Incidents during their second Residence in the Straits of
Magellan.
From the 27th to the 30th of September they had tolerably good weather,
but the wind then began to blow so furiously from the S.W. that they
were forced to drop three anchors a-piece to keep them from being driven
on shore. As the summer of these antarctic regions was now approaching,
they were in hopes of fair weather; yet during two months that they
remained in the straits, they scarcely had a fair day in which to dry
their sails. For twenty days that they remained in this bay, to which
they gave the name of the Bay of Trouble, they endured incredible
hardships, being forced to go on shore daily in search of a few birds,
which, with muscles and snails found upon the rocks, formed their sorry
subsistence. Being unable to subsist any longer in that bay, they set
sail on the 18th October, and found a better bay about a league farther
within the straits. The 22d they were nearly destroyed by a violent
storm, but the weather became calm next day. The constant employment of
the seamen was to go on shore in search of muscles for their sustenance
at low water, and when the tide was in to fetch wood and fresh water, so
that they had no time to dry themselves, though they kept up a good fire
continually. In short, during the whole nine months spent in these
straits, now and formerly, they scarcely had an opportunity once to dry
their sails, so frequent were the returns of rain and storms.
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