Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746 — John Shaqi
Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746Byron, John
History
Byron's Narrative of the Loss of the Wager: With an account of the great distresses suffered by himself and his companions on the coast of Patagonia from the year 1740 till their arrival in England 1746
Byron, John
Chiloé (Chile); Patagonia (Argentina and Chile); Wager (Ship)
this wreck, but that of the Litchfield man of war upon the coast of
Barbary, at the time when the ship was in the most imminent danger,
not only shewed himself undaunted, but endeavoured to inspire the same
resolution in the men; saying, "My friends, let us not be discouraged:
did you never see a ship amongst breakers before? Let us try to push
her through them. Come, lend a hand; here is a sheet, and here is a
brace; lay hold; I don't doubt but we may stick her yet near enough
to the land to save our lives." This had so good an effect, that many
who before were half dead, seemed active again, and now went to work
in earnest. This Mr. Jones did purely to keep up the spirits of the
people as long as possible; for he often said afterwards, he thought
there was not the least chance of a single man being saved. We now
ran in between an opening of the breakers, steering by the sheets and
braces, when providentially we stuck fast between two great rocks; that
to windward sheltering us in some measure from the violence of the
sea. We immediately cut away the main and foremast; but the ship kept
beating in such a manner, that we imagined she could hold together but
a very little while. The day now broke, and the weather, that had been
extremely thick, cleared away for a few moments, and gave us a glimpse
of the land not far from us. We now thought of nothing but saving our
lives. To get the boats out, as our masts were gone, was a work of some
time; which when accomplished, many were ready to jump into the first,
by which means they narrowly escaped perishing before they reached the
shore. I now went to Captain Cheap (who had the misfortune to dislocate
his shoulder by a fall the day before, as he was going forward to get
the fore-yard swayed up), and asked him if he would not go on shore;
but he told me, as he had done before, that he would be the last to
leave the ship; and he ordered me to assist in getting the men out as
soon as possible. I had been with him very often from the time the ship
first struck, as he desired I would, to acquaint him with every thing
that passed; and I particularly remarked, that he gave his orders at
that time with as much coolness as ever he had done during the former
part of the voyage.
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