On Friday The Twenty-Eighth All The Vessels Took Some Of The Fishes With
Gilt Backs; And On Saturday The
Twenty-ninth they saw a rabo de junco,
which, although a sea-fowl, never rests on the waves, but always
Flies in
the air, pursuing the alcatrazes till it causes them to mute for fear,
which it catches in the air for nourishment. Many of these birds are said
to frequent the Cape de Verd islands. They soon afterwards saw two other
alcatrazes, and great numbers of flying-fishes. These last are about a
span long, and have two little membranous wings like those of a bat, by
means of which they fly about a pike-length high from the water and a
musket-shot in length, and sometimes drop upon the ships. In the afternoon
of this day they saw abundance of weeds lying in length north and south,
and three alcatrazes pursued by a rabo de junco.
On the morning of Sunday the thirtieth of September four rabo de juncos
came to the ship; and from so many of them coming together it was thought
the land could not be far distant, especially as four alcatrazes followed
soon afterwards. Great quantities of weeds were seen in a line stretching
from W.N.W. to E.N.E. and a great number of the fishes which are called
Emperadores, which have a very hard skin and are not fit to eat. Though
the admiral paid every attention to these indications, he never neglected
those in the heavens, and carefully observed the course of the stars. He
was now greatly surprised to notice at this time that the Charles wain
or Ursa Major constellation appeared at night in the west, and was N.E. in
the morning: He thence concluded that their whole nights course was only
nine hours, or so many parts in twenty-four of a great circle; and this he
observed to be the case regularly every night. It was likewise noticed
that the compass varied a whole point to the N.W. at night-fall, and came
due north every morning at day-break. As this unheard-of circumstance
confounded and perplexed the pilots, who apprehended danger in these
strange regions and at such unusual distance from home, the admiral
endeavoured to calm their fears by assigning a cause for this wonderful
phenomenon: He alleged that it was occasioned by the polar star making a
circuit round the pole, by which they were not a little satisfied.
Soon after sunrise on Monday the first of October, an alcatraz came to the
ship, and two more about ten in the morning, and long streams of weeds
floated from east to west. That morning the pilot of the admirals ship
said that they were now 578 leagues west from the island of Ferro. In his
public account the admiral said they were 584 leagues to the west; but in
his private journal he made the real distance 707 leagues, or 129 more
than was reckoned by the pilot. The other two ships differed much in their
computation from each other and from the admirals pilot. The pilot of Nina
in the afternoon of the Wednesday following said they had only sailed 540
leagues, and the pilot of the Pinta reckoned 634. Thus they were all much
short of the truth; but the admiral winked at the gross mistake, that the
men, not thinking themselves so far from home, might be the less dejected.
The next day, being Tuesday the second of October, they saw abundance of
fish, caught one small tunny, and saw a white bird with many other small
birds, and the weeds appeared much withered and almost fallen to powder.
Next day, seeing no birds, they suspected that they had passed between
some islands on both hands, and had slipped through without seeing them,
as they guessed that the many birds which they had seen might have been
passing from one island to another. On this account they were very earnest
to have the course altered one way or the other, in quest of these
imaginary lands: But the admiral, unwilling to lose the advantage of the
fair wind which carried him due west, which he accounted his surest course,
and afraid to lessen his reputation by deviating from course to course in
search of land, which he always affirmed that he well knew where to find,
refused his consent to any change. On this the people were again ready to
mutiny, and resumed their murmurs and cabals against him. But it pleased
God to aid his authority by fresh indications of land.
On Thursday the fourth of October, in the afternoon, above forty sparrows
together and two alcatrazes flew so near the ship that a seaman killed one
of them with a stone. Several other birds were seen at this time, and many
flying-fish fell into the ships. Next day there came a rabo de junco and
an alcatraz from the westwards, and many sparrows were seen. About sunrise
on Sunday the seventh of October, some signs of land appeared to the
westwards, but being imperfect no person would mention the circumstance.
This was owing to fear of losing the reward of thirty crowns yearly for
life which had been promised by their Catholic majesties to whoever should
first discover land; and to prevent them from calling out land, land, at
every turn without just cause, it was made a condition that whoever said
he saw land should lose the reward if it were not made out in three days,
even if he should afterwards actually prove the first discoverer. All on
board the admirals ship being thus forewarned, were exceedingly careful
not to cry out land upon uncertain tokens; but those in the Nina, which
sailed better and always kept a-head, believing that they certainly saw
land, fired a gun and hung out their colours in token of the discovery;
but the farther they sailed the more the joyful appearance lessened, till
at last it vanished away.
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