A Voyage Round the World, from 1806 to 1812

A Voyage Round the World, from 1806 to 1812
Archibald Campbell

Archibald Campbell

A Voyage Round the World, from 1806 to 1812 / In Which Japan, Kamschatka, the Aleutian islands, and the / Sandwich Islands were Visited

PREFACE

A perusal of the voyages of discovery, which shed so much lustre on the reign of George III. naturally excites a strong desire to learn what effects have been produced among the nations whose existence they have introduced to our notice.

That the interests of science and commerce have been greatly promoted by these voyages, cannot be doubted; but it may be questioned whether the result has been equally beneficial to the natives of the newly discovered countries; and, as the editor[1 - Dr. Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury.] of Cook’s last voyage justly remarks, “it would afford exquisite pleasure to every benevolent mind, to be instructed in facts which might enable us without hesitation to answer in the affirmative.”

The solution of this momentous question can only be obtained from the accounts of subsequent visitors; and the following narrative is submitted to the public, as a contribution to the evidence required for that purpose. It was drawn up partly from the papers,[2 - For some account of these papers, see Note A (#pgepubid00019).] but chiefly from the recital of the author; and the editor has adhered as closely as the nature of the case would permit, to the language in which they were originally related. The intervention of a third person between the traveller and the reader, is an evil which ought always, if possible, to be avoided; but in the present instance, some literary assistance was absolutely necessary; and the editor conceives he shall best have executed the task he has imposed upon himself, by stating, with strict fidelity, and in the simplest language, the facts as they were related to him.

A short account of the life of the narrator will enable the reader to judge of the necessity of such assistance, as well as of his qualifications to relate the incidents of his voyage.

Archibald Campbell was born at Wynford, near Glasgow, on the 19th of July, 1787. His father, who was a soldier in the 45th regiment, died at St. Lucia, upon which his mother removed to Paisley, her native place, when her son was about four years of age. He there received the common rudiments of education, and at the age of ten was bound apprentice to a weaver. Before the term of his apprenticeship had expired, however, a strong desire to visit remote countries induced him to go to sea; and in the year 1800, he entered as apprentice on board the ship Isabella, of Port-Glasgow, commanded by Mr. Hugh Paterson. In this vessel he made three voyages to the West-Indies. He afterwards served about a twelvemonth in a coaster; and, in 1804, again sailed for the West-Indies, in the sloop Robina, belonging to the same port.

At Madeira he was pressed on board the Diana frigate, and remained in that ship till her arrival at Portsmouth in 1806. He there found means to make his escape, and entered as seaman on board the Thames Indiaman.

The history of the six most eventful years of his life will be found in the following pages. He returned to his native country, in April, 1812, having lost both his feet; and from the unskilful manner in which amputation has been performed, the wounds have never healed.

A gentleman in Rio Janeiro, of the name of Lawrie, had furnished him with letters to his father in Edinburgh, by whose interest he obtained admission into the Infirmary in that city; but after remaining there nearly four months, he was dismissed as incurable.

Mr. Lawrie, senior, presented him with a barrel organ; and he contrived to earn a miserable pittance, by crawling about the streets of Edinburgh and Leith, grinding music, and selling a metrical history of his adventures.

Being ambitious, however, of performing on a more dignified instrument, he has since learned to play on the violin; and he finds employment on board the steam-boats that ply upon the river Clyde, by playing for the amusement of the steerage passengers.

In one of these vessels his appearance attracted the notice of the editor; and the answers he gave to some questions excited so much curiosity, that he took him home with the intention of making a few memoranda of his story for his own information.

The modest and intelligent manner in which it was told, the interesting nature of the incidents, and the curious information it contained, on the subjects to which the attention of the editor had been much directed, created a strong interest on behalf of the narrator; and the hope that an account of his voyage might be of service to an unfortunate and deserving man, and not unacceptable to those who take pleasure in contemplating the progress of mankind in the arts of civilization, gave rise to the present publication.

In the execution of his task, simplicity and perspicuity are all that the editor has aimed at. The ornaments of style, which are generally misplaced in such relations, would have been peculiarly incongruous in the mouth of a common sailor. In those parts of the work which relate to places already well known, the narrative is entirely confined to the personal adventures of the author; and had the editor been aware that so much had been recently written regarding Kamschatka and the Aleutian Islands by the Russian navigators, the description of those places would have been either altogether omitted, or much more condensed; but, in fact, he had no opportunity of seeing their voyages till the work was sent to the press, and it was not then considered necessary to make any alteration in the text.

The importance of the subject will account for the disproportion of that part which relates to the Sandwich Islands to the rest of the work. From the advantages they owe to their situation, placed midway between the continents of Asia and America; from the fertility of the soil, and the natural talents and industry of the natives, they promise to become by far the most important of the recently discovered islands[3 - The concluding sentence in Captain Cook’s journal affords a striking proof of the high value he attached to “a discovery, which, though the last, seemed in many respects the most important of any that had hitherto been made by Europeans throughout the extent of the Pacific Ocean”.] in the Pacific Ocean.

Scarcely thirty years have elapsed from the period of their discovery, yet how wonderful the change![4 - A short historical account of the revolutions that have taken place in the Sandwich Islands, from their discovery in 1779, till the arrival of the author in 1809, collected from the voyages of Cook, Meares, Portlocke, Vancouver, Broughton, Turnbull, and Lisianski, will be found in the Appendix, No. IV. (#pgepubid00017)] Their king is surrounded by workmen of every description, native and European; his guards are regularly trained to the use of fire arms; and he possesses a navy of nearly sixty sail of decked vessels, built upon the islands; whilst almost every ship which navigates the Pacific, finds shelter, provisions, or trade, in his harbors.

In Tamaahmaah these islanders possess one of those remarkable characters, who, like Alfred or Peter the Great, seems destined to hasten the progress of civilization. He is known in this country from the accounts of Turnbull, Lisianski, and Langsdorf; but as none of these navigators ever saw that chief, their accounts are consequently very imperfect; the length of time, however, during which our author remained in his family, afforded him opportunities of observation not enjoyed by those of higher qualifications, and in some measure compensates for the unavoidable defects of his education.

Although no new discoveries, strictly speaking, are recorded, the work will not be found altogether destitute of useful nautical information; the account of the reef to the southwest of Halibut Island, upon which the ship was wrecked, and the numerous rocks that lie near the coast of Aliaski, will show what ought to be avoided; and in the account of the south coast of Wahoo, will be found a description of the only harbours in the Sandwich Islands.

From the humble situation held by the author, a distrust may be entertained of his qualifications to relate the facts which fell under his notice; but few, in the same ranks of life, are possessed of more intelligence or information; with the advantages common to his countrymen, he seems to have neglected no means of improvement. It will be seen that at the age of nineteen he was appointed a petty officer, and had he not been incapacitated by his misfortune, it may be presumed, that he would soon have attained a higher rank.

The editor has to claim indulgence on his own account. His motives for undertaking the work, and the principles upon which it has been executed, have been already stated; the work is published for the benefit of the poor fellow who is the subject of it; nor would it ever have met the public eye, had there been any chance that the task would have been undertaken by another hand. But to rescue much of what is true and extraordinary from the oblivion to which the obscure condition and limited powers of the narrator would have condemned it, appeared to him well deserving of the labour which he had bestowed. The best apology for the appearance of the work itself will be found in the words of a celebrated periodical publication.[5 - Edinburgh Review, Vol. IX. p. 332.] “It is obvious that the discovery of new tribes, and the first account of manners formerly unknown, are by no means more interesting than the subsequent history of those tribes, and the changes which rapidly take place in their manners. The greatest obligations, therefore, are conferred upon us by those adventurous persons who, having visited these islands of late years, give such statements of what they saw, as enable us to trace the progress of society in one of its earliest stages, and to estimate the effects produced by the sudden revolution in their circumstances which the natives have experienced from their intercourse with Europeans.”

    JAMES SMITH.

Jordonhill, May, 1816.

CHAPTER I

Early in May, 1806, I entered as seaman on board the Thames Indiaman, Matthew Riches, Esq. commander, on a voyage to China.

We sailed on the 14th of that month from Motherbank, in company with the Arniston, Royal Charlotte, Glatton, Marquis of Ely, Marquis of Wellesley, Monarch, Cirencester, and Neptune, Indiamen, under convoy of the Lion, 64, and Medusa frigate; we were also accompanied by a fleet of transports, with troops, destined for the expedition to Buenos Ayres.

In our voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, no incident occurred worthy of being recorded, not even the ordinary ceremonies upon crossing the line. We had a detachment of the 30th regiment on board, the commanding officer of which did not choose that the men should undergo the ducking usual upon that occasion. About this time I was appointed sail-maker’s mate.

We arrived at the Cape on the 7th of August, and remained there 15 days.

We sailed from thence on the 22d; and on the day after our departure, encountered a severe gale of wind. It came on so suddenly that we had only time to take in our studding sails; all the others, except the fore and fore-top gallant sails, were blown out of the bolt ropes; the ship was running before the wind, and broached to several times; fortunately, however, we suffered no other damage than the loss of the sails. We experienced two other gales whilst in the Indian seas, but, being better prepared, met with no material accident.

On the 12th of September we saw the island of St. Paul, and arrived at Pulo Penang, or Prince of Wales’ Island, about the middle of October.

We proceeded on our voyage for China on the 24th of November, and anchored at Wampoa on the 18th of January, 1807.

Having remained there nearly six weeks, and taken in about half of our cargo, an unfortunate dispute took place between the crew of the Neptune and some Chinese, in which one of the latter lost his life. In consequence of this, the government insisted that a man should be given up in his place, and stopped the loading of the ships to enforce compliance with this demand, threatening, at the same time, to prevent their departure by choking up the second bar.[6 - For an account of the dispute, see Appendix, No. IV. Note B (#pgepubid00020).] As a measure of precaution the ships dropped down the river below the bar, and a boat was despatched to Canton to wait the orders of the commodore.

I was sent in the cutter on this service; and during the time of our stay in that city, the captain of the American ship Arthur, bound to Rhode-Island, endeavored to induce me to quit the ship I belonged to, by offering high wages, and a bounty of twenty dollars; I, however, declined his proposals. Afterwards, when I was in company with a comrade of the name of Allen, we were met by another American captain, who also tried to persuade us, by offering still higher wages; we resisted his offers, till he informed us that his ship was bound for the South Seas and the north west coast of America. – It had always been my ambition to visit those distant parts of the world, and the opportunity that now presented itself was too tempting to be resisted. We agreed to his terms; and as his ship lay at Wampoa, he concealed us in the American factory till an opportunity of proceeding thither should occur.

Whilst at this place, we very narrowly escaped detection. Being in want of provisions, we sent out a Chinese to buy some bread, and gave him a dollar stampted with Captain Riches’ initials. Instead of fulfilling his commission, he took the dollar to the captain, and brought him to the factory. When we saw them approach, we made our escape from a window to the top of an adjoining house, and ran along the roofs, till we reached a warehouse, which we asked permission to pass through; this the owner refusing, I went out on a beam that crossed the street, and dropped on the ground, being a fall of about eighteen feet. – When the Chinese observed this, he allowed my comrade to pass through the house. I was a good deal stunned with the fall, but soon recovered myself. We then got to the river side, where we hired a san-pan, or small boat, to take us to Wampoa, and reached the ship with no other interruption.

She was called the Eclipse, and belonged to Boston; a new ship, on her first voyage, commanded by Captain Joseph O’Kean. She was chartered by the Russian American Company, for their settlements at Kamschatka, and the northwest coast of America, with a cargo of nankeens, tea, silks, sugar, rice, and other articles, the produce of China. The number of the crew, including officers, amounted to twenty-eight, four or five of which were procured from the Indiamen. There was also a Russian supercargo.

At Captain O’Cain’s desire I changed my name, which I entered on the ship’s books as Archibald Macbride.

Having completed our cargo, the ship sailed on her voyage upon the eighth of May. – When opposite to Macao, we saw the Indian fleet getting under way; the Captain, fearing that the man-of-war might board us, and take the men belonging to the India ships, put back, and remained within the Bocca Tigris till they were out of sight.

On the 6th of June we descried the coast of Japan, and ran along shore till we reached the bay of Nangasaki.

We stood into the bay under Russian colors, and were met by an immense fleet of boats, who took possession of the ship, and towed her to the anchorage. When about half way up the bay, the Dutch ambassador came off. He could speak English; and finding we were Americans, advised us to haul down the colors, informing us that the natives were much exasperated at some outrages lately committed by the Russians upon their islands. We found this to be so much the case, that we deemded it prudent to keep the supercargo out of sight during the whole of our stay.[7 - It appears from Dr Langsdorf’s Voyage, that the amour propre of the Russian ambassador, Von Resanoff, was so much mortified by his reception at Japan, that he despatched in October, 1806, an expedition against the most southern of the Kurile islands, where the Japanese have settlements. A second expedition was undertaken in May, 1807. —VideLangsdorf, Vol II. p. 298.]

When the ship was moored, eight guard-boats were anchored round us, within pistol-shot, and no person allowed to land or hold any communication with the shore; the muskets were taken out of the arm-chests, and our gunpowder demanded; six or eight kegs were given up, with the assurance that it was all we had.

Seeing so many boats come off, a large assortment of articles of trade was brought on deck, but none of the people would make any purchase. They told us they had plenty of every thing we had to offer.

When the captain was asked what brought him to Japan, he replied, want of water and fresh provisions; and ordered several butts in the hold to be started and hoisted on deck empty. Next day a plentiful supply was sent off, in small boats, filled with water, and in tubs, which we were obliged to empty on deck, stopping the scuppers, and allowing it to run off at night. We were also abundantly supplied with fresh fish, hogs, and vegetables; the whole of which was furnished gratis.

On the third day of our stay, the Captain, finding nothing was to be gained by remaining, got under way. The arms and ammunition were immediately restored, and the ship was towed about five miles out of the bay, by nearly a hundred boats; on parting the crews cheered us, waving their hats and hands.

The town of Nangasaki was concealed by an island; but from the view we had of the land, it seemed to be in a state of high cultivation, and very populous. The natives have the appearance and complexion of the Chinese, but are taller in stature.

Their boats, which were open, with small covered cabins abaft, were mounted with guns, about the size of our largest swivels. Instead of being rowed they were sculled; the oars on each side never being lifted out of the water. In each of them were two men, apparently officers, dressed in loose frocks or gowns, with long hanging sleeves. These were armed with matchlocks, and had a sabre hanging at each side.

After leaving Nangasaki, we navigated the strait which separates the principal island of Japan from others that lie to the north: in several places it is not above five miles broad. On each side the country is beautiful, abounding with cultivated fields, woods, villages, and single houses. Frequently, when near the coast, we observed the inhabitants come down to the shore, and make signals, as if to invite us to land; but, after the reception we had already experienced, the captain did not choose to have any further communication with the Japanese.[8 - Those friendly invitations seem to be somewhat inconsistent with the inhospitable character of the Japanese. It is most likely, however, that the author is mistaken in the nature of the signals they made, which were more probably those of reproach than kindness, similar to those captain Saris was assailed with – “Core, core cocori ware,” – “you Coreans, with false hearts.”VideQuarterly Review, Vol. IV. p. 379.]

At one time, in a thick fog, we were alarmed with the noise of breakers, apparently very near. Upon sounding, we found twenty fathoms, sandy bottom, and immediately let go the anchor. When the haze cleared away, we found ourselves close to a remarkable island or rock, about the size and the height of the craig of Ailsea, in the Frith of Clyde. An archway passed completely through it; and into this the sea rushed with that tremendous noise which had occasioned our late alarm.

In about a week we were clear of the strait, and proceeded on our voyage.