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)
The next morning being calm, we rowed out; but as soon as clear of
the island, we found a great swell from the westward; we rowed to the
bottom of a very large bay, which was to the northward of us, the land
very low, and we were in hopes of finding some inlet through, but did
not; so kept along shore to the westward. This part, which I take to be
above fifty leagues from Wager Island, is the very bottom of the large
bay it lies in. Here was the only passage to be found, which (if we
could by any means have got information of it) would have saved us much
fruitless labour. Of this passage I shall have occasion to say more
hereafter.
Having at this time an off-shore wind, we kept the land close on board,
till we came to a head-land: it was near night before we got abreast
of the headland, and opening it discovered a very large bay to the
northward, and another headland to the westward, at a great distance.
We endeavoured to cut short our passage to it by crossing, which is
very seldom to be effected, in these overgrown seas, by boats: and this
we experienced now; for the wind springing up, and beginning to blow
fresh, we were obliged to put back towards the first headland, into a
small cove, just big enough to shelter the two boats. Here an accident
happened that alarmed us much. After securing our boats, we climbed up
a rock scarcely large enough to contain our numbers: having nothing to
eat, we betook ourselves to our usual receipt for hunger, which was
going to sleep. We accordingly made a fire, and stowed ourselves round
it as well as we could; but two of our men being incommoded for want of
room, went a little way from us, into a small nook, over which a great
cliff hung, and served them for a canopy. In the middle of the night
we were awakened with a terrible rumbling, which we apprehended to
be nothing less than the shock of an earthquake, which we had before
experienced in these parts; and this conjecture we had reason to think
not ill founded, upon hearing hollow groans and cries as of men half
swallowed up. We immediately got up, and ran to the place from whence
the cries came, and then we were put out of all doubt as to the opinion
we had formed of this accident; for here we found the two men almost
buried under loose stones and earth: but upon a little farther enquiry
we were undeceived as to the cause we had imputed this noise to, which
we found to be occasioned by the sudden giving way of the impending
cliff, which fell a little beyond our people, carrying trees and rocks
with it, and loose earth; the latter of which fell in part on our men,
whom we with some pains rescued from their uneasy situation, from which
they escaped with some bruises. The next morning we got out early, and
the wind being westerly, rowed the whole day for the headland we had
seen the night before; but when we had got that length could find no
harbour, but were obliged to go into a sandy bay, and lay the whole
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