A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: 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 12: 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
Hitherto, though I had been long ill of an inflammatory and bilious
disorder, I had been able to keep the deck; but this evening the
symptoms became so much more threatening that I could keep up no longer,
and I was for some time afterwards confined to my bed. The master was
dying of the wounds he received in his quarrel with the Indians, the
lieutenant also was very ill, the gunner and thirty of my men incapable
of duty, among whom were seven of the most vigorous and healthy, that
had been wounded with the master, and three of them mortally, and there
was no hope of obtaining such refreshments as we most needed in this
place. These were discouraging circumstances, and not only put an end to
my hopes of prosecuting the voyage farther to southward, but greatly
dispirited the people; except myself, the master, and the lieutenant,
there was nobody on board capable of navigating the ship home; the
master was known to be a dying man, and the recovery of myself and the
lieutenant was very doubtful. I would however have made a further effort
to obtain refreshments here, if I had been furnished with any toys, iron
tools, or cutlery-ware, which might have enabled me to recover the
goodwill of the natives, and establish a traffic with them for such
necessaries as they could have furnished us with; but I had no such
articles, and but very few others fit for an Indian trade; and not being
in a condition to risk the loss of any more of the few men who were
capable of doing duty, I weighed anchor at day-break on Monday the 17th,
and stood along the shore for that part of the island to which I had
sent the cutter. To the island I had given the name of _Egmont Island_,
in honour of the Earl: It certainly is the same to which the Spaniards
have given the name of Santa Cruz, as appears by the accounts which
their writers have given of it, and I called the place in which we had
lain, _Swallow Bay_. From the eastermost point of this bay, which I
called _Swallow Point_, to the north-east point of the island, which I
called _Cape Byron_, is about seven miles east, and from the westermost
point of the bay, which I called _Hanway's Point_, to Cape Byron, is
about ten or eleven miles. Between Swallow Point and Hanway's Point, in
the bottom of the bay, there is a third point, which does not run out so
far; and a little to the westward of this point is the best
anchoring-place, but it is necessary to give it birth, as the ground
near it is shoaly. When we were at anchor in this bay, Swallow Point
bore E. by N. and Hanway's Point W.N.W. From this Point there runs a
reef, on which the sea breaks very high: The outer part of this reef
bore N.W. by W. and an island which has the appearance of a volcano, was
just over the breakers. Soon after we had passed Hanway's Point, we saw
a small village, which stands upon the beach, and is surrounded by
cocoa-nut trees. It is situated in a bay between Hanway's Point and
another, to which I gave the name of _Howe's Point_.
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