Travels on the Amazon

by Alfred Russel Wallace

We therefore cast loose again, and kept at a distance of a quarter or half a mile from the ship by rowing when requisite. We were incessantly baling the whole night. Ourselves and everything in the boats were thoroughly drenched, so we got little repose: if for an instant we dozed off into forgetfulness, we soon woke up again to the realities of our position, and to see the red glare which our burning vessel cast over us. It was now a magnificent spectacle, for the decks had completely burnt away, and as it heaved and rolled with the swell of the sea, presented its interior towards us filled with liquid flame,—a fiery furnace tossing restlessly upon the ocean.

At length morning came; the dangers of the night were past, and with hopeful hearts we set up our little masts, and rigged our sails, and, bidding adieu to the still burning wreck of our ship, went gaily bounding along before a light east wind. And then pencils and books were hunted out, and our course and distance to Bermuda calculated; and we found that this, the nearest point of land in the vast waste of waters round us, was at least seven hundred miles away. But still we went on full of hope, for the wind was fair, and we reckoned that, if it did not change, we might make a hundred miles a day, and so in seven days reach the longed-for haven.

As we had supped but scantily the night before, we had now good appetites, and got out our ham and pork, biscuit and wine and water, and made a very hearty meal, finding that even uncooked meat was not to be despised where no fire could be got to cook it with.

The day was fine and warm, and the floating seaweed, called gulf-weed, was pretty abundant. The boats still required almost incessant baling, and though we did not ship many seas, yet there was quite enough spray to keep us constantly wet. At night we got a rope fastened to the long-boat, for her to tow us, in order that we might not get separated; but as we sailed pretty equally, we kept both sails up. We passed a tolerable night under the circumstances. The next day, the 8th, was fine, gulf-weed still floated plentifully by us, and there were numerous flying-fish, some of which fell into our boats, and others flew an immense distance over the waves. I now found my hands and face very much blistered by the sun, and exceedingly sore and painful. At night two boobies, large dusky sea-birds with very long wings, flew about us. During the night I saw several meteors, and in fact could not be in a better position for observing them, than lying on my back in a small boat in the middle of the Atlantic. We also saw a flock of small birds fly by, making a chirping noise; the sailors did not know what they were.

The 9th was again fine and hot, and my blistered hands were very painful. No ship appeared in sight, though we were crossing the track of the West India vessels. It was rather squally, and I passed a nervous, uncomfortable night; our boats did not, however, now leak so much, which was a great satisfaction.

The 10th was squally, and the wind veered to the south-west, so that we could not make our course for Bermuda, but were obliged to go to the north of it. The sea ran very high, and sudden gusts of wind would frequently heel us over in a manner very alarming to me. We had some heavy showers of rain, and should have liked to have caught some fresh water, but could not, as all our clothes and the sails were saturated with salt. Our position at noon was in latitude 31° 59´ north, longitude 57° 22´ west.

The 11th was still rough and squally. There was less gulf-weed now. The wind got still more to the westward, so that we were obliged to go nearly north. Our boats had now got swollen with the water, and leaked very little. This night I saw some more falling stars.

On the 12th the wind still kept foul, and we were getting quite out of the track of ships, and appeared to have but little chance of reaching Bermuda. The long-boat passed over some green water to-day, a sign of there being soundings, probably some rock at a moderate depth. Many dolphins swam about the boats; their colours when seen in the water are superb, the most gorgeous metallic hues of green, blue, and gold: I was never tired of admiring them.

On the 13th the wind was due west, blowing exactly from the point we wanted to go to. The day was very fine, and there were several stormy petrels, or Mother Cary's chickens, flying about us. We had now been a week in the boats, and were only halfway to the Islands, so we put all hands on short allowance of water before it was too late. The sun was very hot and oppressive, and we suffered much from thirst.

The 14th was calm, and we could not get on at all. The sun was scorching and we had no shelter, and were parched with thirst the whole day. Numerous dolphins and pilot-fish were about the boats. At night there was a very slight favourable breeze, and as we had by this time got our clothes pretty dry we slept well.