A Voyage Round the World

This place was not only extremely grateful to us, from the plenty and excellency of its fresh provisions, but was as much perhaps to be admired on account of its fruits and vegetable productions, which were most fortunately adapted to the cure of the sea scurvy, the disease which had so terribly reduced us. For in the woods there were inconceivable quantities of coco-nuts, with the cabbages growing on the same tree. There were besides, guavoes, limes, sweet and sour oranges, and a kind of fruit peculiar to these islands, called by the Indians Rhymay, but by us the Bread Fruit, for it was constantly eaten by us during our stay upon the island instead of bread, and so universally preferred to it that no ship's bread was expended in that whole interval. It grew upon a tree which is somewhat lofty, and which towards the top divides into large and spreading branches. The leaves of this tree are of a remarkable deep green, are notched about the edges, and are generally from a foot to eighteen inches in length. The fruit itself is found indifferently on all parts of the branches; it is in shape rather elliptical than round; it is covered with a rough rind, and is usually seven or eight inches long; each of them grows singly and not in clusters. This fruit is fittest to be used when it is full grown but still green, in which state, after it is properly prepared by being roasted in the embers, its taste has some distant resemblance to that of an artichoke's bottom, and its texture is not very different, for it is soft and spongy. As it ripens it becomes softer and of a yellow colour, when it contracts a luscious taste and an agreeable smell, not unlike a ripe peach; but then it is esteemed unwholsome and is said to produce fluxes. I shall only add that it is described both by Dampier and in Ray's History of Plants. Besides the fruits already enumerated, there were many other vegetables extremely conducive to the cure of the malady we had long laboured under, such as water melons, dandelion, creeping purslan, mint, scurvy grass, and sorrel; all which, together with the fresh meats of the place, we devoured with great eagerness, prompted thereto by the strong inclination which, in scorbutic disorders, nature never fails of exciting for those powerful specifics.

It will easily be conceived from what hath been already said that our chear upon this island was in some degree luxurious; but I have not yet recited all the varieties of provision which we here indulged in. Indeed we thought it prudent totally to abstain from fish, the few we caught at our first arrival having surfeited those who eat of them; but considering how much we had been inured to that species of food we did not regard this circumstance as a disadvantage, especially as the defect was so amply supplied by the beef, pork, and fowls already mentioned, and by great plenty of wild fowl; for it is to be remembered that near the centre of the island there were two considerable pieces of fresh water, which abounded with duck, teal, and curlew; not to mention the whistling plover, which we found there in prodigious plenty.

It may now perhaps be wondered at that an island so exquisitely furnished with the conveniencies of life, and so well adapted not only to the subsistence but likewise to the enjoyment of mankind, should be entirely destitute of inhabitants, especially as it is in the neighbourhood of other islands, which in some measure depend upon this for their support. To obviate this difficulty, I must observe that it is not fifty years since the island was depopulated. The Indians we had in our custody assured us that formerly the three islands of Tinian, Rota, and Guam were all full of inhabitants; and that Tinian alone contained thirty thousand souls: but a sickness raging amongst these islands which destroyed multitudes of the people, the Spaniards, to recruit their numbers at Guam, which were extremely diminished by the mortality, ordered all the inhabitants of Tinian thither; where, languishing for their former habitations and their customary method of life, the greatest part of them in a few years died of grief. Indeed, independent of that attachment which all mankind have ever shown to the places of their birth and bringing up, it should seem from what has been already said that there were few countries more worthy to be regretted than this of Tinian.

These poor Indians might reasonably have expected, at the great distance from Spain where they were placed, to have escaped the violence and cruelty of that haughty nation, so fatal to a large proportion of the whole human race: but it seems their remote situation could not protect them from sharing in the common destruction of the western world; all the advantage they received from their distance being only to perish an age or two later. It may perhaps be doubted if the number of the inhabitants of Tinian, who were banished to Guam, and who died there pining for their native home, was so considerable as what we have related above; but not to mention the concurrent assertion of our prisoners and the commodiousness of the island and its great fertility, there are still remains to be met with on the place which show it to have been once extremely populous. For there are in all parts of the island many ruins of a very particular kind. These usually consist of two rows of square pyramidal pillars, each pillar being about six feet from the next, and the distance between the rows being about twelve feet; the pillars themselves are about five feet square at the base, and about thirteen feet high; and on the top of each of them there is a semi-globe with the flat surface upwards; the whole of the pillars and semi-globe is solid, being composed of sand and stone cemented together and plaistered over. If the account our prisoners gave us of these structures was true, the island must indeed have been most extraordinary well peopled; since they assured us that they were the foundations of particular buildings set apart for those Indians only who had engaged in some religious vow; monastic institutions being often to be met with in many Pagan nations. However, if these ruins were originally the basis of the common dwelling-houses of the natives, their numbers must have been considerable; for in many parts of the island they are extremely thick planted, and sufficiently evince the great plenty of its former inhabitants. But to return to the present state of the island.

Having briefly recounted the conveniencies of this place, the excellency and quantity of its fruits and provisions, the neatness of its lawns, the stateliness, freshness, and fragrance of its woods, the happy inequality of its surface, and the variety and elegance of the views it afforded, I must now observe that all these advantages were greatly enhanced by the healthiness of its climate, by the almost constant breezes which prevail there, and by the frequent showers which fell there; for these, instead of the heavy continued rains which in some countries render great part of the year so unpleasing, were usually of a very short and almost momentary duration. Hence they were extremely grateful and refreshing, and were perhaps one cause of the salubrity of the air, and of the extraordinary influence it was observed to have upon us in increasing and invigorating our appetites and digestion. This effect was indeed remarkable, since those amongst our officers who were at all other times spare and temperate eaters, who, besides a slight breakfast, used to make but one moderate repast a day, were here, in appearance, transformed into gluttons; for instead of one reasonable flesh meal, they were now scarcely satisfied with three, each of them too so prodigious in quantity as would at another time have produced a fever or a surfeit. And yet our digestion so well corresponded to the keenness of our appetites that we were neither disordered nor even loaded by this uncommon repletion; for after having, according to the custom of the island, made a large beef breakfast, it was not long before we began to consider the approach of dinner as a very desirable, though somewhat tardy, incident.

After giving these large encomiums to this island, in which, however, I conceive I have not done it justice, it is necessary I should speak of those circumstances in which it is defective, whether in point of beauty or utility. And, first, with respect to its water. I must own that, before I had seen this spot, I did not conceive that the absence of running water, of which it is entirely destitute, could have been so well replaced by any other means as it is in this island; since though there are no streams, yet the water of the wells and springs, which are to be met with everywhere near the surface, is extremely good; and in the midst of the island there are two or three considerable pieces of excellent water, the turf of whose banks was as clean, as even, and as regularly disposed as if they had been basons purposely made for the decoration of the place. It must, however, be confessed that with regard to the beauty of the prospects, the want of rills and streams is a very great defect, not to be compensated either by large pieces of standing water or by the neighbourhood of the sea, though that, from the smallness of the island generally, makes a part of every extensive landskip.

As to the residence upon the island, the principal inconvenience attending it is the vast numbers of muscatos, and various other species of flies, together with an insect called a tick; this, though principally attached to the cattle, would yet frequently fasten upon our limbs and bodies, and if not perceived and removed in time would bury its head under the skin and raise a painful inflammation. We found here too centipedes and scorpions, which we supposed were venomous, though none of us ever received any injury from them.

But the most important and formidable exception to this place remains still to be told. This is the inconvenience of the road and the little security there is in some seasons for a ship at anchor. The only proper anchoring place for ships of burthen is at the S.W. end of the island. Here the Centurion anchored in twenty and twenty-two fathom water about a mile and an half distant from the shore opposite to a sandy bay. The bottom of this road is full of sharp-pointed coral rocks, which, during four months of the year, that is from the middle of June to the middle of October, render it a very unsafe anchorage. This is the season of the western monsoons, when near the full and change of the moon, but more particularly at the change, the wind is usually variable all round the compass, and seldom fails to blow with such fury that the stoutest cables are not to be confided in. What adds to the danger at these times is the excessive rapidity of the tide of flood which sets to the S.E. between this island and that of Aguiguan, a small islet near the southern extremity of Tinian. This tide runs at first with a vast head and overfall of water, occasioning such a hollow and overgrown sea as is scarcely to be conceived; so that (as will be more particularly recited in the sequel) we were under the dreadful apprehensions of being pooped by it, though we were in a sixty-gun ship. In the remaining eight months of the year, that is from the middle of October to the middle of June, there is a constant season of settled weather, when, if the cables are but well armed, there is scarcely any danger of their being even rubbed, so that during all that interval it is as secure a road as could be wished for. I shall only add that the anchoring bank is very shelving, and stretches along the S.W. end of the island, and is entirely free from shoals, except a reef of rocks which is visible, and lies about half a mile from the shore, affording a narrow passage into a small sandy bay, which is the only place where boats can possibly land. Having given this account of the island and its produce, it is necessary to return to our own history.

Our first undertaking after our arrival was the removal of our sick on shore, as hath been related. Whilst we were thus employed, four of the Indians on the island, being part of the Spanish Serjeant's detachment, came and surrendered themselves to us, so that with those we took in the proa, we had now eight of them in our custody. One of the four who submitted undertook to show us the most convenient places for killing cattle, and two of our men were ordered to attend him on that service; but one of them unwarily trusting the Indian with his firelock and pistol, the Indian escaped with them into the woods. His countrymen, who remained behind, were apprehensive of suffering for this perfidy of their comrade, and therefore begged leave to send one of their own party into the country, who they engaged should both bring back the arms and persuade the whole detachment from Guam to submit to us. The commodore granted their request, and one of them was dispatched on this errand, who returned next day and brought back the firelock and pistol, but assured us he had found them in a pathway in the wood, and protested that he had not been able to meet with any one of his countrymen. This report had so little the air of truth that we suspected there was some treachery carrying on, and therefore to prevent any future communication amongst them, we immediately ordered all the Indians who were in our power on board the ship, and did not permit them to go any more on shore.

When our sick were well settled on the island, we employed all the hands that could be spared from attending them in arming the cables with a good rounding, several fathom from the anchor, to secure them from being rubbed by the coral rocks which here abounded. This being compleated, our next occupation was our leak, and in order to raise it out of water, we, on the first of September, began to get the guns aft to bring the ship by the stern; and now the carpenters, being able to come at it on the outside, they ripped off what was left of the old sheathing, caulked all the seams on both sides the cut-water, and leaded them over, and then new sheathed the bows to the surface of the water. By this means we conceived the defect was sufficiently secured, but upon our beginning to return the guns to their ports, we had the mortification to perceive that the water rushed into the ship in the old place with as much violence as ever. Hereupon we were necessitated to begin again, and that our second attempt might be more successful, we cleared the fore store-room and sent a hundred and thirty barrels of powder on board the small Spanish bark we had seized here, by which means we raised the ship about three feet out of the water forwards. The carpenters now ripped off the sheathing lower down, new caulked all the seams, and afterwards laid on new sheathing; and then, supposing the leak to be effectually stopped, we began to move the guns forwards; but the upper deck guns were scarcely replaced when, to our amazement, it burst out again. As we durst not cut away the lining within board, lest a but end or a plank might start, and we might go down immediately, we had no other resource left than chincing and caulking within board. Indeed by this means the leak was stopped for some time; but when our guns were all fixed in their ports, and our stores were taken on board, the water again forced its way through a hole in the stem where one of the bolts was driven in. We on this desisted from all farther efforts, being at last well assured that the defect was in the stem itself, and that it was not to be remedied till we should have an opportunity of heaving down.

In the first part of the month of September, several of our sick were tolerably recovered by their residence on shore; and on the 12th of September all those who were so far relieved since their arrival as to be capable of doing duty were sent on board the ship: and then the commodore, who was himself ill of the scurvy, had a tent erected for him on shore, where he went with the view of staying a few days to establish his health, being convinced by the general experience of his people that no other method but living on the land was to be trusted to for the removal of this dreadful malady. The place where his tent was pitched on this occasion was near the well whence we got all our water, and was indeed a most elegant spot.

As the crew on board were now reinforced by the recovered hands returned from the island, we began to send our casks on shore to be fitted up, which till this time could not be done, for the coopers were not well enough to work. We likewise weighed our anchors, that we might examine our cables, which we suspected had by this time received considerable damage. And as the new moon was now approaching, when we apprehended violent gales, the commodore, for our greater security, ordered that part of the cables next to the anchors to be armed with the chains of the fire-grapnels; besides which, they were cackled twenty fathom from the anchors and seven fathom from the service with a good rounding of a 4-½-inch hauser; and being persuaded that the dangers of this road demanded our utmost foresight, we to all these precautions added that of lowering the main and fore-yard close down, that in case of blowing weather the wind might have less power upon the ship to make her ride a strain.

Thus effectually prepared, as we conceived, we waited till the new moon, which was the 18th of September, when riding safe that and the three succeeding days (though the weather proved very squally and uncertain), we flattered ourselves (for I was then on board) that the prudence of our measures had secured us from all accidents; but on the 22d, the wind blew from the eastward with such fury that we soon despaired of riding out the storm. In this conjuncture we should have been extremely glad that the commodore and the rest of our people on shore, which were the greatest part of our hands, had been on board us, since our only hopes of safety seemed to depend on our putting immediately to sea; but all communication with the shore was now absolutely cut off, for there was no possibility that a boat could live, so that we were necessitated to ride it out till our cables parted. Indeed we were not long expecting this dreadful event, for the small bower parted at five in the afternoon, and the ship swung off to the best bower; and as the night came on the violence of the wind still increased, tho' notwithstanding its inexpressible fury, the tide ran with so much rapidity as to prevail over it: for the tide which set to the northward at the beginning of the hurricane, turning suddenly to the southward about six in the evening, forced the ship before it, in despight of the storm which blew upon the beam. The sea now broke most surprizingly all round us, and a large tumbling swell threatened to poop us, by which the long-boat at this time, moored astern, was on a sudden canted so high that it broke the transon of the commodore's gallery, whose cabin was on the quarter-deck, and would doubtless have risen as high as the trafferel had it not been for the stroke, which stove the boat all to pieces; and yet the poor boat-keeper, though extremely bruised, was saved almost by miracle. About eight the tide slackened, but the wind not abating, the best bower cable, by which alone we rode, parted at eleven. Our sheet anchor, which was the only one we had left, was instantly cut from the bow; but before it could reach the bottom, we were driven from twenty-two into thirty-five fathom; and after we had veered away one whole cable and two-thirds of another, we could not find ground with sixty fathom of line. This was a plain indication that the anchor lay near the edge of the bank, and could not hold us long. In this pressing danger, Mr. Saumarez, our first lieutenant, who now commanded on board, ordered several guns to be fired and lights to be shown as a signal to the commodore of our distress; and in a short time after, it being then about one o'clock and the night excessively dark, a strong gust, attended with rain and lightning, drove us off the bank, and forced us out to sea, leaving behind us on the island Mr. Anson with many more of our officers and great part of our crew, amounting in the whole to a hundred and thirteen persons. Thus were we all, both at sea and on shore, reduced to the utmost despair by this catastrophe; those on shore conceiving they had no means left them ever to depart from the island, whilst we on board, being utterly unprepared to struggle with the fury of the seas and winds we were now exposed to, expected each moment to be our last.

CHAPTER III

TRANSACTIONS AT TINIAN AFTER THE DEPARTURE

OF THE "CENTURION"

The storm which drove the Centurion to sea blew with too much turbulence to permit either the commodore or any of the people on shore to hear the guns which she fired as signals of distress, and the frequent glare of the lightning had prevented the explosions from being observed: so that when at daybreak it was perceived from the shore that the ship was missing, there was the utmost consternation amongst them: for much the greatest part of them immediately concluded that she was lost, and intreated the commodore that the boat might be sent round the island to look after the wreck; and those who believed her safe had scarcely any expectation that she would ever be able to make the island again, since the wind continued to blow strong at east, and they well knew how poorly she was manned and provided for struggling with so tempestuous a gale. In either of these views their situation was indeed most deplorable: for if the Centurion was lost, or should be incapable of returning, there appeared no possibility of their ever getting off the island, as they were at least six hundred leagues from Macao, which was their nearest port, and they were masters of no other vessel than the small Spanish bark of about fifteen tun seized at their first arrival, which would not even hold a fourth part of their number. And the chance of their being taken off the island by the casual arrival of any other ship was altogether desperate, as perhaps no European ship had ever anchored here before, and it were madness to expect that like incidents should send another here in an hundred ages to come: so that their desponding thoughts could only suggest to them the melancholy prospect of spending the remainder of their days on this island, and bidding adieu for ever to their country, their friends, their families, and all their domestic endearments.

Nor was this the worst they had to fear: for they had reason to apprehend that the Governor of Guam, when he should be informed of their circumstances, might send a force sufficient to overpower them, and to remove them to that island; and then the most favourable treatment they could expect would be to be detained prisoners during life; since from the known policy and cruelty of the Spaniards in their distant settlements, it was rather to be supposed that the governor, if he once had them in his power, would make their want of commissions (all of them being on board the Centurion) a pretext for treating them as pirates, and for depriving them of their lives with infamy.

In the midst of these gloomy reflections, Mr. Anson, though he always kept up his usual composure and steadiness, had doubtless his share of disquietude. However, having soon projected a scheme for extricating himself and his men from their present anxious situation, he first communicated it to some of the most intelligent persons about him; and having satisfied himself that it was practicable, he then endeavoured to animate his people to a speedy and vigorous prosecution of it. With this view he represented to them how little foundation there was for their apprehensions of the Centurion's being lost: that he should have presumed they had been all of them better acquainted with sea affairs than to give way to the impression of so chimerical a fright: that he doubted not but if they would seriously consider what such a ship was capable of enduring, they would confess there was not the least probability of her having perished: that he was not without hopes that she might return in a few days; but if she did not, the worst that could be imagined was, that she was driven so far to the leeward of the island that she could not regain it, and that she would consequently be obliged to bear away for Macao on the coast of China: that as it was necessary to be prepared against all events, he had, in this case, considered of a method of carrying them off the island, and of joining their old ship the Centurion again at Macao: that this method was to hale the Spanish bark on shore, to saw her asunder, and to lengthen her twelve feet, which would enlarge her to near forty tun burthen, and would enable her to carry them all to China: that he had consulted the carpenters, and they had agreed that this proposal was very feasible, and that nothing was wanting to execute it but the united resolution and industry of the whole body: and having added that for his own part he would share the fatigue and labour with them, and would expect no more from any man than what he, the commodore himself, was ready to submit to, he concluded with representing to them the importance of saving time, urging that, in order to be the better secured at all events, it was expedient to set about the work immediately, and to take it for granted that the Centurion would not be able to put back (which was indeed the commodore's secret opinion), since if she did return, they should only throw away a few days' application; but if she did not, their situation and the season of the year required their utmost dispatch.

These remonstrances, though not without effect, did not at first operate so powerfully as Mr. Anson could have wished. He indeed raised their spirits by showing them the possibility of their getting away, of which they had before despaired; but then from their confidence in this resource they grew less apprehensive of their situation, gave a greater scope to their hopes, and flattered themselves that the Centurion would be able to regain the island, and prevent the execution of the commodore's scheme, which they could easily foresee would be a work of considerable labour. Hence it was some days before they were all of them heartily engaged in the project; but at last being convinced of the impossibility of the ship's return, they betook themselves zealously to the different tasks allotted them, and were as industrious and as eager as their commander could desire, punctually assembling by daybreak at the rendezvous, whence they were distributed to their different employments, which they followed with unusual vigour till night came on.

And here I must interrupt the course of this transaction to relate an incident which for a short time gave Mr. Anson more concern than all the preceding disasters. A few days after the ship was driven off, some of the people on shore cried out, "A sail!" This spread a general joy, every one supposing that it was the ship returning; but presently, a second sail was descried, which quite destroyed their first conjecture, and made it difficult to guess what they were. The commodore eagerly turned his glass towards them, and saw they were two boats, on which it immediately occurred to him that the Centurion was gone to the bottom, and that these were her two boats coming back with the remains of her people; and this sudden and unexpected suggestion wrought on him so powerfully that to conceal his emotion he was obliged (without speaking to any one) instantly to retire to his tent, where he passed some bitter moments, in the firm belief that the ship was lost, and that now all his views of farther distressing the enemy, and of still signalizing his expedition by some important exploit, were at an end.

However, he was soon relieved from these disturbing thoughts by discovering that the two boats in the offing were Indian proas; and perceiving that they made towards the shore, he directed every appearance that could give them any suspicion to be removed, concealing his people in the adjacent thickets, ready to secure the Indians when they should land: but after the proas had stood in within a quarter of a mile of the beach, they suddenly stopt short, and remaining there motionless for near two hours, they then got under sail again, and steered to the southward. Let us now return to the projected enlargement of the bark.

If we examine how they were prepared for going through with this undertaking, on which their safety depended, we shall find that, independent of other matters which were of as much consequence, the lengthning of the bark alone was attended with great difficulty. Indeed, in a proper place, where all the necessary materials and tools were to be had, the embarrassment would have been much less; but some of these tools were to be made, and many of the materials were wanting, and it required no small degree of invention to supply all these deficiencies. And when the hull of the bark should be compleated, this was but one article, and there were others of equal weight which were to be well considered: these were the rigging it, the victualling it, and lastly the navigating it, for the space of six or seven hundred leagues, through unknown seas where no one of the company had ever passed before. And in these particulars such obstacles occurred, that without the intervention of very extraordinary and unexpected accidents, the possibility of the whole enterprize would have fallen to the ground, and their utmost industry and efforts must have been fruitless. Of all these circumstances I shall make a short recital.

It fortunately happened that the carpenters, both of the Gloucester and of the Tryal, with their chests of tools, were on shore when the ship drove out to sea; the smith too was on shore, and had with him his forge and several of his tools, but unhappily his bellows had not been brought from on board, so that he was incapable of working, and without his assistance they could not hope to proceed with their design. Their first attention, therefore, was to make him a pair of bellows, but in this they were for some time puzzled by their want of leather; however, as they had hides in sufficient plenty, and they had found a hogshead of lime, which the Indians or Spaniards had prepared for their own use, they tanned a few hides with this lime; and though we may suppose the workmanship to be but indifferent, yet the leather they thus procured answered the intention tolerably well, and the bellows, to which a gun-barrel served for a pipe, had no other inconvenience than that of being somewhat strong scented from the imperfection of the tanner's work.

Whilst the smith was preparing the necessary iron-work, others were employed in cutting down trees and sawing them into planks; and this being the most laborious task, the commodore wrought at it himself for the encouragement of his people. But there being neither blocks nor cordage sufficient for tackles to haul the bark on shore, this occasioned a new difficulty; however, it was at length resolved to get her up on rollers, since for these the body of the coconut tree was extremely well fitted, as its smoothness and circular turn prevented much labour, and suited it to the purpose with very little workmanship. A number of these trees were therefore felled, and the ends of them properly opened for the insertion of hand-spikes; and in the meantime a dry dock was dug to receive the bark, and ways were laid from thence quite into the sea to facilitate the bringing her up. Neither were these the whole of their occupations, since, besides those who were thus busied in preparing measures towards the future enlargement of the bark, a party was constantly ordered to kill and provide provisions for the rest. And though in these various employments, some of which demanded considerable dexterity, it might have been expected there would have been great confusion and delay, yet good order being once established and all hands engaged, their preparations advanced apace. Indeed, the common men, I presume, were not the less tractable for their want of spirituous liquors: for there being neither wine nor brandy on shore, the juice of the coconut was their constant drink; and this, though extremely pleasant, was not at all intoxicating, but kept them very temperate and orderly.

The main work now proceeding successfully, the officers began to consider of all the articles which would be necessary to the fitting out the bark for the sea. On this consultation it was found that the tents on shore and the spare cordage accidentally left there by the Centurion, together with the sails and rigging already belonging to the bark, would serve to rig her indifferently well when she was lengthened. And as they had tallow in plenty, they proposed to pay her bottom with a mixture of tallow and lime, which it was known was not ill adapted to that purpose: so that with respect to her equipment she would not have been very defective. There was, however, one exception, which would have proved extremely inconvenient, and that was her size: for as they could not make her quite forty tun burthen, she would have been incapable of containing half the crew below the deck, and she would have been so top-heavy that if they were all at the same time ordered upon deck, there would be no small hazard of her oversetting; but this was a difficulty not to be removed, as they could not augment her beyond the size already proposed. After the manner of rigging and fitting up the bark was considered and regulated, the next essential point to be thought on was how to procure a sufficient stock of provisions for their voyage; and here they were greatly at a loss what expedient to have recourse to, as they had neither grain nor bread of any kind on shore, their bread-fruit, which would not keep at sea, having all along supplied its place; and though they had live cattle enough, yet they had no salt to cure beef for a sea-store, nor would meat take salt in that climate. Indeed, they had preserved a small quantity of jerked beef, which they found upon the place at their landing; but this was greatly disproportioned to the run of near six hundred leagues which they were to engage in, and to the number of hands they should have on board. It was at last, however, resolved to put on board as many coconuts as they possibly could, to prolong to the utmost their jerked beef by a very sparing distribution of it, and to endeavour to supply their want of bread by rice; to furnish themselves with which, it was proposed, when the bark was fitted up, to make an expedition to the island of Rota, where they were told that the Spaniards had large plantations of rice under the care of the Indian inhabitants. But as this last measure was to be executed by force, it became necessary to examine what ammunition had been left on shore, and to preserve it carefully; and on this enquiry, they had the mortification to find that their firelocks would be of little service to them, since all the powder that could be collected, by the strictest search, did not amount to more than ninety charges, which was considerably short of one apiece to each of the company, and was indeed a very slender stock of ammunition for such as were to eat no grain or bread during a whole month, except what they were to procure by force of arms.

But the most alarming circumstance, and which, without the providential interposition of very improbable events, would have rendered all their schemes abortive, remains yet to be related. The general idea of the fabric and equipment of the vessel was settled in a few days; and this being done, it was not difficult to frame some estimation of the time necessary to compleat her. After this, it was natural to expect that the officers would consider the course they were to steer, and the land they were to make. These reflections led them to the disheartning discovery that there was neither compass nor quadrant on the island. Indeed the commodore had brought a pocket-compass on shore for his own use, but Lieutenant Brett had borrowed it to determine the position of the neighbouring islands, and he had been driven to sea in the Centurion without returning it. And as to a quadrant, that could not be expected to be found on shore, since as it was of no use at land, there could be no reason for bringing it from on board the ship. There were now eight days elapsed since the departure of the Centurion, and yet they were not in any degree relieved from this terrible perplexity. At last, in rumaging a chest belonging to the Spanish bark, they discovered a small compass, which, though little better than the toys usually made for the amusement of schoolboys, was to them an invaluable treasure. And a few days after, by a similar piece of good fortune, they met with a quadrant on the sea-shore, which had been thrown overboard amongst other lumber belonging to the dead. The quadrant was eagerly seized, but on examination it unluckily wanted vanes, and therefore in this present state was altogether useless; however, fortune still continuing in a favourable mood, it was not long before a person, through curiosity pulling out the drawer of an old table which had been driven on shore, found therein some vanes which fitted the quadrant very well; and it being thus compleated, it was examined by the known latitude of the place, and upon trial answered to a sufficient degree of exactness.

When now all these obstacles were in some degree removed (which were always as much as possible concealed from the vulgar, that they might not grow remiss with the apprehension of labouring to no purpose), the business proceeded very successfully and vigorously. The necessary iron-work was in great forwardness, and the timbers and planks (which, tho' not the most exquisite performances of the sawyer's art, were yet sufficient for the purpose) were all prepared; so that on the 6th of October, being the 14th day from the departure of the ship, they hauled the bark on shore, and on the two succeeding days she was sawn asunder, though with the caution not to cut her planks: and her two parts being separated the proper distance from each other, and the materials being all ready beforehand, they, the next day, being the 9th of October, went on with no small dispatch in their proposed enlargement of her; whence by this time they had all their future operations so fairly in view, and were so much masters of them, that they were able to determine when the whole would be finished, and had accordingly fixed the 5th of November for the day of their putting to sea. But their projects and labours were now drawing to a speedier and happier conclusion; for on the 11th of October, in the afternoon, one of the Gloucester's men being upon a hill in the middle of the island, perceived the Centurion at a distance, and running down with his utmost speed towards the landing-place, he, in the way, saw some of his comrades, to whom he hallooed out with great extasy, "The ship, the ship!" This being heard by Mr. Gordon, a lieutenant of marines, who was convinced by the fellow's transport that his report was true, Mr. Gordon directly hastened towards the place where the commodore and his people were at work, and being fresh and in breath easily outstripped the Gloucester's man, and got before him to the commodore, who, on hearing this pleasing and unexpected news, threw down his axe, with which he was then at work, and by his joy broke through, for the first time, the equable and unvaried character which he had hitherto preserved: whilst the others who were present instantly ran down to the seaside in a kind of frenzy, eager to feast themselves with a sight they had so ardently longed after, and of which they had now for a considerable time despaired. By five in the evening the Centurion was visible in the offing to them all; and, a boat being sent off with eighteen men to reinforce her, and with fresh meat and fruits for the refreshment of her crew, she, the next afternoon, happily cast anchor in the road, where the commodore immediately came on board her, and was received by us with the sincerest and heartiest acclamations: for, by the following short recital of the fears, the dangers, and fatigues we in the ship underwent during our nineteen days' absence from Tinian, it may be easily conceived that a harbour, refreshments, repose, and the joining of our commander and shipmates were not less pleasing to us than our return was to them.

CHAPTER IV

PROCEEDINGS ON BOARD THE "CENTURION" WHEN DRIVEN

OUT TO SEA

The Centurion being now once more safely arrived at Tinian, to the mutual respite of the labours of our divided crew, it is high time that the reader, after the relation already given of the projects and employment of those left on shore, should be apprized of the fatigues and distresses to which we, whom the Centurion carried off to sea, were exposed during the long interval of nineteen days that we were absent from the island.

It has been already mentioned that it was the 22d of September, about one o'clock, in an extreme dark night, when by the united violence of a prodigious storm and an exceeding rapid tide, we were driven from our anchors and forced to sea. Our condition then was truly deplorable; we were in a leaky ship with three cables in our hawses, to one of which hung our only remaining anchor: we had not a gun on board lashed, nor a port barred in; our shrouds were loose, and our top-masts unrigged, and we had struck our fore and main-yards close down before the hurricane came on, so that there were no sails we could set, except our mizen. In this dreadful extremity we could muster no more strength on board to navigate the ship than an hundred and eight hands, several negroes and Indians included: this was scarcely the fourth part of our complement, and of these the greater number were either boys, or such as, being but lately recovered from the scurvy, had not yet arrived at half their former vigour. No sooner were we at sea, but by the violence of the storm and the working of the ship we made a great quantity of water through our hawse-holes, ports, and scuppers, which, added to the constant effect of our leak, rendered our pumps alone a sufficient employment for us all. But though we knew that this leakage, by being a short time neglected, would inevitably end in our destruction, yet we had other dangers then hanging over us which occasioned this to be regarded as a secondary consideration only. For we all imagined that we were driving directly on the neighbouring island of Aguiguan, which was about two leagues distant; and as we had lowered our main and fore-yards close down, we had no sails we could set but the mizen, which was altogether insufficient to carry us clear of this imminent peril. Urged therefore by this pressing emergency, we immediately applied ourselves to work, endeavouring with the utmost of our efforts to heave up the main and fore-yards, in hopes that if we could but be enabled to make use of our lower canvass, we might possibly weather the island, and thereby save ourselves from this impending shipwreck. But after full three hours' ineffectual labour, the jeers broke, and the men being quite jaded, we were obliged, by mere debility, to desist, and quietly to expect our fate, which we then conceived to be unavoidable. For we soon esteemed ourselves to be driven just upon the shore, and the night was so extremely dark that we expected to discover the island no otherwise than by striking upon it; so that the belief of our destruction, and the uncertainty of the point of time when it should take place, occasioned us to pass several hours under the most serious apprehensions that each succeeding moment would send us to the bottom. Nor did these continued terrors of instantly striking and sinking end but with the daybreak, when we with great transport perceived that the island we had thus dreaded was at a considerable distance, and that a strong northern current had been the cause of our preservation.

The turbulent weather which forced us from Tinian did not abate till three days after, and then we swayed up the fore-yard, and began to heave up the main-yard, but the jeers broke again and killed one of our people, and prevented us at that time from proceeding. The next day, being the 26th of September, was a day of most severe fatigue to us all, for it must be remembered that in these exigences no rank or office exempted any person from the manual application and bodily labour of a common sailor. The business of this day was no less than an endeavour to heave up the sheet-anchor, which we had hitherto dragged at our bows with two cables an end. This was a work of great importance to our future preservation: for not to mention the impediment it would be to our navigation, and hazard to our ship, if we attempted to make sail with the anchor in its present situation, we had this most interesting consideration to animate us, that it was the only anchor we had left, and without securing it we should be under the utmost difficulties and hazards whenever we fell in with the land again; and therefore, being all of us fully apprized of the consequence of this enterprize, we laboured at it with the severest application for twelve hours, when we had indeed made a considerable progress, having brought the anchor in sight; but it growing dark, and we being excessively fatigued, we were obliged to desist, and to leave our work unfinished till the next morning, and then, refreshed by the benefit of a night's rest, we compleated it, and hung the anchor at our bow.

It was the 27th of September, that is, five days after our departure, before we had thus secured our anchor. However, we the same day got up our main-yard, so that having now conquered, in some degree, the distress and disorder which we were necessarily involved in at our first driving out to sea, and being enabled to make use of our canvass, we set our courses, and for the first time stood to the eastward in hopes of regaining the island of Tinian, and joining our commodore in a few days, since, by our accounts, we were only forty-seven leagues distant to the south-west. Hence, on the first day of October, having then run the distance necessary for making the island according to our reckoning, we were in full expectation of seeing it: but here we were unhappily disappointed, and were thereby convinced that a current had driven us considerably to the westward. This discovery threw us into a new perplexity; for as we could not judge how much we might hereby have deviated, and consequently how long we might still expect to be at sea, we had great apprehensions that our stock of water would prove deficient, since we were doubtful about the quantity we had on board, finding many of our casks so decayed as to be half leaked out. However, we were delivered from our uncertainty the next day, having then a sight of the island of Guam, and hence we computed that the currents had driven us forty-four leagues to the westward of our accounts. Being now satisfied of our situation by this sight of land, we kept plying to the eastward, though with excessive labour; for the wind continuing fixed in the eastern board, we were obliged to tack often, and our crew was so weak that, without the assistance of every man on board, it was not in our power to put the ship about. This severe employment lasted till the 11th of October, being the nineteenth day from our departure, when arriving in the offing of Tinian, we were reinforced from the shore, as hath been already related; and on the evening of the same day we, to our inexpressible joy, came to an anchor in the road, thereby procuring to our shipmates on shore, as well as to ourselves, a cessation from the fatigues and apprehensions which this disastrous incident had given rise to.

CHAPTER V

EMPLOYMENT AT TINIAN TILL THE FINAL DEPARTURE OF THE "CENTURION" FROM THENCE; WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE LADRONES

When the commodore came on board the Centurion after her return to Tinian, he resolved to stay no longer at the island than was absolutely necessary to compleat our stock of water, a work which we immediately set ourselves about. But the loss of our long-boat, which was staved against our poop before we were driven out to sea, put us to great inconveniences in getting our water on board, for we were obliged to raft off all our cask, and the tide ran so strong, that besides the frequent delays and difficulties it occasioned, we more than once lost the whole raft. Nor was this our only misfortune; for on the 14th of October, being but the third day after our arrival, a sudden gust of wind brought home our anchor, forced us off the bank, and drove the ship out to sea a second time. The commodore, it is true, and the principal officers were now on board; but we had near seventy men on shore, who had been employed in filling our water and procuring provisions. These had with them our two cutters: but as they were too many for the cutters to bring off at once, we sent the eighteen-oared barge to assist them, and at the same time made a signal for all that could to embark. The two cutters soon came off to us full of men; but forty of the company, who were busied in killing cattle in the woods, and in bringing them down to the landing-place, remained behind; and though the eighteen-oared barge was left for their conveyance, yet as the ship soon drove to a considerable distance, it was not in their power to join us. However, as the weather was favourable, and our crew was now stronger than when we were first driven out, we in about five days' time returned again to an anchor at Tinian, and relieved those we had left behind us from their second fears of being deserted by their ship.

On our arrival, we found that the Spanish bark, the old object of their hopes, had undergone a new metamorphosis: for those on shore despairing of our return, and conceiving that the lengthening the bark, as formerly proposed, was both a toilsome and unnecessary measure, considering the small number they consisted of, they had resolved to join her again and to restore her to her first state; and in this scheme they had made some progress, for they had brought the two parts together, and would have soon compleated her, had not our coming back put a period to their labours and disquietudes.

These people we had left behind informed us that just before we were seen in the offing two proas had stood in very near the shore, and had continued there for some time; but on the appearance of our ship they crowded away, and were presently out of sight. And on this occasion I must mention an incident, which though it happened during the first absence of the ship, was then omitted, to avoid interrupting the course of the narration.

It hath been already observed that a part of the detachment sent to this island under the command of the Spanish Serjeant lay concealed in the woods. Indeed we were the less solicitous to find them out, as our prisoners all assured us that it was impossible for them to get off, and consequently that it was impossible for them to send any intelligence about us to Guam. But when the Centurion drove out to sea and left the commodore on shore, he one day, attended by some of his officers, endeavoured to make the tour of the island. In this expedition, being on a rising ground, they observed in the valley beneath them the appearance of a small thicket, which by attending to more nicely they found had a progressive motion. This at first surprized them; but they soon perceived that it was no more than several large coco bushes, which were dragged along the ground by persons concealed beneath them. They immediately concluded that these were some of the Serjeant's party, which was indeed true; and therefore the commodore and his people made after them, in hopes of tracing out their retreat. The Indians, remarking that they were discovered, hurried away with precipitation; but Mr. Anson was so near them that he did not lose sight of them till they arrived at their cell, which he and his officers entering, found to be abandoned, there being a passage from it which had been contrived for the conveniency of flight, and which led down a precipice. They here met with an old firelock or two, but no other arms. However, there was a great quantity of provisions, particularly salted sparibs of pork, which were excellent; and from what our people saw, they concluded that the extraordinary appetite which they had acquired at this island was not confined to themselves alone; for it being about noon, the Indians laid out a very plentiful repast, considering their numbers, and had their bread-fruit and coconuts prepared ready for eating, in a manner too which plainly evinced that with them a good meal was neither an uncommon nor an unheeded article. The commodore having in vain searched after the path by which the Indians had escaped, he and his officers contented themselves with sitting down to the dinner which was thus luckily fitted to their present hunger; after which they returned back to their old habitation, displeased at missing the Indians, as they hoped to have engaged them in our service, if they could have had any conference with them. I must add, that notwithstanding what our prisoners had asserted, we were afterwards assured that these Indians were carried off to Guam long before we left the place. But to return to our history.

On our coming to an anchor again, after our second driving off to sea, we laboured indefatigably at getting in our water; and having, by the 20th of October, compleated it to fifty tun, which we supposed would be sufficient during our passage to Macao, we on the next day sent one of each mess on shore to gather as large a quantity of oranges, lemons, coconuts, and other fruits of the island as they possibly could, for the use of themselves and their messmates when at sea. And these purveyors returning on the evening of the same day, we then set fire to the bark and proa, hoisted in our boats and got under sail, steering away towards the south end of the island of Formosa, and taking our leaves, for the third and last time, of the island of Tinian: an island which, whether we consider the excellence of its productions, the beauty of its appearance, the elegance of its woods and lawns, the healthiness of its air, or the adventures it gave rise to, may in all these views be justly stiled romantic.

And now, postponing for a short time our run to Formosa, and thence to Canton, I shall interrupt the narration with a description of that range of islands usually called the Ladrones, or Marian Islands, of which this of Tinian is one.

These islands were discovered by Magellan in the year 1521; and from the account given of the two he first fell in with, it should seem that they were those of Saypan and Tinian, for they are described as very beautiful islands, and as lying between 15 and 16 degrees of north latitude. These characteristics are particularly applicable to the two above-mentioned places; for the pleasing appearance of Tinian hath occasioned the Spaniards to give it the additional name of Buenavista; and Saypan, which is in the latitude of 15° 22' north, affords no contemptible prospect when seen at sea, as is sufficiently evident from a view of its north-west side.

There are usually reckoned twelve of these islands; but it will appear that if the small islets and rocks are counted, that their whole number will amount to above twenty. They were formerly most of them well inhabited; and even not sixty years ago, the three principal islands, Guam, Rota, and Tinian together, are asserted to have contained above fifty thousand people: but since that time Tinian had been entirely depopulated; and no more than two or three hundred Indians have been left at Rota to cultivate rice for the island of Guam; so that now Guam alone can properly be said to be inhabited. This island of Guam is the only settlement of the Spaniards; here they keep a governor and garrison, and here the Manila ship generally touches for refreshment in her passage from Acapulco to the Philippines. It is esteemed to be about thirty leagues in circumference, and contains, by the Spanish accounts, near four thousand inhabitants, of which a thousand are supposed to live in the city of San Ignatio de Agana, where the governor generally resides, and where the houses are represented as considerable, being built with stone and timber, and covered with tiles, a very uncommon fabric for these warm climates and savage countries. Besides this city, there are upon the island thirteen or fourteen villages. As Guam is a post of some consequence, on account of the refreshment it yields to the Manila ship, there are two castles on the seashore; one is the castle of St. Angelo, which lies near the road where the Manila ship usually anchors, and is but an insignificant fortress, mounting only five guns, eight-pounders; the other is the castle of St. Lewis, which is N.E. from St. Angelo, and four leagues distant, and is intended to protect a road where a small vessel anchors which arrives here every other year from Manila. This fort mounts the same number of guns as the former: and besides these forts, there is a battery of five pieces of cannon on an eminence near the seashore. The Spanish troops employed at this island consist of three companies of foot, betwixt forty and fifty men each, and this is the principal strength the governor has to depend on; for he cannot rely on any assistance from the Indian inhabitants, being generally upon ill terms with them, and so apprehensive of them that he has debarred them the use both of firearms and lances.

The rest of these islands, though not inhabited, do yet abound with many kinds of refreshment and provision; but there is no good harbour or road amongst them all. Of that of Tinian we have treated largely already; nor is the road of Guam much better, since it is not uncommon for the Manila ship, though she proposes to stay there but twenty-four hours, to be forced to sea, and to leave her boat behind her. This is an inconvenience so sensibly felt by the commerce at Manila, that it is always recommended to the Governor of Guam to use his best endeavours for the discovery of some secure port in the neighbouring ocean. How industrious he may be to comply with his instructions I know not; but this is certain, that notwithstanding the many islands already found out between the coast of Mexico and the Philippines, there is not any one safe port to be met with in that whole track, though in other parts of the world it is not uncommon for very small islands to furnish most excellent harbours.

From what has been said, it appears that the Spaniards on the island of Guam are extremely few compared to the Indian inhabitants; and formerly the disproportion was still greater, as may be easily conceived from the account given in another chapter of the numbers heretofore on Tinian alone. These Indians are a bold, strong, well-limbed people, and, as it should seem from some of their practices, are no ways defective in understanding, for their flying proas in particular, which during ages past have been the only vessels employed by them, are so singular and extraordinary an invention that it would do honour to any nation, however dextrous and acute. Since, if we consider the aptitude of this proa to the navigation of these islands, which lying all of them nearly under the same meridian, and within the limits of the trade-wind, require the vessels made use of in passing from one to the other to be peculiarly fitted for sailing with the wind upon the beam; or if we examine the uncommon simplicity and ingenuity of its fabric and contrivance, or the extraordinary velocity with which it moves, we shall, in each of these articles, find it worthy of our admiration, and deserving a place amongst the mechanical productions of the most civilized nations where arts and sciences have most eminently flourished. As former navigators, though they have mentioned these vessels, have yet treated of them imperfectly, and, as I conceive that besides their curiosity they may furnish both the shipwright and seaman with no contemptible observations, I shall here insert a very exact description of the build, rigging, and working of these vessels, which I am the better enabled to perform, as one of them fell into our hands on our first arrival at Tinian, and Mr. Brett took it to pieces that he might delineate its fabric and dimensions with greater accuracy: so that the following account may be relied on.

The name of flying proa, appropriated to these vessels, is owing to the swiftness with which they sail. Of this the Spaniards assert such stories as must appear altogether incredible to one who has never seen these vessels move; nor are they the only people who recount these extraordinary tales of their celerity, for those who shall have the curiosity to enquire at Portsmouth dock about an experiment tried there some years since with a very imperfect one built at that place, will meet with accounts not less wonderful than any the Spaniards have related. However, from some rude estimations made by us of the velocity with which they crossed the horizon at a distance while we lay at Tinian, I cannot help believing that with a brisk trade-wind they will run near twenty miles an hour; which, though greatly short of what the Spaniards report of them, is yet a prodigious degree of swiftness. But let us give a distinct idea of its figure.

The construction of this proa is a direct contradiction to the practice of all the rest of mankind: for as it is customary to make the head of the vessel different from the stern, but the two sides alike, the proa, on the contrary, has her head and stern exactly alike, but her two sides very different; the side intended to be always the lee side being flat, whilst the windward side is built rounding, in the manner of other vessels: and to prevent her oversetting, which from her small breadth and the strait run of her leeward side, would, without this precaution, infallibly happen, there is a frame laid out from her to windward, to the end of which is fastened a log fashioned into the shape of a small boat, and made hollow. The weight of the frame is intended to balance the proa, and the small boat is by its buoyancy (as it is always in the water) to prevent her oversetting to windward; and this frame is usually called an outrigger. The body of the proa (at least of that we took) is formed of two pieces joined endways and sewed together with bark, for there is no iron used in her construction. She is about two inches thick at the bottom, which at the gunwale is reduced to less than one. The proa generally carries six or seven Indians, two of which are placed in the head and stern, who steer the vessel alternately with a paddle according to the tack she goes on, he in the stern being the steersman; the other Indians are employed either in baling out the water which she accidentally ships, or in setting and trimming the sail. From the description of these vessels it is sufficiently obvious how dexterously they are fitted for ranging this collection of islands called the Ladrones: since as these islands bear nearly N. and S. of each other, and are all within the limits of the trade-wind, the proas, by sailing most excellently on a wind, and with either end foremost, can run from one of these islands to the other and back again only by shifting the sail, without ever putting about; and by the flatness of their lee side, and their small breadth, they are capable of lying much nearer the wind than any other vessel hitherto known, and thereby have an advantage which no vessels that go large can ever pretend to.

The advantage I mean is that of running with a velocity nearly as great, and perhaps sometimes greater, than what the wind blows with. This, however paradoxical it may appear, is evident enough in similar instances on shore, since it is well known that the sails of a windmill often move faster than the wind; and one great superiority of common windmills over all others that ever were, or ever will be, contrived to move with an horizontal motion, is analogous to the case we have mentioned of a vessel upon a wind and before the wind: for the sails of an horizontal windmill, the faster they move the more they detract from the impulse of the wind upon them; whereas the common windmills, by moving perpendicular to the torrent of air, are nearly as forcibly acted on by the wind when they are in motion as when they are at rest.