Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02Champlain, Samuel de
History
Voyages of Samuel De Champlain — Volume 02
Champlain, Samuel de
America -- Discovery and exploration -- French; Indians of North America -- Canada; New France -- Discovery and exploration
While going out of the mouth of the harbor, [187] we were suddenly carried
by the tide out of the passage, and, before perceiving them, were driven
upon the rocks on the east-north-east coast. [188] Pont Gravé and I, who
were asleep, were awaked by hearing the sailors shouting and exclaiming,
"We are lost!" which brought me quickly to my feet, to see what was the
matter. Pont Gravé was still ill, which prevented him from rising as
quickly as he wished. I was scarcely on deck, when the barque was thrown
upon the coast; and the wind, which was north, drove us upon a point. We
unfurled the mainsail, turned it to the wind, and hauled it up as high as
we could, that it might drive us up as far as possible on the rocks, for
fear that the reflux of the sea, which fortunately was falling, would draw
us in, when it would have been impossible to save ourselves. At the first
blow of our boat upon the rocks, the rudder broke, a part of the keel and
three or four planks were smashed, and some ribs stove in, which frightened
us, for our barque filled immediately; and all that we could do was to wait
until the sea fell, so that we might get ashore. For, otherwise, we were in
danger of our lives, in consequence of the swell, which was very high and
furious about us. The sea having fallen, we went on shore amid the storm,
when the barque was speedily unloaded, and we saved a large portion of the
provisions in her, with the help of the savage, Captain Secondon and his
companions, who came to us with their canoes, to carry to our habitation
what we had saved from our barque, which, all shattered as she was, went to
pieces at the return of the tide. But we, most happy at having saved our
lives, returned to our settlement with our poor savages, who stayed there a
large part of the winter; and we praised God for having rescued us from
this shipwreck, from which we had not expected to escape so easily.
The loss of our barque caused us great regret, since we found ourselves,
through want of a vessel, deprived of the prospect of being able to
accomplish the voyage we had undertaken. And we were unable to build
another; for time was pressing, and although there was another barque on
the stocks, yet it would have required too long to get it ready, and we
could scarcely have made use of it before the return from France of the
vessels we were daily expecting.
This was a great misfortune, and owing to the lack of foresight on the part
of the master, who was obstinate, but little acquainted with seamanship,
and trusting only his own head. He was a good carpenter, skilful in
building vessels, and careful in provisioning them with all necessaries,
but in no wise adapted to sailing them.
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