On The East Coast More
Storms Came To Harass The Unfortunate Men.
A paragraph in Peron's own
terms will convey a sufficient sense of the agony endured on the stricken
ship.
"On June 2 and 3 the weather became very bad. Showers of rain succeeded
each other incessantly, and squalls blew with a violence that we had
never experienced before. On the 4th, during the whole day, the weather
was so frightful that, accustomed as we had become to the fury of
tempests, this last made us forget all that had preceded. Never before
had the squalls followed each other with such rapidity; never had the
billows been so tumultuous. Our ship, smitten by them, at every instant
seemed about to break asunder under the shock of the impact. In the
twinkling of an eye our foremast snapped and fell overboard, and all the
barricading that we had erected to break the force of the wind was
smashed. Even our anchors were lifted from the catheads despite the
strength of the ropes which held them. It was necessary to make them more
secure, and the ten men, who were all that were left us to work the ship,
were engaged in this work during a great part of the day. During the
night the tempest was prolonged by furious gales. The rain fell in
torrents; the sea rose even higher; and enormous waves swept over our
decks. The black darkness did not permit the simplest work to be done
without extreme difficulty, and the whole of the interior of the vessel
was flooded by sea-water. Four men were compelled to enter the hospital,
leaving only six in a condition to carry out the orders of the officer on
the bridge, and these unfortunates themselves dropped from sheer
exhaustion and fatigue. Between decks, the sick men lay about, and the
air was filled with their groans. A picture more harrowing never
presented itself to the imagination. The general consternation added to
the horror of it. We had nearly reached the point of being unable to
control the movements of the ship amidst the fury of the waves; parts of
the rigging were broken with every manoeuvre; and despite all our efforts
we could scarcely shift our sails. For a long time our commandant had had
no rest. It was absolutely necessary to get out of these stormy seas at
the extremity of the southern continent, and hasten on our course for
Port Jackson. 'At this time,' says the commandant in his journal, and the
fact was only too true, 'I had not more than four men in a fit condition
to remain on duty, including the officer in charge.' The ravages of the
scurvy can be estimated from these words. Not a soul among us was exempt
from the disease; even the animals we had on board were afflicted by it;
some, including two rabbits and a monkey, had died from it."
Slowly, painfully, as though the ship herself were diseased, like the
miserable company on board, the coast was traversed, until at last, on
June 20, Le Geographe stood off Port Jackson heads.
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