About midnight the wind abated a little, and the master proposed attempting to reach the land; averring it was as well to perish at once as to be starved to death. He suggested that, if the crew only was taken with him, there would be a much better chance of effecting his purpose; and that, once arrived, he could provide boats for our deliverance: whereas, if all went, the boat would in all probability sink. These arguments were deemed valid, and, accompanied by our prayers, they launched off. It was agreed that, when they reached the shore, they should make a fire as a signal of their safety; and, in the course of two hours, we saw the wished-for blaze.
Daylight came, and we remained without food or drink, anxiously looking out for the return of the crew. Our reflections were by no means comfortable: for, knowing the character of the Greeks, we could not be sure that, once safe themselves, they would not abandon us to our fate. We watched all day, and it was not until about a quarter of an hour before sunset, that a black speck was seen on the sea, which we at length distinguished to be a boat. It contained the crew, but without the captain, who had declined the danger of coming off again. They brought us bread, cheese, water, and arrack; and thus, after thirty hours’ fasting, we satisfied our hunger and thirst.
But another danger now stared us in the face. The sailors had found liquor on shore, and had made themselves drunk. They grew riotous and insolent, and, in the course of the night, declared their resolution of rowing back again. In vain we requested they would wait till daylight, till the wind abated, and till the rain was over. They were determined; and, as those who remained behind could have no chance but to perish, we were compelled to go with them. The sea was high; and, as they were pulling almost in the face of it, the labour of the sailors was very severe. But, for the same reason, the nearer we approached the shore the smoother the water became. At last the stern touched, and a wave, that filled her from head to stern, at once overwhelmed us. Lady Hester was hoisted out of the boat, and each made his way on shore as he could. The boat, soon after, was swamped and staved.
Close to where we landed there was a small windmill, where we accommodated Lady Hester and her maid in the best manner we could, whilst a blazing fire was made on the outside, round which we all collected. But we were soon joined by Mrs. Fry, who was so terrified by the rats, which ran up and down the ropes in the mill, that nothing could induce her to remain with her mistress. The rain all this time fell in torrents. The miller was despatched to his village, which was near at hand, to bring down conveyances to carry us to a place of shelter. At daylight he returned, and with him several peasants with mules and asses, which we mounted, and reached in a short time a hamlet, the most miserable that can be conceived as the habitation of human beings. Among all the cottages, there was not one into which the rain did not penetrate, whilst the filth within and about them was to the last degree disgusting: add to which they all swarmed with fleas. Yet, in other parts of the island of Rhodes, we had reason to admire the neatness and comfort of the peasants’ habitations.
The weather now became beautifully fine, as if to mock our misfortunes. Nothing had been saved from our ship: no one had linen to change: and some speedy means were to be contrived, to remedy these inconveniences. Accordingly, it was settled that I should set off for the town of Rhodes, and, by means of the English agent, whom we had already seen, provide a few necessaries for Lady Hester, and, at the same time, try to procure money; since what I had saved was only enough for our immediate wants.
On the following morning, mounted on a mule and with a peasant for my guide, I set off for the town, which I reached on the second day in the evening. Not having ink or paper with me, I was unable to write down what I saw; but I have a perfect recollection of the beauty of the country, of the groves of myrtle and oleander, of the clean houses of the peasants, of their dresses of white cotton, and of their hospitality. For, having slept the first night at a cottage where I was entertained with a plentiful supper and accommodated with a clean bed, on asking my guide what recompense I should make, he told me that twenty paras was quite enough, which were about equal to an English sixpence.
The news of our shipwreck had already reached the town by the captain, who had made the best of his way thither the moment he had landed. A large bundle of linen was immediately packed up, and sent back by the mule which brought me. The next day I paid a visit to the governor, Hassan Bey, to whom I represented the situation of Lady Hester and her party, and asked him to advance some money, until measures could be taken for obtaining some from Smyrna: but, ignorant who we were, he refused to lend assistance in any way. I found him seated on the landing-place of the staircase of his palace, and of so mean an appearance, that I had fairly passed him unnoticed, until Mr. Illarick called me back, and whispered, “There’s the bey.” On approaching him, one of his people roughly drove me back, and desired me to pull my shoes off. The reason for this probably was that my dress, spoiled by sea-water, was not such as to inspire much respect, and no one but a privileged person is allowed to dispense with this ceremony, according to Turkish usages.
As nothing was to be done with the bey, and as there was no time to be lost, Mr. Illarick’s assistance was put in requisition to the utmost. A house was prepared for Lady Hester, and another for the rest of her party.
The houses in the town of Rhodes are incapable of lodging more than one or two persons, if fixed bedsteads are used; for they consist, generally at least in the Frank quarter, of no more than two rooms, or three or four at the utmost. In those that I saw, the room on the ground floor was paved with pebbles of different colours, of the size of a hen’s egg, artificially and prettily arranged in stars, lozenges, and other devices. At one end there was a gallery, raised five or six feet, with a railing of unpainted fir. This served as a sitting-room by day and a sleeping-room by night, for the principal part of the family. On the first floor was a single room, floored, and ornamented with a few open cupboards, painted red or some glaring colour, with birds or trees upon them. Sometimes it had a recess in the wall for containing beds and coverlets, which are placed there the moment they are done with. The display of a store of these articles is a strong evidence of good circumstances, not only at Rhodes, but, as I have since observed, in other parts of Turkey.
In the midst of my preparations for Lady Hester’s reception, I was alarmed by the arrival of a peasant in the night with a letter, by which my immediate attendance was required at Lindo, on the east side of the island, where Lady Hester, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, had fallen ill of a fever. It appeared that, after my departure from the hamlet, the party had set off, and the route by the above-named town had been suggested to them as least fatiguing. In it there lived a Greek of rank, who had retired from Constantinople to this, his native place. He had afforded them hospitality, and had offered to provide for their wants, until they should receive succour from the city: and it was at his house that Lady Hester was taken ill. A long day’s journey through a country still more beautiful than that which I had passed on the western side brought me to Lindo. Her Ladyship grew better after a few days’ repose, and I then found leisure to perambulate the environs of the town. I will leave Lady Hester herself to describe her situation.