A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10: Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10: Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
Accordingly, we set sail on the 15th of May, the general being now on
board the galleon, his own ship. The 18th we were free of the straits;
but on passing Cape Froward, we had the misfortune to have our boat sunk
at our stern in the night, by which she was split and sore injured, and
lost all her oars. The 20th of May, being athwart Port Desire, the
general altered his course during the night, as we suppose, by which we
lost him. In the evening he stood close by the wind to leewards, having
the wind at N.N.E. and we stood the same course, the wind not altering
during the night, and next day we could not see him. We were then
persuaded that the general was gone for Port Desire in quest of relief
or that he had sustained some mischance at sea, and was gone there to
seek a remedy. Our captain then called all hands together, the general's
men among the rest, asking their opinion what was to be done, when every
one said he thought the general was gone to Port Desire.
Our master, who was the general's man, and careful for his master's
service, and also a person of good judgment in sea affairs, represented
to the company how dangerous it was for us to go to Port Desire,
especially if we should there miss the general; as we had now no boat
wherewith to land, neither any anchors or cables which he could trust to
in such rapid streams. Yet as we all concluded that it was most probable
the general had gone there, we shaped our course for Port Desire, and on
our way met the Black pinnace by chance, which had also parted company
from the general, being in a miserable plight. So we both proceeded for
Port Desire, where we arrived on the 26th of May.
§ 2. _Disastrous result of the Voyage to Sir Thomas Candish_.[64]
Various accounts of the disappointments and misfortunes of Sir Thomas
Candish, in this disastrous voyage, are still preserved, but the most
copious is contained in his own narrative, addressed to Sir Tristram
Gorges, whom he constituted sole executor of his will. In this, Sir
Thomas attributes his miscarriage to the cowardice and defection of one
of his officers, in the following terms:--"The running away of the
villain Davis was the death of me, and the decay of the whole action,
and his treachery in deserting me the ruin of all."
[Footnote 64: This portion of the voyage is taken from the supplement in
the Collection of Harris, to the circumnavigation of Sir Thomas
Candish.--E.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account