A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11: 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 TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11: 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
Having separated on the 6th March in a fog from the Hermiona and
Esperanza, being then, as I suppose, to the S.E. of States Land, and
plying to the westward, it blew a furious storm at N.W. the succeeding
night, which, at half past ten, split his main-sail, and obliged him
to bear away with his foresail. The ship now went ten knots an hour
with a prodigious sea, and often ran her gangway under water. He
likewise sprung his main-mast, and the ship made so much water that
she could not be freed by four pumps assisted by bailing. On the 9th
the wind became calm, but the sea continued so high that the ship, in
rolling, opened all her upper works and seams, and started the butt
ends of her planks, and the greatest part of her top-timbers, the
bolts being drawn by the violence of the roll. In this condition, with
additional disasters to the hull and rigging, they continued beating
westward to the 12th, when they were in lat. 60° S. and in great want
of provisions, numbers perishing daily by the fatigue of pumping, and
the survivors quite dispirited by labour, hunger, and the severity
of the weather, their decks being covered with snow above a foot in
depth. Finding the wind fixed in the west and blowing strong, and
their passage that way impossible, they resolved to bear away for the
Rio Plata. On the 22d they had to throw overboard all their upper-deck
guns and an anchor, and were obliged to take six turns of the cable
round the ship to prevent her from opening and falling to pieces. On
the 4th of April, in calm weather, but with a very heavy sea, the
ship rolled so much that her main-mast came by the board, and was soon
after followed by the fore and mizen masts, after which they had
to cut away the boltsprit, to diminish, if possible, the leakage
forwards. By this time two hundred and fifty of the men had perished
by hunger and fatigue. Those who were capable of working at the pumps,
at which every officer took his turn without exception, were only
allowed an ounce and a half of biscuit daily; while those who were
weak and sickly, so that they could not assist in this necessary
labour, had no more than one ounce of wheat. It was common for the men
to fall down dead at the pumps, and all they could muster for duty,
including the officers, was from eighty to an hundred men.
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