A voyage round the world in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV

by Baron George Anson Anson

FROM TINIAN TO MACAO

On the 21st of October, in the evening, we took our leave of the Island of Tinian, steering the proper course for Macao in China. The eastern monsoon was now, we reckoned, fairly settled; and we had a constant gale blowing right astern, so that we generally ran from forty to fifty leagues a day. But we had a large hollow sea pursuing us, which occasioned the ship to labour much; whence our leak was augmented, and we received great damage in our rigging, which by this time was grown very rotten. However, our people were now happily in full health, so that there were no complaints of fatigue, but all went through their attendance on the pumps, and every other duty of the ship, with ease and chearfulness.

Before we left Tinian we swept for our best and small bower, and employed the Indians to dive in search of them; but all to no purpose. Hence, except our prize anchors, which were stowed in the hold, and were too light to be depended on, we had only our sheet-anchor left: and that being obviously much too heavy for a coasting-anchor, we were under great concern how we should manage on the coast of China, where we were entire strangers, and where we should doubtless be frequently under the necessity of coming to an anchor. But we at length removed the difficulty by fixing two of our largest prize anchors into one stock and placing between their shanks two guns, four pounders. This we intended to serve as a best bower: and a third prize anchor being in like manner joined to our stream-anchor, with guns between them, made us a small bower; so that, besides our sheet-anchor, we had again two others at our bows, one of which weighed 3900, and the other 2900 pounds.

The 3d of November, about three in the afternoon, we saw an island, which at first we imagined to be Botel Tobago Xima, but on our nearer approach we found it to be much smaller than that is usually represented; and about an hour after we saw another island, five or six miles farther to the westward. As no chart or journal we had seen took notice of any island to the eastward of Formosa but Botel Tobago Xima, and as we had no observation of our latitude at noon, we were in some perplexity, apprehending that an extraordinary current had driven us into the neighbourhood of the Bashee Islands. We therefore, when night came on, brought to, and continued in that posture till the next morning, which proving dark and cloudy, for some time prolonged our uncertainty; but it clearing up about nine o'clock, we again discerned the two islands abovementioned; and having now the day before us, we pressed forwards to the westward, and by eleven got a sight of the southern part of the island of Formosa. This satisfied us that the second island we saw was Botel Tobago Xima, and the first a small islet or rock, lying five or six miles due east of it, which, not being mentioned in any of our books or charts, had been the occasion of all our doubts.

When we had made the Island of Formosa we steered W. by S. in order to double its extremity, and kept a good look-out for the rocks of Vele Rete, which we did not discover till two in the afternoon. They then bore from us W.N.W. three miles distant, the south end of Formosa at the same time bearing N. by W.½W. about five leagues distant. To give these rocks a good birth we immediately haled up S. by W. and so left them between us and the land. Indeed we had reason to be careful of them; for though they appeared as high out of the water as a ship's hull, yet they are environed with breakers on all sides, and there is a shoal stretching from them at least a mile and a half to the southward, whence they may be truly called dangerous. The course from Botel Tobago Xima to these rocks is S.W. by W. and the distance about twelve or thirteen leagues: and the south end of Formosa, off which they lie, is in the latitude of 21° 50' north, and according to our most approved reckonings in 23° 50' west longitude from Tinian; though some of our accounts made its longitude above a degree more.

While we were passing by these rocks of Vele Rete there was an outcry of fire on the forecastle; this occasioned a general alarm, and the whole crew instantly flocked together in the utmost confusion; so that the officers found it difficult for some time to appease the uproar: but having at last reduced the people to order, it was perceived that the fire proceeded from the furnace, where the bricks being overheated, had begun to communicate the fire to the adjacent woodwork: hence by pulling down the brickwork it was extinguished with great facility. In the evening we were surprized with a view of what we at first sight conceived to have been breakers, but on a stricter examination we discerned them to be only a great number of fires on the Island of Formosa. These we imagined were intended by the inhabitants of that island as signals to invite us to touch there, but that suited not our views, we being impatient to reach the port of Macao as soon as possible. From Formosa we steered W.N.W. and sometimes still more northerly, proposing to fall in with the coast of China to the eastward of Pedro Blanco, as the rock so called is usually esteemed an excellent direction for ships bound to Macao. We continued this course till the following night, and then frequently brought to, to try if we were in soundings: but it was the 5th of November, at nine in the morning, before we struck ground, and then we had forty-two fathom, and a bottom of grey sand mixed with shells. When we had run about twenty miles farther W.N.W. we had thirty-five fathom and the same bottom; then our soundings gradually decreased from thirty-five to twenty-five fathom; but soon after, to our great surprize, they jumped back again to thirty fathom. This was an alteration we could not very well account for, since all the charts laid down regular soundings everywhere to the northward of Pedro Blanco. We for this reason kept a careful look out, and altered our course to N.N.W., and having run thirty-five miles in that direction, our soundings again gradually diminished to twenty-two fathom, and we at last, about midnight, got sight of the main land of China, bearing N. by W. four leagues distant. We then brought the ship to, with her head to the sea, proposing to wait for the morning; and before sunrise we were surprized to find ourselves in the midst of an incredible number of fishing boats, which seemed to cover the surface of the sea as far as the eye could reach. I may well style their number incredible, since I cannot believe, upon the lowest estimate, that there were so few as six thousand, most of them manned with five hands, and none of those we saw with less than three. Nor was this swarm of fishing vessels peculiar to that spot: for, as we ran on to the westward, we found them as abundant on every part of the coast. We at first doubted not but we should procure a pilot from them to carry us to Macao; but though many of them came close to the ship, and we endeavoured to tempt them by showing them a number of dollars, a most alluring bait for Chinese of all ranks and professions, yet we could not entice them on board us, nor procure any directions from them; though, I presume, the only difficulty was their not comprehending what we wanted them to do, as we could have no communication with them but by signs. Indeed we often pronounced the word Macao; but this we had reason to suppose they understood in a different sense, since in return they sometimes held up fish to us; and we afterwards learnt that the Chinese name for fish is of a somewhat similar sound. But what surprized us most was the inattention and want of curiosity which we observed in this herd of fishermen. A ship like ours had doubtless never been in these seas before; and perhaps there might not be one amongst all the Chinese, employed in that fishery, who had ever seen any European vessel; so that we might reasonably have expected to have been considered by them as a very uncommon and extraordinary object. But though many of their boats came close to the ship, yet they did not appear to be at all interested about us, nor did they deviate in the least from their course to regard us. Which insensibility, especially of maritime persons, in a matter relating to their own profession, is scarcely to be credited, did not the general behaviour of the Chinese in other instances furnish us with continual proofs of a similar turn of mind. It may perhaps be doubted whether this cast of temper be the effect of nature or education; but, in either case, it is an incontestable symptom of a mean and contemptible disposition, and is alone a sufficient confutation of the extravagant praises which many prejudiced writers have bestowed on the ingenuity and capacity of this nation. But to return.

Not being able to procure any information from the Chinese fishermen about our proper course to Macao, it was necessary for us to rely entirely on our own judgment: and concluding from our latitude, which was 22° 42' north, and from our soundings, which were only seventeen or eighteen fathoms, that we were yet to the eastward of Pedro Blanco, we still stood on to the westward. And for the assistance of future navigators, who may hereafter doubt what part of the coast they are upon, I must observe that besides the latitude of Pedro Blanco, which is 22° 18', and the depth of water, which to the westward of that rock is almost everywhere twenty fathoms, there is another circumstance which will be greatly assistant in judging of the position of the ship: this is the kind of ground; for, till we came within thirty miles of Pedro Blanco, we had constantly a sandy bottom; but there the bottom changed to soft and muddy, and continued so quite to the Island of Macao; only while we were in sight of Pedro Blanco, and very near it, we had for a short space a bottom of greenish mud, intermixed with sand.

It was on the 5th of November, at midnight, when we first made the coast of China. The next day, about two o'clock, as we were standing to the westward, within two leagues of the coast, still surrounded by fishing vessels in as great numbers as at first, we perceived that a boat ahead of us waved a red flag and blew a horn. This we considered as a signal made to us either to warn us of some shoal, or to inform us that they would supply us with a pilot. We therefore immediately sent our cutter to the boat to know their intentions, when we were soon convinced of our mistake, and found that this boat was the commodore of the whole fishery, and that the signal she had made was to order them all to leave off fishing and to return in shore, which we saw them instantly obey. Being thus disappointed we kept on our course, and shortly after passed by two very small rocks, which lay four or five miles distant from the shore. We were now in hourly expectation of descrying Pedro Blanco, but night came on before we got sight of it, and we therefore brought to till the morning, when we had the satisfaction to discover it. Pedro Blanco is a rock of a small circumference, but of a moderate height, resembling a sugar-loaf, both in shape and colour, and is about seven or eight miles distant from the shore. We passed within a mile and an half of it, and left it between us and the land, still keeping on to the westward; and the next day, being the 7th, we were abreast of a chain of islands which stretched from east to west. These, as we afterwards found, were called the islands of Lema; they are rocky and barren, and are, in all, small and great, fifteen or sixteen; but there are, besides, many more between them and the main land of China. We left these islands on the starboard side, passing within four miles of them, where we had twenty-four fathom water. Being still surrounded by fishing boats, we once more sent the cutter on board some of them to endeavour to procure a pilot, but we could not prevail; however, one of the Chinese directed us by signs to sail round the westermost of the islands or rocks of Lema, and then to hale up. We followed this direction, and in the evening came to an anchor in eighteen fathom; at which time the rock bore S.S.E. five miles distant, and the grand Ladrone W. by S. about two leagues distant. The rock is a most excellent direction for ships coming from the eastward: its latitude is 21° 52' north, and it bears from Pedro Blanco S. 64° W. distant twenty-one leagues. You are to leave it on the starboard side, and you may come within half a mile of it in eighteen fathom water: and then you must steer N. by W.½W. for the channel, between the island of Cabouce and Bamboo, which are to the northward of the grand Ladrone.

After having continued at anchor all night, we, on the 9th, at four in the morning, sent our cutter to sound the channel where we proposed to pass; but before the return of the cutter, a Chinese pilot put on board the Centurion, and told us, in broken Portuguese, he would carry the ship to Macao for thirty dollars: these were immediately paid him, and we then weighed and made sail. Soon after several other pilots came on board, who, to recommend themselves, produced certificates from the captains of many European ships they had pilotted in, but we still continued under the management of the Chinese whom we at first engaged. By this time we learnt that we were not far distant from Macao, and that there were in the river of Canton, at the mouth of which Macao lies, eleven European ships of which four were English. Our pilot carried us between the islands of Bamboo and Cabouce; but the winds hanging in the northern board, and the tides often setting strongly against us, we were obliged to come frequently to an anchor; so that we did not get through between the two islands till the 12th of November, at two in the morning. In passing through, our depth of water was from twelve to fourteen fathom; and as we steered on N. by W.½W. between a number of other islands, our soundings underwent little or no variation till towards the evening, when they encreased to seventeen fathom, in which depth, the wind dying away, we anchored not far from the Island of Lantoon, the largest of all this range of islands. At seven in the morning we weighed again, and steering W.S.W. and S.W. by W. we at ten o'clock happily anchored in Macao road, in five fathom water, the city of Macao bearing W. by N. three leagues distant; the peak of Lantoon E. by N. and the grand Ladrone S. by E., each of them about five leagues distant. Thus, after a fatiguing cruise of above two years' continuance, we once more arrived at an amicable port and a civilized country, where the conveniencies of life were in great plenty; where the naval stores, which we now extremely wanted, could be in some degree procured; where we expected the inexpressible satisfaction of receiving letters from our relations and friends; and where our countrymen, who were lately arrived from England, would be capable of answering the numerous enquiries we were prepared to make, both about public and private occurrences, and to relate to us many particulars which, whether of importance or not, would be listened to by us with the utmost attention, after the long suspension of our correspondence with our country, to which the nature of our undertaking had hitherto subjected us.