A Voyage to the South Sea Part 2

The next day at nine in the forenoon we saw the island of Tenerife bearing west-south-west half west about twelve leagues distant. It was covered with a thick haze except the north-westernmost part which is a remarkable headland, resembling a horse's head, the ears very distinct.

To the eastward of this head* lie two round rocks, the northern boundary of Tenerife. I had a good observation at noon by which I make the lat.i.tude of the two rocks 28 degrees 44 minutes north and their longitude by our timekeeper 16 degrees 5 minutes west. To the southward of these and near the sh.o.r.e is a high needle rock: about four leagues farther to the southward the coast inclines towards the west to the road of Santa Cruz, where we anch.o.r.ed at half-past nine on Sunday morning in twenty-five fathoms water, and moored along sh.o.r.e in the same depth, with the cupola tower of the church of St. Francis bearing west half north one mile, the east part of the road east by north, the castle on the south point south-west, and the west part of the Grand Canary south-south-east.

A Spanish packet bound to Corunna, an American brig, and several other vessels, were lying here.

(*Footnote. South 82 degrees east by the compa.s.s.)

As soon as the ship was anch.o.r.ed I sent an officer (Mr. Christian) to wait on the governor and to acquaint him I had put in to obtain refreshments and to repair the damages we had sustained in bad weather.

To this I had a very polite answer from the governor, * that I should be supplied with whatever the island afforded. I had also directed the officer to acquaint him that I would salute, provided an equal number of guns were to be returned but, as I received an extraordinary answer to this part of my message, purporting that his excellency did not return the same number but to persons equal in rank to himself, this ceremony was omitted.

(*Footnote. Marquis de Brancheforte.)

During this interval I was visited by the port-master (Captain Adams) and shortly afterwards several officers came on board from his excellency to compliment me on my arrival. As soon as the ship was moored I went on sh.o.r.e and paid my respects to him.

Monday 7.

On Monday morning I began to forward the ship's business with the utmost dispatch, and gave the necessary directions to Messrs. Collogan and sons, the contractors, for the supplies I wanted. I also got leave of the governor for Mr. Nelson to range the hills and examine the country in search of plants and natural curiosities.

As there was a great surf on the sh.o.r.e I bargained for everything I wanted to be brought off by the sh.o.r.e boats, and agreed to give five shillings per ton for water. Very good wine was bought at ten pounds per pipe, the contract price; but the superior quality was fifteen pounds; and some of this was not much inferior to the best London Madeira. I found this was an unfavourable season for other refreshments: Indian corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and onions, were all very scarce and double the price of what they are in summer. Beef also was difficult to be procured and exceedingly poor; the price nearly sixpence farthing per pound. The corn was three current dollars per fanega, which is full five shillings per bushel; and biscuit at twenty-five shillings for the hundred pounds.

Poultry was so scarce that a good fowl cost three shillings. This is therefore not a place for ships to expect refreshments at a reasonable price at this time of the year, wine excepted; but from March to November supplies are plentiful, particularly fruit, of which at this time we could procure none except a few dried figs and some bad oranges.

NAUTICAL REMARKS.

During our stay here the weather was fair with north-east winds and calms and small drizzling rain in the night. The thermometer from 66 to 69 degrees at noon in the shade. I could make no lunar observations for the longitude, but by the help of the timekeeper I have computed the situation of the town of Santa Cruz to be 28 degrees 28 minutes north lat.i.tude and 16 degrees 18 minutes west longitude. I observed the variation by two compa.s.ses to be 20 degrees 1 minute west: this much exceeded what I could have imagined; for in 1776 I observed it only 14 degrees 40 minutes west; a difference of above five degrees in eleven years: and this makes me reflect on the uncertainty of obtaining the exact deviation of the magnetic pole, and of course its annual variation which never can be accurately ascertained unless the observations are made always in one spot and with the same compa.s.s.

Tenerife, though considerably without the tropic, is so nearly within the limits of the tradewind that navigators generally steer to it from the eastward. The road of Santa Cruz lies on the east side of the island, at the end of a range of craggy hills, barren and very lofty, along with you sail west by south by compa.s.s into the road, with a sea unfathomable until near the sh.o.r.e. The anchoring ground may be accounted from fifty fathoms to twenty, or even fifteen. The bank is very steep and gives but little time to sound; for which reason it should be done effectually with a heavy lead, or a ship will be too near in before a stranger is aware of it: he will likewise too soon expect to find bottom, owing to the great deception of the adjacent high land. To obviate these difficulties it is necessary to observe that while a town which lies some distance to the southward of Santa Cruz is open with the castle on the south part of the road, though you may appear near to the sh.o.r.e, there is no anchorage; but after it is shut entirely in you get on the bank. The church bearing west or west by south and the south point of the road south-west half south to south-west by west is a good situation for anchoring: the depth about twenty-five fathoms. The distance from the sh.o.r.e will be three quarters of a mile; and the southernmost land that can be seen then will be a half or quarter point of the compa.s.s farther out than the south point of the road.

The bottom is black soft mud, with some patches of rocks; for which reason vessels that lie here any length of time buoy their cables. This precaution, besides being useful in that particular, they think makes them ride more easy when there is much sea setting into the road, which, with the wind any way to the southward of east or at south-west, must be very considerable; it is therefore usual to moor with four anchors, though more than two are scarce ever of use. Mooring is however advisable if a ship is only to remain twenty-four hours, and the tighter the better, that the cables may keep clear of the ground.

The landing on the beach is generally impracticable with our own boats, at least without great risk; but there is a very fine pier on which people may land without difficulty if there is not much swell in the road. To this pier the water is conveyed by pipes for the use of shipping, and for which all merchant-ships pay.

There is a degree of wretchedness and want among the lower cla.s.s of people which is not anywhere so common as among the Spanish and Portuguese settlements. To alleviate these evils the present governor of Tenerife has inst.i.tuted a most charitable society which he takes the trouble to superintend; and by considerable contributions a large airy dwelling that contains one hundred and twenty poor girls and as many men and boys has been built and endowed with a sufficiency of land round it, not only for all present purposes but for enlarging the building for more objects of charity as their funds increase. I had the honour to be shown by his excellency this asylum (Hospicio they call it) where there appeared in every countenance the utmost cheerfulness and content. The decency and neatness of the dress of the young females, with the order in which they were arranged at their spinning-wheels and looms in an extensive airy apartment, was admirable. A governess inspected and regulated all their works, which were the manufacturing of ribbons of all colours, coa.r.s.e linens, and tapes; all which were managed and brought to perfection by themselves from the silk and flax in their first state; even the dying of the colours is performed by them. These girls are received for five years, at the end of which they are at liberty to marry, and have for their portions their wheel and loom, with a sum of money proportioned to the state of the fund, which is a.s.sisted by the produce of their labour, and at this time was estimated at two thousand dollars per annum.

The men and boys are not less attended to: they are employed in coa.r.s.er work, blanketing and all kinds of common woollens: if they become infirm they spend the remainder of their days here comfortably and under a watchful inspector who attends them in the same manner as the governess does the girls. They are all visited every day by the governor, and a clergyman attends them every evening. By this humane inst.i.tution a number of people are rendered useful and industrious in a country where the poor, from the indulgence of the climate, are too apt to prefer a life of inactivity, though attended with wretchedness, to obtaining the comforts of life by industry and labour.

The number of inhabitants in the island I was informed were estimated at between eighty and one hundred thousand. Their annual export of wine is twenty thousand pipes and of brandy half that quant.i.ty. Vessels are frequently here from St. Eustatia, and from thence a great quant.i.ty of Tenerife wine is carried to the different parts of the West Indies, under the name of Madeira.

Tenerife is considered of more value than all the other Canaries: the inhabitants however, in scarce seasons, receive supplies from the Grand Canary; but their vineyards here are said to be greatly superior. Their produce of corn, though exceedingly good, is not sufficient for their consumption; and owing to this the Americans have an advantageous trade here for their flour and grain, and take wine in return.

The town of Santa Cruz is about half a mile in extent each way, built in a regular manner, and the houses in general large and airy, but the streets are very ill paved. I am told that they are subject to few diseases; but if any epidemic distemper breaks out it is attended with the most fatal consequences, particularly the smallpox, the bad effects of which they now endeavour to counteract by inoculation. For this reason they are very circ.u.mspect in admitting ships to have communication with the sh.o.r.e without bills of health.

A sloop from London, called the Chance, William Meridith, master, bound to Barbados, out nineteen days from the Downs, came into the road the day before we sailed. She had suffered much by the bad weather but, having brought no bill of health, the governor would not allow any person to come on sh.o.r.e unless I could vouch for them that no epidemic disease raged in England at the time they sailed, which I was able to do, it being nearly at the same time that I left the land; and by that means they had the governor's permission to receive the supplies they wanted without being obliged to perform quarantine.

Thursday 10.

Having finished our business at Tenerife on Thursday the 10th we sailed with the wind at south-east, our ship's company all in good health and spirits.

I now divided the people into three watches, and gave the charge of the third watch to Mr. Fletcher Christian, one of the mates. I have always considered this as a desirable regulation when circ.u.mstances will admit of it on many accounts; and am persuaded that unbroken rest not only contributes much towards the health of a ship's company but enables them more readily to exert themselves in cases of sudden emergency.

As it was my wish to proceed to Otaheite without stopping I ordered everybody to be at two-thirds allowance of bread: I also directed the water for drinking to be filtered though dripstones that I had bought at Tenerife for that purpose.

In the evening we pa.s.sed the south end of Tenerife which is a round lump of land that, from the lowness of the contiguous land, has at a distance the appearance of a separate island. By our run from the bay of Santa Cruz I make the lat.i.tude of the south end of Tenerife to be 28 degrees 6 minutes north.

We ran all night towards the south-south-west having the wind at south-east. The next morning we could see nothing of the land. I now made the ship's company acquainted with the intent of the voyage and, having been permitted to hold out this encouragement to them, I gave a.s.surances of the certainty of promotion to everyone whose endeavours should merit it.

The winds for some days after leaving Tenerife were mostly from the southward. Fishing-lines and tackle were distributed amongst the people and some dolphins were caught.

Thursday 17.

On the 17th the wind came round to the north-east and continued steady in that quarter till the 25th on which day at noon we were in 3 degrees 54 minutes north. As the cloudiness of the sky gave us reason to expect much rain we prepared the awnings with hoses for the convenience of saving water, in which we were not disappointed. From this time to our meeting with the south-east tradewind we had much wet weather, the air close and sultry with calms, and light variable winds generally from the southward.

Tuesday 29.

On the 29th there was so heavy a fall of rain that we caught seven hundred gallons of water.

Thursday 31.

On the 31st, lat.i.tude at noon 2 degrees 5 minutes north, found a current setting to the north-east at the rate of fourteen miles in the twenty-four hours. The thermometer was at 82 degrees in the shade, and 81 1/2 degrees at the surface of the sea, so that the air and the water were within half a degree of the same temperature. At eight o'clock in the evening we observed a violent rippling in the sea about half a mile to the north-west of us which had very much the appearance of breakers. This I imagine to have been occasioned by a large school (or mult.i.tude) of fish as it was exactly in the track the ship had pa.s.sed, so that if any real shoal had been there we must have seen it at the close of the evening when a careful lookout was always kept. However if it had appeared ahead of us instead of astern I should certainly have tacked to avoid it. To such appearances I attribute the accounts of many shoals within the tropics which cannot be found anywhere but in maps. Our lat.i.tude at this time was 2 degrees 8 minutes north and longitude 19 degrees 43 minutes west. The next day we had more of these appearances from the number of schools of fish by which the ship was surrounded.

February. Sat.u.r.day 2.

This morning we saw a sail to the north-north-west but at too great a distance to distinguish what she was.

Monday 4.

Had very heavy rain during which we nearly filled all our empty water casks. So much wet weather, with the closeness of the air, covered everything with mildew. The ship was aired below with fires and frequently sprinkled with vinegar; and every little interval of dry weather was taken advantage of to open all the hatchways, and clean the ship, and to have all the people's wet things washed and dried.

With this weather and light unsteady winds we advanced but 2 1/2 degrees in twelve days; at the end of which time we were relieved by the south-east tradewind which we fell in with on the 6th at noon in lat.i.tude 1 degree 21 minutes north and longitude 20 degrees 42 minutes west.

Thursday 7.

The next afternoon we crossed the equinoctial line in longitude 21 degrees 50 minutes west. The weather became fine and the south-east tradewind was fresh and steady, with which we kept a point free from the wind and got to the southward at a good rate.

The weather continuing dry we put some of our bread in casks, properly prepared for its reception, to preserve it from vermin: this experiment we afterwards found answered exceedingly well.

Sat.u.r.day 16.

On the 16th at daylight we saw a sail to the southward. The next day we came up with her and found her to be the British Queen, Simon Paul, master, from London, bound to the Cape of Good Hope on the whale-fishery.

She sailed from Falmouth the 5th of December, eighteen days before I left Spithead. By this ship I wrote to England. At sunset she was almost out of sight astern.

Monday 18.

In the course of this day's run the variation changed from west to east.

According to our observations the true and magnetic meridians coincided in lat.i.tude 20 degrees 0 minutes south and longitude 31 degrees 15 minutes west. At noon we were in lat.i.tude 20 degrees 44 minutes south and longitude 31 degrees 23 minutes west. In our advances towards the south the wind had gradually veered round to the east and was at this time at east-north-east. The weather after crossing the Line had been fine and clear, but the air so sultry as to occasion great faintness, the quicksilver in the thermometer in the daytime standing at between 81 and 83 degrees, and one time at 85 degrees. In our pa.s.sage through the northern tropic the air was temperate, the sun having then high south declination and the weather being generally fine till we lost the north-east tradewind; but such a thick haze surrounded the horizon that no object could be seen except at a very small distance. The haze commonly cleared away at sunset and gathered again at sunrise. Between the north-east and south-east tradewinds the calms and rains, if of long continuance, are very liable to produce sickness unless great attention is paid to keeping the ship clean and wholesome by giving all the air possible, drying between decks with fires, and drying and airing the people's clothes and bedding. Besides these precautions we frequently wetted with vinegar, and every evening the pumps were used as ventilators. With these endeavours to secure health we pa.s.sed the low lat.i.tudes without a single complaint.

The currents we met with were by no means regular, nor have I ever found them so in the middle of the ocean. However from the channel to the southward as far as Madeira there is generally a current setting to the south-south-east.

Thursday 21.

On the evening of the 21st a ship was seen in the north-east but at too great a distance to distinguish of what country.