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)
At length we reached Montrose Island. This is by much the best and
pleasantest spot we had seen in this part of the world; though it has
nothing on it eatable but some berries, which resembled gooseberries
in flavour: they are of a black hue, and grow in swampy ground; and
the bush or tree that bears them is much taller than that of our
gooseberries. We remained here some time, living upon these berries,
and the remainder of our seal, which was now grown quite rotten. Our
two or three first attempts to put out from this island were without
success, the tempestuous weather obliging us so often to put back
again. One of our people was much inclined to remain here, thinking it
as least as good a place as Wager's Island to end his days upon; but
he was obliged to go off with them. We had not been long out before it
began to blow a storm of wind; and the mist came on so thick, that we
could not see the land, and were at a loss which way to steer; but we
heard the sea, which ran exceedingly high, breaking near us; upon which
we immediately hauled aft the sheet, and hardly weathered the breakers
by a boat's length. At the same time we shipped a sea that nearly
filled us: it struck us with that violence, as to throw me, and one or
two more, down into the bottom of the boat, where we were half drowned
before we could get up again. This was one of the most extraordinary
escapes we had in the course of this expedition; for Captain Cheap, and
every one else, had entirely given themselves up for lost. However,
it pleased God that we got that evening into Redwood Cove, where the
weather continued so bad all night, we could keep no fire in to dry
ourselves with; but there being no other alternative for us, but to
stay here and starve, or put to sea again, we chose the latter, and
put out in the morning again, though the weather was very little
mended. In three or four days after, we arrived at our old station,
Wager's Island; but in such a miserable plight, that though we thought
our condition upon setting out would not admit of any additional
circumstance of misery, yet it was to be envied in comparison of what
we now suffered, so worn and reduced were we by fatigue and hunger;
having eat nothing for some days but sea-weed and tangle. Upon this
expedition, we had been out, by our account, just two months; in which
we had rounded, backwards and forwards, the great bay formed to the
northward by that high land we had observed from Mount Misery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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