A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 10 / Arranged in systematic order: Forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time.

by Robert Kerr

SECTION III.

Residence on the Island of Juan Fernandez.

Having all got on shore in the evening, my officers gathered around me to bear me company, and to devise measures for procuring necessaries out of the wreck; and having lighted a fire, wrapped themselves up in what they could get, and slept very soundly, notwithstanding the coldness of the weather, and our hopeless situation. I would have set the people to work that very night, in endeavouring to save what we could from the wreck, but they were so dispersed that we could not gather them together, and all opportunity was lost of saving any thing, except some of our fire-arms. But while the people were employed in building tents, and making other preparations for their residence on the island, the wreck was entirely destroyed, and every thing in her was lost, except one cask of beef and one of farina de pao, which were washed on shore. Thus all our provisions were gone, and every thing else that might have been useful. I had saved 1100 dollars belonging to the owners, which happened to be in my chest in the great cabin, all the rest of their treasure being in the bottom of the bread-room for security, which consequently could not be come at.

I now took some pains to find out a convenient place in which to set up my tent, and at length found a commodious spot of ground not half a mile from the sea, having a fine stream of water on each side, with trees close at hand for firing, and building our huts. The people settled around me as well as they could, and as the cold season was coming on, some thatched their huts, while others covered theirs with the skins of seals and sea-lions. Others again satisfied themselves with water-butts, in which they slept under cover of trees. Having thus secured ourselves from the weather, we used to pass our time in the evenings around a great fire before my tent, where my officers usually assembled, employing themselves in roasting cray-fish in the embers; sometimes bewailing our unhappy fate, and sinking into despondency; and at other times feeding ourselves with hopes that something might yet be done to set us again afloat. On this subject I first consulted with the carpenter, who answered, that he could not make bricks without straw, and then walked from me in a surly humour. From him I went to the armourer, and asked what he could do for us in his way that might contribute to build a small vessel. To this he answered, that he hoped he could do all the iron work, as he had fortunately saved his bellows from the wreck, with four or five spadoes or Spanish swords, which would afford him steel, and there could be no want of iron along shore; besides, that we should doubtless find many useful things when we came to work in good earnest. He desired therefore, that I would get some charcoal made for him, while he set up his forge.

Upon this encouragement, I called all hands together, and explained to them the great probability there was of our being able to build a vessel sufficient to transport us from this island; but that it would be a laborious task, and must require their united best endeavours. To this they all consented, and promised to work with great diligence, begging me to give them directions how to proceed. I then ordered the men who had axes on shore, before the wreck, to cut wood for making charcoal, while the rest went down to the wreck to get the boltsprit ashore, of which I proposed to make the keel of our intended vessel; and I prevailed on the carpenter to go with me, to fix upon the properest place for building. The people found a great many useful materials about the wreck; and among the rest the topmast, which had been washed on shore, and was of the greatest importance.

We laid the blocks for building upon on the 8th June, and had the boltsprit ready at hand to lay down as the keel; when the carpenter turned short round upon me, and swore an oath that he would not strike another stroke on the work, for he would be slave to nobody, and thought himself now on a footing with myself. I was at first angry, but came at length to an agreement with him, to give him a four-pistole piece as soon as the stern and stern-posts were up, and 100 dollars when the bark was finished, and the money to be committed to the keeping of any one he chose to name. This being settled, he went to work upon the keel, which was to be thirty feet long; the breadth of our bark, by the beam, sixteen feet, and her hold seven feet deep. In two months we made a tolerable shew, owing in a great measure to the ingenuity of Poppleston, our armourer, who never lost a minute in working with his hands, or contriving in his head. He made us a small double-headed maul, hammers, chisels, and a sort of gimblets or wimbles, which performed very well. He even made a bullet-mould, and an instrument to bore cartouch-boxes, which he made from the trucks of our gun-carriages, covering them with seal-skins, and contrived to make them not only convenient, but neat. He contrived to execute any iron-work wanted by the carpenter, and even finished a large serviceable boat, of which we stood much in need.

In the beginning of this great work the people behaved themselves very well, half of them working regularly one day, and the other half the next, seeming every day to grow easier under our misfortunes. They treated me with as much respect as I could wish, and even in a body thanked me for the prospect of their deliverance; while I never failed to encourage them by telling them stories of the great things that had been accomplished by the united efforts of men in similar distresses. I always pressed them to stick close to the work, that we might get our bark ready in time; and told them that we fortunately had three of the best ports in Chili within 120 leagues of us. This inspired them with life and vigour, and they often declared that they would exert their utmost endeavours to finish her with all expedition. At last, however, we became a prey to faction, so that it was a miracle we ever got off from this place. For, after completing the most laborious part of the work, they entirely neglected it; and many of my officers, deserting my society, herded with the meanest of the ship's company. I was now convinced in a suspicion I had long entertained, that some black design was in embryo; for when I met any of my officers, and asked what they were about, and the reason of their acting so contrary to their duty, by diverting the people from their work, some used even to tell me they knew not whether they would leave the island or not, when my bundle of sticks was ready; that they cared not how matters went, for they could shift for themselves as well as the rest. When I spoke with the common men, some were surly, and others said they would be slaves no longer, but would do as the rest did. In the midst of these confusions, I ordered my son to secure my commission in some dry place among the woods or rocks, remembering how Captain Dampier had been served in these seas.

At length, I one afternoon missed all the people, except Mr Adamson the surgeon, Mr Hendric the agent, my son, and Mr Dodd, lieutenant of marines, which last feigned lunacy, for some reason best known to himself. I learnt at night that they had been all day assembled at the great tree, in deep consultation, and had framed a new set of regulations and articles, by which the owners in England were excluded from any share in what we might take for the future, divested me of all authority as captain, and regulated themselves according to the Jamaica discipline.[269] Even the chief officers, among the rest, had concurred in electing one Morphew to be their champion and speaker, who addressed the assembly to the following purport: "That they were now their own masters, and servants to none: and as Mr Shelvocke, their former captain, took upon him still to command, he ought to be informed, that whoever was now to be their commander, must be so through their own courtesy. However, that Mr Shelvocke might have the first offer of the command, if the majority thought fit, but not otherwise. That Mr Shelvocke carried himself too lofty and arbitrarily for the command of a privateer, and ought to have continued in men-of-war, where the people were obliged to bear all hardships quietly, whether right or wrong."

[Footnote 269: This expression is not explained, but seems to have been, according to the model of the Buccaneers, all prizes to be divided among the captors.--E.]

Some persons present, who had a regard for me, represented, "That they had never seen or known me treat any one unjustly or severely; and that however strict I might be, they had no one else to depend upon, and that they ought all to consider how many difficulties I had already brought them through. That, although they were not now in the hands of our enemies, no one could tell how soon others might come upon them: and, if they ever looked to get back to England, there was no other way but by going round the world, for which there was no one capable of undertaking the charge except Captain Shelvocke. They ought also to consider his commission, and the respect due to him on that account; besides the protection that would afford them, should they happen to fall into the hands of the Spaniards."