The Cygnet. Her Passage across the Pacific Ocean. At the Ladrones. At Mindanao.
1686. March. The Cygnet quits the American Coast. March the 31st, they sailed from the American coast, steering at first SW, and afterwards more Westerly till they were in latitude 13° N, in which parallel they kept. 'The kettle was boiled but once a day,' says Dampier, 'and there was no occasion to call the men to victuals. All hands came up to see the Quarter-master share it, and he had need to be exact. We had two dogs and two cats on board, and they likewise had a small allowance given them, and they waited with as much eagerness to see it shared as we did.' Large flight of Birds. Lat. 13° N. Long. 180°. In this passage they saw neither fish nor fowl of any kind, except at one time, when by Dampier's reckoning they were 4975 miles West from Cape Corrientes, and then, numbers of the sea-birds called boobies were flying near the ships, which were supposed to come from some rocks not far distant. Their longitude at this time may be estimated at about 180 degrees from the meridian of Greenwich[77].
May 21st. Fortunately, they had a fresh trade-wind, and made great runs every day. 'On May the 20th, which,' says Dampier, 'we begin to call the 21st, we were in latitude 12° 50′ N, and steering West. Shoals and Breakers SbW-1⁄2W 10 or 11 leagues from the S end of Guahan. Bank de Santa Rosa. At two p. m. the bark tender being two leagues ahead of the Cygnet, came into shoal water, and those on board plainly saw rocks under her, but no land was in sight. They
hauled on a wind to the Southward, and hove the lead, and found but four fathoms water. They saw breakers to the Westward. They then wore round, and got their starboard tacks on board and stood Northward. The Cygnet in getting up to the bark, ran over a shoal bank, where the bottom was seen, and fish among the rocks; but the ship ran past it before we could heave the lead. Both vessels stood to the Northward, keeping upon a wind, and sailed directly North, having the wind at ENE, till five in the afternoon, having at that time run eight miles and increased our latitude so many minutes. We then saw the Island Guam [Guahan] bearing NNE, distant from us about eight leagues, which gives the latitude of the Island (its South end) 13° 20′ N. We did not observe the variation of the compass at Guam. At Cape Corrientes we found it 4° 28′ Easterly, and an observation we made when we had gone about a third of the passage, shewed it to be the same. I am inclined to think it was less at Guam[78].'
The shoal above mentioned is called by the Spaniards the Banco de Santa Rosa, and the part over which the Cygnet passed, according to the extract from Dampier, is about SbW-1⁄2W from the South end of Guahan, distant ten or eleven leagues.
At Guahan. An hour before midnight, they anchored on the West side of Guahan, a mile from the shore. The Spaniards had here a small Fort, and a garrison of thirty soldiers; but the Spanish Governor resided at another part of the Island. As the ships anchored, a Spanish priest in a canoe went on board, believing them to be Spaniards from Acapulco. He was treated with civility, but detained as a kind of hostage, to facilitate any negociation necessary for obtaining provisions; and Swan sent a present to the Spanish Governor by the Indians of the canoe.
No difficulty was experienced on this head. Both Spaniards, and the few natives seen here, were glad to dispose of their provisions to so good a market as the buccaneer ships. Dampier conjectured the number of the natives at this time on Guahan not to exceed a hundred. In the last insurrection, which was a short time before Eaton stopped at the Ladrones, the natives, finding they could not prevail against the Spaniards, destroyed their plantations, and went to other Islands. 'Those of the natives who remained in Guahan,' says Dampier, 'if they were not actually concerned in that broil, their hearts were bent against the Spaniards; for they offered to carry us to the Fort and assist us to conquer the Island.'
Whilst Swan lay at Guahan, the Spanish Acapulco ship came in sight of the Island. The Governor immediately sent off notice to her of the Buccaneer ships being in the road, on which she altered her course towards the South, and by so doing got among the shoals, where she struck off her rudder, and did not get clear for three days. The natives at Guahan told the Buccaneers that the Acapulco ship was in sight of the Island, 'which,' says Dampier, 'put our men in a great heat to go out after her, but Captain Swan persuaded them out of that humour.'
Flying Proe, or Sailing Canoe. Dampier praises the ingenuity of the natives of the Ladrone Islands, and particularly in the construction of their sailing canoes, or, as they are sometimes called, their flying proes, of which he has given the following description. 'Their Proe or Sailing Canoe is sharp at both ends; the bottom is of one piece of good substance neatly hollowed, and is about 28 feet long; the under, or keel part is made round, but inclining to a wedge; the upper part is almost flat, having a very gentle hollow, and is about a foot broad: from hence, both sides of the boat are carried up to about five feet high with