Volume Xvii Part 22 (1/2)
At eight o'clock in the evening, it began to blow afresh from the westward, with violent thunder, lightning, and rain; and at three the next morning, we weighed and stood over for Prince's Island, but the westerly wind dying away, was succeeded by a breeze from the S.E., and at the same time a strong tide setting to the S.W., prevented our fetching the island, and obliged us, at two in the afternoon, to drop anchor in sixty-five fathoms, over a muddy bottom, at three leagues distance from it; the high hill bearing S.W. by S., and the peak on Cracatoa N. by E. We had light airs and calms till six next morning, when we weighed and made sail, having, in our endeavours to heave the anchor out of the ground, twice broken the old messenger, and afterwards a new one, cut out of our best hawser. This, however, was entirely owing to the wretched state of our cordage; as the strain was not very considerable, and we had besides a.s.sisted the cable in coming in, by clapping the cat-tackle on it. The wind continuing fair, at noon we came to an anchor off the S.E. end of Prince's Island, in twenty- six fathoms, over a sandy bottom; the east end of the island bearing N.N.E., the southernmost point in sight S.W. by S., the high peak N.W. 1/2 W., distant from the nearest sh.o.r.e half a mile.
As soon as we had come to anchor, Lieutenant Lannyon, who had been here before with Captain Cook, in the year 1770, was sent, along with the master, to look for the watering-place. The brook from which, according to the best of his recollection, the Endeavour had been supplied, was found quite salt. Further inland, they saw a dry bed, where the water seemed to have lodged in rainy seasons; and, about a cable's length below, another run, supplied from an extensive pool, the bottom of which, as well, as the surface, was covered with dead leaves. This, though a little brackish, being much preferable to the other, we began watering here early the next morning, and finished the same day.
The natives, who came to us soon after we anch.o.r.ed, brought a plentiful supply of large fowls, and some turtles; but the last were, for the most part, very small. In the course of the night we had heavy rain; and on the 14th, at daylight, we saw the Resolution to the northward, standing toward the island; and at two in the afternoon, she dropped anchor close to us. In the course of the day we heeled the s.h.i.+p, and scrubbed and hogged her bottom, which was very foul; and got ready for sea.
The next day, Captain Gore not having completed his stock of water at Cracatoa, sent his men on sh.o.r.e, who now found the brook that was first mentioned rendered perfectly sweet by the rain, and flowing in great abundance. This being too valuable a treasure to be neglected, I gave orders, that the casks we had filled before should be started, and replenished with the fresh water, which was accordingly done before noon the next day; and in the evening we cleared the decks, and both s.h.i.+ps were ready for sea.
In the forenoon of the 18th we had heavy rains and variable winds, which prevented our getting under way till two in the afternoon, when a light wind sprung up from the northward; but this soon after leaving us, we were obliged to drop our anchor again, at eight o'clock that night, in fifty fathoms water, and wait till the same hour the next morning. At that time, being favoured by a breeze from the N.W., we broke ground, to our inexpressible satisfaction, for the last time in the Strait of Sunda, and the next day had entirely lost sight of Prince's Island,
This island having been already described by Captain Cook, in the history of a former voyage, I shall only add, that we were exceedingly struck with the great general resemblance of the natives, both in figure, colour, manners, and even language, to the nations we had been so much conversant with in the South Seas. The effects of the Javanese climate, and I did not escape without my full share of it, made me incapable of pursuing the comparison so minutely as I could have wished.
The country abounds with wood to such a degree, that, notwithstanding the quant.i.ty cut down every year by the s.h.i.+ps which put into the road, there is no appearance of its diminution. We were well supplied with small turtle, and fowls of a moderate size; the last were sold at the rate of ten for a Spanish dollar. The natives also brought us many hog-deer, and a prodigious number of monkeys, to our great annoyance, as most of our sailors provided themselves with one, if not two, of these troublesome animals.
As we should have met with some difficulty in finding the watering-place, if Mr Lannyon had not been with us, it may be worth while, for the use of future navigators, to describe its situation more particularly. The peaked hill on the island bears from it N.W. by N.; a remarkable tree, growing upon a coral reef, and quite detached from the neighbouring shrubs, stands just to the northward; and close by it there is a small plot of reedy gra.s.s, the only piece of the kind that can be seen hereabout. These marks will shew the place where the pool empties itself into the sea; but the water here is generally salt, as well as that which is in the pool. The casks must therefore be filled about fifty yards higher up; where, in dry seasons, the fresh water that comes down from the hills is lost among the leaves, and must be searched for by clearing them away.
The lat.i.tude of the anchoring-place at Prince's Island was 6 36' 15” south.
Longitude 105 17 30 east.
Dip of the south pole of the magnetic needle 28 15 0 Variation of the compa.s.s 0 54 0 west.
Mean of the thermometer 83 1/2
From the time of our entering the Strait of Banca, we began to experience the powerful effects of this pestilential climate. Two of our people fell dangerously ill of malignant putrid fevers; which, however, we prevented from spreading, by putting the patients apart from the rest in the most airy births. Many were attacked with teazing coughs; others complained of violent pains in the head; and even the healthiest among us felt a sensation of suffocating heat, attended by an insufferable languor, and a total loss of appet.i.te. But though our situation was for a time thus uneasy and alarming, we had at last the singular satisfaction of escaping from these fatal seas, without the loss of a single life; A circ.u.mstance which was probably owing in part to the vigorous health of the crews, when we first arrived here, as well as to the strict attention, now become habitual in our men, to the salutary regulations introduced amongst us by Captain Cook.
On our leaving Prince's Island, and during the whole time of our run from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, the crew of the Resolution was in a much more sickly state than that of the Discovery; for though many of us continued for some time complaining of the effects of the noxious climate we had left, yet happily we all recovered from them. Of the two who had been ill of fevers, one, after being seized with violent convulsions, on the 12th of February, which made us despair of his life, was relieved by the application of blisters, and was soon after out of danger. The other recovered, but more slowly. On board the Resolution, besides the obstinate coughs and fevers under which they very generally laboured, a great many were afflicted with fluxes, the number of whom, contrary to our expectations, continued increasmg till our arrival at the Cape.
Captain Gore attributed this difference in part, and probably with some reason, to the Discovery having her fire-place between decks; the heat and smoke of which, he conceived, might help to mitigate the bad effects of the damp night air. But I am rather inclined to believe, that we escaped the flux by the precautions that were taken to prevent our catching it from others. For if some kinds of fluxes be, as I apprehend there is no doubt they are, contagious, it is not improbable, that the Resolution caught this disorder from the Dutch s.h.i.+ps at Cracatoa. In order to avoid this danger, when Mr Williamson was sent to the Indiaman in the entrance of the Strait of Sunda, he had the strictest orders not to suffer any of our people, on any account whatever, to go on board; and whenever we had afterward occasion to have any communication with the Resolution, the same caution was constantly observed.
We were no sooner clear of Prince's Island, than we had a gentle breeze from the W.N.W.; but this did not last long; for the following day the wind became again variable, and continued so till the noon of the 25th, when it grew squally, and blew fresh from the north.
On the 22d at noon, being in lat.i.tude 10 28' S., and longitude 104 14', we saw great quant.i.ties of b.o.o.bies, and other fowls, that seldom go far from land; from which we conjectured, that we were near some small unknown island.
In the evening of the 25th, the wind changed suddenly to the southward, accompanied with heavy rains, and began to blow with great violence. During the night, almost every sail we had bent gave way, and most of them were split to rags; our rigging also suffered materially, and we were, the next day, obliged to bend our last suit of sails, and to knot and splice the rigging, our cordage being all expended. This sudden storm, we attributed to the change from the monsoon to the regular trade-wind; our lat.i.tude was about 13 10' S., and we had made by our reckoning about 4-1/2 of longitude west from Java head.
From the 26th of this month to the 28th of March, we had a regular trade- wind from the S.E. to E. by S., with fine weather; and being in an old beaten track, met no occurrence that deserved the smallest notice.
In the morning of the 28th of March, being in lat.i.tude 31 42' S., and longitude 35 26' E., the trade-wind left us in a violent thunder-storm.
From this time to the 3d of April, when our lat.i.tude was 35 1' S., and longitude 26 3' E., the winds were moderate, and generally from the south quarter. A fresh breeze then sprung up from the eastward, which continued till the afternoon of the 4th; after which we had a calm that lasted the two following days.
It had hitherto been Captain Gore's intention to proceed directly to St Helena, without stopping at the Cape; but the rudder of the Resolution having been, for some time, complaining, and, on being examined, reported to be in a dangerous state, he resolved to steer immediately for the Cape, as the most eligible place, both for the recovery of his sick, and for procuring a new main-piece to the rudder.
From the 21st of March, when we were in lat.i.tude 27 22' S., longitude 52 25' E., to the 5th of April, when we had got into lat.i.tude 36 12' S., longitude 22 7' E., we were strongly affected by the currents, which set to the S.S.W., and S.W. by W., sometimes at the rate of eighty knots a day.
On the 6th, having got under the lee of the African coast, we lost them entirely.
In the morning of the 6th, a sail was seen to the S.W. standing toward us; and, as the wind soon after rose from the same quarter, we cleared our s.h.i.+ps for action. We now discovered, from the mast-head, five sail more on our lee-bow, standing to the eastward; but the weather coming on hazy, we lost sight of them all in an hour's time. Our lat.i.tude at noon was 35 49'
S., longitude 21 32' E. At seven o'clock the next morning (the 7th), we made the land to the northward at a considerable distance.