Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities.Anonymous
History
Thrilling Narratives of Mutiny, Murder and Piracy: A weird series of tales of shipwreck and disaster, from the earliest part of the century to the present time, with accounts of providential escapes and heart-rending fatalities.
Anonymous
Mutiny; Pirates; Seafaring life; Shipwrecks
The last winter was in temperature nearly equal to the mean of what
had been experienced on the four preceding voyages, but the winters of
1830 and 1831 set in with a degree of violence hitherto beyond
record--the thermometer sunk to 92 degrees below the freezing point,
and the average of the year was 10 degrees below the preceding; but
notwithstanding the severity of the summer, we travelled across the
country to the west sea by a chain of lakes, 30 miles north of the
isthmus, when Commander Ross succeeded in surveying 50 miles more of
the coast leading to the north-west, and by tracing the shore to the
northward of our position, it was also fully proved that there could
be no passage below the 71st degree.
This autumn we succeeded in getting the vessel only 14 miles to the
northward, as we had not doubled the Eastern Cape, all hope of saving
the ship was at an end, and put quite beyond possibility by another
very severe winter; and having only provisions to last us to the 1st
of June, 1833, dispositions were accordingly made to leave the ship in
present port, which (after her) was named Victory Harbor. Provisions
and fuel being carried forward in the spring, we left the ship on the
28th of May, 1832, for Fury Beach, being the only chance left for
saving our lives; owing to the very rugged nature of the ice, we were
obliged to keep either upon or close to the land, making the circuit
of every bay, thus increasing our distance of 200 miles by nearly one
half; and it was not until the 1st of July that we reached the beach,
completely exhausted by hunger and fatigue.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account