Being faire wether, I caused my nephew to
prepare himself, with 3 men, to carry Provisions & Brandy unto our french
men & to the English men at the fort of the Island.
The Ice began to bee
dangerous, & I see that it was not safe hazarding to goe over it after this
time; therefore I said to my nephew that hee would doe well to proceed
farther unto the Indians, unto whom hee promis'd to give an account how wee
did, & to inform them also that wee had conquer'd our Ennemys.
After my nephew's departure on this voyadge, there hapned an unlookt-for
accident the 22 or 23rd of Aprill, at night. Having haled our vessells as
far as wee could into a litle slip in a wood, wee thought them very secure,
lying under a litle Hill about 10 fathom high, our Houses being about the
same distance off from the River side; yet about 10 o'clock at night a
hideous great noise rous'd us all out of our sleep, & our sentinill came &
told us it was the clattering of much Ice, & that the floods came downe
with much violence. Wee hasted unto the river side & see what the sentinell
told us, & great flakes of Ice were born by the waters upon the topp of our
litle Hill; but the worst was that the Ice having stop't the river's mouth,
they gather'd in heaps & were carry'd back with great violence & enter'd
with such force into all our Brooks that discharg'd into the River that
'twas impossible our vessells could resist, & they were stay'd all to
peeces. There remained only the bottom, which stuck fast in the Ice or in
the mudd, & had it held 2 hours longer wee must have ben forst to climbe
the trees to save our lives; but by good fortune the flood abated. The
river was cleer'd by the going away of the Ice, & 3 days after, wee see the
disorder our vessells were in, & the good luck wee had in making so great a
voyadge in such bad vessells, for myne was quite Rotten & my Brother's was
not trunnel'd. This accident put us into a great feare the like mischief
might bee hapned unto the New England shipp; the Indians telling us that
the River was more dangerous than ours, & that they beleev'd the vessell
could not escape in the place wher shee lay. But mr Bridgar having
heertofore related unto me alike accident hapned in the River Kechechewan
in the Bottom of the Bay, that a vessell was preserv'd by cutting the Ice
round about her, I took the same cours, & order'd the Ice should bee cut
round this vessell quite to the keele, & I have reason to thank mr Bridgar
for this advice; it sav'd the vessell. Shee was only driven ashore by the
violence of the Ice, & there lay without much dammadge. Whilst the waters
decreas'd wee consulted upon which of the 2 bottoms wee should build us a
shipp, & it was at last resolv'd it shold bee on myne. Upon which wee
wrought day & night without intermission, intending this vessell should
carry the English into the Bay, as I had promis'd mr Bridgar.
I went down 2 or 3 times to the River's mouth to see what the floods & Ice
had don there, & if I could pass the point into the other River, wher mr
Bridgar & the English vessell was at the fort of the Island, for was
impossible to pass through the woods, all being cover'd with water. I
adventur'd to pass, & I doubled the point in a canoo of bark, though the
Ice was so thick that wee drew our canoo over it. Being enter'd the River,
I march'd along the South Shore & got safe to the fort of the Island with
great difficulty. I found the shipp lying dry, as I mention'd before, in a
bad condition, but easily remedy'd, the stern being only a litle broke. I
gave directions to have her fitted, & I incouradged the English to work,
which they did perform better than the french. Having given these
directions, I took the shipp's Boat & went down to Mr. Bridgar's
habitation, & looking in what condition it was, I found that 4 of his men
were dead for lack of food, & two that had ben poyson'd a litle before by
drinking some liquer they found in the Doctor's chest, not knowing what it
was. Another of Mr. Bridgar's men had his Arm broke by an accident abroad a
hunting.
Seeing all these disorders, I passed as soon as I could to the South side
of the river to recover unto our Houses, from whence I promis'd Mr. Bridgar
I would send his English Curiorgion that was with us some Brandy, vinegar,
Lynnen, & what provisions I could spare out of the small store wee had
left. Being got a shore, I sent back the Boat to the fort of the Isle, with
orders unto my 2 men I left there to bring my canoo & to use it for
fowling. In returning I went a shore with one of Mr. Bridgar's men that I
took along with me to carry back the provisions I had promis'd, although
hee did not seeme to be very thankfull for it, continueing his threatnings,
& boasted that hee expected shipps would come unto him with which hee would
take us all. I was nothing daunted at this, but kept on my cours, knowing
very well Mr. Bridgar was not in a capacity of doing us any harm; but it
being impossible but that his being present on the place should hinder me,
I order'd my business so as to bee gon with what skins I had, & sent away
Mr. Bridgar after having secured our Trade.
I made severall journeys to the Fort of the Island about repairing of the
shipp; also I went severall times to Mr. Bridgar's house to carry him
provisions, & to assist him & also his men with all things that I could
procure, which they can testify; & had it not ben for me they had suffred
much more misery.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 92 of 115
Words from 93081 to 94106
of 117345
