A General History And Collection Of Voyages And Travels - Volume X - By Robert Kerr


















































































































 -  Our hope of the
general's return becoming very cold, our captain and master were
persuaded that he might have gone - Page 43
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Our Hope Of The General's Return Becoming Very Cold, Our Captain And Master Were Persuaded That He Might Have Gone Directly For The Straits; Wherefore It Was Concluded To Go There And Wait His Coming, As There We Could Not Possibly Miss Seeing Him If He Came.

This being agreed to by the whole company, we set sail from Port Desire on the 6th August, and went to Penguin island, where we salted twenty hogsheads of seals, which was as much as our salt could do.

We departed from Penguin island towards night of the 7th August, intending for the straits. The 14th we were driven among certain islands, never before discovered, fifty leagues or better from the shore, east-northerly from the straits.[66] Fortunately the wind shifted to the east, or we must have inevitably perished among these islands, and we were enabled to shape our course for the straits.

[Footnote 66: These are doubtless the Falkland Islands, or Malouines, but to which no name seems to have been affixed on this occasion. - E.]

We fell in with the cape [Virgin] on the 18th of August, in a very thick fog, and that same night came to anchor ten leagues within the straits' mouth. The 19th we passed the first and second narrows, doubled Cape Froward on the 21st, and anchored on the 22d in a cove, or small bay, which we named Savage Cove, because we here found savages. Notwithstanding the excessive coldness of this place, yet do these people go entirely naked, living in the woods like satyrs, painted and disguised in a strange manner, and fled from us like so many wild deer. They were very strong and agile, and threw stones at us, of three or four pounds weight, from an incredible distance. We departed from this cove on the 24th in the morning, and came that same day into the N.W. reach of the straits, which is its last or most western reach. On the 25th we anchored in a good cove, within fourteen leagues of the South Sea, where we proposed to await the return of our general, as the strait at this place is only three miles broad, and he could not possibly pass unseen.

After we had remained here a fortnight, in the depth of winter, our victuals fast consuming, and our salted seals stinking most vilely, our men fell sick and died pitifully, through famine and cold, as most of them had not clothes sufficient to defend them from the extreme rigour of winter. In this heavy distress, our captain and master thought it best to depart from the straits into the South Sea, and to proceed for the island of Santa Maria in lat. 37 deg. S. on the coast of Chili, which is situated in a temperate climate, where we might find relief, and could wait for our general, who must necessarily pass by that island. We accordingly set sail on the 13th September, and came in sight of the South Sea. The 14th we were driven back into the straits, and got into a cove three leagues from the South Sea. We again stood out, and being eight or ten leagues free of the land, the wind rose furiously at W.N.W. and we were again forced to return into the straits, not daring to trust to our sails in any stress of weather. We again got into the cove, three leagues from the eastern mouth of the straits, where we had such violent weather that one of our two remaining cables broke, and we were almost in despair of saving our lives. Yet it pleased God to allay the fury of the storm, and we unreeved our sheets, tacks, halyards, and other ropes, and made fast our ship to the trees on shore, close by the rocks. We laboured hard to recover our anchor again, which we could not possibly effect, being, as we supposed, entirely covered over in the ooze.

We were now reduced to one anchor, which had only one whole fluke; and had only one old cable, already spliced in two places, and a piece of another old cable. In this extremity of trouble it pleased God that the wind came fair on the 1st October, on which we loosed our land fastnings with all expedition, weighed our anchor, and towed off into the channel; for we had repaired our boat when in Port Desire, and got five oars from the Black pinnace. On weighing our anchor we found the cable sore broken, holding only by one strand, which was a most merciful preservation. We now reeved our ropes and rigged our ship the best we could, every man working as if to save our lives in the utmost extremity. Our company was now much divided in opinion as to how we should proceed for the best; some desiring to return to Port Desire, to be there set on shore, and endeavour to travel by land to some of the Spanish settlements, while others adhered to the captain and master: But at length, by the persuasion of the master, who promised that they would find wheat, pork, and roots in abundance at the island of St Mary, besides the chance of intercepting some ships on the coasts of Chili and Peru, while nothing but a cruel death by famine could be looked for in attempting to return by the Atlantic, they were prevailed upon to proceed.

So, on the 2d of October, 1592, we again made sail into the South Sea, and got free from the land. This night the wind again began to blow very strong at west, and increased with such violence that we were in great doubt what measures to pursue. We durst not put into the straits for lack of ground tackle, neither durst we carry sail, the tempest being very furious, and our sails very bad. In this extremity the pinnace bore up to us, informing she had received many heavy seas, and that her ropes were continually failing, so that they knew not what to do; but, unable to afford her any relief; we stood on our course in view of a lee shore, continually dreading a ruinous end of us all.

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