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)
last degree, and which he saw daily declining, and ready to be trampled
upon. His mistaken apprehension of a mutinous design in Mr. Cozens,
the sole motive of this rash action, was so far from answering the end
he proposed by it, that the men, who before were much dissatisfied and
uneasy, were by this unfortunate step thrown almost into open sedition
and revolt. It was evident that the people, who ran out of their tents,
alarmed by the report of fire-arms, though they disguised their real
sentiments for the present, were extremely affected at this catastrophe
of Mr. Cozens (for he was greatly beloved by them): their minds were
now exasperated, and it was to be apprehended, that their resentment,
which was smothered for the present, would shortly shew itself in
some desperate enterprise. The unhappy victim, who lay weltering in
his blood on the ground before them, seemed to absorb their whole
attention; the eyes of all were fixed upon him; and visible marks of
the deepest concern appeared in the countenances of the spectators.
The persuasion the captain was under, at the time he shot Mr. Cozens,
that his intentions were mutinous, together with a jealousy of the
diminution of his authority, occasioned also his behaving with less
compassion and tenderness towards him afterwards than was consistent
with the unhappy condition of the poor sufferer: for when it was begged
as a favour by his mess-mates, that Mr. Cozens might be removed to
their tent, though a necessary thing in his dangerous situation, yet
it was not permitted; but the poor wretch was suffered to languish on
the ground some days, with no other covering than a bit of canvass
thrown over some bushes, where he died. But to return to our story:
the Captain, addressing himself to the people thus assembled, told
them, that it was his resolution to maintain his command over them as
usual, which still remained in as much force as ever; and then ordered
them all to return to their respective tents, with which order they
instantly complied. Now we had saved the long-boat from the wreck, and
got it in our possession, there was nothing that seemed so necessary
towards the advancing our delivery from this desolate place, as the
new modelling this vessel so as to have room for all those who were
inclined to go off in her, and to put her in a condition to bear the
stormy seas we must of course encounter. We therefore hauled her up,
and having placed her upon blocks, sawed her in two, in order to
lengthen her about twelve feet by the keel. For this purpose, all
those who could be spared from the more immediate task of procuring
subsistence, were employed in fitting and shaping timber as the
carpenter directed them; I say, in procuring subsistence, because the
weather lately having been very tempestuous, and the wreck working
much, had disgorged a great part of her contents, which were every
where dispersed about the shore.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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