Chapter M (8)

Eight or ten days after, Mr. Cavendish himself came hither, where he remained until the 22d of January, seeking by entreaty to have that whereof we were once possessed. But, in conclusion, we departed worse furnished from the town, than when we came unto it. The 22d, we burnt St. Vincent’s to the ground. The 24th, we set sail, shaping our course for the straits of Magellan.

The 7th of February, we had a very great storm; and, the 8th, our fleet was separated by the fury of the tempest. Then our Captain called unto him the master of our ship, a very honest and sufficient man; and, conferring with him, he concluded to go for Port Desire, hoping that the General would come thither, because that in his first voyage he had found great relief there; for our Captain could never get any direction what course to take in any such extremities, though many times he had entreated for it, as often I have heard him with grief report. In sailing to this port, by good chance, we met with the Roebuck, wherein Mr. Cocke had endured great extremities, and lost his boat, and therefore desired our Captain to keep him company, for he was in a very desperate situation. Our Captain hoisted out his boat, and went on board him to know his estate, and, returning, told us the hardness thereof, and desired the Master and all the company to be careful in all their watches not to lose the Roebuck, and so we both arrived at Port Desire the sixth of March.

The 16th of March, the Black Pinnace came to us; but the Dainty came not, but returned back to England, leaving their captain on board the Roebuck, without any provision more than the apparel that he wore. The 18th the Leicester came into the road, and Mr. Cavendish came into the harbour in a boat which he had made at sea; for his long boat and pinnace were lost at sea: and being on board the Desire, he told our captain of all his extremities, and spoke most hardly of his company, and of divers gentlemen that were with him, purposing no more to go on board his own ship, but to stay in the Desire. We all sorrowed to hear such hard speeches of our good friends; but having spoken with the gentlemen of the Leicester, we found them faithful, honest, and resolute in proceeding, although it pleased our General otherwise to conceive of them.

The 20th of March, we departed from Port Desire, Mr. Cavendish being in the Desire with us. The 8th of April, we fell in with the straits of Magellan, enduring many furious storms between Port Desire and the strait. The 14th, we passed through the first strait. The 16th, we passed the second strait, being ten leagues distant from the first. The 18th, we doubled Cape Froward, which cape lieth in 53 degrees 30 minutes. The 21st we were forced, through the fury of the weather, to put into a small cove with our ships, four leagues from the said cape, upon the south shore, where we remained until the 15th of May. In the which time we endured extreme storms, with perpetual snow, where many of our men died with cursed famine, and miserable cold, not having wherewith to cover their bodies, nor to fill their bellies, but living by muscles, water, and weeds of the sea, with a small relief, from the ship’s store, in meal, sometimes. And all the sick men in the Leicester were most uncharitably put on shore into the woods, in the snow, rain, and cold, when men of good health could scarcely endure it, where they ended their lives in the highest degree of misery, Mr. Cavendish all the while being on board the Desire. In these great extremities of snow and cold, doubting what the end would be, he asked our captain’s opinion, because he was a man that had good experience of the north-west parts, in his three several discoveries that way, employed by the merchants of London. Our captain told him, that this snow was a matter of no long continuance, and gave him sufficient reason for it, and that thereby he could not much be prejudiced or hindered in his proceeding. Notwithstanding, he called together all the company, and told them, that he purposed not to stay in the straits, but to depart upon some other voyage, or else to return again for Brazil: but his resolution was to go for the Cape of Good Hope. The company answered, that, if it pleased him, they did desire to stay God’s favour for a wind, and to endure all hardness whatsoever, rather than to give over the voyage, considering they had been here but a small time, and because they were within forty leagues of the South Sea, it grieved them now to return: notwithstanding, whatever he ordered, that they would perform. So he concluded to go for the Cape of Good Hope, and to give over this voyage. Then our captain, after Mr. Cavendish was come on board the Desire from talking with the company, told him, that, if it pleased him to consider the great extremity of his situation, the slenderness of his provisions, with the weakness of his men, it was no course for him to proceed in that new enterprize: for if the rest of your ships (said he) be furnished answerable to this, it is impossible to perform your determination; for we have no more sails than masts, no victuals, no ground-tackling, no cordage more than is over-head, and, among seventy-five persons, there is but the master alone that can order the ship, and but fourteen sailors: the rest are gentlemen, serving-men, and artificers. Therefore it will be a desperate case to take so hard an enterprize in hand. These persuasions did our captain not only use to Mr. Cavendish, but also to Mr. Cocke. In fine, upon a petition delivered in writing by the chief of the whole company, the General determined to depart out of the straits of Magellan, and to return again for Santos in Brazil.

So the 15th of May, we set sail, our General being then in the Leicester. The 18th, we were free of the straits, but at Cape Froward it was our hard hap to have our boat sunk at our stern in the night, and to lose all our oars.

On the 20th, being thwart of Port Desire, in the night the General altered his course, as we suppose, by which occasion we lost him: for, in the evening, he stood close by a wind to seaward, having the wind at north-north-east, and we standing the same way, the wind not altering, could not the next day see him: so that we then persuaded ourselves, that he was gone for Port Desire to relieve himself, or that he had sustained some mischance at sea, and was gone thither to remedy it. Whereupon our captain called the General’s men unto him, with the rest, and asked their opinion what was to be done. Every one conjectured that the General was gone for Port Desire. Then the Master, being the General’s man, and careful of his master’s service, as also of good judgment in sea-matters, told the company how dangerous it was to go for Port Desire, if we should there miss the General: for (said he) we have no boat to land ourselves, nor any anchors or cables that I dare trust in so quick streams as are there: yet, in all likelihood concluding that the General was gone thither, we steered our course for Port Desire, and by chance met with the Black Pinnace, which had likewise lost the fleet, being in a very miserable case: so we both concluded to seek the General at Port Desire.

The 26th day of May, we came to Port Desire, where not finding our General as we hoped, being most slenderly victualled, without sails, boat, oars, nails, cordage, and all other necessaries for our relief, we were struck into a deadly sorrow. But, referring all to Providence, we entered the harbour, and found a place of quiet road, which before we knew not. Having moored our ship with the pinnace’s boat, we landed upon the south shore, where we found a standing pool of fresh-water, which by estimation might hold about ten tons, whereby we were greatly comforted. From this pool we fetched more than forty tons of water, and yet we left the pool as full as we found it. And, because at our first being at this harbour we were at this place and found no water, we persuaded ourselves that God had sent it for our relief. Also there were such extraordinary low ebbs as we had never seen, whereby we got muscles in plenty and great abundance of smelts, so that, with hooks made of pins, every man caught as many as he could eat: by which means we preserved our ship’s victuals, and spent not any during the time of our abode here.

Our Captain and Master, considering our ability to go to the General, found our wants so great, as that in a month we could not fit our ship to set sail; for we must needs set up a smith’s forge to make bolts, spikes, and nails, besides the repairing of our other wants. Whereupon they concluded it to be their best course, to take the pinnace, and to furnish her, and to go to the General with all expedition, leaving the ship and the rest of the company until the General’s return; for he had vowed to our Captain, that he would return again to the straits, as he had told us. The Captain and Master of the pinnace, being the General’s men, were well contented with the motion.

But the General having in our ship two most pestilent fellows, when they heard of this determination, they utterly misliked it, and, in secret, dealt with the company of both ships, vehemently persuading them that our Captain and Master would leave them in the country to be devoured by the cannibals, and that they were merciless and without charity: whereupon the whole company joined in secret with them, in a night, to murder our Captain and Master, with myself and all those they thought were their friends. There were marks taken in his cabbin, how to kill him with musquets through the ship’s side, and bullets made of silver for the execution, if their other purposes should fail. All agreed hereunto except the boatswain of our ship, who, when he knew the matter, revealed it to the Master, and so to the Captain. Then the matter being called in question, those two murderous fellows were found out, whose names were Charles Parker and Edward Smith.

The Captain, being thus hardly beset, in peril of famine, and in danger of being murdered, was constrained to use lenity, and by courteous means to pacify this fury: shewing, that, to do the General service, unto whom he had vowed faith in this action, was the cause why he purposed to go unto him in the pinnace, considering that the pinnace was so necessary a thing for him, as that he could not be without her, because he was fearful of the shore in so great ships. Whereupon all cried, with cursing and swearing, that the pinnace should not go unless the ship went. Then the Captain desired them to shew themselves christians, and not so blasphemously to behave themselves, without regard and thanksgiving to God for their great deliverance. By which gentle speeches, the matter was pacified, and the Captain and Master, at the request of the company, were content to forgive this great treachery of Parker and Smith, who, after many admonitions, concluded in these words: “The Lord judge between you and me:” which after came to a most sharp revenge, even by the punishment of the Almighty. Thus, by a general consent, it was concluded not to depart, but to stay there for the General’s return. Then our captain and Master, seeing that they could not do the General that service which they desired, made a motion to the company, that they would lay down under their hands the losing of the General, with the extremities wherein we then stood: whereunto they consented, and wrote under their hands what followeth:

_The Testimonial of the Company of the_ Desire, _touching the losing
of their General, which appeareth to have been utterly against their
meanings._

“The 26th of August 1591, we whose names are here underwritten, with divers others, departed from Plymouth, under Mr. Thomas Cavendish our General, with four ships of his, viz. the Leicester, the Roebuck, the Desire, and the Black Pinnace, for the performance of a voyage into the South Sea. The 19th of November, we fell in with the bay of Salvador, in Brazil. The 16th of December we took the town of Santos, hoping there to revictual ourselves, but it fell not out to our contentment. The 24th of January we set sail from Santos, shaping our course for the straits of Magellan. The 8th of February, by violent storms, the said fleet being parted, the Roebuck and the Desire arrived at Port Desire the sixth of March. The sixteenth of March, the Black Pinnace arrived there also: and the 18th of the same, our Admiral came into the road, with whom we departed the 20th of March in poor and weak estate. The 8th of April 1592, we entered the straits of Magellan. The 21st of April we anchored beyond Cape Froward, within 40 leagues of the South Sea, where we rode until the 15th of May. In which time we had great store of snow, with some gusty weather, the wind continuing still west-north-west against us. In this time we were inforced, for the preserving of our victuals, to live the most part upon muscles, our provision was so slender; so that many of our men died in this hard extremity. Then our General returned for Brazil, there to winter, and to procure victuals for this voyage against the next year. So we departed the straits, the 15th of May. The 21st, being thwart of Port Desire, 36 leagues off the shore, the wind then at north-east and by-north; at five of the clock at night, lying north-east, we suddenly cast about, lying south-east and by-south, and sometimes south-east: the whole fleet following the Admiral, our ship coming under his lee, shot a-head of him, and so framed sail fit to keep company. This night we were severed, by what occasion we protest we know not, whether we lost them or they us. In the morning we only saw the Black Pinnace, then supposing the Admiral had overshot us. All this day we stood to the eastwards, hoping to find him; because it was not likely that he would stand to the shore again so suddenly. But missing him towards night, we stood to the shoreward, hoping by that course to find him. The 22d of May, at night, we had a violent storm, with the wind at north-west, and we were inforced to hull, not being able to bear sail; and this night we perished our main tressle-trees, so that we could no more use our main-top-sail, lying most dangerously in the sea. The pinnace likewise received a great leak, so that we were inforced to seek the next shore for our relief. And, because famine was like to be the best end, we desired to go for Port Desire, hoping, with seals and penguins, to relieve ourselves, and so to make shift to follow the General, or there to stay his coming from Brasil. The 24th of May we had much wind at north. The 25th was calm, and the sea very lofty, so that our ship had dangerous foul weather. The 26th, our fore-shrouds broke, so that, if we had not been near the shore, it had been impossible for us to get out of the sea. And now, being here moored in Port Desire, our shrouds are all rotten, not having a running rope whereto we may trust, and being provided only of one shift of sails, all worn, our top-sails not able to abide any stress of weather; neither have we any pitch, tar, or nails, nor any store for the supplying of these wants; and we live only upon seals and muscles, having but five hogsheads of pork within board, and meal three ounces for a man a day, with water for to drink. And for as much as it hath pleased God to separate our fleet, and to bring us into such hard extremities, that only now by his mere mercy we expect relief, though otherwise we are hopeless of comfort; yet, because the wonderful works of God, in his exceeding great favour towards us his creatures, are far beyond the scope of man’s capacity, therefore by him we hope to have deliverance in this our deep distress. Also, for as much as those upon whom God will bestow the favour of life, with return home to their country, may not only remain blameless, but also manifest the truth of our actions, we have thought good, in christian charity, to lay down under our hands the truth of all our proceedings, even till the time of this our distress.

Given in Port Desire, the 2d of June, 1592,” &c.

After they had delivered this under their hands, then we began to labour to preserve our lives; and we built up a smith’s forge, and made nails, bolts, and spikes; others made ropes of a piece of our cable; and the rest gathered muscles, and took smelts, for the whole company. Three leagues from this harbour there is an isle with four small isles about it, where there are abundance of seals; and, at that time of the year, the penguins came thither, in great plenty, to breed. We concluded with the pinnace, that she should sometimes go thither to catch seals for us; upon which condition we would share victuals with her man for man; whereunto the whole company agreed. So we parted our poor store, and she laboured to fetch us seals to eat, wherewith we lived when smelts and muscles failed; for in the nep-tides we could get no muscles. Thus, in the most miserable calamity, we remained until the 6th of August, still keeping watch upon the hills to look for our General and so great was our vexation and anguish of soul, as I think never flesh and blood endured more. Our misery daily increasing, time passing, and our hope of the General being very cold, our Captain and Master were fully persuaded that the General might, perhaps, go directly for the straits, and not come to this harbour: whereupon, they thought no course more convenient, than to go presently for the straits, and there to stay his coming; for, in that place he could not pass, but of force we must see him: Whereunto the company most willingly consented, as also the Captain and Master of the pinnace; so that upon this determination we made all possible speed to depart.

The 6th of August we set sail, and went to Penguin Isle; and, the next day, we salted 20 hogsheads of seals, which was as much as our salt could do. The 7th, towards night, we departed from Penguin Isle. The 9th, we had a sore storm, so that we were constrained to hull, for our sails were not fit to endure any force. The 14th, we were driven in among certain isles never before discovered by any known relation, lying fifty leagues, or better, off the shore, east and northerly from the straits; in which place, had not the wind ceased, we must of necessity have perished. But, the wind shifting, we directed our course for the straits; and, the 18th of August, we fell in with the Cape in a very thick fog; and, the same night, we anchored ten leagues within the Cape. The 19th, we passed the first and second straits. The 21st, we doubled Cape Froward. The 22d, we anchored in Salvage Cove, so called because we saw many savages there. Notwithstanding the extreme cold of this place, yet do all these people go naked, and live in the woods like satyrs, painted and disguised, and flee from you like wild deer. They are very strong, and threw stones at us of three or four pounds weight, an incredible distance. The 24th, in the morning, we departed from this cove, and the same day we came into the north-west reach, which is the last reach of the straits. The 25th, we anchored in a good cove, within 14 leagues of the South Sea: in this place we purposed to stay for the General; for the strait at this place, is scarce three miles broad, so that he could not pass but we must see him. After we had staid here a fortnight in the depth of winter, our victuals consuming (for our seals stunk most vilely, and our men died pitifully through cold and famine, for the greatest part of them had not cloaths to defend them from the extremity of the winter’s cold) being in this heavy distress, our Captain and Master thought it the best course to depart from the straits into the South Sea, and to go for the isle of Santa Maria, which is to the northward of Baldivia, in 37 deg. 15 min. where we might have relief, and be in a temperate clime, and there stay for the General, for of necessity he must come by that isle. So we departed the 13th of September, and came in sight of the South Sea. On the 14th, we were forced back again, and recovered a cove, three leagues within the straits from the South Sea. Again we put forth, and being eight or ten leagues free of the land, the wind rising furiously at west-north-west, we were forced back again into the straits for want of sails; for we never durst bear sail in any stress of weather, they were so weak: so again we recovered the cove three leagues within the straits, where we endured most furious weather; so that one of our two cables brake, whereby we were hopeless of life: yet it pleased God to calm the storm, and we unreeved our sheets, tacks, halliards, and other ropes, and moored our ship to the trees, close by the rocks. We laboured to recover our anchor again, but could not, it lay so deep in the water, and, as we think, covered with oaze. Now had we but one anchor, which had but one whole fluke, a cable spliced in two places, and a piece of an old one. In the midst of these our troubles, the wind came fair the first of October; whereupon, with all expedition, we loosed our moorings, and weighed our anchor, and so towed off into the channel; for we had mended our boat in Port Desire, and had five oars of the pinnace. When we had weighed our anchor, we found our cable broken; only one strand held. Being in the channel, we reeved our ropes, and again rigged our ship; no man’s hand was idle, but all laboured even for the last gasp of life. Here our company was divided; some desired to go again for Port Desire, and there to be set on shore, where they might travel for their lives; and some stood with the Captain and Master to proceed. Whereupon the Captain said to the Master, “Master, you see the wonderful extremity of our estate, and the great doubts among our company of the truth of your reports, as touching relief to be had in the South Sea. Now, good Master, for as much as you have been in this voyage once before with your Master the General, satisfy the company of such truths as are to you best known; and, you the rest of the General’s men, who likewise have been with him in his first voyage, if you hear any thing contrary to the truth, spare not to reprove it, I pray you.” Then the Master said, “If you think good to return, I will not gainsay it: but this I think, if life may be preserved by any means, it is in proceeding; for at the isle of Santa Maria I do assure you of wheat, pork, and roots enough. Also, I will bring you to an isle where pelicans be in great abundance, and we shall have meal in great plenty, besides a possibility of intercepting some ships upon the coast of Chili and Peru. But, if we return, there is nothing but death to be hoped for: therefore, do as you like, I am ready; but my desire is to proceed.” These his speeches, being confirmed by others that were in the former voyage, there was a general consent for proceeding; and so, the 2d of October, we put into the South Sea, and were free of all land. This night the wind began to blow very much at west-north-west, and still increased in fury, so that we were in great doubt what course to take. To put into the straits we durst not, for lack of ground-tackle: to bear sail we doubted, the tempest was so furious, and our sails so bad. The pinnace came round with us, and told us that she had received many grievous seas, and that her ropes did every hour fail her, so as they could not tell what shift to make. We, being unable in any sort to help her, stood under our courses in view of the lee-shore, still expediting our ruinous end.

The 4th of October, the storm growing beyond measure furious, the pinnace, being in the wind of us, struck suddenly a hull, so that we thought she had received some grievous sea, or sprung a leak, or that her sails failed her, because she came not with us; but we durst not hull in that unmerciful storm, but sometimes tried under our main course, sometimes with a haddock of our sail, for our ship was very leeward, and most laboursome in the sea. This night we lost the pinnace, and never saw her again.

The 5th, our fore-sail was split and all torn: then our Master took the mizzen, and brought it to the fore-mast, to make our ship work, and with our sprit-sail we mended our fore-sail, the storm continuing beyond all description in fury, with hail, snow, rain, and wind, such and so mighty, as that in nature it could not possibly be more, the sea such and so lofty, with continual breach, that many times we were doubtful whether our ship did sink or swim.

The 10th of October, being, by the account of our Captain and Master, very near the shore, the weather dark, the storm furious, and most of our men having given over to labour, we yielded ourselves to death without further hope of succour. Our Captain sitting in the gallery very pensive, I came and brought him some _rosa solis_, to comfort him; for he was so cold, that he was scarce able to move a joint. After he had drank, and was comforted in heart, he began, for the ease of his conscience, to make a large repetition of his forepassed time, and, with many grievous sighs, he concluded with a short prayer for our preservation. Having ended, he desired me not to make known to any of the company his intolerable grief and anguish of mind, because they should not thereby be dismaid. And so suddenly, before I went from him, the sun shined clear; so that he and the Master both observed the true elevation of the Pole, whereby they knew by what course to recover the straits. Wherewithal our Captain and Master were so revived, and gave such comfortable speeches to the company, that every man rejoiced, as though we had received a present deliverance. The next day, being the 11th of October, we saw Cape Deseado, being the cape on the south shore (the north shore being nothing but a company of dangerous rocks, isles, and shoals). This cape being within two leagues to the leeward of us, our Master greatly doubted that we could not double the same: nevertheless, being a man of good spirit, he resolutely made quick dispatch, and set sail. Our sails had not been half an hour on board, but the foot-rope of our fore-sail brake, so that nothing held but the oylet-holes. The seas continually brake over the ship’s poop, and flew into the sails with such violence, that we still expected the tearing of our sails, or over-setting of the ship; and, besides, to our utter discomfort, we perceived that we fell still more and more to lee-ward, so that we could not double the cape. We were now come within half a mile of the cape, and so near the shore, that the counter-surf of the sea would rebound against the ship’s side, so that we were much dismaid with the horror of our present end. Being thus at the very point of our death, the wind and the seas raging beyond measure, our Master veered some of the main sheet; and whether it was by that occasion, or by some current, or by the wonderful power of God, as we verily think it was, the ship quickened her way, and shot past that rock, where we thought she would have shored. Then between the cape and the point there was a little bay; so that we were somewhat farther from the shore: and, when we came so far as the cape, we yielded to death; yet the Father of all mercies delivered us, and we doubled the cape about the length of our ship, or very little more. Being shot past the cape, we presently took in our sails, which only God had preserved unto us; and when we were shot in between the high lands, the wind blowing trade, without an inch of sail, we spooned before the sea, three men being not able to guide the helm, and in six hours we were put twenty-five leagues within the straits, where we found a sea answerable to the ocean.

In this time we freed our ship from water, and after we had rested a little, our men were not able to move; their sinews were stiff, and their flesh dead, and many of them (which is most lamentable to be reported) were so eaten with lice, as that in their flesh did lie clusters of them, as big as pease, yea and some as big as beans. Being in this misery, we were constrained to put into a cove, for the refreshing of our men. Our Master knowing the shore, and every cove very perfectly, put in with the shore, and moored to the trees, as before time we had done, laying our anchor to the sea-ward. Here we continued until the 20th of October; but not being able any longer to stay, through extremity of famine, the 21st we put off into the channel, the weather being reasonably calm: but before night it blew most extremely at west-north-west. The storm growing outrageous, our men could scarcely stand by their labour; and, the straits being full of turning reaches, we were constrained by the discretion of the Captain and Master in their accounts, to guide the ship in the hell-dark night, when we could not see any shore, the channel being in some places scarce three miles broad. But our Captain, as we first passed through the straits, drew such an exquisite plan of the same, as I am assured it cannot in any sort be bettered: which plan he and the Master so often perused, and so carefully regarded, as that in memory they had every turn and creek, and in the deep-dark night, without any doubting, they conveyed the ship through that crooked channel: so that I conclude, the world hath not any so skilful pilots for that place, as they are; for otherwise we could never have passed in such sort as we did.

The 25th, we came to an island in the straits, named Penguin Isle, whither we sent our boat to seek relief, for there were great abundance of birds, and the weather was very calm; so we came to an anchor by the island in seven fathoms. While our boat was on shore, and we had great store of penguins, there arose a sudden storm, so that our ship did drive over a breach, and our boat sunk at the shore. Captain Cotton and the Lieutenant, being on shore, leapt into the boat and freed the same, and threw away all the birds, and with great difficulty recovered the ship: myself also was in the boat at the same time, where for my life I laboured to the best of my power. The ship, all this while, driving upon the lee-shore, when we came on board we helped to set sail, and weighed the anchor; for before our coming they could scarce hoist up their yards, yet with much ado they set their fore-course. Thus in a mighty fret of weather, the 27th day of October we were free of the straits, and the 30th of October we came to Penguin Isle, being three leagues from Port Desire, the place where we purposed to seek for our relief.

When we were come to this isle we sent our boat on shore, which returned laden with birds and eggs; and our men said the penguins were so thick upon the isle, that ships might be laden with them; for they could not go without trampling upon the birds, whereat we greatly rejoiced. Then the captain appointed Charles Parker and Edward Smith, with twenty others, to go on shore, and to stay upon the isle, for the killing and drying of these penguins, and promised, after the ship was in harbour, to send the rest, not only for expedition, but also to save the small store of victuals in the ship. But Parker, Smith, and the rest of their faction, suspected that this was a device of the captain’s to leave his men on shore, that, by these means, there might be victuals for the rest to recover their country: and when they remembered that this was the place where they would have slain their captain and master, surely (thought they) for revenge hereof will they leave us on shore. Which, when our captain understood, he called God to witness, that revenge was no part of his thoughts; they gave him thanks, desiring to go into the harbour with the ship, which he granted. So there were only ten left upon the isle, and the last of October we entered the harbour. Our master, at our last being here, having taken careful notice of every creek in the river, in a very convenient place, upon sandy oaze, ran the ship a-ground, laying our anchor to sea-ward, and with our running ropes moored her to stakes upon the shore, which he had fastened for that purpose; where the ship remained till our departure.

The 3d of November, our boat with water, wood, and as many as she could carry, went for the isle of Penguins; but being deep she durst not proceed, but returned again the same night. Then Parker, Smith, Townshend, Purpet, with five others, desired that they might go by land, and that the boat might fetch them when they were against the isle, it being scarce a mile from the shore. The captain bade them do what they thought best, advising them to take weapons with them: “For, (saith he) although we have not at any time seen people in this place, yet in the country there may be savages.” They answered: “That here were great store of deer, and ostriches: but if there were savages, they would devour them.” Notwithstanding, the captain caused them to take weapons with them, carlivers, swords, and targets: so the 6th of November, they departed by land, and the boat by sea; but from that day to this day we never heard of our men. The 11th, while most of our men were at the isle, only the captain and master, with six others, being left in the ship, there came a great multitude of savages to the ship, throwing dust in the air, leaping and running like brute beasts, having vizards on their faces like dogs faces, or else their faces are dogs faces indeed. We greatly feared lest they would set our ship on fire, for they would suddenly make fire, whereat we much marvelled: they came to windward of our ship, and set the bushes on fire, so that we were in a very stinking smoak; but as soon as they came within our shot, we shot at them, and striking one of them in the thigh, they all presently fled; so that we never saw more of them. Hereby we judged, that these cannibals had slain our nine men. When we considered who they were that were thus murdered, and found that they were the principal men who would have murdered the captain and master, with their friends, we saw the just judgment of God, and made supplication to his Divine Majesty to be merciful unto us. While we were in this harbour, our captain and master went with the boat to discover how far this river did run, that, if need should enforce us to leave our ship, we might know how far we might go by water: so they found, that, farther than twenty miles, they could not go with the boat. At their return they sent the boat to the isle of penguins: whereby we understood that the penguins dried to our hearts content, and that the multitude of them was infinite. All the time that we were in this place, we fared passing well with eggs, penguins, young seals, young gulls, and other birds, such as I know not, of all which we had abundance. In this place we found an herb called Scurvy-grass, which we fried with eggs, using train-oil instead of butter. This herb did so purge the blood, that it took away all kinds of swellings, of which many had died, and restored us to perfect health of body; so that we were in as good case as when we came first out of England. We staid in this harbour until the 22d of December, in which time we had dried 20,000 penguins; and the captain, the master, and myself, had made some salt, by laying salt-water upon the rocks in holes, which, in six days would be kerned. Thus God did feed us, even as it were with manna from heaven.

The 22d of December, we departed with our ship for the isle, where, with great difficulty, by the skilful industry of our master, we got 14,000 of our birds, and had almost lost our captain in labouring to bring the birds on board: and, had not our master been very expert in the set of those tides, which run after many fashions, we had also lost our ship in the same place. The 22d at night we departed with 14,000 dried penguins, not being able to fetch the rest, and shaped our course for Brazil. Now, our captain rated our victuals, and brought us to such allowance, as that our victuals might last six months for our hope was, that within six months we might recover our country, though our sails were very bad. So our allowance was two ounces and an half of meal for a man a-day, and to have so twice a-week; so that five ounces did serve for a week. Three days a week, we had oil, three spoonfuls for a man a-day; and two days in a week pease, a pint among four men a-day, and every day five penguins for four men, and six quarts of water for four men a-day. This was our allowance; wherewith we lived, though weakly, and very feeble. The 30th of January, we arrived at the isle of Placentia in Brazil, the first place that, outward-bound, we were at: and having made the shoal, our ship lying off at sea, the captain, with twenty-four of the company, went with the boat on shore, being a whole night before they could recover it. The last of January, at sun-rising, they suddenly landed, hoping to take the Portuguese in their houses, and by that means to recover some Casavi meal, or other victuals for our relief; but when they looked for the houses, they were all razed and burnt to the ground, so that we thought no man had remained on the island. Then the captain went to the gardens, and brought from thence fruits and roots for the company, and came on board the ship, and brought her into a fine creek which we had found out, where we might moor her by the trees, and where there was water, and hoops to trim our casks. Our case being very desperate, we presently laboured for dispatch away; some cut hoops, which the coopers made, others laboured upon the sails and ship, every man travailing for his life; and still a guard was kept on shore to defend those that laboured, every man having likewise his weapon by him. The 3d of February, our men, with twenty-three shot, went again to the gardens, being three miles from us upon the north shore, and fetched Casavi-roots out of the ground, to relieve our company, instead of bread; for we spent not of our meal while we staid here. The 5th of February, being Monday, our captain and master hastened the company to their labour; so some went with the coopers to gather hoops, and the rest laboured on board. This night many of our men in the ship dreamed of murder and slaughter: in the morning they reported their dreams: one saying to another, “This night I dreamed that thou wert slain.” Another answered, “And I dreamed that thou wert slain.” And this was general through the ship. The captain hearing this, who likewise had dreamed very strangely himself, gave very strict charge, that those who went on shore should take weapons with them, and saw them himself delivered into the boat, and sent some of purpose to guard the labourers. All the forenoon they laboured in quietness, and when it was ten o’clock, the heat being extreme, they came to a rock near the wood’s side (for all this country is nothing but thick woods), and there they boiled Casavi-roots, and dined. After dinner some slept, others washed themselves in the sea, all being stripped to their shirts, and no man keeping watch, no match lighted, and not a piece charged. Suddenly, as they were thus sleeping and sporting, having got themselves into a corner, out of sight of the ship, there came a multitude of Indians and Portuguese upon them, and slew them sleeping: only two escaped, one very sore hurt, the other not touched, by whom we understood of this miserable massacre. With all speed we manned our boat, and landed to succour our men; but we found them slain, and laid naked in rank one by another, with their faces upward, and a cross set by them: and withal we saw two very great pinnaces come from the river of Janeiro very full of men; who we suspected came from thence to take us; because there came from Janeiro soldiers to Santos, when the General had taken the town, and was strong in it. Of seventy-six persons who departed in our ship out of England, we were now left but twenty-seven, having lost thirteen in this place, with their chief furniture, as muskets, calivers, powder, and shot. Our casks were all in decay, so that we could not take in more water than was in our ship, for want of casks, and that which we had was marvellous ill-conditioned. And being there moored by trees, for want of cables and anchors, we still expected the cutting of our moorings, to be beaten from our decks with our own furniture, and to be assailed by them of Janeiro. What distress we were now driven into, I am not able to express. To depart with eight tons of water in such bad casks, was to starve at sea, and in staying our case was ruinous. These were hard choices; but, being thus perplexed, we made choice rather to fall into the hands of the Lord than into the hands of men. So, concluding to depart, the 6th of February we were off in the channel, with our ordnance, and small shot, in readiness for any assault that should come; and, having a small gale of wind, we recovered the sea in most deep distress. Then bemoaning our estate one to another, and recounting over all our extremities, nothing grieved us more than the loss of our men twice, first being slaughtered by the cannibals at Port Desire, and at this isle of Placentia by the Indians and Portuguese. And considering what they were who were lost, we found that all those who conspired the murdering of our Captain and Master were now slain by savages, the gunner only excepted. Being thus at sea, when we came to Cape Frio the wind was contrary; so that three weeks we were grievously vexed with cross winds; and, our water consuming, our hope of life was very small. Some desired to go to Baya, and to submit themselves to the Portuguese, rather than to die for thirst: but the Captain, with fair persuasions altered their purpose of yielding to the Portuguese. In this distress it pleased God to send us rain in such plenty, as that we were well watered, and in good comfort to return. But after we came near unto the sun, our dried penguins began to corrupt, and there bred in them a most loathsome and ugly worm, of an inch long. This worm did so mightily increase, and devour our victuals, that there was in reason no hope how we should avoid famine, but be devoured of these wicked creatures; there was nothing that they did not devour, iron only excepted; our cloaths, hats, boots, shoes, shirts, and stockings: and for the ship, they did so eat the timbers, as that we greatly feared they would undo us, by gnawing through the ship’s side. Great was the care of our Captain, Master, and company, to consume these vermin, but the more we laboured to kill them, the more they increased; so that at the last we could not sleep for them, but they would eat our flesh, and bite like musquetos. In this woeful case, after we had passed the Equinoctial Line towards the north, our men began to fall sick of such a monstrous disease, as I think the like was never heard of: for in their ancles it began to swell; from thence in two days it would be in their breasts, so that they could not draw their breath; and then fell into their lower parts, and there did swell most grievously, and most dreadful to behold, so that they could neither stand, lie, nor go: whereupon our men grew big with grief. Our Captain, with extreme anguish of his soul, was in such woeful distress, that he desired only a speedy end; for divers grew raging mad, and some died in most loathsome and furious pain. It were incredible to write our misery as it was. There was no man in perfect health, but the Captain and one boy; the Master being a man of good spirit, with extreme labour, bore out his grief, so that it grew not upon him. To be short, all our men died, except sixteen, of which there were but five able to move. The Captain was in good health, the Master indifferent, Captain Cotton and myself swolen and short-winded, yet better than the rest who were sick, and one boy in health: upon us five only the labour of the ship did stand: The Captain and Master as occasion served, would take in and heave out the top-sails; the Master only attended on the sprit-sail; and all of us at the capstan without sheets and tacks. In fine, our misery and weakness was so great, that we could not take in or heave out a sail: so our top-sail and sprit-sail were torn all in pieces by the weather. The Master and Captain taking their turns at the helm, were mightily distressed, and monstrously grieved with the woeful lamentation of our sick men. Thus, as lost wanderers upon the sea, the 11th of June 1593, it pleased God that we arrived at Bear Haven in Ireland, and there ran the ship on shore; where the Irishmen helped us to take in our sails, and to moor our ship for floating; which slender pains of theirs cost our Captain ten pounds, before he could have the ship in safety. Thus, without victuals, sails, men, or any furniture, God only guided us into Ireland, where the Captain left the Master and three or four of the company to keep the ship; and, within five days after, he and certain others had passage in an English fisher-boat to Padstow, in Cornwall. In this manner our small remnant, by God’s mercy only, were preserved and restored to our country, to whom be all honour and glory world without end.”

We have already observed, that the above relation is the only complete account of this voyage which has hitherto appeared; by which we would be understood to mean, that it is the only complete account of the proceedings of any one of the ships engaged in this second expedition of Cavendish, from her first setting out till her return home. There are other accounts of the distresses attending this voyage, but they refer to parts only, and do not contain a regular series of events from beginning to end, as we shall endeavour to shew, in pursuance of our plan of tracing the great out-lines of the lives of our celebrated circum-navigators, from their first entering upon action till the period of their retreat.

When the impartial reader revolves in his mind the effects of distresses like those already described in the foregoing account, upon a company of ungovernable sailors, not under that subordination which regular discipline always establishes to Officers properly commissioned, he will then be prepared to determine, whether Cavendish complains with reason against Davis, as being the death of him, and to use his own words, “the decay of the whole action;” or, whether the miscarriage did not arise partly from unavoidable accidents, and partly from the impetuosity of his own temper, and his own misconduct.

The misfortunes that attended the progress of this most distressful voyage, appear to us to have taken their rise from the accident of being becalmed for seven-and-twenty days under the Line; during which time they not only consumed a considerable proportion of their provisions, but the men became sick; and the scurvy, which seldom makes its approaches on this side the Equator, had already infected near half the crews.

This reduced them to the necessity, not only of seeking land where fresh provisions might be procured, but of wasting more time with a view to the recovery of the sick, than was consistent with the navigation of those boisterous seas through which they were to pass.

We have already seen that when they were masters of Santos, they were in the utmost distress for want of provisions, and yet the opportunity was suffered to pass without obtaining any effectual relief; and that this distress is not aggravated by the writer of the above voyage, appears from the testimony of Knivet, in Purchas’s Pilgrams, who says, “that here they had such disorders among themselves, that if the Portuguese had been of any courage, they might have destroyed the whole fleet; for our men, says he, would fight for their victuals, as if they had been no Christians but Jews”, (which by the way shews the strange notions which the multitude in those days entertained of the uncharitable disposition of the Jews to one another; a characteristic not at all applicable to that people); “and they that got the best would get them into some hole, or into the wilderness under some tree, and there they would remain as long as they had meat.”

From this early beginning of distress, very little hope could be reasonably entertained of the issue. The season was advancing fast, when the severity of the weather would render their proceeding into the South Seas by the straits of Magellan very dangerous; and, being already in want of provisions, they could have no means of an effectual supply till they could reach the fertile countries on the opposite side of those straits; the General’s prolonging his stay therefore on the eastermost coasts of Brazil till the 22d of January, was not only an imprudent but a fatal delay; and, as it was foreseen, proved the actual ruin of the voyage.