The commodore, on the perusal of this melancholy representation, presently ordered them a supply of water and provisions, of which they seemed to be in the most pressing want, and at the same time sent his own carpenter on board them to examine into the truth of every particular; and it being found on the strictest enquiry that the preceding account was in no instance exaggerated, it plainly appeared there was no possibility of preserving the Gloucester any longer, as her leaks were irreparable, and the united hands on board both ships would not be able to free her, could we have spared the whole of our crew to her relief. What then could be resolved on, when it was the utmost we ourselves could do to manage our own pumps? Indeed there was no room for deliberation; the only step to be taken was the saving the lives of the few that remained on board the Gloucester, and the getting out of her as much as we could before she was destroyed. The commodore therefore immediately sent an order to Captain Mitchel to put his people on board the Centurion as expeditiously as he could, now the weather was calm and favourable, and to take out such stores as he could get at whilst the ship could be kept above water. And as our leak required less attention whilst the present easy weather continued, we sent our boats with as many men as we could spare to Captain Mitchel's assistance.
The removing the Gloucester's people on board us, and the getting out such stores as could most easily be come at, gave us full employment for two days. Mr. Anson was extremely desirous to have saved two of her cables and an anchor, but the ship rolled so much, and the men were so excessively fatigued, that they were incapable of effecting it; nay, it was even with the greatest difficulty that the prize-money which the Gloucester had taken in the South Seas was secured and sent on board the Centurion. However, the prize goods in the Gloucester, which amounted to several thousand pounds in value, and were principally the Centurion's property, were entirely lost; nor could any more provision be got out than five casks of flour, three of which were spoiled by the salt water. Their sick men, amounting to near seventy, were conveyed into the boats with as much care as the circumstances of that time would permit; but three or four of them expired as they were hoisting them into the Centurion.
It was the 15th of August, in the evening, before the Gloucester was cleared of everything that was proposed to be removed; and though the hold was now almost full of water, yet, as the carpenters were of opinion that she might still swim for some time, if the calm should continue and the water become smooth, it was resolved she should be burnt, as we knew not how little distant we might be at present from the island of Guam, which was in the possession of our enemies, to whom the wreck of such a ship would have been no contemptible acquisition. When she was set on fire, Captain Mitchel and his officers left her, and came on board the Centurion: and we immediately stood from the wreck, not without some apprehensions (as we had only a light breeze) that if she blew up soon the concussion of the air might damage our rigging; but she fortunately continued burning the whole night, so that though her guns fired successively as the flames reached them, yet it was six in the morning, when we were about four leagues distant, before she blew up. The report she made upon this occasion was but small, although the blast produced an exceeding black pillar of smoke, which shot up into the air to a very considerable height.
Thus perished his Majesty's ship the Gloucester. And now it might have been expected that, being freed from the embarrassments which her frequent disasters had involved us in, we should have proceeded on our way much brisker than we had hitherto done, especially as we had received some small addition to our strength by the taking on board the Gloucester's crew. However, we were soon taught that our anxieties were not yet to be relieved, and that, notwithstanding all we had already suffered, there remained much greater distresses which we were still to struggle with. For the late storm, which had proved so fatal to the Gloucester, had driven us to the northward of our intended course; and the current setting the same way, after the weather abated, had forced us yet a degree or two farther, so that we were now in 17-¼° of north latitude, instead of being in 13-½°, which was the parallel we proposed to keep, in order to reach the island of Guam. As it had been a perfect calm for some days since the cessation of the storm, and we were ignorant how near we were to the meridian of the Ladrones, though we supposed ourselves not to be far from it, we apprehended that we might be driven to the leeward of them by the current without discovering them. On this supposition, the only land we could make would be some of the eastern parts of Asia, where, if we could arrive, we should find the western monsoon in its full force, so that it would be impossible for the stoutest, best-manned ship to get in. Besides, this coast being between four and five hundred leagues distant from us, we, in our languishing circumstances, could expect no other than to be destroyed by the scurvy long before the most favourable gale could enable us to compleat so extensive a navigation. For our deaths were by this time extremely alarming, no day passing in which we did not bury eight or ten, and sometimes twelve, of our men; and those who had as yet continued healthy began to fall down apace. Indeed we made the best use we could of our present calm, by employing our carpenters in searching after the leak, which, notwithstanding the little wind we had, was now considerable. The carpenters at length discovered it to be in the gunner's fore store-room, where the water rushed in under the breast-hook on each side of the stern: but though they found where it was, they agreed it was impossible to stop it till they could come at it on the outside, which was evidently a matter not to be attempted till we should arrive in port. However, they did the best they could within board, and were fortunate enough to reduce it, which was a considerable relief to us.
We hitherto considered the calm which succeeded the storm, and which had now continued for some days, as a very great misfortune, since the currents were all the time driving us to the northward of our parallel, and we thereby risqued the missing of the Ladrones, which we at present conceived ourselves to be very near. But when a gale sprung up our condition was still worse; for it blew from the S.W., and consequently was directly opposed to the course we wanted to steer: and though it soon veered to the N.E., yet this served only to tantalize us, as it returned back again in a very short time to its old quarter. However, on the 22d of August we had the satisfaction to find that the current was shifted, and had set us to the southward; and the 23d, at daybreak, we were cheered with the discovery of two islands in the western board. This gave us all great joy, and raised our drooping spirits, for till then an universal dejection had seized us, and we almost despaired of ever seeing land again. The nearest of these islands, as we learnt afterwards, was Anatacan; this we judged to be full fifteen leagues from us; it seemed to be high land, though of an indifferent length. The other was the island of Serigan, which had rather the appearance of a rock than of a place we could hope to anchor at. We were extremely impatient to get in with the nearest island, where we expected to find anchoring ground and an opportunity of refreshing our sick. But the wind proved so variable all day, and there was so little of it that we advanced towards it but slowly; however, by the next morning we were got so far to the westward that we were in sight of a third island, which was that of Paxaros, and which is marked in the chart only as a rock. This was very small, and the land low, so that we had passed within less than a mile of it in the night without observing it. At noon, being then not four miles from the island of Anatacan, the boat was sent away to examine the anchoring ground and the produce of the place, and we were not a little solicitous for her return, as we conceived our fate to depend upon the report we should receive; for the other two islands were obviously enough incapable of furnishing us with any assistance, and we knew not that there were any besides which we could reach. In the evening the boat came back, and the crew informed us that there was no road for a ship to anchor in, the bottom being everywhere foul ground, and all except one small spot not less than fifty fathom in depth; that on that spot there was thirty fathom, though not above half a mile from the shore; and that the bank was steep too, and could not be depended on. They farther told us that they had landed on the island, not without some difficulty on account of the greatness of the swell; that they found the ground was everywhere covered with a kind of wild cane or rush; but that they met with no water, and did not believe the place to be inhabited, though the soil was good and abounded with groves of coconut trees.
The account of the impossibility of anchoring at this island occasioned a general melancholy on board, for we considered it as little less than the prelude to our destruction; and our despondency was increased by a disappointment we met with the succeeding night, when, as we were plying under top-sails, with an intention of getting nearer to the island, and of sending our boat on shore to load with coconuts for the refreshment of our sick, the wind proved squally, and blew so strong off shore, that we were driven too far to the southward to venture to send off our boat. And now the only possible circumstance that could secure the few which remained alive from perishing, was the accidental falling in with some other of the Ladrone Islands better prepared for our accommodation; but as our knowledge of these islands was extremely imperfect, we were to trust entirely to chance for our guidance; only as they are all of them usually laid down near the same meridian, and we conceived those we had already seen to be part of them, we concluded to stand to the southward, as the most probable means of discovering the rest. Thus, with the most gloomy persuasion of our approaching destruction, we stood from the island of Anatacan, having all of us the strongest apprehensions (and those not ill grounded) either of dying by the scurvy, or of being destroyed with the ship, which, for want of hands to work her pumps, might in a short time be expected to founder.
CHAPTER II
OUR ARRIVAL AT TINIAN, AND AN ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND AND OF OUR PROCEEDINGS THERE TILL THE "CENTURION" DROVE OUT TO SEA