A Voyage Round the World

But the great numbers of goats, which former writers describe to have been found upon this island, are at present very much diminished, as the Spaniards, being informed of the advantages which the buccaneers and privateers drew from the provisions which goat's flesh here furnished them with, have endeavoured to extirpate the breed, thereby to deprive their enemies of this relief. For this purpose they have put on shore great numbers of large dogs, who have increased apace and have destroyed all the goats in the accessible part of the country, so that there now remain only a few amongst the craggs and precipices, where the dogs cannot follow them. These are divided into separate herds of twenty or thirty each, which inhabit distinct fastnesses, and never mingle with each other. By this means we found it extremely difficult to kill them, and yet we were so desirous of their flesh, which we all agreed much resembled venison, that we got knowledge, I believe, of all their herds, and it was conceived, by comparing their numbers together, that they scarcely exceeded two hundred upon the whole island. I remember we had once an opportunity of observing a remarkable dispute betwixt a herd of these animals and a number of dogs; for going in our boat into the eastern bay, we perceived some dogs running very eagerly upon the foot, and being willing to discover what game they were after, we lay upon our oars some time to view them, and at last saw them take to a hill, where looking a little further, we observed upon the ridge of it an herd of goats, which seemed drawn up for their reception. There was a very narrow path skirted on each side by precipices, on which the master of the herd posted himself fronting the enemy, the rest of the goats being all behind him, where the ground was more open. As this spot was inaccessible by any other path, excepting where this champion had placed himself, the dogs, though they ran up-hill with great alacrity, yet when they came within about twenty yards of him, they found they durst not encounter him (for he would infallibly have driven them down the precipice), but gave over the chace, and quietly laid themselves down panting at a great rate. These dogs, who are masters of all the accessible parts of the island, are of various kinds, some of them very large, and are multiplied to a prodigious degree. They sometimes came down to our habitations at night, and stole our provision; and once or twice they set upon single persons, but assistance being at hand they were driven off without doing any mischief. As at present it is rare for goats to fall in their way, we conceived that they lived principally upon young seals, and indeed some of our people had the curiosity to kill dogs sometimes and dress them, and it seemed to be agreed that they had a fishy taste.

Goat's flesh, as I have mentioned, being scarce, we rarely being able to kill above one a day, and our people growing tired of fish (which, as I shall hereafter observe, abound at this place), they at last condescended to eat seals, which by degrees they came to relish, and called it lamb. The seal, numbers of which haunt this island, hath been so often mentioned by former writers that it is unnecessary to say anything particular about them in this place. But there is another amphibious creature to be met with here, called a sea-lion, that bears some resemblance to a seal, though it is much larger. This too we eat under the denomination of beef; and as it is so extraordinary an animal, I conceive it well merits a particular description. They are in size, when arrived at their full growth, from twelve to twenty feet in length, and from eight to fifteen in circumference. They are extremely fat, so that after having cut through the skin, which is about an inch in thickness, there is at least a foot of fat before you can come at either lean or bones; and we experienced more than once that the fat of some of the largest afforded us a butt of oil. They are likewise very full of blood, for if they are deeply wounded in a dozen places, there will instantly gush out as many fountains of blood, spouting to a considerable distance; and to try what quantity of blood they contained, we shot one first, and then cut its throat, and measuring the blood that came from him, we found that besides what remained in the vessels, which to be sure was considerable, we got at least two hogsheads. Their skins are covered with short hair, of a light dun colour, but their tails and their fins, which serve them for feet on shore, are almost black; their fins or feet are divided at the ends like fingers, the web which joins them not reaching to the extremities, and each of these fingers is furnished with a nail. They have a distant resemblance to an overgrown seal, though in some particulars there is a manifest difference between them, especially in the males. These have a large snout or trunk hanging down five or six inches below the end of the upper jaw, which the females have not, and this renders the countenance of the male and female easy to be distinguished from each other, and besides, the males are of a much larger size. The largest of these animals, which was found upon the island, was the master of the flock, and from his driving off the other males, and keeping a great number of females to himself, he was by the seamen ludicrously styled the Bashaw. These animals divide their time equally between the land and sea, continuing at sea all the summer, and coming on shore at the setting in of the winter, where they reside during that whole season. In this interval they engender and bring forth their young, and have generally two at a birth, which they suckle with their milk, they being at first about the size of a full-grown seal. During the time these sea-lions continue on shore, they feed on the grass and verdure which grows near the banks of the fresh-water streams; and, when not employed on feeding, sleep in herds in the most miry places they can find out. As they seem to be of a very lethargic disposition, and are not easily awakened, each herd was observed to place some of their males at a distance, in the nature of sentinels, who never failed to alarm them whenever any one attempted to molest or even to approach them; and they were very capable of alarming, even at a considerable distance, for the noise they make is very loud, and of different kinds, sometimes grunting like hogs, and at other times snorting like horses in full vigour. They often, especially the males, have furious battles with each other, principally about their females; and we were one day extremely surprized by the sight of two animals, which at first appeared different from all we had ever observed, but, on a nearer approach, they proved to be two sea-lions, who had been goring each other with their teeth, and were covered over with blood. And the Bashaw before mentioned, who generally lay surrounded with a seraglio of females, which no other male dared to approach, had not acquired that envied pre-eminence without many bloody contests, of which the marks still remained in the numerous scars which were visible in every part of his body. We killed many of them for food, particularly for their hearts and tongues, which we esteemed exceeding good eating, and preferable even to those of bullocks. In general there was no difficulty in killing them, for they were incapable either of escaping or resisting, as their motion is the most unwieldy that can be conceived, their blubber, all the time they are moving, being agitated in large waves under their skins. However, a sailor one day being carelessly employed in skinning a young sea-lion, the female from whence he had taken it came upon him unperceived, and getting his head in her mouth, she with her teeth scored his skull in notches in many places, and thereby wounded him so desperately, that, though all possible care was taken of him, he died in a few days.

These are the principal animals which we found upon the island: for we saw but few birds, and those chiefly hawks, blackbirds, owls, and humming birds. We saw not the pardela, which burrows in the ground, and which former writers have mentioned to be found here; but as we often met with their holes, we supposed that the dogs had destroyed them, as they have almost done the cats: for these were very numerous in Selkirk's time, but we saw not above one or two during our whole stay. However, the rats still keep their ground, and continue here in great numbers, and were very troublesome to us by infesting our tents nightly.

But that which furnished us with the most delicious repasts at this island remains still to be described. This was the fish with which the whole bay was most plentifully stored, and with the greatest variety: for we found here cod of a prodigious size, and by the report of some of our crew, who had been formerly employed in the Newfoundland fishery, not in less plenty than is to be met with on the banks of that island. We caught also cavallies, gropers, large breams, maids, silver fish, congers of a peculiar kind, and above all, a black fish which we most esteemed, called by some a chimney-sweeper, in shape resembling a carp. The beach indeed is everywhere so full of rocks and loose stones that there is no possibility of haling the Seyne; but with hooks and lines we caught what numbers we pleased, so that a boat with two or three lines would return loaded with fish in about two or three hours' time. The only interruption we ever met with arose from great quantities of dog-fish and large sharks, which sometimes attended our boats and prevented our sport. Besides the fish we have already mentioned, we found here one delicacy in greater perfection, both as to size, flavour, and quantity, than is perhaps to be met with in any other part of the world. This was sea crayfish; they generally weighed eight or nine pounds apiece, were of a most excellent taste, and lay in such abundance near the water's edge, that the boat-hooks often struck into them in putting the boat to and from the shore.

These are the most material articles relating to the accommodations, soil, vegetables, animals, and other productions of the island of Juan Fernandes: by which it must appear how properly that place was adapted for recovering us from the deplorable situation to which our tedious and unfortunate navigation round Cape Horn had reduced us. And having thus given the reader some idea of the site and circumstances of this place, which was to be our residence for three months, I shall now proceed in the next chapter to relate all that occurred to us in that interval, resuming my narration from the 18th day of June, being the day in which the Tryal sloop, having by a squall been driven out to sea three days before, came again to her moorings, the day in which we finished the sending our sick on shore, and about eight days after our first anchoring at this island.

CHAPTER II

THE ARRIVAL OF THE "GLOUCESTER" AND THE "ANNA" PINK AT THE ISLAND OF JUAN FERNANDES, AND THE TRANSACTIONS AT THAT PLACE DURING THIS INTERVAL

The arrival of the Tryal sloop at this island so soon after we came there ourselves gave us great hopes of being speedily joined by the rest of the squadron, and we were for some days continually looking out, in expectation of their coming in sight. But near a fortnight being elapsed without any of them having appeared, we began to despair of ever meeting them again, as we knew that if our ship continued so much longer at sea we should every man of us have perished, and the vessel, occupied by dead bodies only, would have been left to the caprice of the winds and waves: and this we had great reason to fear was the fate of our consorts, as each hour added to the probability of these desponding suggestions.

But on the 21st of June, some of our people, from an eminence on shore, discerned a ship to leeward, with her courses even with the horizon; and they, at the same time, particularly observed that she had no sail abroad except her courses and her main top-sail. This circumstance made them conclude that it was one of our squadron, which had probably suffered in her sails and rigging as severely as we had done: but they were prevented from forming more definitive conjectures about her, for, after viewing her for a short time, the weather grew thick and hazy, and they lost sight of her. On this report, and no ship appearing for some days, we were all under the greatest concern, suspecting that her people were in the utmost distress for want of water, and so diminished and weakened by sickness as not to be able to ply up to windward; so that we feared that, after having been in sight of the island, her whole crew would notwithstanding perish at sea. However, on the 26th, towards noon, we discerned a sail in the north-east quarter, which we conceived to be the very same ship that had been seen before, and our conjectures proved true: and about one o'clock she approached so near that we could distinguish her to be the Gloucester. As we had no doubt of her being in great distress, the commodore immediately ordered his boat to her assistance, laden with fresh water, fish, and vegetables, which was a very seasonable relief to them; for our apprehensions of their calamities appeared to be but too well grounded, as perhaps there never was a crew in a more distressed situation. They had already thrown overboard two-thirds of their complement, and of those which remained alive, scarcely any were capable of doing duty, except the officers and their servants. They had been a considerable time at the small allowance of a pint of fresh water to each man for twenty-four hours, and yet they had so little left, that, had it not been for the supply we sent them, they must soon have died of thirst. The ship plied in within three miles of the bay; but, the winds and currents being contrary, she could not reach the road. However, she continued in the offing the next day; but as she had no chance of coming to an anchor, unless the winds and currents shifted, the commodore repeated his assistance, sending to her the Tryal's boat manned with the Centurion's people, and a farther supply of water and other refreshments. Captain Mitchel, the captain of the Gloucester, was under a necessity of detaining both this boat and that sent the preceding day; for without the help of their crews he had no longer strength enough to navigate the ship. In this tantalizing situation the Gloucester continued for near a fortnight, without being able to fetch the road, though frequently attempting it, and at some times bidding very fair for it. On the 9th of July, we observed her stretching away to the eastward at a considerable distance, which we supposed was with a design to get to the southward of the island; but as we soon lost sight of her, and she did not appear for near a week, we were prodigiously concerned, knowing that she must be again in extreme distress for want of water. After great impatience about her, we discovered her again on the 16th endeavouring to come round the eastern point of the island; but the wind, still blowing directly from the bay, prevented her getting nearer than within four leagues of the land. On this, Captain Mitchel made signals of distress, and our long-boat was sent to him with a store of water, and plenty of fish, and other refreshments. And the long-boat being not to be spared, the cockswain had positive orders from the commodore to return again immediately; but the weather proving stormy the next day, and the boat not appearing, we much feared she was lost, which would have proved an irretrievable misfortune to us all: however, the third day after, we were relieved from this anxiety by the joyful sight of the long-boat's sails upon the water; on which we sent the cutter immediately to her assistance, who towed her alongside in a few hours, when we found that the crew of our long-boat had taken in six of the Gloucester's sick men to bring them on shore, two of which had died in the boat. We now learnt that the Gloucester was in a most dreadful condition, having scarcely a man in health on board, except those they received from us: and, numbers of their sick dying daily, it appeared that, had it not been for the last supply sent by our long-boat, both the healthy and diseased must have all perished together for want of water. These calamities were the more terrifying as they appeared to be without remedy: for the Gloucester had already spent a month in her endeavours to fetch the bay, and she was now no farther advanced than at the first moment she made the island; on the contrary, the people on board her had worn out all their hopes of ever succeeding in it, by the many experiments they had made of its difficulty. Indeed, the same day her situation grew more desperate than ever, for after she had received our last supply of refreshments, we again lost sight of her; so that we in general despaired of her ever coming to an anchor.

Thus was this unhappy vessel bandied about within a few leagues of her intended harbour, whilst the neighbourhood of that place and of those circumstances which could alone put an end to the calamities they laboured under, served only to aggravate their distress by torturing them with a view of the relief it was not in their power to reach. But she was at last delivered from this dreadful situation at a time when we least expected it; for after having lost sight of her for several days, we were pleasingly surprized, on the morning of the 23d of July, to see her open the N.W. point of the bay with a flowing sail, when we immediately dispatched what boats we had to her assistance, and in an hour's time from our first perceiving her, she anchored safe within us in the bay. And now we were more particularly convinced of the importance of the assistance and refreshments we so often sent them, and how impossible it would have been for a man of them to have survived had we given less attention to their wants; for notwithstanding the water, the greens, and fresh provisions which we supplied them with, and the hands we sent them to navigate the ship, by which the fatigue of their own people was diminished, their sick relieved, and the mortality abated; notwithstanding this indulgent care of the commodore, they yet buried above three-fourths of their crew, and a very small proportion of the remainder were capable of assisting in the duty of the ship. On their coming to an anchor, our first endeavours were to assist them in mooring, and our next to send their sick on shore. These were now reduced by deaths to less than fourscore, of which we expected to lose the greatest part; but whether it was that those farthest advanced in the distemper were all dead, or that the greens and fresh provisions we had sent on board had prepared those which remained for a more speedy recovery, it happened, contrary to our expectations, that their sick were in general relieved and restored to their strength in a much shorter time than our own had been when we first came to the island, and very few of them died on shore.

I have thus given an account of the principal events relating to the arrival of the Gloucester in one continued narration. I shall only add, that we never were joined by any other of our ships, except our victualler, the Anna pink, who came in about the middle of August, and whose history I shall defer for the present, as it is now high time to return to the account of our own transactions on board and on shore, during the interval of the Gloucester's frequent and ineffectual attempts to reach the island.

Our next employment, after sending our sick on shore from the Centurion, was cleansing our ship and filling our water. The first of these measures was indispensably necessary to our future health, as the numbers of sick, and the unavoidable negligence arising from our deplorable situation at sea, had rendered the decks most intolerably loathsome. And the filling our water was a caution that appeared not less essential to our security, as we had reason to apprehend that accidents might intervene which would oblige us to quit the island at a very short warning; for some appearances we had discovered on shore upon our first landing, gave us grounds to believe that there were Spanish cruisers in these seas, which had left the island but a short time before our arrival, and might possibly return thither again, either for a recruit of water, or in search of us, since we could not doubt but that the sole business they had at sea was to intercept us, and we knew that this island was the likeliest place, in their own opinion, to meet with us. The circumstances which gave rise to these reflections (in part of which we were not mistaken, as shall be observed more at large hereafter) were our finding on shore several pieces of earthen jars, made use of in those seas for water and other liquids, which appeared to be fresh broken: we saw, too, many heaps of ashes, and near them fish-bones and pieces of fish, besides whole fish scattered here and there, which plainly appeared to have been but a short time out of the water, as they were but just beginning to decay. These were certain indications that there had been ships at this place but a short time before we came there; and as all Spanish merchantmen are instructed to avoid the island, on account of its being the common rendezvous of their enemies, we concluded those who had touched here to be ships of force; and not knowing that Pizarro was returned to Buenos Ayres, and ignorant what strength might have been fitted out at Callao, we were under some concern for our safety, being in so wretched and enfeebled a condition, that notwithstanding the rank of our ship, and the sixty guns she carried on board, which would only have aggravated our dishonour, there was scarcely a privateer sent to sea that was not an over-match for us. However, our fears on this head proved imaginary, and we were not exposed to the disgrace which might have been expected to have befallen us, had we been necessitated (as we must have been, had the enemy appeared) to fight our sixty-gun ship with no more than thirty hands.

Whilst the cleaning our ship and the filling our water went on, we set up a large copper oven on shore near the sick tents, in which we baked bread every day for our ship's company; for being extremely desirous of recovering our sick as soon as possible, we conceived that new bread, added to their greens and fresh fish, might prove a powerful article in their relief. Indeed we had all imaginable reason to endeavour at the augmenting our present strength, as every little accident, which to a full crew would be insignificant, was extremely alarming in our present helpless situation. Of this we had a troublesome instance on the 30th of June; for at five in the morning, we were astonished by a violent gust of wind directly off shore, which instantly parted our small bower cable about ten fathom from the ring of the anchor: the ship at once swung off to the best bower, which happily stood the violence of the jerk, and brought us up with two cables in eighty fathom. At this time we had not above a dozen seamen in the ship, and we were apprehensive, if the squall continued, that we should be driven to sea in this wretched condition. However, we sent the boat on shore to bring off all who were capable of acting; and the wind soon abating of its fury, gave us an opportunity of receiving the boat back again with a reinforcement. With this additional strength we immediately went to work to heave in what remained of the cable, which we suspected had received some damage from the foulness of the ground before it parted; and agreeable to our conjecture, we found that seven fathom and a half of the outer end had been rubbed, and rendered unserviceable. In the afternoon we bent the cable to the spare anchor, and got it over the ship's side; and the next morning, July 1, being favoured with the wind in gentle breezes, we warped the ship in again, and let go the anchor in forty-one fathom; the eastermost point now bearing from us E.½S.; the westermost N.W. by W.; and the bay as before, S.S.W.; a situation in which we remained secure for the future. However, we were much concerned for the loss of our anchor, and swept frequently for it, in hopes to have recovered it; but the buoy having sunk at the very instant that the cable parted, we were never able to find it.

And now as we advanced in July, some of our men being tolerably recovered, the strongest of them were put upon cutting down trees, and splitting them into billets; while others, who were too weak for this employ, undertook to carry the billets by one at a time to the water-side: this they performed, some of them with the help of crutches, and others supported by a single stick. We next sent the forge on shore, and employed our smiths, who were but just capable of working, in mending our chain-plates, and our other broken and decayed iron-work. We began too the repairs of our rigging; but as we had not junk enough to make spun-yarn, we deferred the general overhale, in hopes of the daily arrival of the Gloucester, who we knew had a great quantity of junk on board. However, that we might dispatch as fast as possible in our refitting, we set up a large tent on the beach for the sail-makers; and they were immediately employed in repairing our old sails, and making us new ones. These occupations, with our cleansing and watering the ship (which was by this time pretty well compleated), the attendance on our sick, and the frequent relief sent to the Gloucester, were the principal transactions of our infirm crew till the arrival of the Gloucester at an anchor in the bay. And then Captain Mitchel waiting on the commodore, informed him that he had been forced by the winds, in his last absence, as far as the small island called Masa Fuero, lying about twenty-two leagues to the westward of Juan Fernandes; and that he endeavoured to send his boat on shore there for water, of which he could observe several streams, but the wind blew so strong upon the shore, and occasioned such a surf, that it was impossible for the boat to land, though the attempt was not altogether useless, for his people returned with a boatload of fish. This island had been represented by former navigators as a barren rock; but Captain Mitchel assured the commodore that it was almost everywhere covered with trees and verdure, and was near four miles in length; and added, that it appeared to him far from impossible but some small bay might be found on it which might afford sufficient shelter for any ship desirous of refreshing there.