CHAPTER III.
40
November 21st. The morning dawned upon
our wretched company. The weather was fine,
but the wind blew a strong breeze from the SE.
and the sea was very rugged. Watches had been
kept up during the night, in our respective boats,
to see that none of the spars or other articles
(which continued to float out of the wreck,) should
be thrown by the surf against, and injure the boats.
At sunrise, we began to think of doing something;
what, we did not know: we cast loose our boats,
and visited the wreck, to see if any thing more of
consequence could be preserved, but every thing
looked cheerless and desolate, and we made a long
and vain search for any useful article; nothing
could be found but a few turtle; of these we had
enough already; or at least, as many as could be
41safely stowed in the boats, and we wandered
around in every part of the ship in a sort of vacant
idleness for the greater part of the morning. We
were presently aroused to a perfect sense of our
destitute and forlorn condition; by thoughts of the
means which we had for our subsistence, the necessity
of not wasting our time, and of endeavouring
to seek some relief wherever God might direct
us. Our thoughts, indeed, hung about the ship,
wrecked and sunken as she was, and we could
scarcely discard from our minds the idea of her
continuing protection. Some great efforts in our
situation were necessary, and a great deal of calculation
important, as it concerned the means by
which our existence was to be supported during,
perhaps, a very long period, and a provision for
our eventual deliverance. Accordingly, by agreement,
all set to work in stripping off the light sails
of the ship, for sails to our boats; and the day was
consumed in making them up and fitting them.
We furnished ourselves with masts and other light
spars that were necessary, from the wreck. Each
boat was rigged with two masts, to carry a flying-jib
and two sprit-sails; the sprit-sails were made
so that two reefs could be taken in them, in case
42of heavy blows. We continued to watch the
wreck for any serviceable articles that might float
from her, and kept one man during the day, on
the stump of her foremast, on the look out for vessels.
Our work was very much impeded by the
increase of the wind and sea, and the surf breaking
almost continually into the boats, gave us many
fears that we should not be able to prevent our
provisions from getting wet; and above all served
to increase the constant apprehensions that we
had, of the insufficiency of the boats themselves,
during the rough weather that we should necessarily
experience. In order to provide as much as
possible against this, and withal to strengthen the
slight materials of which the boats were constructed,
we procured from the wreck some light cedar
boards, (intended to repair boats in cases of accidents,)
with which we built up additional sides,
about six inches above the gunwale; these, we afterwards
found, were of infinite service for the
purpose for which they were intended; in truth,
I am satisfied we could never have been preserved
without them; the boats must otherwise have
taken in so much water that all the efforts of
twenty such weak, starving men as we afterwards
43came to be, would not have sufficed to keep her
free; but what appeared most immediately to
concern us, and to command all our anxieties,
was the security of our provisions from the salt
water. We disposed of them under a covering of
wood, that whale boats have at either end of them,
wrapping it up in several thicknesses of canvass.
I got an observation to-day, by which I found we
were in latitude 0° 6′ S. longitude 119° 30′ W.
having been driven by the winds a distance of
forty-nine miles the last twenty-four hours; by
this it would appear that there must have been a
strong current, setting us to the NW. during the
whole time. We were not able to finish our sails
in one day; and many little things preparatory to
taking a final leave of the ship were necessary to
be attended to, but evening came and put an end
to our labours. We made the same arrangements
for mooring the boats in safety, and consigned
ourselves to the horrors of another tempestuous
night. The wind continued to blow hard, keeping
up a heavy sea, and veering around from SE.
to E. and E.SE. As the gloom of night approached,
and obliged us to desist from that employment,
which cheated us out of some of the
44realities of our situation, we all of us again became
mute and desponding: a considerable degree of
alacrity had been manifested by many the preceding
day, as their attention had been wholly engaged
in scrutinizing the wreck, and in constructing
the sails and spars for the boats; but when
they ceased to be occupied, they passed to a sudden
fit of melancholy, and the miseries of their
situation came upon them with such force, as to
produce spells of extreme debility, approaching
almost to fainting. Our provisions were scarcely
touched—the appetite was entirely gone: but as
we had a great abundance of water, we indulged
in frequent and copious draughts, which our parched
mouths seemed continually to need. None asked
for bread. Our continued state of anxiety during
the night, excluded all hopes of sleep; still,
(although the solemn fact had been before me for
nearly two days,) my mind manifested the utmost
repugnance to be reconciled to it; I laid down in
the bottom of the boat, and resigned myself to reflection;
my silent prayers were offered up to the
God of mercy, for that protection which we stood
so much in need of. Sometimes, indeed, a light
hope would dawn, but then, to feel such an utter
45dependence on and consignment to chance alone
for aid and rescue, would chase it again from my
mind. The wreck—the mysterious and mortal
attack of the animal—the sudden prostration and
sinking of the vessel—our escape from her, and
our then forlorn and almost hapless destiny, all
passed in quick and perplexing review in my imagination;
wearied with the exertion of the body
and mind, I caught, near morning, an hour’s respite
from my troubles, in sleep.
November 22d. The wind remained the same,
and the weather continued remarkably fine. At
sunrise, we again hauled our boats up, and continued
our search for articles that might float out.
About 7 o’clock, the deck of the wreck began to
give way, and every appearance indicated her
speedy dissolution; the oil had bilged in the hold,
and kept the surface of the sea all around us completely
covered with it; the bulk-heads were all
washed down, and she worked in every part of her
joints and seams, with the violent and continual
breaking of the surf over her. Seeing, at last,
that little or nothing further could be done by remaining
with the wreck, and as it was all important
that while our provisions lasted, we should
46make the best possible use of time, I rowed up to
the captain’s boat, and asked him what he intended
to do. I informed him that the ship’s decks
had bursted up, and that in all probability she would
soon go to pieces; that no further purpose could be
answered, by remaining longer with her, since nothing
more could be obtained from her; and that
it was my opinion, no time should be lost in making
the best of our way towards the nearest land.
The captain observed, that he would go once more
to the wreck, and survey her, and after waiting
until 12 o’clock for the purpose of getting an observation,
would immediately after determine. In
the mean time, before noon all our sails were completed,
and the boats otherwise got in readiness
for our departure. Our observation now proved
us to be in latitude 0° 13′ N. longitude 120° 00′
W. as near as we could determine it, having crossed
the equator during the night, and drifted nineteen
miles. The wind had veered considerably
to the eastward, during the last twenty-four hours.
Our nautical calculations having been completed,
the captain, after visiting the wreck, called a council,
consisting of himself and the first and second
mates, who all repaired to his boat, to interchange
47opinions, and devise the best means for our security
and preservation. There were, in all of us,
twenty men; six of whom were blacks, and we
had three boats. We examined our navigators, to
ascertain the nearest land, and found it was the
Marquesas Islands. The Society Islands were
next; these islands we were entirely ignorant of;
if inhabited, we presumed they were by savages,
from whom we had as much to fear, as from the
elements, or even death itself. We had no charts
from which our calculations might be aided, and
were consequently obliged to govern ourselves by
the navigators alone; it was also the captain’s
opinion, that this was the season of the hurricanes
which prevail in the vicinity of the Sandwich Islands,
and that consequently it would be unsafe to
steer for them. The issue of our deliberations
was, that, taking all things into consideration, it
would be most adviseable to shape our course by
the wind, to the southward, as far as 25° or 26° S.
latitude, fall in with the variable winds, and then,
endeavour to get eastward to the coast of Chili or
Peru. Accordingly, preparations were made for
our immediate departure; the boat which it was
my fortune, or rather misfortune to have, was the
48worst of the three; she was old and patched up,
having been stove a number of times, during the
cruise. At best, a whale boat is an extremely frail
thing; the most so of any other kind of boat; they
are what is called clinker built, and constructed of
the lightest materials, for the purpose of being
rowed with the greatest possible celerity, according
to the necessities of the business for which they
are intended. Of all species of vessels, they are
the weakest, and most fragile, and possess but one
advantage over any other—that of lightness and
buoyancy, that enables them to keep above the
dash of the sea, with more facility than heavier
ones. This qualification is, however, preferable
to that of any other, and, situated as we then were,
I would not have exchanged her, old and crazy as
she was, for even a ship’s launch. I am quite confident,
that to this quality of our boats we most
especially owed our preservation, through the
many days and nights of heavy weather, that we afterwards
encountered. In consideration of my
having the weakest boat, six men were allotted to
it; while those of the captain and second mate,
took seven each, and at half past 12 we left the
wreck, steering our course, with nearly all sail
49set, S.SE. At four o’clock in the afternoon we
lost sight of her entirely. Many were the lingering
and sorrowful looks we cast behind us.
It has appeared to me often since to have been,
in the abstract, an extreme weakness and folly,
on our parts, to have looked upon our shattered
and sunken vessel with such an excessive fondness
and regret; but it seemed as if in abandoning her
we had parted with all hope, and were bending
our course away from her, rather by some dictate
of despair. We agreed to keep together, in our
boats, as nearly as possible, to afford assistance in
cases of accident, and to render our reflections
less melancholy by each other’s presence. I found
it on this occasion true, that misery does indeed
love company; unaided, and unencouraged by
each other, there were with us many whose weak
minds, I am confident, would have sunk under the
dismal retrospections of the past catastrophe, and
who did not possess either sense or firmness enough
to contemplate our approaching destiny, without
the cheering of some more determined countenance
than their own. The wind was strong all day;
and the sea ran very high, our boat taking in water
from her leaks continually, so that we were
50obliged to keep one man constantly bailing. During
the night the weather became extremely rugged,
and the sea every now and then broke over
us. By agreement, we were divided into two
watches; one of which was to be constantly
awake, and doing the labours of the boat, such as
bailing; setting, taking in, and trimming the sails.
We kept our course very well together during this
night, and had many opportunities of conversation
with the men in the other boats, wherein the
means and prospects of our deliverance were
variously considered; it appeared from the opinions
of all, that we had most to hope for in the
meeting with some vessel, and most probably
some whale ship, the great majority of whom, in
those seas, we imagined were cruising about the
latitude we were then steering for; but this was
only a hope, the realization of which did not in
any degree depend on our own exertions, but
on chance alone. It was not, therefore, considered
prudent, by going out of our course, with the
prospect of meeting them, to lose sight, for one
moment, of the strong probabilities which, under
Divine Providence, there were of our reaching
land by the route we had prescribed to ourselves;
51as that depended, most especially, on a reasonable
calculation, and on our own labours, we conceived
that our provision and water, on a small
allowance, would last us sixty days; that with the
trade-wind, on the course we were then lying, we
should be able to average the distance of a degree
a day, which, in 26 days, would enable us to attain
the region of the variable winds, and then, in thirty
more, at the very utmost, should there be any
favour in the elements, we might reach the coast.
With these considerations we commenced our voyage;
the total failure of all which, and the subsequent
dismal distress and suffering, by which we
were overtaken, will be shown in the sequel. Our
allowance of provision at first consisted of bread;
one biscuit, weighing about one pound three
ounces, and half a pint of water a day, for each
man. This small quantity, (less than one third
which is required by an ordinary person,) small
as it was, we however took without murmuring,
and, on many an occasion afterwards, blest God
that even this pittance was allowed to us in our misery.
The darkness of another night overtook us;
and after having for the first time partook of our allowance
of bread and water, we laid our weary bodies
52down in the boat, and endeavoured to get
some repose. Nature became at last worn out
with the watchings and anxieties of the two preceding
nights, and sleep came insensibly upon
us. No dreams could break the strong fastenings
of forgetfulness in which the mind was then locked
up; but for my own part, my thoughts so haunted
me that this luxury was yet a stranger to my
eyes; every recollection was still fresh before me,
and I enjoyed but a few short and unsatisfactory
slumbers, caught in the intervals between my
hopes and my fears. The dark ocean and swelling
waters were nothing; the fears of being swallowed
up by some dreadful tempest, or dashed
upon hidden rocks, with all the other ordinary
subjects of fearful contemplation, seemed scarcely
entitled to a moment’s thought; the dismal looking
wreck, and the horrid aspect and revenge of
the whale, wholly engrossed my reflections, until
day again made its appearance.
November 23d. In my chest, which I was fortunate
enough to preserve, I had several small articles,
which we found of great service to us;
among the rest, some eight or ten sheets of writing
paper, a lead pencil, a suit of clothes, three small
53fish-hooks, a jack-knife, a whetstone, and a cake
of soap. I commenced to keep a sort of journal
with the little paper and pencil which I had;
and the knife, besides other useful purposes,
served us as a razor. It was with much difficulty,
however, that I could keep any sort of record,
owing to the incessant rocking and unsteadiness
of the boat, and the continual dashing of the
spray of the sea over us. The boat contained, in
addition to the articles enumerated, a lantern, tinder-box,
and two or three candles, which belonged
to her, and with which they are kept always supplied,
while engaged in taking whale. In addition
to all which, the captain had saved a musket,
two pistols, and a canister, containing about two
pounds of gunpowder; the latter he distributed in
equal proportions between the three boats, and
gave the second mate and myself each a pistol.
When morning came we found ourselves quite near
together, and the wind had considerably increased
since the day before; we were consequently
obliged to reef our sails; and although we did not
apprehend any very great danger from the then
violence of the wind, yet it grew to be very uncomfortable
in the boats, from the repeated dashing
54of the waves, that kept our bodies constantly
wet with the salt spray. We, however, stood
along our course until twelve o’clock, when we
got an observation, as well as we were able to obtain
one, while the water flew all over us, and the
sea kept the boat extremely unsteady. We found
ourselves this day in latitude 0° 58′ S. having repassed
the equator. We abandoned the idea altogether
of keeping any correct longitudinal reckoning,
having no glass, nor log-line. The wind
moderated in the course of the afternoon a little,
but at night came on to blow again almost a gale.
We began now to tremble for our little barque;
she was so ill calculated, in point of strength, to
withstand the racking of the sea, while it required
the constant labours of one man to keep her free
of water. We were surrounded in the afternoon
with porpoises that kept playing about us in great
numbers, and continued to follow us during the
night.
November 24th. The wind had not abated
any since the preceding day, and the sea had risen
to be very large, and increased, if possible, the
extreme uncomfortableness of our situation. What
added more than any thing else to our misfortunes,
55was, that all our efforts for the preservation
of our provisions proved, in a great measure,
ineffectual; a heavy sea broke suddenly into the
boat, and, before we could snatch it up, damaged
some part of it; by timely attention, however, and
great caution, we managed to make it eatable, and
to preserve the rest from a similar casualty. This
was a subject of extreme anxiety to us; the expectation,
poor enough of itself indeed, upon
which our final rescue was founded, must change
at once to utter hopelessness, deprived of our provisions,
the only means of continuing us in the exercise,
not only of our manual powers, but in those
of reason itself; hence, above all other things, this
was the object of our utmost solicitude and pains.
We ascertained, the next day, that some of the
provisions in the captain’s boat had shared a similar
fate during the night; both which accidents
served to arouse us to a still stronger sense of our
slender reliance upon the human means at our
command, and to show us our utter dependence
on that divine aid which we so much the more
stood in need of.
November 25th. No change of wind had yet
taken place, and we experienced the last night
56the same wet and disagreeable weather of the
preceding one. About eight o’clock in the morning
we discovered that the water began to come
fast in our boat, and in a few minutes the quantity
increased to such a degree as to alarm us considerably
for our safety; we commenced immediately
a strict search in every part of her to discover
the leak, and, after tearing up the ceiling or
floor of the boat near the bows, we found it proceeded
from one of the streaks or outside boards
having bursted off there; no time was to be lost
in devising some means to repair it. The great
difficulty consisted in its being in the bottom of
the boat, about six inches from the surface of the
water; it was necessary, therefore, to have access
to the outside, to enable us to fasten it on again:
the leak being to leeward, we hove about, and lay
to on the other tack, which brought it then nearly
out of water; the captain, who was at the time
ahead of us, seeing us manœuvring to get the
boat about, shortened sail, and presently tacked,
and ran down to us. I informed him of our situation,
and he came immediately alongside to our
assistance. After directing all the men in the
boat to get on one side, the other, by that means,
57heeled out of the water a considerable distance,
and, with a little difficulty, we then managed to
drive in a few nails, and secured it, much beyond
our expectations. Fears of no ordinary kind were
excited by this seemingly small accident. When
it is recollected to what a slight vessel we had
committed ourselves; our means of safety alone
consisting in her capacity and endurance for many
weeks, in all probability, yet to come, it will not
be considered strange that this little accident
should not only have damped our spirits considerably,
but have thrown a great gloominess over the
natural prospects of our deliverance. On this
occasion, too, were we enabled to rescue ourselves
from inevitable destruction by the possession
of a few nails, without which, (had it not
been our fortune to save some from the wreck,)
we would, in all human calculation, have been
lost: we were still liable to a recurrence of the
same accident, perhaps to a still worse one, as, in
the heavy and repeated racking of the swell, the
progress of our voyage would serve but to increase
the incapacity and weakness of our boat, and the
starting of a single nail in her bottom would most
assuredly prove our certain destruction. We
58wanted not this additional reflection, to add to the
miseries of our situation.
November 26th. Our sufferings, heaven knows,
were now sufficiently increased, and we looked
forward, not without an extreme dread, and anxiety,
to the gloomy and disheartening prospect before
us. We experienced a little abatement of
wind and rough weather to-day, and took the opportunity
of drying the bread that had been wet
the day previously; to our great joy and satisfaction
also, the wind hauled out to E.NE. and enabled
us to hold a much more favourable course;
with these exceptions, no circumstance of any
considerable interest occurred in the course of this
day.
The 27th of November was alike undistinguished
for any incident worthy of note; except that
the wind again veered back to E. and destroyed
the fine prospect we had entertained, of making
a good run for several days to come.
November 28th. The wind hauled still further
to the southward, and obliged us to fall off our
course to S. and commenced to blow with such
violence, as to put us again under short sail; the
night set in extremely dark, and tempestuous, and
59we began to entertain fears that we should be separated.
We however, with great pains, managed
to keep about a ship’s length apart, so that the
white sails of our boats could be distinctly discernable.
The captain’s boat was but a short distance
astern of mine, and that of the second mate a few
rods to leeward of his. At about 11 o’clock at
night, having laid down to sleep, in the bottom of
the boat, I was suddenly awakened by one of my
companions, who cried out, that the captain was
in distress, and was calling on us for assistance.
I immediately aroused myself, and listened a moment,
to hear if any thing further should be said,
when the captain’s loud voice arrested my attention.
He was calling to the second mate, whose
boat was nearer to him than mine. I made all
haste to put about, ran down to him, and inquired
what was the matter; he replied, “I have been
attacked by an unknown fish, and he has stove my
boat.” It appeared, that some large fish had accompanied
the boat for a short distance, and
had suddenly made an unprovoked attack upon
her, as nearly as they could determine, with his
jaws; the extreme darkness of the night prevented
them from distinguishing what kind of animal it
60was, but they judged it to be about twelve feet in
length, and one of the killer-fish species. After
having struck the boat once, he continued to play
about her, on every side, as if manifesting a disposition
to renew the attack, and did a second time
strike the bows of the boat, and split her stem.
They had no other instrument of offence, but the
sprit-pole, (a long slender piece of wood, by which
the peak of the sail is extended,) with which, after
repeated attempts to destroy the boat, they succeeded
in beating him off. I arrived, just as he
had discontinued his operations, and disappeared.
He had made a considerable breach in the bows
of the boat, through which the water had began
to pour fast; and the captain, imagining matters to
be considerably worse than they were, immediately
took measures to remove his provisions into the
second mate’s boat and mine, in order to lighten
his own, and by that means, and constant bailing,
to keep her above water until daylight should enable
him to discover the extent of the damage, and
to repair it. The night was spissy darkness itself;
the sky was completely overcast, and it seemed to
us as if fate was wholly relentless, in pursuing us
with such a cruel complication of disasters. We
61were not without our fears that the fish might renew
his attack, some time during the night, upon
one of the other boats, and unexpectedly destroy
us; but they proved entirely groundless, as he was
never afterwards seen. When daylight came,
the wind again favoured us a little, and we all lay
to, to repair the broken boat; which was effected
by nailing on thin strips of boards in the inside;
and having replaced the provisions, we proceeded
again on our course. Our allowance of water,
which in the commencement, merely served to administer
to the positive demands of nature, became
now to be insufficient; and we began to experience
violent thirst, from the consumption of the provisions
that had been wet with the salt water, and
dried in the sun; of these we were obliged to eat
first, to prevent their spoiling; and we could not,
nay, we did not dare, to make any encroachments
on our stock of water. Our determination was,
to suffer as long as human patience and endurance
would hold out, having only in view, the relief that
would be afforded us, when the quantity of wet
provisions should be exhausted. Our extreme
sufferings here first commenced. The privation of
water is justly ranked among the most dreadful of
62the miseries of our life; the violence of raving
thirst has no parallel in the catalogue of human
calamities. It was our hard lot to have felt this
in its extremest force, when necessity subsequently
compelled us to seek resource from one
of the offices of nature. We were not, at first,
aware of the consequences of eating this bread,
and it was not until the fatal effects of it had shown
themselves to a degree of oppression, that we could
divine the cause of our extreme thirst. But, alas!
there was no relief. Ignorant, or instructed of the
fact, it was alike immaterial; it composed a part
of our subsistence, and reason imposed upon us the
necessity of its immediate consumption, as otherwise
it would have been lost to us entirely.
November 29th. Our boats appeared to be
growing daily more frail and insufficient; the continual
flowing of the water into them, seemed increased,
without our being able to assign it to any
thing else, than a general weakness, arising from
causes that must in a short time, without some
remedy or relief, produce their total failure. We
did not neglect, however, to patch up and mend
them, according to our means, whenever we could
discover a broken or weak part. We this day
63found ourselves surrounded by a shoal of dolphins;
some, or one of which, we tried in vain a long
time to take. We made a small line from some
rigging that was in the boat, fastened on one of the
fish-hooks, and tied to it a small piece of white
rag; they took not the least notice of it, but continued
playing around us, nearly all day, mocking
both our miseries and our efforts.
November 30th. This was a remarkably fine
day; the weather not exceeded by any that we
had experienced since we left the wreck. At one
o’clock, I proposed to our boat’s crew to kill one
of the turtle; two of which we had in our possession.
I need not say, that the proposition was
hailed with the utmost enthusiasm; hunger had
set its ravenous gnawings upon our stomachs, and
we waited with impatience to suck the warm flowing
blood of the animal. A small fire was kindled
in the shell of the turtle, and after dividing
the blood, (of which there was about a gill,) among
those of us who felt disposed to drink it, we cooked
the remainder, entrails and all, and enjoyed
from it an unspeakably fine repast. The stomachs
of two or three revolted at the sight of the blood,
and refused to partake of it; not even the outrageous
64thirst that was upon them could induce them
to taste it; for myself, I took it like a medicine, to
relieve the extreme dryness of my palate, and
stopped not to inquire whether it was any thing
else than a liquid. After this, I may say exquisite
banquet, our bodies were considerably recruited,
and I felt my spirits now much higher than they
had been at any time before. By observation,
this day we found ourselves in latitude 7° 53′ S.
our distance from the wreck, as nearly as we could
calculate, was then about four hundred and eighty
miles.
December 1st. From the 1st to the 3d of December,
exclusive, there was nothing transpired
of any moment. Our boats as yet kept admirably
well together, and the weather was distinguished
for its mildness and salubrity. We gathered
consolation too from a favourable slant which the
wind took to NE. and our situation was not at that
moment, we thought, so comfortless as we had
been led at first to consider it; but, in our extravagant
felicitations upon the blessing of the wind
and weather, we forgot our leaks, our weak boats,
our own debility, our immense distance from land,
the smallness of our stock of provisions; all which,
65when brought to mind, with the force which they
deserved, were too well calculated to dishearten
us, and cause us to sigh for the hardships of our lot.
Up to the 3d of December, the raging thirst of our
mouths had not been but in a small degree alleviated;
had it not been for the pains which that
gave us, we should have tasted, during this spell of
fine weather, a species of enjoyment, derived
from a momentary forgetfulness of our actual situation.
December 3d. With great joy we hailed the
last crumb of our damaged bread, and commenced
this day to take our allowance of healthy provisions.
The salutary and agreeable effects of this
change were felt at first in so slight a degree, as
to give us no great cause of comfort or satisfaction;
but gradually, as we partook of our small allowance
of water, the moisture began to collect in our
mouths, and the parching fever of the palate imperceptibly
left it. An accident here happened
to us which gave us a great momentary spell of
uneasiness. The night was dark, and the sky was
completely overcast, so that we could scarcely
discern each other’s boats, when at about ten
o’clock, that of the second mate was suddenly missing.
66I felt for a moment considerable alarm at
her unexpected disappearance; but after a little
reflection I immediately hove to, struck a light
as expeditiously as possible, and hoisted it at the
mast-head, in a lantern. Our eyes were now directed
over every part of the ocean, in search of
her, when, to our great joy, we discerned an answering
light, about a quarter of a mile to leeward
of us; we ran down to it, and it proved to be the
lost boat. Strange as the extraordinary interest
which we felt in each other’s company may appear,
and much as our repugnance to separation
may seem to imply of weakness, it was the subject
of our continual hopes and fears. It is truly remarked,
that misfortune more than any thing else serves
to endear us to our companions. So strongly was
this sentiment engrafted upon our feelings, and so
closely were the destinies of all of us involuntarily
linked together, that, had one of the boats been
wrecked, and wholly lost, with all her provisions
and water, we should have felt ourselves constrained,
by every tie of humanity, to have taken the
surviving sufferers into the other boats, and shared
our bread and water with them, while a crumb of
one or a drop of the other remained. Hard, indeed,
67would the case have been for all, and much
as I have since reflected on the subject, I have not
been able to realize, had it so happened, that a
sense of our necessities would have allowed us to
give so magnanimous and devoted a character to
our feelings. I can only speak of the impressions
which I recollect I had at the time. Subsequently,
however, as our situation became more straightened
and desperate, our conversation on this subject
took a different turn; and it appeared to be
an universal sentiment, that such a course of conduct
was calculated to weaken the chances of a
final deliverance for some, and might be the only
means of consigning every soul of us to a horrid
death of starvation. There is no question but that
an immediate separation, therefore, was the most
politic measure that could be adopted, and that
every boat should take its own separate chance:
while we remained together, should any accident
happen, of the nature alluded to, no other course
could be adopted, than that of taking the survivers
into the other boats, and giving up voluntarily, what
we were satisfied could alone prolong our hopes, and
multiply the chances of our safety, or unconcernedly
witness their struggles in death, perhaps beat
68them from our boats, with weapons, back into the
ocean. The expectation of reaching the land
was founded upon a reasonable calculation of the
distance, the means, and the subsistence; all which
were scanty enough, God knows, and ill adapted
to the probable exigences of the voyage. Any
addition to our own demands, in this respect,
would not only injure, but actually destroy the
whole system which we had laid down, and reduce
us to a slight hope, derived either from the speedy
death of some of our crew, or the falling in with
some vessel. With all this, however, there was a
desperate instinct that bound us together; we
could not reason on the subject with any degree
of satisfaction to our minds, yet we continued to
cling to each other with a strong and involuntary
impulse. This, indeed, was a matter of no small
difficulty, and it constituted, more than any thing
else, a source of continual watching and inquietude.
We would but turn our eyes away for a few
moments, during some dark nights, and presently,
one of the boats would be missing. There was no
other remedy than to heave to immediately and
set a light, by which the missing boat might be directed
to us. These proceedings necessarily interfered
69very much with our speed, and consequently
lessened our hopes; but we preferred to
submit to it, while the consequences were not so
immediately felt, rather than part with the consolation
which each other’s presence afforded.
Nothing of importance took place on the 4th of
December; and on the 5th, at night, owing to the
extreme darkness, and a strong wind, I again separated
from the other boats. Finding they were
not to be seen in any direction, I loaded my pistol
and fired it twice; soon after the second discharge
they made their appearance a short distance to
windward, and we joined company, and again kept
on our course, in which we continued without any
remarkable occurrence, through the 6th and 7th
of December. The wind during this period blew
very strong, and much more unfavourably. Our
boats continued to leak, and to take in a good deal
of water over the gunwales.
December 8th. In the afternoon of this day
the wind set in E.SE. and began to blow much
harder than we had yet experienced it; by
twelve o’clock at night it had increased to a perfect
gale, with heavy showers of rain, and we now
began, from these dreadful indications, to prepare
70ourselves for destruction. We continued to take
in sail by degrees, as the tempest gradually increased,
until at last we were obliged to take down
our masts. At this juncture we gave up entirely
to the mercy of the waves. The sea and rain
had wet us to the skin, and we sat down, silently,
and with sullen resignation, awaiting our fate.
We made an effort to catch some fresh water by
spreading one of the sails, but after having spent
a long time, and obtained but a small quantity in a
bucket, it proved to be quite as salt as that from
the ocean: this we attributed to its having passed
through the sail which had been so often wet by
the sea, and upon which, after drying so frequently
in the sun, concretions of salt had been formed.
It was a dreadful night—cut off from any imaginary
relief—nothing remained but to await the approaching
issue with firmness and resignation.
The appearance of the heavens was dark and
dreary, and the blackness that was spread over
the face of the waters dismal beyond description.
The heavy squalls, that followed each other in
quick succession, were preceded by sharp flashes
of lightning, that appeared to wrap our little barge
in flames. The sea rose to a fearful height, and
71every wave that came looked as if it must be the
last that would be necessary for our destruction.
To an overruling Providence alone must be attributed
our salvation from the horrors of that terrible
night. It can be accounted for in no other
way: that a speck of substance, like that which
we were, before the driving terrors of the tempest,
could have been conducted safely through it.
At twelve o’clock it began to abate a little in intervals
of two or three minutes, during which we
would venture to raise up our heads and look to
windward. Our boat was completely unmanageable;
without sails, mast, or rudder, and had been
driven, in the course of the afternoon and night,
we knew not whither, nor how far. When the gale
had in some measure subsided we made efforts to
get a little sail upon her, and put her head towards
the course we had been steering. My companions
had not slept any during the whole night, and were
dispirited and broken down to such a degree as to
appear to want some more powerful stimulus than
the fears of death to enable them to do their duty.
By great exertions, however, towards morning
we again set a double-reefed mainsail and jib
upon her, and began to make tolerable progress
72on the voyage. An unaccountable good fortune
had kept the boats together during all the troubles
of the night: and the sun rose and showed the disconsolate
faces of our companions once more to
each other.
December 9th. By twelve o’clock this day we
were enabled to set all sail as usual; but there
continued to be a very heavy sea running, which
opened the seams of the boats, and increased the
leaks to an alarming degree. There was, however,
no remedy for this but continual bailing,
which had now become to be an extremely irksome
and laborious task. By observation we
found ourselves in latitude 17° 40′ S. At eleven
o’clock at night, the captain’s boat was unexpectedly
found to be missing. After the last accident of
this kind we had agreed, if the same should again
occur, that, in order to save our time, the other
boats should not heave to, as usual, but continue
on their course until morning, and thereby save
the great detention that must arise from such repeated
delays. We, however, concluded on this
occasion to make a small effort, which, if it did
not immediately prove the means of restoring the
lost boat, we would discontinue, and again make
73sail. Accordingly we hove to for an hour, during
which time I fired my pistol twice, and obtaining
no tidings of the boat, we stood on our course.
When daylight appeared she was to leeward of us,
about two miles; upon observing her we immediately
ran down, and again joined company.
December 10th. I have omitted to notice the
gradual advances which hunger and thirst, for the
last six days, had made upon us. As the time had
lengthened since our departure from the wreck,
and the allowance of provision, making the demands
of the appetite daily more and more importunate,
they had created in us an almost uncontrollable
temptation to violate our resolution,
and satisfy, for once, the hard yearnings of nature
from our stock; but a little reflection served to
convince us of the imprudence and unmanliness of
the measure, and it was abandoned with a sort of
melancholy effort of satisfaction. I had taken into
custody, by common consent, all the provisions
and water belonging to the boat, and was determined
that no encroachments should be made upon
it with my consent; nay, I felt myself bound, by
every consideration of duty, by every dictate of
sense, of prudence, and discretion, without which,
74in my situation, all other exertions would have
been folly itself, to protect them, at the hazard
of my life. For this purpose I locked up in
my chest the whole quantity, and never, for a
single moment, closed my eyes without placing
some part of my person in contact with the chest;
and having loaded my pistol, kept it constantly
about me. I should not certainly have put any
threats in execution as long as the most distant
hopes of reconciliation existed; and was determined,
in case the least refractory disposition should
be manifested, (a thing which I contemplated not
unlikely to happen, with a set of starving wretches
like ourselves,) that I would immediately divide
our subsistence into equal proportions, and give
each man’s share into his own keeping. Then,
should any attempt be made upon mine, which I
intended to mete out to myself, according to exigences,
I was resolved to make the consequences
of it fatal. There was, however, the most upright
and obedient behaviour in this respect manifested
by every man in the boat, and I never had
the least opportunity of proving what my conduct
would have been on such an occasion. While
standing on our course this day we came across
75a small shoal of flying fish: four of which, in their
efforts to avoid us, flew against the mainsail, and
dropped into the boat; one, having fell near me,
I eagerly snatched up and devoured; the other
three were immediately taken by the rest, and eaten
alive. For the first time I, on this occasion,
felt a disposition to laugh, upon witnessing the ludicrous
and almost desperate efforts of my five
companions, who each sought to get a fish. They
were very small of the kind, and constituted but
an extremely delicate mouthful, scales, wings, and
all, for hungry stomachs like ours. From the
eleventh to the thirteenth of December inclusive,
our progress was very slow, owing to light winds
and calms; and nothing transpired of any moment,
except that on the eleventh we killed the
only remaining turtle, and enjoyed another luxuriant
repast, that invigorated our bodies, and gave
a fresh flow to our spirits. The weather was extremely
hot, and we were exposed to the full force
of a meridian sun, without any covering to shield us
from its burning influence, or the least breath of
air to cool its parching rays. On the thirteenth
day of December we were blessed with a change
of wind to the northward, that brought us a most
76welcome and unlooked for relief. We now, for
the first time, actually felt what might be deemed
a reasonable hope of our deliverance; and with
hearts bounding with satisfaction, and bosoms
swelling with joy, we made all sail to the eastward.
We imagined we had run out of the tradewinds,
and had got into the variables, and should,
in all probability, reach the land many days sooner
than we expected. But, alas! our anticipations
were but a dream, from which we shortly
experienced a cruel awaking. The wind gradually
died away, and at night was succeeded by a
perfect calm, more oppressive and disheartening
to us, from the bright prospects which had attended
during the day. The gloomy reflections that
this hard fortune had given birth to, were succeeded
by others, of a no less cruel and discouraging
nature, when we found the calm continue during
the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth of December
inclusive. The extreme oppression of the
weather, the sudden and unexpected prostration
of our hopes, and the consequent dejection of our
spirits, set us again to thinking, and filled our souls
with fearful and melancholy forebodings. In this
state of affairs, seeing no alternative left us but to
77employ to the best advantage all human expedients
in our power, I proposed, on the fourteenth,
to reduce our allowance of provisions one-half. No objections were made to this arrangement:
all submitted, or seemed to do so, with an
admirable fortitude and forbearance. The proportion
which our stock of water bore to our
bread was not large; and while the weather continued
so oppressive, we did not think it adviseable
to diminish our scanty pittance; indeed, it would
have been scarcely possible to have done so, with
any regard to our necessities, as our thirst had
become now incessantly more intolerable than
hunger, and the quantity then allowed was barely
sufficient to keep the mouth in a state of moisture,
for about one-third of the time. “Patience
and long-suffering” was the constant language of
our lips: and a determination, strong as the resolves
of the soul could make it, to cling to existence
as long as hope and breath remained to us.
In vain was every expedient tried to relieve the raging
fever of the throat by drinking salt water, and
holding small quantities of it in the mouth, until, by
that means, the thirst was increased to such a degree,
as even to drive us to despairing, and vain relief
78from our own urine. Our sufferings during these
calm days almost exceeded human belief. The hot
rays of the sun beat down upon us to such a degree,
as to oblige us to hang over the gunwale of
the boat, into the sea, to cool our weak and fainting
bodies. This expedient afforded us, however,
a grateful relief, and was productive of a discovery
of infinite importance to us. No sooner had one
of us got on the outside of the gunwale than he
immediately observed the bottom of the boat to
be covered with a species of small clam, which,
upon being tasted, proved a most delicious and
agreeable food. This was no sooner announced
to us, than we commenced to tear them off and
eat them, for a few minutes, like a set of gluttons;
and, after having satisfied the immediate craving
of the stomach, we gathered large quantities and
laid them up in the boat; but hunger came upon
us again in less than half an hour afterwards, within
which time they had all disappeared. Upon
attempting to get in again, we found ourselves so
weak as to require each other’s assistance; indeed,
had it not been for three of our crew, who
could not swim, and who did not, therefore, get
overboard, I know not by what means we should
79have been able to have resumed our situations
in the boat.
On the fifteenth our boat continued to take in
water so fast from her leaks, and the weather
proving so moderate, we concluded to search out
the bad places, and endeavour to mend them as
well as we should be able. After a considerable
search, and, removing the ceiling near the bows,
we found the principal opening was occasioned
by the starting of a plank or streak in the bottom
of the boat, next to the keel. To remedy this, it
was now absolutely necessary to have access to the
bottom. The means of doing which did not immediately
occur to our minds. After a moment’s reflection,
however, one of the crew, Benjamin Lawrence,
offered to tie a rope around his body, take
a boat’s hatchet in his hand, and thus go under the
water, and hold the hatchet against a nail, to be
driven through from the inside, for the purpose of
clenching it. This was, accordingly, all effected,
with some little trouble, and answered the purpose
much beyond our expectations. Our latitude
was this day 21° 42′ South. The oppression
of the weather still continuing through the
sixteenth, bore upon our health and spirits with
80an amazing force and severity. The most disagreeable
excitements were produced by it, which,
added to the disconsolate endurance of the calm,
called loudly for some mitigating expedient,—some
sort of relief to our prolonged sufferings.
By our observations to-day we found, in addition
to our other calamities, that we had been urged
back from our progress, by the heave of the sea, a
distance of ten miles; and were still without any
prospect of wind. In this distressing posture of
our affairs, the captain proposed that we should
commence rowing, which, being seconded by all,
we immediately concluded to take a double allowance
of provision and water for the day, and row,
during the cool of the nights, until we should get
a breeze from some quarter or other. Accordingly,
when night came, we commenced our laborious
operations: we made but a very sorry
progress. Hunger and thirst, and long inactivity,
had so weakened us, that in three hours every
man gave out, and we abandoned the further prosecution
of the plan. With the sunrise the next
morning, on the seventeenth, a light breeze sprung
up from the SE. and, although directly ahead, it
81was welcomed with almost frenzied feelings of
gratitude and joy.
December 18th. The wind had increased this
day considerably, and by twelve o’clock blew a
gale; veering from SE. to E.SE. Again we were
compelled to take in all sail, and lie to for the principal
part of the day. At night, however, it
died away, and the next day, the nineteenth,
proved very moderate and pleasant weather, and
we again commenced to make a little progress.
December 20th. This was a day of great happiness
and joy. After having experienced one of
the most distressing nights in the whole catalogue
of our sufferings, we awoke to a morning of comparative
luxury and pleasure. About 7 o’clock,
while we were sitting dispirited, silent, and dejected,
in our boats, one of our companions suddenly
and loudly called out, “there is land!” We were
all aroused in an instant, as if electrified, and casting
our eyes to leeward, there indeed, was the
blessed vision before us, “as plain and palpable”
as could be wished for. A new and extraordinary
impulse now took possession of us. We shook off
the lethargy of our senses, and seemed to take
another, and a fresh existence. One or two of my
82companions, whose lagging spirits, and worn out
frames had begun to inspire them with an utter indifference
to their fate, now immediately brightened
up, and manifested a surprising alacrity and earnestness
to gain, without delay, the much wished
for shore. It appeared at first a low, white, beach,
and lay like a basking paradise before our longing
eyes. It was discovered nearly at the same time
by the other boats, and a general burst of joy and
congratulation now passed between us. It is not
within the scope of human calculation, by a mere
listener to the story, to divine what the feelings of
our hearts were on this occasion. Alternate expectation,
fear, gratitude, surprise, and exultation,
each swayed our minds, and quickened our
exertions. We ran down for it, and at 11 o’clock,
A. M. we were within a quarter of a mile of the
shore. It was an island, to all appearance, as
nearly as we could determine it, about six miles
long, and three broad; with a very high, rugged
shore, and surrounded by rocks; the sides of the
mountains were bare, but on the tops it looked
fresh and green with vegetation. Upon examining
our navigators, we found it was Ducies Island,
lying in latitude 24° 40′ S. longitude 124° 40′
83W. A short moment sufficed for reflection, and
we made immediate arrangements to land. None
of us knew whether the island was inhabited or
not, nor what it afforded, if any thing; if inhabited,
it was uncertain whether by beasts or savages; and
a momentary suspense was created, by the dangers
which might possibly arise by proceeding
without due preparation and care. Hunger and
thirst, however, soon determined us, and having
taken the musket and pistols, I, with three others,
effected a landing upon some sunken rocks, and
waded thence to the shore. Upon arriving at the
beach, it was necessary to take a little breath, and
we laid down for a few minutes to rest our weak
bodies, before we could proceed. Let the reader
judge, if he can, what must have been our feelings
now! Bereft of all comfortable hopes of life, for the
space of thirty days of terrible suffering; our bodies
wasted to mere skeletons, by hunger and thirst,
and death itself staring us in the face; to be suddenly
and unexpectedly conducted to a rich banquet
of food and drink, which subsequently we enjoyed
for a few days, to our full satisfaction; and he will
have but a faint idea of the happiness that here
fell to our lot. We now, after a few minutes, separated,
84and went different directions in search of
water; the want of which had been our principal
privation, and called for immediate relief. I had
not proceeded far in my excursion, before I discovered
a fish, about a foot and a half in length,
swimming along in the water close to the shore.
I commenced an attack upon him with the breach
of my gun, and struck him, I believe, once, and he
ran under a small rock, that lay near the shore,
from whence I took him with the aid of my ramrod,
and brought him up on the beach, and immediately
fell to eating. My companions soon joined in
the repast; and in less than ten minutes, the whole
was consumed, bones, and skin, and scales, and
all. With full stomachs, we imagined we could
now attempt the mountains, where, if in any part
of the island, we considered water would be most
probably obtained. I accordingly clambered, with
excessive labour, suffering, and pain, up amongst
the bushes, roots, and underwood, of one of the
crags, looking in all directions in vain, for every
appearance of water that might present itself.
There was no indication of the least moisture to be
found, within the distance to which I had ascended,
although my strength did not enable me to get
85higher than about 20 feet. I was sitting down at
the height that I had attained, to gather a little
breath, and ruminating upon the fruitlessness of my
search, and the consequent evils and continuation
of suffering that it necessarily implied, when I perceived
that the tide had risen considerably since
our landing, and threatened to cut off our retreat
to the rocks, by which alone we should be able
to regain our boats. I therefore determined to
proceed again to the shore, and inform the captain
and the rest of our want of success in procuring
water, and consult upon the propriety of remaining
at the island any longer. I never for one moment
lost sight of the main chance, which I conceived
we still had, of either getting to the coast, or of
meeting with some vessel at sea; and felt that every
minute’s detention, without some equivalent
object, was lessening those chances, by a consumption
of the means of our support. When I had
got down, one of my companions informed me,
that he had found a place in a rock some distance
off, from which the water exuded in small drops,
at intervals of about five minutes; that he had, by
applying his lips to the rock, obtained a few of
them, which only served to whet his appetite, and
86from which nothing like the least satisfaction had
proceeded. I immediately resolved in my own
mind, upon this information, to advise remaining
until morning, to endeavour to make a more thorough
search the next day, and with our hatchets
to pick away the rock which had been discovered,
with the view of increasing, if possible, the run
of the water. We all repaired again to our boats,
and there found that the captain had the same impressions
as to the propriety of our delay until
morning. We therefore landed; and having hauled
our boats up on the beach, laid down in them
that night, free from all the anxieties of watching
and labour, and amid all our sufferings, gave ourselves
up to an unreserved forgetfulness and peace
of mind, that seemed so well to accord with the
pleasing anticipations that this day had brought
forth. It was but a short space, however, until the
morning broke upon us; and sense, and feeling,
and gnawing hunger, and the raging fever of thirst
then redoubled my wishes and efforts to explore
the island again. We had obtained, that night, a
few crabs, by traversing the shore a considerable
distance, and a few very small fish; but waited
until the next day, for the labours of which, we
87considered a night of refreshing and undisturbed
repose would better qualify us.
December 21st. We had still reserved our
common allowance, but it was entirely inadequate
for the purpose of supplying the raging demands of
the palate; and such an excessive and cruel thirst
was created, as almost to deprive us of the power
of speech. The lips became cracked and swollen,
and a sort of glutinous saliva collected in the
mouth, disagreeable to the taste, and intolerable
beyond expression. Our bodies had wasted away
to almost skin and bone, and possessed so little
strength, as often to require each other’s assistance
in performing some of its weakest functions. Relief,
we now felt, must come soon, or nature would
sink. The most perfect discipline was still maintained,
in respect to our provisions; and it now became
our whole object, if we should not be able
to replenish our subsistence from the island, to obtain,
by some means or other, a sufficient refreshment
to enable us to prosecute our voyage.
Our search for water accordingly again commenced
with the morning; each of us took a different
direction, and prosecuted the examination
of every place where there was the least indication
88of it; the small leaves of the shrubbery, affording
a temporary alleviation, by being chewed
in the mouth, and but for the peculiarly bitter
taste which those of the island possessed, would
have been an extremely grateful substitute. In
the course of our rambles too, along the sides of
the mountain, we would now and then meet with
tropic birds, of a beautiful figure and plumage, occupying
small holes in the sides of it, from which
we plucked them without the least difficulty.
Upon our approaching them they made no attempts
to fly, nor did they appear to notice us at
all. These birds served us for a fine repast; numbers
of which were caught in the course of the
day, cooked by fires which we made on the shore,
and eaten with the utmost avidity. We found also
a plant, in taste not unlike the peppergrass, growing
in considerable abundance in the crevices of
the rocks, and which proved to us a very agreeable
food, by being chewed with the meat of the birds.
These, with birds’ nests, some of them full of young,
and others of eggs, a few of which we found in the
course of the day, served us for food, and supplied
the place of our bread; from the use of
which, during our stay here, we had restricted
89ourselves. But water, the great object of all our
anxieties and exertions, was no where to be found,
and we began to despair of meeting with it on the
island. Our state of extreme weakness, and many
of us without shoes or any covering for the feet,
prevented us from exploring any great distance;
lest by some sudden faintness, or over exertion, we
should not be able to return, and at night be exposed
to attacks of wild beasts, which might inhabit the
island, and be alike incapable of resistance, as beyond
the reach of the feeble assistance that otherwise
could be afforded to each. The whole day
was thus consumed in picking up whatever had the
least shape or quality of sustenance, and another
night of misery was before us, to be passed without
a drop of water to cool our parching tongues.
In this state of affairs, we could not reconcile it to
ourselves to remain longer at this place; a day, an
hour, lost to us unnecessarily here, might cost us
our preservation. A drop of the water that we
then had in our possession might prove, in the last
stages of our debility, the very cordial of life. I
addressed the substance of these few reflections to
the captain, who agreed with me in opinion, upon
the necessity of taking some decisive steps in our
90present dilemma. After some considerable conversation
on this subject, it was finally concluded,
to spend the succeeding day in the further search
for water, and if none should be found, to quit the
island the morning after.
December 22d. We had been employed during
the last night in various occupations, according to
the feelings or the wants of the men; some continued
to wander about the shore, and to short distances
in the mountains, still seeking for food and
water; others hung about the beach, near the
edge of the sea, endeavouring to take the little
fish that came about them. Some slept, insensible
to every feeling but rest; while others spent the
night in talking of their situation, and reasoning
upon the probabilities of their deliverance. The
dawn of day aroused us again to labour, and each
of us pursued his own inclination, as to the course
taken over the island after water. My principal
hope was founded upon my success in picking the
rocks where the moisture had been discovered the
day before, and thither I hastened as soon as my
strength would enable me to get there. It was
about a quarter of a mile from what I may call our
encampment; and with two men, who had accompanied
91me, I commenced my labours with a hatchet
and an old chisel. The rock proved to be
very soft, and in a very short time I had obtained
a considerable hole, but, alas! without the least
wished-for effect. I watched it for some little
time with great anxiety, hoping that, as I increased
the depth of the hole, the water would presently
flow; but all my hopes and efforts were unavailing,
and at last I desisted from further labour, and sat
down near it in utter despair. As I turned my eyes
towards the beach I saw some of the men in the act
of carrying a keg along from the boats, with, I
thought, an extraordinary spirit and activity; and
the idea suddenly darted across my mind that they
had found water, and were taking a keg to fill it.
I quitted my seat in a moment, made the best of
my way towards them, with a palpitating heart,
and before I came up with them, they gave me the
cheering news that they had found a spring of water.
I felt, at that moment, as if I could have fallen
down and thanked God for this signal act of
his mercy. The sensation that I experienced was
indeed strange, and such as I shall never forget.
At one instant I felt an almost choking excess of
joy, and at the next I wanted the relief of a flood
92of tears. When I arrived at the spot, whither I had
hastened as fast as my weak legs would carry me,
I found my companions had all taken their fill,
and with an extreme degree of forbearance I
then satisfied myself, by drinking in small quantities,
and at intervals of two or three minutes apart.
Many had, notwithstanding the remonstrances of
prudence, and, in some cases, force, laid down and
thoughtlessly swallowed large quantities of it, until
they could drink no more. The effect of this
was, however, neither so sudden nor bad as we had
imagined; it only served to make them a little
stupid and indolent for the remainder of the day.
Upon examining the place from whence we had
obtained this miraculous and unexpected succour,
we were equally astonished and delighted with the
discovery. It was on the shore, above which the sea
flowed to the depth of near six feet; and we could
procure the water, therefore, from it only when the
tide was down. The crevice from which it rose was
in a flat rock, large surfaces of which were spread
around, and composed the face of the beach. We
filled our two kegs before the tide rose, and went
back again to our boats. The remainder of this
day was spent in seeking for fish, crabs, birds, and
93any thing else that fell in our way, that could contribute
to satisfy our appetites; and we enjoyed,
during that night, a most comfortable and delicious
sleep, unattended with those violent cravings
of hunger and thirst, that had poisoned our slumbers
for so many previous ones. Since the discovery
of the water, too, we began to entertain
different notions altogether of our situation.
There was no doubt we might here depend upon
a constant and ample supply of it as long as we
chose to remain, and, in all probability, we could
manage to obtain food, until the island should be
visited by some vessel, or time allowed to devise
other means of leaving it. Our boats would still
remain to us: a stay here might enable us to
mend, strengthen, and put them in more perfect
order for the sea, and get ourselves so far recruited
as to be able to endure, if necessary, a more protracted
voyage to the main land. I made a silent
determination in my own mind that I would myself
pursue something like this plan, whatever
might be the opinion of the rest; but I found no
difference in the views of any of us as to this matter.
We, therefore, concluded to remain at least
four or five days, within which time it could be
94sufficiently known whether it would be adviseable
to make any arrangements for a more permanent
abode.
December 23d. At 11 o’clock, A. M. we again
visited our spring: the tide had fallen to about a
foot below it, and we were able to procure, before
it rose again, about twenty gallons of water. It
was at first a little brackish, but soon became fresh,
from the constant supply from the rock, and the
departure of the sea. Our observations this
morning tended to give us every confidence in its
quantity and quality, and we, therefore, rested
perfectly easy in our minds on the subject,
and commenced to make further discoveries
about the island. Each man sought for his own
daily living, on whatsoever the mountains, the
shore, or the sea, could furnish him with; and
every day, during our stay there, the whole time
was employed in roving about for food. We
found, however, on the twenty-fourth, that we had
picked up, on the island, every thing that could be
got at, in the way of sustenance; and, much to our
surprise, some of the men came in at night and
complained of not having gotten sufficient during
the day to satisfy the cravings of their stomachs.
95Every accessible part of the mountain, contiguous
to us, or within the reach of our weak enterprise,
was already ransacked, for birds’ eggs and grass,
and was rifled of all that they contained: so that
we began to entertain serious apprehensions that
we should not be able to live long here; at any
rate, with the view of being prepared, as well as
possible, should necessity at any time oblige us to
quit it, we commenced, on the twenty-fourth, to
repair our boats, and continued to work upon them
all that and the succeeding day. We were enabled
to do this, with much facility, by drawing
them up and turning them over on the beach,
working by spells of two or three hours at a time,
and then leaving off to seek for food. We procured
our water daily, when the tide would leave
the shore: but on the evening of the twenty-fifth,
found that a fruitless search for nourishment had
not repaid us for the labours of a whole day. There
was no one thing on the island upon which we
could in the least degree rely, except the peppergrass,
and of that the supply was precarious, and
not much relished without some other food. Our
situation here, therefore, now became worse than
it would have been in our boats on the ocean;
96because, in the latter case, we should be still
making some progress towards the land, while our
provisions lasted, and the chance of falling in with
some vessel be considerably increased. It was certain
that we ought not to remain here unless upon
the strongest assurances in our own minds, of sufficient
sustenance, and that, too, in regular supplies,
that might be depended upon. After much
conversation amongst us on this subject, and again
examining our navigators, it was finally concluded
to set sail for Easter Island, which we found to be
E.SE. from us in latitude 27° 9′ S. longitude 109°
35′ W. All we knew of this island was, that it existed
as laid down in the books; but of its extent,
productions, or inhabitants, if any, we were entirely
ignorant; at any rate, it was nearer by eight
hundred and fifty miles to the coast, and could not
be worse in its productions than the one we were
about leaving.
The twenty-sixth of December was wholly employed
in preparations for our departure; our
boats were hauled down to the vicinity of the
spring, and our casks, and every thing else that
would contain it, filled with water.
There had been considerable talk between
97three of our companions, about their remaining on
this island, and taking their chance both for a living,
and an escape from it; and as the time
drew near at which we were to leave, they made
up their minds to stay behind. The rest of us
could make no objection to their plan, as it lessened
the load of our boats, allowed us their share
of the provisions, and the probability of their being
able to sustain themselves on the island was
much stronger than that of our reaching the main
land. Should we, however, ever arrive safely, it
would become our duty, and we so assured them,
to give information of their situation, and make
every effort to procure their removal from thence;
which we accordingly afterwards did.
Their names were William Wright of Barnstable,
Massachusetts, Thomas Chapple of Plymouth,
England, and Seth Weeks of the former
place. They had begun, before we came away,
to construct a sort of habitation, composed of the
branches of trees, and we left with them every little
article that could be spared from the boats. It
was their intention to build a considerable dwelling,
that would protect them from the rains, as
soon as time and materials could be provided.
98The captain wrote letters, to be left on the island,
giving information of the fate of the ship, and that
of our own; and stating that we had set out to
reach Easter Island, with further particulars, intended
to give notice (should our fellow-sufferers
die there, and the place be ever visited by any
vessel,) of our misfortunes. These letters were
put in a tin case, enclosed in a small wooden
box, and nailed to a tree, on the west side of
the island, near our landing place. We had observed,
some days previously, the name of a ship,
“The Elizabeth,” cut out in the bark of this tree,
which rendered it indubitable that one of that
name had once touched here. There was, however,
no date to it, or any thing else, by which
any further particulars could be made out.
December 27th. I went, before we set sail
this morning, and procured for each boat a flat
stone, and two arms-full of wood, with which to
make a fire in our boats, should it become afterwards
necessary in the further prosecution of
our voyage; as we calculated we might catch
a fish, or a bird, and in that case be provided
with the means of cooking it; otherwise, from the
intense heat of the weather, we knew they could
99not be preserved from spoiling. At ten o’clock,
A. M. the tide having risen far enough to allow
our boats to float over the rocks, we made all sail,
and steered around the island, for the purpose of
making a little further observation, which would
not detain us any time, and might be productive of
some unexpected good fortune. Before we started
we missed our three companions, and found
they had not come down, either to assist us to get
off, nor to take any kind of leave of us. I walked
up the beach towards their rude dwelling, and informed
them that we were then about to set sail,
and should probably never see them more. They
seemed to be very much affected, and one of them
shed tears. They wished us to write to their relations,
should Providence safely direct us again
to our homes, and said but little else. They had
every confidence in being able to procure a subsistence
there as long as they remained: and,
finding them ill at heart about taking any leave of
us, I hastily bid them “good-bye,” hoped they
would do well, and came away. They followed
me with their eyes until I was out of sight, and I
never saw more of them.
On the NW. side of the island we perceived a
100fine white beach, on which we imagined we might
land, and in a short time ascertain if any further
useful discoveries could be effected, or any addition
made to our stock of provisions; and having
set ashore five or six of the men for this purpose,
the rest of us shoved off the boats and commenced
fishing. We saw a number of sharks, but all efforts
to take them proved ineffectual; and we got
but a few small fish, about the size of a mackerel,
which we divided amongst us. In this business
we were occupied for the remainder of the day,
until six o’clock in the afternoon, when the men,
having returned to the shore from their search in
the mountains, brought a few birds, and we again
set sail and steered directly for Easter Island.
During that night, after we had got quite clear of
the land, we had a fine strong breeze from the
NW.; we kept our fires going, and cooked our
fish and birds, and felt our situation as comfortable
as could be expected. We continued on our
course, consuming our provisions and water as
sparingly as possible, without any material incident,
until the thirtieth, when the wind hauled out
E.SE. directly ahead, and so continued until the
101thirty-first, when it again came to the northward;
and we resumed our course.
On the third of January we experienced heavy
squalls from the W.SW. accompanied with dreadful
thunder and lightning, that threw a gloomy
and cheerless aspect over the ocean, and incited
a recurrence of some of those heavy and desponding
moments that we had before experienced. We
commenced from Ducies Island to keep a regular
reckoning, by which, on the fourth of January,
we found we had got to the southward of Easter
Island, and the wind prevailing E.NE. we should
not be able to get on to the eastward, so as to reach
it. Our birds and fish were all now consumed, and
we had begun again upon our short allowance of
bread. It was necessary, in this state of things, to
change our determination of going to Easter Island,
and shape our course in some other direction,
where the wind would allow of our going. We
had but little hesitation in concluding, therefore,
to steer for the island of Juan Fernandez, which
lay about E.SE. from us, distant two thousand five
hundred miles. We bent our course accordingly
towards it, having for the two succeeding days very
light winds, and suffering excessively from the intense
102heat of the sun. The seventh brought us
a change of wind to the northward, and at twelve
o’clock we found ourselves in latitude 30° 18′ S,
longitude 117° 29′ W. We continued to make
what progress we could to the eastward.
January 10th. Matthew P. Joy, the second
mate, had suffered from debility, and the privations
we had experienced, much beyond any of the rest
of us, and was on the eighth removed to the captain’s
boat, under the impression that he would
be more comfortable there, and more attention
and pains be bestowed in nursing and endeavouring
to comfort him. This day being calm, he manifested
a desire to be taken back again; but at 4
o’clock in the afternoon, after having been, according
to his wishes, placed in his own boat, he died
very suddenly after his removal. On the eleventh,
at six o’clock in the morning, we sewed him up in
his clothes, tied a large stone to his feet, and, having
brought all the boats to, consigned him in a
solemn manner to the ocean. This man did not
die of absolute starvation, although his end was
no doubt very much hastened by his sufferings.
He had a weak and sickly constitution, and complained
of being unwell the whole voyage. It was
103an incident, however, which threw a gloom over
our feelings for many days. In consequence of his
death, one man from the captain’s boat was placed
in that from which he died, to supply his place,
and we stood away again on our course.
On the 12th of Jan. we had the wind from the NW.
which commenced in the morning, and came on
to blow before night a perfect gale. We were
obliged to take in all sail and run before the wind.
Flashes of lightning were quick and vivid, and the
rain came down in cataracts. As however the gale
blew us fairly on our course, and our speed being
great during the day, we derived, I may say, even
pleasure from the uncomfortableness and fury of
the storm. We were apprehensive that in the
darkness of this night we should be separated, and
made arrangements, each boat to keep an E.SE.
course all night. About eleven o’clock my boat
being ahead a short distance of the others, I turned
my head back, as I was in the habit of doing
every minute, and neither of the others were to be
seen. It was blowing and raining at this time as
if the heavens were separating, and I knew not
hardly at the moment what to do. I hove my boat
to the wind, and lay drifting about an hour, expecting
104every moment that they would come up with
me, but not seeing any thing of them, I put away
again, and stood on the course agreed upon, with
strong hopes that daylight would enable me to discover
them again. When the morning dawned, in
vain did we look over every part of the ocean for
our companions; they were gone! and we saw no
more of them afterwards. It was folly to repine
at the circumstance; it could neither be remedied,
nor could sorrow secure their return; but it was
impossible to prevent ourselves feeling all the
poignancy and bitterness that characterizes the
separation of men who have long suffered in each
other’s company, and whose interests and feelings
fate had so closely linked together. By our observation,
we separated in lat. 32° 16′ S. long. 112°
20′ W. For many days after this accident, our
progress was attended with dull and melancholy
reflections. We had lost the cheering of each
other’s faces, that, which strange as it is, we so
much required in both our mental and bodily distresses.
The 14th January proved another very
squally and rainy day. We had now been nineteen
days from the island, and had only made a distance
about 900 miles: necessity began to whisper
105us, that a still further reduction of our allowance
must take place, or we must abandon altogether
the hopes of reaching the land, and rely wholly on
the chance of being taken up by a vessel. But
how to reduce the daily quantity of food, with any
regard to life itself, was a question of the utmost
consequence. Upon our first leaving the wreck,
the demands of the stomach had been circumscribed
to the smallest possible compass; and subsequently
before reaching the island, a diminution
had taken place of nearly one-half; and it was now,
from a reasonable calculation, become necessary
even to curtail that at least one-half; which must,
in a short time, reduce us to mere skeletons again.
We had a full allowance of water, but it only served
to contribute to our debility; our bodies deriving
but the scanty support which an ounce and a
half of bread for each man afforded. It required
a great effort to bring matters to this dreadful alternative,
either to feed our bodies and our hopes
a little longer, or in the agonies of hunger to seize
upon and devour our provisions, and coolly await
the approach of death.
We were as yet, just able to move about in our
boats, and slowly perform the necessary labours
106appertaining to her; but we were fast wasting away
with the relaxing effects of the water, and we daily
almost perished under the torrid rays of a meridian
sun; to escape which, we would lie down in
the bottom of the boat, cover ourselves over with
the sails, and abandon her to the mercy of the
waves. Upon attempting to rise again, the blood
would rush into the head, and an intoxicating blindness
come over us, almost to occasion our suddenly
falling down again. A slight interest was still
kept up in our minds by the distant hopes of yet
meeting with the other boats, but it was never
realized. An accident occurred at night, which
gave me a great cause of uneasiness, and led me
to an unpleasant rumination upon the probable
consequences of a repetition of it. I had laid down
in the boat without taking the usual precaution of
securing the lid of the provision-chest as I was accustomed
to do, when one of the white men awoke
me, and informed me that one of the blacks had
taken some bread from it. I felt at the moment
the highest indignation and resentment at such conduct
in any of our crew, and immediately took my
pistol in my hand, and charged him if he had taken
any, to give it up without the least hesitation, or I
107should instantly shoot him!—He became at once
very much alarmed, and, trembling, confessed
the fact, pleading the hard necessity that urged
him to it: he appeared to be very penitent for his
crime, and earnestly swore that he would never be
guilty of it again. I could not find it in my soul
to extend towards him the least severity on this
account, however much, according to the strict
imposition which we felt upon ourselves it might demand
it. This was the first infraction; and the
security of our lives, our hopes of redemption
from our sufferings, loudly called for a prompt and
signal punishment; but every humane feeling of nature
plead in his behalf, and he was permitted to
escape, with the solemn injunction, that a repetition
of the same offence would cost him his life.
I had almost determined upon this occurrence
to divide our provisions, and give to each man his
share of the whole stock; and should have done so
in the height of my resentment, had it not been
for the reflection that some might, by imprudence,
be tempted to go beyond the daily allowance or
consume it all at once, and bring on a premature
weakness or starvation: this would of course disable
108them for the duties of the boat, and reduce
our chances of safety and deliverance.
On the 15th of January, at night, a very large
shark was observed swimming about us in a most
ravenous manner, making attempts every now and
then upon different parts of the boat, as if he would
devour the very wood with hunger; he came several
times and snapped at the steering oar, and
even the stern-post. We tried in vain to stab
him with a lance, but we were so weak as not to
be able to make any impression upon his hard
skin; he was so much larger than an ordinary one,
and manifested such a fearless malignity, as to
make us afraid of him; and our utmost efforts,
which were at first directed to kill him for prey,
became in the end self-defense. Baffled however
in all his hungry attempts upon us, he shortly made
off.
On the 16th of January, we were surrounded
with porpoises in great numbers, that followed us
nearly an hour, and which also defied all manœuvres
to catch them. The 17th and 18th proved
to be calm; and the distresses of a cheerless prospect
and a burning hot sun, were again visited upon
our devoted heads.
109We began to think that Divine Providence had
abandoned us at last; and it was but an unavailing
effort to endeavour to prolong a now tedious existence.
Horrible were the feelings that took possession
of us!—The contemplation of a death of
agony and torment, refined by the most dreadful
and distressing reflections, absolutely prostrated
both body and soul. There was not a hope now
remaining to us but that which was derived from
a sense of the mercies of our Creator. The night
of the 18th was a despairing era in our sufferings;
our minds were wrought up to the highest pitch
of dread and apprehension for our fate, and all in
them was dark, gloomy, and confused. About 8
o’clock, the terrible noise of whale-spouts near
us sounded in our ears: we could distinctly hear
the furious thrashing of their tails in the water, and
our weak minds pictured out their appalling and
hideous aspects. One of my companions, the
black man, took an immediate fright, and solicited
me to take out the oars, and endeavour to get
away from them. I consented to his using any
means for that purpose; but alas! it was wholly
out of our power to raise a single arm in our
own defence. Two or three of the whales came
110down near us, and went swiftly off across our
stern, blowing and spouting at a terrible rate; they,
however, after an hour or two disappeared, and
we saw no more of them. The next day, the 19th
of January, we had extremely boisterous weather,
with rain, heavy thunder and lightning, which
reduced us again to the necessity of taking in all
sail and lying to. The wind blew from every point
of the compass within the twenty-four hours, and
at last towards the next morning settled at E.NE.
a strong breeze.
January 20. The black man, Richard Peterson,
manifested to-day symptoms of a speedy dissolution;
he had been lying between the seats in the
boat, utterly dispirited and broken down, without
being able to do the least duty, or hardly to place
his hand to his head for the last three days, and
had this morning made up his mind to die rather
than endure further misery: he refused his allowance;
said he was sensible of his approaching end,
and was perfectly ready to die: in a few minutes
he became speechless, the breath appeared to be
leaving his body without producing the least pain,
and at four o’clock he was gone. I had two days
previously, conversations with him on the subject
111of religion, on which he reasoned very sensibly,
and with much composure; and begged me to let
his wife know his fate, if ever I reached home in
safety. The next morning we committed him to
the sea, in latitude 35° 07′ S. longitude 105° 46′ W.
The wind prevailed to the eastward until the 24th
of January, when it again fell calm. We were
now in a most wretched and sinking state of debility,
hardly able to crawl around the boat, and possessing
but strength enough to convey our scanty
morsel to our mouths. When I perceived this
morning that it was calm, my fortitude almost forsook
me. I thought to suffer another scorching
day, like the last we had experienced, would close
before night the scene of our miseries; and I felt
many a despairing moment that day, that had well
nigh proved fatal. It required an effort to look
calmly forward, and contemplate what was yet in
store for us, beyond what I felt I was capable of
making; and what it was that buoyed me above
all the terrors which surrounded us, God alone
knows. Our ounce and a half of bread, which
was to serve us all day, was in some cases greedily
devoured, as if life was to continue but another
moment; and at other times, it was hoarded up
112and eaten crumb by crumb, at regular intervals
during the day, as if it was to last us for ever. To
add to our calamities, biles began to break out upon
us, and our imaginations shortly became as diseased
as our bodies. I laid down at night to catch
a few moments of oblivious sleep, and immediately
my starving fancy was at work. I dreamt of being
placed near a splendid and rich repast, where
there was every thing that the most dainty appetite
could desire; and of contemplating the moment
in which we were to commence to eat with
enraptured feelings of delight; and just as I was
about to partake of it, I suddenly awoke to the cold
realities of my miserable situation. Nothing could
have oppressed me so much. It set such a longing
frenzy for victuals in my mind, that I felt as if
I could have wished the dream to continue for
ever, that I never might have awoke from it. I
cast a sort of vacant stare about the boat, until my
eyes rested upon a bit of tough cow-hide, which
was fastened to one of the oars; I eagerly seized
and commenced to chew it, but there was no substance
in it, and it only served to fatigue my weak
jaws, and add to my bodily pains. My fellow-sufferers
murmured very much the whole time, and
113continued to press me continually with questions
upon the probability of our reaching land again.
I kept constantly rallying my spirits to enable me
to afford them comfort. I encouraged them to bear
up against all evils, and if we must perish, to die
in our own cause, and not weakly distrust the providence
of the Almighty, by giving ourselves up
to despair. I reasoned with them, and told them
that we would not die sooner by keeping up our
hopes; that the dreadful sacrifices and privations
we endured were to preserve us from death, and
were not to be put in competition with the price
which we set upon our lives, and their value to our
families: it was, besides, unmanly to repine at what
neither admitted of alleviation nor cure; and withal,
that it was our solemn duty to recognise in our
calamities an overruling divinity, by whose mercy
we might be suddenly snatched from peril, and to
rely upon him alone, “Who tempers the wind to
the shorn lamb.”
The three following days, the 25th, 26th, and
27th, were not distinguished by any particular
circumstances. The wind still prevailed to the
eastward, and by its obduracy, almost tore the
very hopes of our hearts away: it was impossible
114to silence the rebellious repinings of our nature,
at witnessing such a succession of hard fortune
against us. It was our cruel lot not to have
had one bright anticipation realized—not one wish
of our thirsting souls gratified. We had, at the
end of these three days, been urged to the southward
as far as latitude 36° into a chilly region,
where rains and squalls prevailed; and we now
calculated to tack and stand back to the northward:
after much labour, we got our boat about;
and so great was the fatigue attending this small
exertion of our bodies, that we all gave up for a
moment and abandoned her to her own course.—Not
one of us had now strength sufficient to steer,
or indeed to make one single effort towards getting
the sails properly trimmed, to enable us to
make any headway. After an hour or two of relaxation,
during which the horrors of our situation
came upon us with a despairing force and effect, we
made a sudden effort and got our sails into such a
disposition, as that the boat would steer herself;
and we then threw ourselves down, awaiting the
issue of time to bring us relief, or to take us from
the scene of our troubles. We could now do nothing
more; strength and spirits were totally gone;
and what indeed could have been the narrow
115hopes, that in our situation, then bound us to
life?
January 28. Our spirits this morning were
hardly sufficient to allow of our enjoying a change
of the wind, which took place to the westward.—It
had nearly become indifferent to us from what
quarter it blew: nothing but the slight chance of
meeting with a vessel remained to us now: it was
this narrow comfort alone, that prevented me from
lying down at once to die. But fourteen days’ stinted
allowance of provisions remained, and it was absolutely
necessary to increase the quantity to enable
us to live five days longer; we therefore partook
of it, as pinching necessity demanded, and
gave ourselves wholly up to the guidance and disposal
of our Creator.
The 29th and 30th of January, the wind continued
west, and we made considerable progress until
the 31st, when it again came ahead, and prostrated
all our hopes. On the 1st of February, it
changed again to the westward, and on the 2d and
3d blew to the eastward; and we had it light and
variable until the 8th of February. Our sufferings
were now drawing to a close; a terrible death appeared
shortly to await us; hunger became violent
116and outrageous, and we prepared for a speedy
release from our troubles; our speech and reason
were both considerably impaired, and we were reduced
to be at this time, certainly the most helpless
and wretched of the whole human race. Isaac
Cole, one of our crew, had the day before this, in
a fit of despair, thrown himself down in the boat,
and was determined there calmly to wait for death.
It was obvious that he had no chance; all was dark
he said in his mind, not a single ray of hope was
left for him to dwell upon; and it was folly and
madness to be struggling against what appeared so
palpably to be our fixed and settled destiny. I remonstrated
with him as effectually as the weakness
both of my body and understanding would allow
of; and what I said appeared for a moment
to have a considerable effect: he made a powerful
and sudden effort, half rose up, crawled forward
and hoisted the jib, and firmly and loudly
cried that he would not give up; that he would live
as long as the rest of us—but alas! this effort was
but the hectic fever of the moment, and he shortly
again relapsed into a state of melancholy and despair.
This day his reason was attacked, and he
became about 9 o’clock in the morning a most miserable
117spectacle of madness: he spoke incoherently
about every thing, calling loudly for a napkin
and water, and then lying stupidly and senselessly
down in the boat again, would close his hollow
eyes, as if in death. About 10 o’clock, we
suddenly perceived that he became speechless; we
got him as well as we were able upon a board,
placed on one of the seats of the boat, and covering
him up with some old clothes, left him to his
fate. He lay in the greatest pain and apparent
misery, groaning piteously until four o’clock, when
he died, in the most horrid and frightful convulsions
I ever witnessed. We kept his corpse all
night, and in the morning my two companions began
as of course to make preparations to dispose
of it in the sea; when after reflecting on the subject
all night, I addressed them on the painful subject
of keeping the body for food!! Our provisions
could not possibly last us beyond three days,
within which time, it was not in any degree probable
that we should find relief from our present sufferings,
and that hunger would at last drive us to
the necessity of casting lots. It was without any
objection agreed to, and we set to work as fast as
we were able to prepare it so as to prevent its
118spoiling. We separated his limbs from his body,
and cut all the flesh from the bones; after which,
we opened the body, took out the heart, and then
closed it again—sewed it up as decently as we
could, and committed it to the sea. We now first
commenced to satisfy the immediate cravings of
nature from the heart, which we eagerly devoured,
and then eat sparingly of a few pieces of the
flesh; after which, we hung up the remainder, cut
in thin strips about the boat, to dry in the sun: we
made a fire and roasted some of it, to serve us
during the next day. In this manner did we dispose
of our fellow-sufferer; the painful recollection
of which, brings to mind at this moment, some of the
most disagreeable and revolting ideas that it is capable
of conceiving. We knew not then, to whose
lot it would fall next, either to die or be shot, and
eaten like the poor wretch we had just dispatched.
Humanity must shudder at the dreadful recital.
I have no language to paint the anguish of our
souls in this dreadful dilemma. The next morning,
the 10th of February, we found that the flesh had
become tainted, and had turned of a greenish colour,
upon which we concluded to make a fire and
cook it at once, to prevent its becoming so putrid as
119not to be eaten at all: we accordingly did so, and
by that means preserved it for six or seven days
longer; our bread during the time, remained untouched;
as that would not be liable to spoil, we
placed it carefully aside for the last moments of
our trial. About three o’clock this afternoon a
strong breeze set in from the NW. and we made
very good progress, considering that we were compelled
to steer the boat by management of the sails
alone: this wind continued until the thirteenth,
when it changed again ahead. We contrived to keep
soul and body together by sparingly partaking of
our flesh, cut up in small pieces and eaten with
salt water. By the fourteenth, our bodies became
so far recruited, as to enable us to make
a few attempts at guiding our boat again with the
oar; by each taking his turn, we managed to effect
it, and to make a tolerable good course. On
the fifteenth, our flesh was all consumed, and we
were driven to the last morsel of bread, consisting
of two cakes; our limbs had for the last two days
swelled very much, and now began to pain us most
excessively. We were still, as near as we could
judge, three hundred miles from the land, and but
three days of our allowance on hand. The hope of
120a continuation of the wind, which came out at west
this morning, was the only comfort and solace
that remained to us: so strong had our desires at
last reached in this respect, that a high fever had
set in, in our veins, and a longing that nothing but
its continuation could satisfy. Matters were now
with us at their height; all hope was cast upon the
breeze; and we tremblingly and fearfully awaited
its progress, and the dreadful development of our
destiny. On the sixteenth, at night, full of the
horrible reflections of our situation, and panting
with weakness, I laid down to sleep, almost indifferent
whether I should ever see the light again.
I had not lain long, before I dreamt I saw a ship
at some distance off from us, and strained every
nerve to get to her, but could not. I awoke almost
overpowered with the frenzy I had caught in my
slumbers, and stung with the cruelties of a diseased
and disappointed imagination. On the seventeenth,
in the afternoon, a heavy cloud appeared
to be settling down in an E. by N. direction from
us, which in my view, indicated the vicinity of
some land, which I took for the island of Massafuera.
I concluded it could be no other; and immediately
upon this reflection, the life blood began to
121flow again briskly in my veins. I told my companions
that I was well convinced it was land, and if
so, in all probability we should reach it before two
days more. My words appeared to comfort them
much; and by repeated assurances of the favourable
appearance of things, their spirits acquired
even a degree of elasticity that was truly astonishing.
The dark features of our distress began now
to diminish a little, and the countenance, even amid
the gloomy bodings of our hard lot, to assume a
much fresher hue. We directed our course for the
cloud, and our progress that night was extremely
good. The next morning, before daylight, Thomas
Nicholson, a boy about seventeen years of age, one
of my two companions who had thus far survived
with me, after having bailed the boat, laid down,
drew a piece of canvass over him, and cried out,
that he then wished to die immediately. I saw
that he had given up, and I attempted to speak a
few words of comfort and encouragement to him,
and endeavoured to persuade him that it was a
great weakness and even wickedness to abandon a
reliance upon the Almighty, while the least hope,
and a breath of life remained; but he felt unwilling
to listen to any of the consolatory suggestions
122which I made to him; and, notwithstanding the
extreme probability which I stated there was of
our gaining the land before the end of two days
more, he insisted upon lying down and giving himself
up to despair. A fixed look of settled and forsaken
despondency came over his face: he lay for
some time silent, sullen, and sorrowful—and I felt
at once satisfied, that the coldness of death was
fast gathering upon him: there was a sudden and
unaccountable earnestness in his manner, that
alarmed me, and made me fear that I myself might
unexpectedly be overtaken by a like weakness, or
dizziness of nature, that would bereave me at once
of both reason and life; but Providence willed it
otherwise.
At about seven o’clock this morning, while I
was lying asleep, my companion who was steering,
suddenly and loudly called out “There’s a Sail!”
I know not what was the first movement I made
upon hearing such an unexpected cry: the earliest
of my recollections are, that immediately I stood
up, gazing in a state of abstraction and ecstasy upon
the blessed vision of a vessel about seven miles
off from us; she was standing in the same direction
with us, and the only sensation I felt at the
123moment was, that of a violent and unaccountable
impulse to fly directly towards her. I do not believe
it is possible to form a just conception of the
pure, strong feelings, and the unmingled emotions
of joy and gratitude, that took possession of my
mind on this occasion: the boy, too, took a sudden
and animated start from his despondency, and stood
up to witness the probable instrument of his salvation.
Our only fear was now, that she would not
discover us, or that we might not be able to intercept
her course: we, however, put our boat immediately,
as well as we were able, in a direction
to cut her off; and found, to our great joy, that we
sailed faster than she did. Upon observing us,
she shortened sail, and allowed us to come up to
her. The captain hailed us, and asked who we
were. I told him we were from a wreck, and he
cried out immediately for us to come alongside
the ship. I made an effort to assist myself along
to the side, for the purpose of getting up, but
strength failed me altogether, and I found it impossible
to move a step further without help. We
must have formed at that moment, in the eyes of
the captain and his crew, a most deplorable and
affecting picture of suffering and misery. Our
124cadaverous countenances, sunken eyes, and bones
just starting through the skin, with the ragged remnants
of clothes stuck about our sun-burnt bodies,
must have produced an appearance to him affecting
and revolting in the highest degree. The sailors
commenced to remove us from our boat, and
we were taken to the cabin, and comfortably provided
for in every respect. In a few minutes we
were permitted to taste of a little thin food, made
from tapioca, and in a few days, with prudent management,
we were considerably recruited. This
vessel proved to be the brig Indian, captain William
Crozier, of London; to whom we are indebted
for every polite, friendly, and attentive disposition
towards us, that can possibly characterize a
man of humanity and feeling. We were taken up
in latitude 33° 45′ S. longitude 81° 03′ W. At
twelve o’clock this day we saw the island of Massafuera,
and on the 25th of February, we arrived
at Valparaiso in utter distress and poverty. Our
wants were promptly relieved there.
The captain and the survivers of his boat’s
crew, were taken up by the American whale-ship,
the Dauphin, Captain Zimri Coffin, of Nantucket,
and arrived at Valparaiso on the seventeenth of
125March following: he was taken up in latitude 37° S.
off the island of St. Mary. The third boat got separated
from him on the 28th of January, and has
not been heard of since. The names of all the
survivers, are as follows:—Captain George Pollard,
junr., Charles Ramsdale, Owen Chase, Benjamin
Lawrence, and Thomas Nicholson, all of
Nantucket. There died in the captain’s boat,
the following: Brazilla Ray of Nantucket, Owen
Coffin of the same place, who was shot, and Samuel
Reed, a black.
The captain relates, that after being separated,
as herein before stated, they continued to make
what progress they could towards the island of
Juan Fernandez, as was agreed upon; but contrary
winds and the extreme debility of the crew
prevailed against their united exertions. He was
with us equally surprised and concerned at the separation
that took place between us; but continued
on his course, almost confident of meeting with
us again. On the fourteenth, the whole stock of
provisions belonging to the second mate’s boat,
was entirely exhausted, and on the twenty-fifth,
the black man, Lawson Thomas, died, and was eaten
by his surviving companions. On the twenty-first,
126the captain and his crew were in the like
dreadful situation with respect to their provisions;
and on the twenty-third, another coloured man,
Charles Shorter, died out of the same boat, and his
body was shared for food between the crews of
both boats. On the twenty-seventh, another,
Isaac Shepherd, (a black man,) died in the third
boat; and on the twenty-eighth, another black,
named Samuel Reed, died out of the captain’s
boat. The bodies of these men constituted their
only food while it lasted; and on the twenty-ninth,
owing to the darkness of the night and want of sufficient
power to manage their boats, those of the
captain and second mate separated in latitude 35°
S. longitude 100° W. On the 1st of February,
having consumed the last morsel, the captain and
the three other men that remained with him,
were reduced to the necessity of casting lots. It
fell upon Owen Coffin to die, who with great fortitude
and resignation submitted to his fate. They
drew lots to see who should shoot him: he placed
himself firmly to receive his death, and was immediately
shot by Charles Ramsdale, whose hard fortune
it was to become his executioner. On the
11th Brazilla Ray died; and on these two bodies
127the captain and Charles Ramsdale, the only two
that were then left, subsisted until the morning of
the twenty-third, when they fell in with the ship
Dauphin, as before stated, and were snatched from
impending destruction. Every assistance and attentive
humanity, was bestowed upon them by
Capt. Coffin to whom Capt. Pollard acknowledged
every grateful obligation. Upon making
known the fact, that three of our companions had
been left at Ducies Island, to the captain of the
U. S. frigate Constellation, which lay at Valparaiso
when we arrived, he said he should immediately
take measures to have them taken off.
On the 11th of June following I arrived at Nantucket
in the whale-ship the Eagle, Capt. William
H. Coffin. My family had received the most distressing
account of our shipwreck, and had given
me up for lost. My unexpected appearance was
welcomed with the most grateful obligations and
acknowledgments to a beneficent Creator, who had
guided me through darkness, trouble, and death,
once more to the bosom of my country and friends.