From this specimen of the behaviour of part of the crew, it will not be difficult to frame some conjecture of the disorder and anarchy which took place when they at last got all on shore. For the men conceived that, by the loss of the ship, the authority of the officers was at an end, and they being now on a desolate coast, where scarcely any other provisions could be got except what should be saved out of the wreck, this was another unsurmountable source of discord, since the working upon the wreck, and the securing the provisions, so that they might be preserved for future exigences as much as possible, and the taking care that what was necessary for their present subsistance might be sparingly and equally distributed, were matters not to be brought about but by discipline and subordination; and the mutinous disposition of the people, stimulated by the impulses of immediate hunger, rendered every regulation made for this purpose ineffectual, so that there were continual concealments, frauds, and thefts, which animated each man against his fellow, and produced infinite feuds and contests. And hence there was a perverse and malevolent disposition constantly kept up amongst them, which rendered them utterly ungovernable.
Besides these heart-burnings occasioned by petulence and hunger, there was another important point which set the greatest part of the people at variance with the captain. This was their differing with him in opinion on the measures to be pursued in the present exigency: for the captain was determined, if possible, to fit up the boats in the best manner he could, and to proceed with them to the northward, since having with him above an hundred men in health, and having gotten some fire-arms and ammunition from the wreck, he did not doubt but they could master any Spanish vessel they should encounter with in those seas, and he thought he could not fail of meeting with one in the neighbourhood of Chiloe or Baldivia, in which, when he had taken her, he intended to proceed to the rendezvous at Juan Fernandes; and he farther insisted that should they light on no prize by the way, yet the boats alone would easily carry them thither. But this was a scheme that, however prudent, was no ways relished by the generality of his people; for, being quite jaded with the distresses and dangers they had already run through, they could not think of prosecuting an enterprise farther which had hitherto proved so disastrous. The common resolution therefore was to lengthen the long-boat, and with that and the rest of the boats to steer to the southward, to pass through the Streights of Magellan, and to range along the east side of South America till they should arrive at Brazil, where they doubted not to be well received, and to procure a passage to Great Britain. This project was at first sight infinitely more hazardous and tedious than what was proposed by the captain; but as it had the air of returning home, and flattered them with the hopes of bringing them once more to their native country, that circumstance alone rendered them inattentive to all its inconveniences, and made them adhere to it with insurmountable obstinacy; so that the captain himself, though he never changed his opinion, was yet obliged to give way to the torrent, and in appearance to acquiesce in this resolution, whilst he endeavoured underhand to give it all the obstruction he could, particularly in the lengthening the long-boat, which he contrived should be of such a size, that though it might serve to carry them to Juan Fernandes, would yet, he hoped, appear incapable of so long a navigation as that to the coast of Brazil.
But the captain, by his steady opposition at first to this favourite project, had much embittered the people against him, to which likewise the following unhappy accident greatly contributed. There was a midshipman whose name was Cozens, who had appeared the foremost in all the refractory proceedings of the crew. He had involved himself in brawls with most of the officers who had adhered to the captain's authority, and had even treated the captain himself with great abuse and insolence. As his turbulence and brutality grew every day more and more intolerable, it was not in the least doubted but there were some violent measures in agitation, in which Cozens was engaged as the ringleader: for which reason the captain, and those about him, constantly kept themselves on their guard. One day the purser, having, by the captain's order, stopped the allowance of a fellow who would not work, Cozens, though the man did not complain to him, intermeddled in the affair with great bitterness, and grossly insulted the purser, who was then delivering out provisions just by the captain's tent, and was himself sufficiently violent. The purser, enraged by his scurrility, and perhaps piqued by former quarrels, cried out, "A mutiny," adding, "The dog has pistols," and then himself fired a pistol at Cozens, which however mist him: but the captain, on this outcry and the report of the pistol, rushed out of his tent, and, not doubting but it had been fired by Cozens as the commencement of a mutiny, he immediately shot him in the head without farther deliberation, and though he did not kill him on the spot, yet the wound proved mortal, and he died about fourteen days after.
However, this incident, though sufficiently displeasing to the people, did yet, for a considerable time, awe them to their duty, and rendered them more submissive to the captain's authority; but at last, when towards the middle of October the long-boat was nearly compleated, and they were preparing to put to sea, the additional provocation he gave them by covertly traversing their project of proceeding through the Streights of Magellan, and their fears that he might at length engage a party sufficient to overturn this favourite measure, made them resolve to make use of the death of Cozens as a reason for depriving him of his command, under pretence of carrying him a prisoner to England, to be tried for murder; and he was accordingly confined under a guard. But they never intended to carry him with them, as they too well knew what they had to apprehend on their return to England, if their commander should be present to confront them: and therefore, when they were just ready to put to sea, they set him at liberty, leaving him and the few who chose to take their fortunes with him no other embarkation but the yawl, to which the barge was afterwards added, by the people on board her being prevailed on to return back.
When the ship was wreckt, there were alive on board the Wager near an hundred and thirty persons; of these above thirty died during their stay upon the place, and near eighty went off in the long-boat and the cutter to the southward: so that there remained with the captain, after their departure, no more than nineteen persons, which, however, were as many as the barge and the yawl, the only embarkations left them, could well carry off. It was the 13th of October, five months after the shipwreck, that the long-boat, converted into a schooner, weighed, and stood to the southward, giving the captain, who, with Lieutenant Hamilton of the land forces, and the surgeon, were then on the beach, three cheers at their departure: and on the 29th of January following they arrived at Rio Grande, on the coast of Brazil; but having, by various accidents, left about twenty of their people on shore at the different places they touched at, and a greater number having perished by hunger during the course of their navigation, there were no more than thirty of them remaining when they arrived in that port. Indeed, the undertaking of itself was a most extraordinary one; for (not to mention the length of the run) the vessel was scarcely able to contain the number that first put to sea in her, and their stock of provisions (being only what they had saved out of the ship) was extremely slender. They had this additional misfortune besides, that the cutter, the only boat they had with them, soon broke away from the stern, and was staved to pieces; so that when their provision and their water failed them, they had frequently no means of getting on shore to search for a fresh supply.
After the long-boat and cutter were gone, the captain, and those who were left with him, proposed to pass to the northward in the barge and yawl: but the weather was so bad, and the difficulty of subsisting so great, that it was two months from the departure of the long-boat before he was able to put to sea. It seems the place where the Wager was cast away was not a part of the continent, as was first imagined, but an island at some distance from the main, which afforded no other sorts of provision but shell-fish and a few herbs; and as the greatest part of what they had gotten from the ship was carried off in the long-boat, the captain and his people were often in extreme want of food, especially as they chose to preserve what little sea provisions remained, for their store when they should go to the northward. During their residence at this island, which was by the seamen denominated Wager's Island, they had now and then a straggling canoe or two of Indians, which came and bartered their fish and other provisions with our people. This was some little relief to their necessities, and at another season might perhaps have been greater: for as there were several Indian huts on the shore, it was supposed that in some years, during the height of summer, many of these savages might resort thither to fish: indeed, from what has been related in the account of the Anna pink, it should seem to be the general practice of those Indians to frequent this coast in the summer time for the benefit of fishing, and to retire in the winter into a better climate, more to the northward.
On this mention of the Anna pink, I cannot but observe how much it is to be lamented that the Wager's people had no knowledge of her being so near them on the coast; for as she was not above thirty leagues distant from them, and came into their neighbourhood about the same time the Wager was lost, and was a fine roomy ship, she could easily have taken them all on board, and have carried them to Juan Fernandes. Indeed, I suspect she was still nearer to them than what is here estimated; for several of the Wager's people, at different times, heard the report of a cannon, which I conceive could be no other than the evening gun fired from the Anna pink, especially as what was heard at Wager's Island was about the same time of the day. But to return to Captain Cheap.
Upon the 14th of December, the captain and his people embarked in the barge and the yawl, in order to proceed to the northward, taking on board with them all the provisions they could amass from the wreck of the ship; but they had scarcely been an hour at sea, when the wind began to blow hard, and the sea ran so high that they were obliged to throw the greatest part of their provisions overboard, to avoid immediate destruction. This was a terrible misfortune, in a part of the world where food is so difficult to be got: however, they persisted in their design, putting on shore as often as they could to seek subsistance. But about a fortnight after, another dreadful accident befel them, for the yawl sunk at an anchor, and one of the men in her was drowned; and as the barge was incapable of carrying the whole company, they were now reduced to the hard necessity of leaving four marines behind them on that desolate shore. Notwithstanding these disasters, they still kept on their course to the northward, though greatly delayed by the perverseness of the winds, and the frequent interruptions which their search after food occasioned, and constantly struggling with a series of the most sinister events, till at last, about the end of January, having made three unsuccessful attempts to double a headland, which they supposed to be what the Spaniards called Cape Tres Montes, it was unanimously resolved, finding the difficulties insurmountable, to give over this expedition, and to return again to Wager Island, where they got back about the middle of February, quite disheartened and dejected with their reiterated disappointments, and almost perishing with hunger and fatigue.
However, on their return they had the good luck to meet with several pieces of beef, which had been washed out of the wreck and were swimming in the sea. This was a most seasonable relief to them after the hardships they had endured: and to compleat their good fortune, there came, in a short time, two canoes of Indians, amongst which was a native of Chiloe, who spoke a little Spanish; and the surgeon, who was with Captain Cheap, understanding that language, he made a bargain with the Indian, that if he would carry the captain and his people to Chiloe in the barge, he should have her and all that belonged to her for his pains. Accordingly, on the 6th of March, the eleven persons to which the company was now reduced embarked in the barge on this new expedition; but after having proceeded for a few days, the captain and four of his principal officers being on shore, the six, who together with an Indian remained in the barge, put off with her to sea, and did not return again.
By this means there were left on shore Captain Cheap, Mr. Hamilton, lieutenant of marines, the Honourable Mr. Byron and Mr. Campbell, midshipmen, and Mr. Elliot the surgeon. One would have thought that their distresses had long before this time been incapable of augmentation; but they found, on reflection, that their present situation was much more dismaying than anything they had yet gone through, being left on a desolate coast without any provision, or the means of procuring any; for their arms, ammunition, and every conveniency they were masters of, except the tattered habits they had on, were all carried away in the barge.
But when they had sufficiently revolved in their own minds the various circumstances of this unexpected calamity, and were persuaded that they had no relief to hope for, they perceived a canoe at a distance, which proved to be that of the Indian who had undertaken to carry them to Chiloe, he and all his family being then on board it. He made no difficulty of coming to them; for it seems he had left Captain Cheap and his people a little before to go a-fishing, and had in the meantime committed them to the care of the other Indian, whom the sailors had carried to sea in the barge. When he came on shore, and found the barge gone and his companion missing, he was extremely concerned, and could with difficulty be persuaded that the other Indian was not murdered; yet being at last satisfied with the account that was given him, he still undertook to carry them to the Spanish settlements, and (as the Indians are well skilled in fishing and fowling) to procure them provisions by the way.
About the middle of March, Captain Cheap and the four who were left with him set out for Chiloe, the Indian having provided a number of canoes, and gotten many of his neighbours together for that purpose. Soon after they embarked, Mr. Elliot, the surgeon, died, so that there now remained only four of the whole company. At last, after a very complicated passage by land and water, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Campbell arrived in the beginning of June at the island of Chiloe, where they were received by the Spaniards with great humanity; but, on account of some quarrel among the Indians, Mr. Hamilton did not get there till two months later. Thus was it above a twelvemonth from the loss of the Wager before this fatiguing peregrination ended: and not till by a variety of misfortunes the company was diminished from twenty to no more than four, and those too brought so low that, had their distresses continued but a few days longer, in all probability none of them would have survived. For the captain himself was with difficulty recovered, and the rest were so reduced by the severity of the weather, their labour, their want of food, and of all kinds of necessaries, that it was wonderful how they supported themselves so long. After some stay at Chiloe, the captain and the three who were with him were sent to Valparaiso, and thence to St. Jago, the capital of Chili, where they continued above a year: but on the advice of a cartel being settled betwixt Great Britain and Spain, Captain Cheap, Mr. Byron, and Mr. Hamilton were permitted to return to Europe on board a French ship. The other midshipman, Mr. Campbell, having changed his religion whilst at St. Jago, chose to go back to Buenos Ayres with Pizarro and his officers, with whom he went afterwards to Spain on board the Asia; but having there failed in his endeavours to procure a commission from the court of Spain, he returned to England, and attempted to get reinstated in the British navy. He has since published a narration of his adventures, in which he complains of the injustice that had been done him, and strongly disavows his ever being in the Spanish service: but as the change of his religion, and his offering himself to the court of Spain (though he was not accepted), are matters which, he is conscious, are capable of being incontestably proved, on these two heads he has been entirely silent. And now, after this account of the accidents which befel the Anna pink, and the catastrophe of the Wager, I shall again resume the thread of our own story.
CHAPTER IV
CONCLUSION OF OUR PROCEEDINGS AT JUAN FERNANDES, FROM THE ARRIVAL OF THE "ANNA" PINK TO OUR FINAL DEPARTURE FROM THENCE
About a week after the arrival of our victualler, the Tryal sloop, that had been sent to the island of Masa Fuero, returned to an anchor at Juan Fernandes, having been round that island without meeting any part of our squadron. As upon this occasion the island of Masa Fuero was more particularly examined than I dare say it had ever been before, or perhaps ever will be again, and as the knowledge of it may, in certain circumstances, be of great consequence hereafter, I think it incumbent on me to insert the accounts given of this place by the officers of the Tryal sloop.
The Spaniards have generally mentioned two islands under the name of Juan Fernandes, styling them the greater and the less: the greater being that island where we anchored, and the less being the island we are now describing, which, because it is more distant from the continent, they have distinguished by the name of Masa Fuero. The Tryal sloop found that it bore from the greater Juan Fernandes W. by S., and was about twenty-two leagues distant. It is a much larger and better spot than has been generally reported; for former writers have represented it as a small barren rock, destitute of wood and water, and altogether inaccessible; whereas our people found it was covered with trees, and that there were several fine falls of water pouring down its sides into the sea. They found, too, that there was a place where a ship might come to an anchor on the north side of it, though indeed the anchorage is inconvenient; for the bank extends but a little way, is steep too, and has very deep water upon it, so that you must come to an anchor very near the shore, and there lie exposed to all the winds but a southerly one. And besides the inconvenience of the anchorage, there is also a reef of rocks running off the eastern point of the island, about two miles in length, though there is little danger to be feared from them, because they are always to be seen by the seas breaking over them. This place has at present one advantage beyond the island of Juan Fernandes; for it abounds with goats, who, not being accustomed to be disturbed, were no ways shy or apprehensive of danger till they had been frequently fired at. These animals reside here in great tranquillity, the Spaniards having not thought the island considerable enough to be frequented by their enemies, and have not therefore been solicitous to destroy the provisions upon it, so that no dogs have been hitherto set on shore there. Besides the goats, our people found there vast numbers of seals and sea-lions: and upon the whole, they seemed to imagine that though it was not the most eligible place for a ship to refresh at, yet in case of necessity it might afford some sort of shelter, and prove of considerable use, especially to a single ship, who might apprehend meeting with a superior force at Fernandes.
The latter part of the month of August was spent in unlading the provisions from the Anna pink, when we had the mortification to find that great quantities of our provisions, as bread, rice, grots, etc., were decayed, and unfit for use. This was owing to the water the pink had made by her working and straining in bad weather; for hereby several of her casks had rotted, and her bags were soaked through. And now, as we had no farther occasion for her service, the commodore, pursuant to his orders from the Board of Admiralty, sent notice to Mr. Gerard, her master, that he discharged the Anna pink from attending the squadron, and gave him, at the same time, a certificate specifying how long she had been employed. In consequence of this dismission, her master was at liberty either to return directly to England, or to make the best of his way to any port where he thought he could take in such a cargo as would answer the interest of his owners. But the master being sensible of the bad condition of the ship, and of her unfitness for any such voyage, wrote the next day an answer to the commodore's message, acquainting Mr. Anson, that from the great quantity of water the pink had made in her passage round Cape Horn, and since, that in the tempestuous weather she had met with on the coast of Chili, he had reason to apprehend that her bottom was very much decayed. He added that her upper works were rotten abaft; that she was extremely leaky; that her fore beam was broke; and that, in his opinion, it was impossible to proceed to sea with her before she had been thoroughly refitted; and he therefore requested the commodore that the carpenters of the squadron might be directed to survey her, that their judgment of her condition might be known. In compliance with this desire, Mr. Anson immediately ordered the carpenters to take a careful and strict survey of the Anna pink, and to give him a faithful report, under their hands, of the condition in which they found her, directing them at the same time to proceed herein with such circumspection that, if they should be hereafter called upon, they might be able to make oath of the veracity of their proceedings. Pursuant to these orders, the carpenters immediately set about the examination, and the next day made their report; which was, that the pink had no less than fourteen knees and twelve beams broken and decayed; that one breast hook was broken, and another rotten; that her water-ways were open and decayed; that two standards and several clamps were broken, besides others which were rotten; that all her iron-work was greatly decayed; that her spirkiting and timbers were very rotten; and that, having ripped off part of her sheathing, they found her wales and outside planks extremely defective, and her bows and decks very leaky; and in consequence of these defects and decays, they certified that in their opinion she could not depart from the island without great hazard, unless she was first of all thoroughly refitted.
The thorough refitting of the Anna pink, proposed by the carpenters, was, in our present situation, impossible to be complied with, as all the plank and iron in the squadron was insufficient for that purpose. And now the master, finding his own sentiments confirmed by the opinion of all the carpenters, he offered a petition to the commodore in behalf of his owners, desiring that, since it appeared he was incapable of leaving the island, Mr. Anson would please to purchase the hull and furniture of the pink for the use of the squadron. Hereupon the commodore ordered an inventory to be taken of every particular belonging to the pink, with its just value; and as by this inventory it appeared that there were many stores which would be useful in refitting the other ships, and which were at present very scarce in the squadron, by reason of the great quantities that had been already expended, he agreed with Mr. Gerard to purchase the whole together for £300. The pink being thus broken up, Mr. Gerard, with the hands belonging to the pink, were sent on board the Gloucester, as that ship had buried the greatest number of men in proportion to her complement. But afterwards, one or two of them were received on board the Centurion, on their own petition, they being extremely averse to sailing in the same ship with their old master, on account of some particular ill-usage they conceived they had suffered from him.
This transaction brought us down to the beginning of September, and our people by this time were so far recovered of the scurvy, that there was little danger of burying any more at present; and therefore I shall now sum up the total of our loss since our departure from England, the better to convey some idea of our past sufferings, and of our present strength. We had buried on board the Centurion, since our leaving St. Helens, two hundred and ninety-two, and had now remaining on board two hundred and fourteen. This will doubtless appear a most extraordinary mortality: but yet on board the Gloucester it had been much greater, for out of a much smaller crew than ours they had lost the same number, and had only eighty-two remaining alive. It might be expected that on board the Tryal the slaughter would have been the most terrible, as her decks were almost constantly knee-deep in water; but it happened otherwise, for she escaped more favourably than the rest, since she only buried forty-two, and had now thirty-nine remaining alive. The havock of this disease had fallen still severer on the invalids and marines than on the sailors; for on board the Centurion, out of fifty invalids and seventy-nine marines, there remained only four invalids, including officers, and eleven marines: and on board the Gloucester every invalid perished, and out of forty-eight marines only two escaped. From this account it appears that the three ships together departed from England with nine hundred and sixty-one men on board, of whom six hundred and twenty-six were dead before this time; so that the whole of our remaining crews, which were now to be distributed amongst three ships, amounted to no more than three hundred and thirty-five men and boys: a number greatly insufficient for the manning the Centurion alone, and barely capable of navigating all the three, with the utmost exertion of their strength and vigour. This prodigious reduction of our men was still the more terrifying as we were hitherto uncertain of the fate of Pizarro's squadron, and had reason to suppose that some part of it at least had got round into these seas. Indeed, we were satisfied from our own experience that they must have suffered greatly in their passage; but then every port in the South Seas was open to them, and the whole power of Chili and Peru would doubtless be united in refreshing and refitting them, and recruiting the numbers they had lost. Besides, we had some obscure knowledge of a force to be sent out from Callao; and, however contemptible the ships and sailors of this part of the world may have been generally esteemed, it was scarcely possible for anything bearing the name of a ship of force to be feebler or less considerable than ourselves. And had there been nothing to be apprehended from the naval power of the Spaniards in this part of the world, yet our enfeebled condition would nevertheless give us the greatest uneasiness, as we were incapable of attempting any of their considerable places; for the risquing of twenty men, weak as we then were, was risquing the safety of the whole: so that we conceived we should be necessitated to content ourselves with what few prizes we could pick up at sea before we were discovered; after which we should in all probability be obliged to depart with precipitation, and esteem ourselves fortunate to regain our native country, leaving our enemies to triumph on the inconsiderable mischief they had received from a squadron whose equipment had filled them with such dreadful apprehensions. This was a subject on which we had reason to imagine the Spanish ostentation would remarkably exert itself, though the causes of our disappointment and their security were neither to be sought for in their valour nor our misconduct.
Such were the desponding reflections which at that time arose on the review and comparison of our remaining strength with our original numbers. Indeed, our fears were far from being groundless, or disproportioned to our feeble and almost desperate situation; for though the final event proved more honourable than we had foreboded, yet the intermediate calamities did likewise greatly surpass our most gloomy apprehensions, and could they have been predicted to us at this island of Juan Fernandes, they would doubtless have appeared insurmountable. But to return to our narration.
In the beginning of September, as has been already mentioned, our men were tolerably well recovered; and now, the season for navigation in this climate drawing near, we exerted ourselves in getting our ships in readiness for the sea. We converted the fore-mast of the victualler into a main-mast for the Tryal sloop; and still flattering ourselves with the possibility of the arrival of some other ships of our squadron, we intended to leave the main-mast of the victualler to make a mizen-mast for the Wager. Thus all hands being employed in forwarding our departure, we, on the 8th, about eleven in the morning, espied a sail to the N.E. which continued to approach us till her courses appeared even with the horizon. Whilst she advanced, we had great hopes she might prove one of our own squadron; but as at length she steered away to the eastward without haling in for the island, we thence concluded she must be a Spaniard. And now great disputes were set on foot about the possibility of her having discovered our tents on shore, some of us strongly insisting that she had doubtless been near enough to have perceived something that had given her a jealousy of an enemy, which had occasioned her standing to the eastward without haling in. However, leaving these contests to be settled afterwards, it was resolved to pursue her, and, the Centurion being in the greatest forwardness, we immediately got all our hands on board, set up our rigging, bent our sails, and by five in the afternoon got under sail. We had at this time very little wind, so that all the boats were employed to tow us out of the bay; and even what wind there was, lasted only long enough to give us an offing of two or three leagues, when it flatted to a calm. The night coming on, we lost sight of the chace, and were extremely impatient for the return of daylight, in hopes to find that she had been becalmed as well as we, though I must confess that her greater distance from the land was a reasonable ground for suspecting the contrary, as we indeed found in the morning to our great mortification, for though the weather continued perfectly clear, we had no sight of the ship from the mast-head. But as we were now satisfied that it was an enemy, and the first we had seen in these seas, we resolved not to give over the search lightly; and, a small breeze springing up from the W.N.W., we got up our top-gallant masts and yards, set all the sails, and steered to the S.E. in hopes of retrieving our chace, which we imagined to be bound to Valparaiso. We continued on this course all that day and the next, and then, not getting sight of our chace, we gave over the pursuit, conceiving that by that time she must, in all probability, have reached her port. Being therefore determined to return to Juan Fernandes, we haled up to the S.W. with that view, having but very little wind till the 12th, when, at three in the morning, there sprung up a fresh gale from the W.S.W. which obliged us to tack and stand to the N.W. At daybreak we were agreeably surprized with the sight of a sail on our weather-bow, between four and five leagues distant. We immediately crouded all the sail we could, and stood after her, and soon perceived it not to be the same ship we originally gave chace to. She at first bore down upon us, shewing Spanish colours, and making a signal as to her consort; but observing that we did not answer her signal, she instantly loofed close to the wind, and stood to the southward. Our people were now all in spirits, and put the ship about with great briskness; and as the chace appeared to be a large ship, and had mistaken us for her consort, we conceived that she was a man-of-war, and probably one of Pizarro's squadron. This induced the commodore to order all the officers' cabins to be knocked down and thrown overboard, with several casks of water and provisions which stood between the guns, so that we had soon a clear ship, ready for an engagement. About nine o'clock we had thick hazy weather and a shower of rain, during which we lost sight of the chace; and we were apprehensive, if this dark weather should continue, that by going upon the other tack, or by some other artifice, she might escape us; but it clearing up in less than an hour, we found that we had both weathered and fore-reached upon her considerably, and were then near enough to discover that she was only a merchantman, without so much as a single tier of guns. About half an hour after twelve, being got within a reasonable distance of her, we fired four shot amongst her rigging; on which they lowered their top-sails, and bore down to us, but in very great confusion, their top-gallant sails and stay-sails all fluttering in the winds: this was owing to their having let run their sheets and halyards just as we fired at them, after which not a man amongst them had courage enough to venture aloft (for there the shot had passed but just before) to take them in. As soon as the vessel came within hale of us, the commodore ordered them to bring-to under his lee quarter, and then hoisted out the boat, and sent Mr. Saumarez, his first lieutenant, to take possession of the prize, with directions to send all the prisoners on board the Centurion, but first the officers and passengers. When Mr. Saumarez came on board them, they received him at the side with the strongest tokens of the most abject submission, for they were all of them (especially the passengers, who were twenty-five in number) extremely terrified, and under the greatest apprehensions of meeting with very severe and cruel usage; but the lieutenant endeavoured, with great courtesy, to dissipate their fright, assuring them that their fears were altogether groundless, and that they would find a generous enemy in the commodore, who was not less remarkable for his lenity and humanity than for his resolution and courage. The prisoners, who were first sent on board the Centurion, informed us that our prize was called Neustra Senora del Monte Carmelo, and was commanded by Don Manuel Zamorra. Her cargo consisted chiefly of sugar, and great quantities of blue cloth made in the province of Quito, somewhat resembling our English coarse broadcloths, but inferior to them. They had besides several bales of a coarser sort of cloth, of different colours, somewhat like Colchester bays, called by them Pannia da Tierra, with a few bales of cotton, and some tobacco, which, though strong, was not ill flavoured. These were the principal goods on board her; but we found besides what was to us much more valuable than the rest of the cargoe: this was some trunks of wrought plate, and twenty-three serons of dollars, each weighing upwards of 200 lb. averdupois. The ship's burthen was about four hundred and fifty tons; she had fifty-three sailors on board, both whites and blacks; she came from Callao, and had been twenty-seven days at sea before she fell into our hands. She was bound to the port of Valparaiso, in the kingdom of Chili, and proposed to have returned from thence loaded with corn and Chili wine, some gold, dried beef, and small cordage, which at Callao they convert into larger rope. Our prize had been built upwards of thirty years; yet, as they lie in harbour all the winter months, and the climate is favourable, they esteemed it no very great age. Her rigging was very indifferent, as were likewise her sails, which were made of cotton. She had only three four-pounders, which were altogether unserviceable, their carriages being scarcely able to support them: and there were no small arms on board, except a few pistols belonging to the passengers. The prisoners informed us that they left Callao in company with two other ships, whom they had parted with some days before, and that at first they conceived us to be one of their company; and by the description we gave them of the ship we had chased from Juan Fernandes, they assured us she was of their number, but that the coming in sight of that island was directly repugnant to the merchants' instructions, who had expressly forbid it, as knowing that if any English squadron was in those seas, the island of Fernandes was most probably the place of their rendezvous.
After this short account of the ship and her cargoe, it is necessary that I should relate the important intelligence which we met with on board her, partly from the information of the prisoners, and partly from the letters and papers which fell into our hands. We here first learnt with certainty the force and destination of that squadron which cruized off the Maderas at our arrival there, and afterwards chased the Pearl in our passage to Port St. Julian. This we now knew was a squadron composed of five large Spanish ships, commanded by Admiral Pizarro, and purposely fitted out to traverse our designs, as hath been already more amply related in the third chapter of the first book. We had at the same time, too, the satisfaction to find that Pizarro, after his utmost endeavours to gain his passage into these seas, had been forced back again into the river of Plate, with the loss of two of his largest ships. And besides this disappointment of Pizarro, which, considering our great debility, was no unacceptable intelligence, we farther learnt, that though an embargo had been laid upon all shipping in these seas by the Viceroy of Peru, in the month of May preceding, on a supposition that about that time we might arrive upon the coast, yet it now no longer subsisted: for on the account sent overland by Pizarro of his own distresses, part of which they knew we must have encountered, as we were at sea during the same time, and on their having no news of us in eight months after we were known to set sail from St. Catherine's, they were fully satisfied that we were either shipwrecked, or had perished at sea, or, at least, had been obliged to put back again, as it was conceived impossible for any ships to continue at sea during so long an interval: and therefore, on the application of the merchants, and the firm persuasion of our having miscarried, the embargo had been lately taken off.
This last article made us flatter ourselves that, as the enemy was still a stranger to our having got round Cape Horn, and the navigation of these seas was restored, we might meet with some valuable captures, and might thereby indemnify ourselves for the incapacity we were under of attempting any of their considerable settlements on shore. And thus much we were certain of, from the information of our prisoners, that, whatever our success might be, as to the prizes we might light on, we had nothing to fear, weak as we were, from the Spanish force in this part of the world, though we discovered that we had been in most imminent peril from the enemy when we least apprehended it, and when our other distresses were at the greatest height; for we learnt, from the letters on board, that Pizarro, in the express he dispatched to the Viceroy of Peru, after his return to the river of Plate, had intimated to him that it was possible some part at least of the English squadron might get round; but that, as he was certain from his own experience that if they did arrive in those seas it must be in a very weak and defenceless condition, he advised the viceroy, in order to be secure at all events, to send what ships of war he had to the southward, where, in all probability, they would intercept us singly, before we had an opportunity of touching at any port for refreshment; in which case he doubted not but we should prove an easy conquest. The Viceroy of Peru approved of this advice, and as he had already fitted out four ships of force from Callao—one of fifty guns, two of forty guns, and one of twenty-four guns, which were intended to join Pizarro when he arrived on the coast of Chili—the viceroy now stationed three of these off the Port of Conception, and one of them at the island of Fernandes, where they continued cruizing for us till the 6th of June, and then not seeing anything of us, and conceiving it to be impossible that we could have kept the seas so long, they quitted their cruise and returned to Callao, fully persuaded that we had either perished, or at least had been driven back. Now, as the time of their quitting their stations was but a few days before our arrival at the island of Fernandes, it is evident that had we made that island on our first search for it, without haling in for the main to secure our easting (a circumstance which at that time we considered as very unfortunate to us, on account of the numbers which we lost by our longer continuance at sea)—had we, I say, made the island on the 28th of May, when we first expected to see it, and were in reality very near it, we had doubtless fallen in with some part of the Spanish squadron; and in the distressed condition we were then in, the meeting with a healthy, well-provided enemy was an incident that could not but have been perplexing, and might perhaps have proved fatal, not only to us, but to the Tryal, the Gloucester, and the Anna pink, who separately joined us, and who were each of them less capable than we were of making any considerable resistance. I shall only add, that these Spanish ships sent out to intercept us had been greatly shattered by a storm during their cruise, and that, after their arrival at Callao, they had been laid up. And our prisoners assured us that whenever intelligence was received at Lima of our being in these seas, it would be at least two months before this armament could be again fitted out.
The whole of this intelligence was as favourable as we, in our reduced circumstances, could wish for. And now we were no longer at a loss as to the broken jars, ashes, and fishbones which we had observed at our first landing at Juan Fernandes, these things being doubtless the relicts of the cruisers stationed off that port. Having thus satisfied ourselves in the material articles of our inquiry, and having gotten on board the Centurion most of the prisoners, and all the silver, we, at eight in the same evening, made sail to the northward, in company with our prize, and at six the next morning discovered the island of Fernandes, where, the following day, both we and our prize came to an anchor.
And here I cannot omit one remarkable incident which occurred when the prize and her crew came into the bay where the rest of the squadron lay. The Spaniards in the Carmelo had been sufficiently informed of the distresses we had gone through, and were greatly surprized that we had ever surmounted them; but when they saw the Tryal sloop at anchor, they were still more astonished that after all our fatigues we had the industry (besides refitting our other ships) to complete such a vessel in so short time, they taking it for granted that we had built her upon the spot: nor was it without great difficulty they were at last prevailed upon to believe that she came from England with the rest of the squadron, they long insisting that it was impossible such a bauble as that could pass round Cape Horn, when the best ships of Spain were obliged to put back.
By the time we arrived at Juan Fernandes, the letters found on board our prize were more minutely examined: and, it appearing from them, and from the accounts of our prisoners, that several other merchantmen were bound from Callao to Valparaiso, Mr. Anson dispatched the Tryal sloop the very next morning to cruise off the last-mentioned port, reinforcing her with ten hands from on board his own ship. Mr. Anson likewise resolved, on the intelligence recited above, to separate the ships under his command, and employ them in distinct cruises, as he thought that by this means we should not only increase our chance for prizes, but that we should likewise run a less risque of alarming the coast, and of being discovered. And now the spirits of our people being greatly raised, and their despondency dissipated by this earnest of success, they forgot all their past distresses, and resumed their wonted alacrity, and laboured indefatigably in completing our water, receiving our lumber, and in preparing to take our farewell of the island: but as these occupations took us up four or five days with all our industry, the commodore, in that interval, directed that the guns belonging to the Anna pink, being four six-pounders, four four-pounders, and two swivels, should be mounted on board the Carmelo, our prize: and having sent on board the Gloucester six passengers and twenty-three seamen to assist in navigating the ship, he directed Captain Mitchel to leave the island as soon as possible, the service demanding the utmost dispatch, ordering him to proceed to the latitude of five degrees south, and there to cruise off the highland of Paita, at such a distance from shore as should prevent his being discovered. On this station he was to continue till he should be joined by the commodore, which would be whenever it should be known that the viceroy had fitted out the ships at Callao, or on Mr. Anson's receiving any other intelligence that should make it necessary to unite our strength. These orders being delivered to the captain of the Gloucester, and all our business compleated, we, on the Saturday following, being the 19th of September, weighed our anchor, in company with our prize, and got out of the bay, taking our last leave of the island of Juan Fernandes, and steering to the eastward, with an intention of joining the Tryal sloop in her station off Valparaiso.
CHAPTER V
OUR CRUISE FROM THE TIME OF OUR LEAVING JUAN
FERNANDES TO THE TAKING THE TOWN OF PAITA
Although the Centurion, with her prize, the Carmelo, weighed from the bay of Juan Fernandes on the 19th of September, leaving the Gloucester at anchor behind her, yet, by the irregularity and fluctuation of the winds in the offing, it was the 22d of the same month, in the evening, before we lost sight of the island: after which we continued our course to the eastward, in order to reach our station, and to join the Tryal off Valparaiso. The next night the weather proved squally, and we split our main top-sail, which we handed for the present, but got it repaired, and set it again the next morning. In the evening, a little before sunset, we saw two sail to the eastward; on which our prize stood directly from us, to avoid giving any suspicion of our being cruisers, whilst we, in the meantime, made ourselves ready for an engagement, and steered with all our canvas towards the two ships we had discovered. We soon perceived that one of these, which had the appearance of being a very stout ship, made directly for us, whilst the other kept at a great distance. By seven o'clock we were within pistol-shot of the nearest, and had a broadside ready to pour into her, the gunners having their matches in their hands, and only waiting for orders to fire; but, as we knew it was now impossible for her to escape us, Mr. Anson, before he permitted us to fire, ordered the master to hale the ship in Spanish; on which the commanding officer on board her, who proved to be Mr. Hughes, lieutenant of the Tryal, answered us in English, and informed us that she was a prize taken by the Tryal a few days before, and that the other sail at a distance was the Tryal herself disabled in her masts. We were soon after joined by the Tryal, and Captain Saunders, her commander, came on board the Centurion. He acquainted the commodore that he had taken this ship the 18th instant; that she was a prime sailor, and had cost him thirty-six hours' chace before he could come up with her; that for some time he gained so little upon her that he began to despair of taking her; and the Spaniards, though alarmed at first with seeing nothing but a cloud of sail in pursuit of them, the Tryal's hull being so low in the water that no part of it appeared, yet knowing the goodness of their ship, and finding how little the Tryal neared them, they at length laid aside their fears, and recommending themselves to the blessed Virgin for protection, began to think themselves secure. Indeed their success was very near doing honour to their Ave Marias, for, altering their course in the night, and shutting up their windows to prevent any of their lights from being seen, they had some chance of escaping; but a small crevice in one of the shutters rendered all their invocations ineffectual, for through this crevice the people on board the Tryal perceived a light, which they chased till they arrived within gunshot, and then Captain Saunders alarmed them unexpectedly with a broadside, when they flattered themselves they were got out of his reach. However, for some time after they still kept the same sail abroad, and it was not observed that this first salute had made any impression on them; but, just as the Tryal was preparing to repeat her broadside, the Spaniards crept from their holes, lowered their sails, and submitted without any opposition. She was one of the largest merchantmen employed in those seas, being about six hundred tuns burthen, and was called the Arranzazu. She was bound from Callao to Valparaiso, and had much the same cargo with the Carmelo we had taken before, except that her silver amounted only to about £5000 sterling.
But to balance this success, we had the misfortune to find that the Tryal had sprung her main-mast, and that her main top-mast had come by the board; and as we were all of us standing to the eastward the next morning, with a fresh gale at south, she had the additional ill-luck to spring her fore-mast: so that now she had not a mast left on which she could carry sail. These unhappy incidents were still aggravated by the impossibility we were just then under of assisting her; for the wind blew so hard, and raised such a hollow sea, that we could not venture to hoist out our boat, and consequently could have no communication with her; so that we were obliged to lie to for the greatest part of forty-eight hours to attend her, as we could have no thought of leaving her to herself in her present unhappy situation. It was no small accumulation to these misfortunes that we were all the while driving to the leeward of our station, at the very time too, when, by our intelligence, we had reason to expect several of the enemy's ships would appear upon the coast, who would now gain the port of Valparaiso without obstruction. And I am verily persuaded that the embarrassment we received from the dismasting of the Tryal, and our absence from our intended station, occasioned thereby, deprived us of some very considerable captures.
The weather proving somewhat more moderate on the 27th, we sent our boat for the captain of the Tryal, who, when he came on board us, produced an instrument, signed by himself and all his officers, representing that the sloop, besides being dismasted, was so very leaky in her hull that even in moderate weather it was necessary to ply the pumps constantly, and that they were then scarcely sufficient to keep her free; so that in the late gale, though they had all been engaged at the pumps by turns, yet the water had increased upon them; and, upon the whole, they apprehended her at present to be so very defective, that if they met with much bad weather they must all inevitably perish; and therefore they petitioned the commodore to take some measures for their future safety. But the refitting of the Tryal, and the repairing of her defects, was an undertaking that in the present conjuncture greatly exceeded our power; for we had no masts to spare her, we had no stores to complete her rigging, nor had we any port where she might be hove down and her bottom examined: besides, had a port and proper requisites for this purpose been in our possession, yet it would have been extreme imprudence, in so critical a conjuncture, to have loitered away so much time as would have been necessary for these operations. The commodore therefore had no choice left him, but was under a necessity of taking out her people and destroying her. However, as he conceived it expedient to keep up the appearance of our force, he appointed the Tryal's prize (which had been often employed by the Viceroy of Peru as a man-of-war) to be a frigate in his Majesty's service, manning her with the Tryal's crew, and giving commissions to the captain and all the inferior officers accordingly. This new frigate, when in the Spanish service, had mounted thirty-two guns; but she was now to have only twenty, which were the twelve that were on board the Tryal, and eight that had belonged to the Anna pink. When this affair was thus resolved on, Mr. Anson gave orders to Captain Saunders to put it in execution, directing him to take out of the sloop the arms, stores, ammunition, and everything that could be of any use to the other ships, and then to scuttle her and sink her. After Captain Saunders had seen her destroyed, he was to proceed with his new frigate (to be called the Tryal's prize) and to cruise off the highland of Valparaiso, keeping it from him N.N.W. at the distance of twelve or fourteen leagues: for as all ships bound from Valparaiso to the northward steer that course, Mr. Anson proposed by this means to stop any intelligence that might be dispatched to Callao of two of their ships being missing, which might give them apprehensions of the English squadron being in their neighbourhood. The Tryal's prize was to continue on this station twenty-four days, and, if not joined by the commodore at the expiration of that term, she was then to proceed down the coast to Pisco or Nasca, where she would be certain to meet with Mr. Anson. The commodore likewise ordered Lieutenant Saumarez, who commanded the Centurion's prize, to keep company with Captain Saunders, both to assist him in unloading the sloop, and also that by spreading in their cruise there might be less danger of any of the enemy's ships slipping by unobserved. These orders being dispatched, the Centurion parted from the other vessels at eleven in the evening, on the 27th of September, directing her course to the southward, with a view of cruising for some days to the windward of Valparaiso.
And now by this distribution of our ships we flattered ourselves that we had taken all the advantages of the enemy that we possibly could with our small force, since our disposition was doubtless the most prudent that could be projected. For, as we might suppose the Gloucester by this time to be drawing near the highland of Paita, we were enabled, by our separate stations, to intercept all vessels employed either betwixt Peru and Chili to the southward, or betwixt Panama and Peru to the northward: since the principal trade from Peru to Chili being carried on to the port of Valparaiso, the Centurion cruising to the windward of Valparaiso would, in all probability, meet with them, as it is the constant practice of those ships to fall in with the coast to the windward of that port. The Gloucester would, in like manner, be in the way of the trade bound from Panama or to the northward, to any part of Peru, since the highland off which she was stationed is constantly made by every ship in that voyage. And whilst the Centurion and Gloucester were thus situated for interrupting the enemy's trade, the Tryal's prize and Centurion's prize were as conveniently posted for preventing all intelligence, by intercepting all ships bound from Valparaiso to the northward; for it was on board these vessels that it was to be feared some account of us might possibly be sent to Peru.
But the most prudent dispositions carry with them only a probability of success, and can never ensure its certainty, since those chances which it was reasonable to overlook in deliberation are sometimes of most powerful influence in execution. Thus in the present case, the distress of the Tryal, and our quitting our station to assist her (events which no degree of prudence could either foresee or obviate), gave an opportunity to all the ships bound to Valparaiso to reach that port without molestation during this unlucky interval. So that though, after leaving Captain Saunders, we were very expeditious in regaining our station, where we got the 29th at noon, yet in plying on and off till the 6th of October we had not the good fortune to discover a sail of any sort: and then having lost all hopes of meeting with better fortune by a longer stay, we made sail to the leeward of the port, in order to join our prizes; but when we arrived off the highland where they were directed to cruise, we did not find them, though we continued there four or five days. We supposed that some chace had occasioned their leaving their station, and therefore we proceeded down the coast to the highland of Nasca, which was the second rendezvous, where Captain Saunders was directed to join us. Here we got on the 21st, and were in great expectation of falling in with some of the enemy's vessels, as both the accounts of former voyages and the information of our prisoners assured us that all ships bound to Callao constantly make this land, to prevent the danger of running to the leeward of the port. But notwithstanding the advantages of this station, we saw no sail till the 2d of November, when two ships appeared in sight together; we immediately gave them chace, and soon perceived that they were the Tryal's and Centurion's prizes. As they had the wind of us, we brought to and waited their coming up, when Captain Saunders came on board us, and acquainted the commodore that he had cleared the Tryal pursuant to his orders, and having scuttled her, he remained by her till she sunk, but that it was the 4th of October before this was effected; for there ran so large and hollow a sea, that the sloop, having neither masts nor sails to steady her, rolled and pitched so violently, that it was impossible for a boat to lay alongside of her for the greatest part of the time: and during this attendance on the sloop, they were all driven so far to the north-west that they were afterwards obliged to stretch a long way to the westward to regain the ground they had lost; which was the reason that we had not met with them on their station, as we expected. We found they had not been more fortunate in their cruise than we were, for they had seen no vessel since they separated from us. The little success we all had, and our certainty that had any ships been stirring in these seas for some time past we must have met with them, made us believe that the enemy at Valparaiso, on the missing of the two ships we had taken, had suspected us to be in the neighbourhood, and had consequently laid an embargo on all the trade in the southern parts. We likewise apprehended that they might by this time be fitting out the men-of-war at Callao, as we knew that it was no uncommon thing for an express from Valparaiso to reach Lima in twenty-nine or thirty days, and it was now more than fifty since we had taken our first prize. These apprehensions of an embargo along the coast, and of the equipment of the Spanish squadron at Callao, determined the commodore to hasten down to the leeward of Callao, and to join Captain Michel (who was stationed off Paita) as soon as possible, that our strength being united we might be prepared to give the ships from Callao a warm reception, if they dared to put to sea. With this view we bore away the same afternoon, taking particular care to keep at such a distance from the shore that there might be no danger of our being discovered from thence; for we knew that all the country ships were commanded, under the severest penalty, not to sail by the port of Callao without stopping; and as this order was constantly complied with, we should undoubtedly be known for enemies if we were seen to act contrary to it. In this new navigation, not being certain whether we might not meet the Spanish squadron in our route, the commodore took on board the Centurion part of his crew with which he had formerly manned the Carmelo. And now standing to the northward, we, before night came on, had a view of the small island called St. Gallen, which bore from us N.N.E.½E., about seven leagues distant. This island lies in the latitude of about fourteen degrees south, and about five miles to the northward of a highland called Morro Veijo, or the old man's head. I mention this island and the highland near it more particularly because between them is the most eligible station on that coast for cruising upon the enemy, as hereabouts all ships bound to Callao, whether from the northward or the southward, run well in with the land. By the 5th of November, at three in the afternoon, we were advanced within view of the highland of Barranca, lying in the latitude of 10° 36' south, bearing from us N.E. by E., distant eight or nine leagues; and an hour and an half afterwards we had the satisfaction so long wished for, of seeing a sail. She first appeared to leeward, and we all immediately gave her chace; but the Centurion so much outsailed the two prizes, that we soon ran them out of sight, and gained considerably on the chace. However, night coming on before we came up with her, we, about seven o'clock, lost sight of her, and were in some perplexity what course to steer; but at last Mr. Anson resolved, as we were then before the wind, to keep all his sails set, and not to change his course: for though we had no doubt but the chace would alter her course in the night, yet, as it was uncertain what tack she would go upon, it was thought prudent to keep on our course, as we must by this means unavoidably come near her, rather than to change it on conjecture, when, if we should mistake, we must infallibly lose her. Thus then we continued the chace about an hour and an half in the dark, some one or other on board us constantly imagining they discerned her sails right ahead of us; but at length Mr. Brett, our second lieutenant, did really discover her about four points on the larboard-bow, steering off to the seaward. We immediately clapped the helm a-weather, and stood for her, and in less than an hour came up with her, and having fired fourteen shot at her, she struck. Our third lieutenant, Mr. Dennis, was sent in the boat with sixteen men to take possession of the prize, and to return the prisoners to our ship. This vessel was named the Santa Teresa de Jesus, built at Guaiaquil, of about three hundred tuns burthen, and was commanded by Bartolome Urrunaga, a Biscayer. She was bound from Guaiaquil to Callao; her loading consisted of timber, cocao, coconuts, tobacco, hides, Pito thread (which is very strong, and is made of a species of grass), Quito cloth, wax, etc. The specie on board her was inconsiderable, being principally small silver money, and not amounting to more than £170 sterling. It is true her cargoe was of great value, could we have disposed of it: but the Spaniards having strict orders never to ransom their ships, all the goods that we took in these seas, except what little we had occasion for ourselves, were of no advantage to us. Indeed, though we could make no profit thereby ourselves, it was some satisfaction to us to consider that it was so much really lost to the enemy, and that the despoiling them was no contemptible branch of that service in which we were now employed by our country.
Besides our prize's crew, which amounted to forty-five hands, there were on board her ten passengers, consisting of four men and three women, who were natives of the country, born of Spanish parents, together with three black slaves that attended them. The women were a mother and her two daughters, the eldest about twenty-one, and the youngest about fourteen. It is not to be wondered at that women of these years should be excessively alarmed at the falling into the hands of an enemy, whom, from the former outrages of the buccaneers, and by the artful insinuations of their priests, they had been taught to consider as the most terrible and brutal of all mankind. These apprehensions too were in the present instance exaggerated by the singular beauty of the youngest of the women, and the riotous disposition which they might well expect to find in a set of sailors who had not seen a woman for near a twelvemonth. Full of these terrors, the women all hid themselves upon our officer's coming on board, and when they were found out, it was with great difficulty that he could persuade them to approach the light. However, he soon satisfied them, by the humanity of his conduct, and by his assurances of their future security and honourable treatment, that they had nothing to fear. Nor were these assurances of the officer invalidated in the sequel: for the commodore being informed of the matter, sent directions that they should be continued on board their own ship, with the use of the same apartments, and with all the other conveniencies they had enjoyed before, giving strict orders that they should receive no kind of inquietude or molestation whatever: and that they might be the more certain of having these orders complied with, or have the means of complaining, if they were not, the commodore permitted the pilot, who in Spanish ships is generally the second person on board, to stay with them, as their guardian and protector. The pilot was particularly chosen for this purpose by Mr. Anson, as he seemed to be extremely interested in all that concerned the women, and had at first declared that he was married to the youngest of them, though it afterwards appeared, both from the information of the rest of the prisoners, and other circumstances, that he asserted this with a view the better to secure them from the insults they expected on their first falling into our hands. By this compassionate and indulgent behaviour of the commodore, the consternation of our female prisoners entirely subsided, and they continued easy and cheerful during the whole time they were with us, as I shall have occasion to mention more particularly hereafter.
I have before observed, that at the beginning of this chace the Centurion ran her two consorts out of sight, on which account we lay by all the night, after we had taken the prize, for Captain Saunders and Lieutenant Saumarez to join us, firing guns and making false fires every half-hour, to prevent their passing by us unobserved; but they were so far astern that they neither heard nor saw any of our signals, and were not able to come up with us till broad daylight. When they had joined us, we proceeded together to the northward, being now four sail in company. We here found the sea, for many miles round us, of a beautiful red colour. This, upon examination, we imputed to an immense quantity of spawn spread upon its surface; for, taking up some of the water in a wine glass, it soon changed from a dirty aspect to a clear crystal, with only some red globules of a slimy nature floating on the top. At present having a supply of timber on board our new prize, the commodore ordered our boats to be repaired, and a swivel gun-stock to be fixed in the bow both of the barge and pinnace, in order to encrease their force, in case we should be obliged to have recourse to them for boarding ships, or for any attempts on shore.
As we stood from hence to the northward, nothing remarkable occurred for two or three days, though we spread our ships in such a manner that it was not probable any vessel of the enemy could escape us. In our run along this coast we generally observed that there was a current which set us to the northward at the rate of ten or twelve miles each day. And now, being in about eight degrees of south latitude, we began to be attended with vast numbers of flying fish and bonitos, which were the first we saw after our departure from the coast of Brazil. But it is remarkable that on the east side of South America they extended to a much higher latitude than they do on the west side, for we did not lose them on the coast of Brazil till we approached the southern tropic. The reason for this diversity is doubtless the different degrees of heat obtaining in the same latitude on different sides of that continent. And on this occasion, I must beg leave to make a short digression on the heat and cold of different climates, and on the varieties which occur in the same place in different parts of the year, and in different places in the same degree of latitude.
The ancients conceived that of the five zones into which they divided the surface of the globe, two only were habitable, supposing that the heat between the tropics, and the cold within the polar circles, were too intense to be supported by mankind. The falsehood of this reasoning has been long evinced; but the particular comparisons of the heat and cold of these various climates has as yet been very imperfectly considered. However, enough is known safely to determine this position, that all places between the tropics are far from being the hottest on the globe, as many of those within the polar circles are far from enduring that extreme degree of cold to which their situation should seem to subject them: that is to say, that the temperature of a place depends much more upon other circumstances than upon its distance from the pole, or its proximity to the equinoctial.
This proposition relates to the general temperature of places, taking the whole year round; and in this sense it cannot be denied that the city of London, for instance, enjoys much warmer seasons than the bottom of Hudson's Bay, which is nearly in the same latitude with it, but where the severity of the winter is so great that it will scarcely permit the hardiest of our garden plants to live. And if the comparison be made between the coast of Brazil and the western shore of South America, as, for example, betwixt Bahia and Lima, the difference will be still more considerable; for though the coast of Brazil is extremely sultry, yet the coast of the South Seas in the same latitude is perhaps as temperate and tolerable as any part of the globe, since in ranging along it we did not once meet with so warm weather as is frequent in a summer's day in England: which was still the more remarkable as there never fell any rains to refresh and cool the air.
The causes of this temperature in the South Seas are not difficult to be assigned, and shall be hereafter mentioned. I am now only solicitous to establish the truth of this assertion, that the latitude of a place alone is no rule whereby to judge of the degree of heat and cold which obtains there. Perhaps this position might be more briefly confirmed by observing, that on the tops of the Andes, though under the equinoctial, the snow never melts the whole year round: a criterion of cold stronger than what is known to take place in many parts far removed within the polar circle.
I have hitherto considered the temperature of the air all the year through, and the gross estimations of heat and cold which every one makes from his own sensation. If this matter be examined by means of thermometers, which in respect to the absolute degree of heat and cold are doubtless the most unerring evidences—if this be done, the result will be indeed most wonderful, since it will hence appear that the heat in very high latitudes, as at Petersburgh, for instance, is at particular times much greater than any that has been hitherto observed between the tropics; and that even at London, in the year 1746, there was the part of one day considerably hotter than what was at any time felt by a ship of Mr. Anson's squadron in running from hence to Cape Horn and back again, and passing twice under the sun; for in the summer of that year, the thermometer in London (being one of those graduated according to the method of Farenheit) stood once at 78°; and the greatest height at which a thermometer of the same kind stood in the foregoing ship I find to be 76°: this was at St. Catherine's, in the latter end of December, when the sun was within about three degrees of the vertex. And as to Petersburgh, I find, by the acts of the academy established there, that in the year 1734, on the 20th and 25th of July, the thermometer rose to 98° in the shade, that is, it was twenty-two divisions higher than it was found to be at St. Catherine's; which is a degree of heat that, were it not authorised by the regularity and circumspection with which the observations seem to have been made, would appear altogether incredible.
If it should be asked how it comes to pass, then, that the heat in many places between the tropics is esteemed so violent and insufferable, when it appears, by these instances, that it is sometimes rivalled or exceeded in very high latitudes not far from the polar circle? I should answer that the estimation of heat in any particular place ought not to be founded upon that degree of heat which may now and then obtain there, but is rather to be deduced from the medium observed in a whole season, or perhaps in a whole year; and in this light it will easily appear how much more intense the same degree of heat may prove by being long continued without remarkable variation. For instance, in comparing together St. Catherine's and Petersburgh, we will suppose the summer heat at St. Catherine's to be 76°, and the winter heat to be twenty divisions short of it. I do not make use of this last conjecture upon sufficient observation, but I am apt to suspect that the allowance is full large. Upon this supposition, then, the medium heat all the year round will be 66°, and this perhaps by night as well as day, with no great variation. Now those who have attended to thermometers will readily own that a continuation of this degree of heat for a length of time would, by the generality of mankind, be stiled violent and suffocating; but at Petersburgh, though a few times in the year the heat by the thermometer may be considerably greater than at St. Catherine's, yet, as at other times the cold is immensely sharper, the medium for a year, or even for one season only, would be far short of 66°. For I find that the thermometer at Petersburgh is at least five times greater, from its highest to its lowest point, than what I have supposed to take place at St. Catherine's.
Besides this estimation of the heat of a place, by taking the medium for a considerable time together, there is another circumstance which will still augment the apparent heat of the warmer climates, and diminish that of the colder, though I do not remember to have seen it remarked in any author. To explain myself more distinctly upon this head, I must observe that the measure of absolute heat marked by the thermometer is not the certain criterion of the sensation of heat with which human bodies are affected: for as the presence and perpetual succession of fresh air is necessary to our respiration, so there is a species of tainted or stagnated air often produced by the continuance of great heats, which, being less proper for respiration, never fails to excite in us an idea of sultriness and suffocating warmth much beyond what the heat of the air alone, supposing it pure and agitated, would occasion. Hence it follows, that the mere inspection of the thermometer will never determine the heat which the human body feels from this cause; and hence it follows, too, that the heat in most places between the tropics must be much more troublesome and uneasy than the same degree of absolute heat in a high latitude: for the equability and duration of the tropical heat contribute to impregnate the air with a multitude of steams and vapours from the soil and water, and these being, many of them, of an impure and noxious kind, and being not easily removed, by reason of the regularity of the winds in those parts, which only shift the exhalations from place to place without dispersing them, the atmosphere is by this means rendered less capable of supporting the animal functions, and mankind are consequently affected with what they stile a most intense and stifling heat: whereas in the higher latitudes these vapours are probably raised in smaller quantities, and the irregularity and violence of the winds frequently disperse them, so that, the air being in general pure and less stagnant, the same degree of absolute heat is not attended with that uneasy and suffocating sensation. This may suffice in general with respect to the present speculation; but I cannot help wishing, as it is a subject in which mankind, especially travellers of all sorts, are very much interested, that it were more thoroughly and accurately examined, and that all ships bound to the warmer climates would furnish themselves with thermometers of a known fabric, and would observe them daily, and register their observations; for considering the turn to philosophical inquiries which has obtained in Europe for the last fourscore years, it is incredible how very rarely anything of this kind hath been attended to. As to my own part, I do not recollect that I have ever seen any observations of the heat and cold, either in the East or West Indies, which were made by mariners or officers of vessels, except those made by Mr. Anson's order on board the Centurion, and by Captain Legg on board the Severn, which was another ship of our squadron.