The preventives we princ.i.p.ally relied on were sour krout and portable soup.

As to the antis...o...b..tic remedies, with which we were amply supplied, we had no opportunity of trying their effects, as there did not appear the slightest symptoms of the scurvy, in either ship, during the whole voyage.

Our malt and hops had also been kept as a resource, in case of actual sickness; and on examination at the Cape of Good Hope, were found entirely spoiled. About the same time, were opened some casks of biscuit, flour, malt, pease, oatmeal, and groats, which, by way of experiment, had been put up in small casks, lined with tin-trail, and found all, except the pease, in a much better state, than could have been expected in the usual manner of package.

I cannot neglect this opportunity of recommending to the consideration of government, the necessity of allowing a sufficient quant.i.ty of Peruvian bark, to such of his majesty's ships as may be exposed to the influence of unwholesome climates. It happened very fortunately in the Discovery, that only one of the men that had fevers in the Straits of Sunda, stood in need of this medicine, as he alone consumed the whole quant.i.ty usually carried out by surgeons, in such vessels as ours. Had more been affected in the same manner, they would probably all have perished, from the want of the only remedy capable of affording them effectual relief.

Another circ.u.mstance attending this voyage, which, if we consider its duration, and the nature of the service in which we were engaged, will appear scarcely less singular than the extraordinary healthiness of the crews, was, that the two ships never lost sight of each other for a day together, except twice; which was owing, the first time, to an accident that happened to the Discovery off the coast of Owhyhee; and the second, to the fogs we met with at the entrance of Awatska Bay. A stronger proof cannot be given of the skill and vigilance of our subaltern officers, to whom this share of merit almost entirely belongs.

VOCABULARY OF THE LANGUAGE OF NOOTKA, OR KING GEORGE'S SOUND.