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)
In the morning, about four o'clock, the ship struck. The shock we
received upon this occasion, though very great, being not unlike the
blow of a heavy sea, such as in the series of preceding storms we had
often experienced, was taken for the same; but we were soon undeceived
by her striking again more violently than before, which laid her upon
her beam ends, the sea making a fair breach over her. Every person that
now could stir was presently upon the quarter-deck; and many even of
those were alert upon this occasion, that had not showed their faces
upon deck for above two months before: several poor wretches, who were
in the last stage of the scurvy, and who could not get out of their
hammocks, were immediately drowned.
In this dreadful situation she lay for some little time, every soul
on board looking upon the present minute as his last; for there was
nothing; to be seen but breakers all around us. However, a mountainous
sea hove her off from thence, but she presently struck again, and broke
her tiller. In this terrifying and critical juncture, to have observed
all the various modes of horror operating according to the several
characters and complexions amongst us, it was necessary that the
observer himself should have been free from all impressions of danger.
Instances there were, however, of behaviour so very remarkable, they
could not escape the notice of any one who was not entirely bereaved
of his senses; for some were in this condition to all intents and
purposes; particularly one, in the ravings of despair brought upon him,
was seen stalking about the deck, flourishing a cutlass over his head
and calling himself king of the country, and striking every body he
came near, till his companions, seeing no other security against his
tyranny, knocked him down. Some, reduced before by long sickness and
the scurvy, became on this occasion as it were petrified and bereaved
of all sense, like inanimate logs, and were bandied to and fro by the
jerks and rolls of the ship, without exerting any efforts to help
themselves. So terrible was the scene of foaming breakers around us,
that one of the bravest men we had could not help expressing his dismay
at it, saying it was too shocking a sight to bear; and would have
thrown himself over the rails of the quarter-deck into the sea, had
he not been prevented: but at the same time there were not wanting
those who preserved a presence of mind truly heroic. The man at the
helm, though both rudder and tiller were gone, kept his station; and
being asked by one of the officers, if the ship would steer or not,
first took his time to make trial by the wheel, and then answered with
as much respect and coolness as if the ship had been in the greatest
safety; and immediately after applied himself with his usual serenity
to his duty, persuaded it did not become him to desert it as long as
the ship kept together. Mr. Jones, mate, who now survives not only
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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