They Went Next To Examine
The Wreck, Which They Found Staved Into An Hundred Pieces; The Keel
Lay On A
Bank of sand on one side, the fore part of the vessel stuck
fast on a rock, and the rest
Of her lay here and there as the pieces
had been driven by the waves, so that Captain Pelsart had very
little hopes of saving any of the merchandise. One of the people
belonging to Weybhays's company told him that one fair day, which
was the only one they had in a month, as he was fishing near the
wreck, he had struck the pole in his hand against one of the chests
of silver, which revived the captain a little, as it gave him reason
to expect that something might still be saved. They spent all the
19th in examining the rest of the prisoners, and in confronting them
with those who escaped from the massacre.
On the 20th they sent several kinds of refreshments to Weybhays's
company, and carried a good quantity of water from the isle. There
was something very singular in finding this water; the people who
were on shore there had subsisted near three weeks on rainwater, and
what lodged in the clefts of the rocks, without thinking that the
water of two wells which were on the island could be of any use,
because they saw them constantly rise and fall with the tide, from
whence they fancied they had a communication within the sea, and
consequently that the water must be brackish; but upon trial they
found it to be very good, and so did the ship's company, who filled
their casks with it.
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