On the 29th October, the English reached the north-eastern portion of Mindanao. Always on the look-out for fresh water and provisions, Carteret in vain looked for the bay which Dampier had spoken of as abounding in game. A little farther off he found a watering-place, but the hostile demonstrations of the inhabitants forced him to re-embark.
After leaving Mindanao, the captain sailed for the Straits of Macassar, between the islands of Borneo and Celebes. They entered it on the 14th of November. The vessel then proceeded with so much difficulty that she only accomplished twenty-eight leagues in fifteen days.
"Ill," he says, "weakened, dying, tortured by the sight of lands which we could not reach, exposed to tempests which we found it impossible to overcome, we were attacked by a pirate!"
The latter, hoping to find the English crew asleep, attacked the Swallow in the middle of the night. But far from allowing themselves to be cowed by this new danger, the sailors defended themselves with so much courage and skill, that they succeeded in foundering the Malay prah.
| A struggle between the Swallow and a Malay prah. |
On the 12th of December Carteret sorrowfully perceived that the western monsoon had commenced. The Swallow was in no condition to struggle against this wind and current to reach Batavia by the west. He must then content himself with gaining Macassar, then the principal colony of the Dutch in the Celebes Islands.
When the English arrived, it was thirty-five weeks since they left the Straits of Magellan.
Anchor was scarcely cast, when a Dutchman, sent by the governor, came on board the Swallow. He appeared much alarmed on finding that the vessel belonged to the English marine service. In the morning, therefore, when Carteret sent his lieutenant, Mr. Gower, to ask for access to the port in order to secure provisions for his dying crew, and to repair his dilapidated ship, and await the return of the monsoon, not only could he not obtain permission to land, but the Dutch hastened to collect their forces and arm their vessels. Finally, after five hours, the governor's reply was brought on board. It was a refusal couched in terms as little polite as they were equivocal. The English were simultaneously forbidden to land at any port under Dutch government.
All Carteret's representations, his remarks upon the inhumanity of the refusal, even his hostile demonstrations, had no other result than the sale of a few provisions, and permission to proceed to a small neighbouring bay.