We continued therefore for some time to navigate the Streight together, and as I had passed it before, I was ordered to keep a-head and lead the way, with liberty to anchor and weigh when I thought proper; but, perceiving that the bad sailing of the Swallow would so much retard the Dolphin as probably to make her lose the season for getting into high southern latitudes, and defeat the intention of the voyage, I proposed to Captain Wallis that he should lay the Swallow up in some cove or bay, and that I should attend and assist him with her boats till the Streight should be passed, which would probably be in much less time than if he continued to be retarded by my ship; and I urged, as an additional advantage, that he might complete, not only his stock of provisions and stores, but his company, out of her, and then send her back to England, with such of his crew as sickness had rendered unfit for the voyage: Proposing also, that in my way home I would examine the eastern coast of Patagonia, or attempt such other discoveries as he should think proper. If this was not approved, and my knowledge of the South Seas was thought necessary to the success of the voyage, I offered to go with him on board the Dolphin, and give up the Swallow to be commanded by his first lieutenant, whose duty I would perform during the rest of the voyage, or to make the voyage myself with only the Dolphin, if he would take the Swallow back to Europe; but Captain Wallis was still of opinion, that the voyage should be prosecuted by the two ships jointly, pursuant to the orders that had been given.
The Swallow was now become so foul, that with all the sail she could set, she could not make so much way as the Dolphin, with only her top-sails and a reef in them: We continued in company, however, till Friday the 10th of April, when the western entrance of the Straight was open, and the Great South Sea in sight. Hitherto I had, pursuant to my directions, kept a-head, but now the Dolphin being nearly a-breast of us, set her foresail, which soon carried her a-head of us; and before nine o'clock in the evening, as she shewed no lights, we lost sight of her. We had a fine eastern breeze, of which we made the best use we could during the night, carrying all our small sails even to the top-gallant studding sails, notwithstanding the danger to which it exposed us; but at day-break the next morning, we could but just see the Dolphin's top-sails above the horizon: we could perceive, however, that she had studding-sails set, and at nine o'clock we had entirely lost sight of her; we judged that she was then clear of the Straight's mouth, but we, who were still under the land, had but light and variable airs. From this time, I gave up all hope of seeing the Dolphin again till we should arrive in England, no plan of operation having been settled, nor any place of rendezvous appointed, as had been done from England to the Streight. I thought myself the more unfortunate in this separation, as no part of the woollen cloth, linen, beads, scissars, knives, and other cutlery-ware, and toys, which were intended for the use of both ships, and were so necessary to obtain refreshments from Indians, had, during the nine months we had sailed together, been put on board the Swallow, and as we were not provided either with a forge or iron, which many circumstances might render absolutely necessary to the preservation of the ship: I had the satisfaction, however, to see no marks of despondency among my people, whom I encouraged, by telling them, that although the Dolphin was the best ship, I did not doubt but that I should find more than equivalent advantages in their courage, ability, and good conduct.
At noon, this day, we were abreast of Cape Pillar, when, a gale springing up at S.W., we were obliged to take down our small sails, reef our top-sails, and haul close to the wind: Soon after it freshened to the W.S.W. blowing right in from the sea, and after making two boards, we had the mortification to find that we could not weather the land on either tack. It was now almost dark, the gale increased, driving before it a hollow swell, and a fog came on, with violent rain; we therefore got close under the south shore, and sent our boat a-head to find out Tuesday's Bay, which is said by Sir John Narborough to lie about four leagues within the Streight; or to find out any other place in which we might come to an anchor. At five o'clock, we could not see the land, notwithstanding its extreme height, though we were within less than half a mile of it, and at six, the thickness of the weather having rendered the night so dark that we could not see half the ship's length, I brought-to for the boat, and was indeed, with good reason, under great concern for her safety: We hoisted lights, and every now and then made a false fire, but still doubting whether they could be seen through the fog and rain, I fired a gun every half hour, and at last had the satisfaction to take her on board, though she had made no discovery, either of Tuesday's Bay, or any other anchoring-place. We made sail the rest of the night, endeavouring to keep near the south shore, and our ground to the westward as much as possible; and as soon as it was light the next morning, I sent the master again, out in the cutter, in search of an anchorage on the south shore. I waited in a state of the most painful suspense for her return, till five o'clock in the afternoon, fearing that we should be obliged to keep out in this dangerous pass another night, but I then saw her sounding a bay, and immediately stood in after her: In a short time the master came on board, and to our unspeakable comfort, reported that we might here come safely to an anchor; this, with the help of our boat, was effected about six o'clock, and I went down into my cabin to take some rest: I had, however, scarcely lain down, before I was alarmed with a universal shout and tumult among the people, all that were below running hastily upon the deck, and joining the clamour of those above: I instantly started up, imagining that a gust had forced the ship from her anchor, and that she was driving out of the bay, but when I came upon the deck, I heard the people cry out, The Dolphin! the Dolphin! in a transport of surprise and joy which appeared to be little short of distraction: A few minutes, however, convinced us, that what had been taken for a sail was nothing more than the water which had been forced up, and whirled about in the air, by one of the violent gusts that were continually coming off the high land, and which, through the haze, had a most deceitful appearance. The people were for a few minutes somewhat dejected by their disappointment, but before I went down, I had the pleasure to see their usual fortitude and cheerfulness return.
The little bay where we were now at anchor, lies about three leagues E. by S. from Cape Pillar: It is the first place which has any appearance of a bay within that Cape, and bears S. by E., about four leagues from the island which Sir John Narborough called Westminster Hall, from its resemblance to that building in a distant view. The western point of this bay makes a very remarkable appearance, being a perpendicular plane like the wall of a house. There are three islands about two cables' length within its entrance, and within those islands a very good harbour, with anchorage in between twenty-five and thirty fathom, with a bottom of soft mud. We anchored without the islands, the passage on each side of them being not more than one-fourth of a cable's length wide. Our little bay is about two cables' length broad, the points bearing east and west of each other: In the inner part there is from sixteen to eighteen fathom, but where we lay it is deeper; we had one anchor in seventeen fathom, and the other in forty-five, with great over-falls between them, and rocks in several places. Here we rode out a very hard gale, and the ground being extremely uneven, we expected our cables to be cut in two every minute, yet when we weighed, to our great surprise, they did not appear to have been rubbed in any part, though we found it very difficult to heave them clear of the rocks. The land round this bay and harbour is all high, and as the current sets continually into it, I doubt not but it has another communication with the sea to the south of Cape Deseada. The master said he went up it four miles in a boat, and could not then be above four miles from the Western Ocean, yet he still saw a wide entrance to the S.W. The landing is every where good, there is plenty of wood and water, and mussels and wild geese in abundance.
From the north shore of the western end of the Streight of Magellan, which lies in about latitude 52°1/2 S. to latitude 48°, the land which is the western coast of Patagonia runs nearly north and south, and consists wholly of broken islands, among which are those that Sharp has laid by the name of the Duke of York's Islands; he has indeed placed them at a considerable distance from the coast, but if there had been many islands in that situation, it is impossible but that the Dolphin, the Tamar, or the Swallow, must have seen them, as we ran near their supposed meridian, and so did the Dolphin and the Tamar the last voyage. Till we came into this latitude, we had tolerable weather, and little or no current in any direction, but when we came to the northward of 48°, we found a current setting strongly to the north, so that probably we then opened the great bay, which is said to be ninety leagues deep. We found here a vast swell from the N.W. and the winds generally blew from the same quarter; yet we were set every day twelve or fifteen miles to the northward of our account.
On Wednesday the 15th, at about four o'clock in the morning, after surmounting many dangers and difficulties, we once more got abreast of Cape Pillar, with a light breeze at S.E. and a great swell. Between five and six o'clock, just as we opened Cape Deseada, the wind suddenly shifted to S. and S. by W. and blew so hard that it was with great difficulty we could carry the reefed top-sails: The sudden changing of the wind, and its excessive violence, produced a sea so dreadfully hollow, that great quantities of water were thrown in upon our deck, so that we were in the utmost danger of foundering; yet we did not dare to shorten sail, it being necessary to carry all we could spread, in order to weather the rocky islands, which Sir John Narborough has called the Islands of Direction, for we could not now run back again into the Streight, without falling down among the broken land, and incurring the dangers of the northern shore, which was to leeward; towards this broken land, however, and lee-shore, the ship settled very fast, notwithstanding our utmost efforts: In this pressing emergency we were obliged to stave all the water-casks upon the deck, and between decks, to clear the vessel, and to make her carry better sail, and at length, happily escaped the danger which threatened us. After we got clear of those islands, and drew off from the Streight's mouth and the land, we found the sea run more regularly from the S.W. and the wind soon after coming from S.S.W. to S.S.E. we had by noon got a pretty good offing, about nine leagues from Cape Victory, which is on the north shore. Thus we cleared the western entrance of the Streight, which, in my opinion, is too dangerous for navigation; a deliverance which happened in the very crisis of our fate, for almost immediately afterwards, the wind came again to the S.W., and if it had continued in that quarter, our destruction would have been inevitable.
SECTION II.
The Passage from Cape Pillar, at the Western Entrance of the Streight of Magellan, to Masafuero; with some Account of that Island. I took my departure from Cape Pillar, which I make to lie in the latitude of 52°45'S., and in the longitude 75° 10'W. of the meridian of London, and as soon as I got clear of the streight, steered to the northward along the coast of Chili. Upon examining what quantity of fresh water we had now on board, I found that it amounted only to between four and five and twenty tons, which I thought not sufficient for so long a voyage as was probably before us; I therefore hauled to the northward, intending to make the island of Juan Fernandes, or Masafuero, that we might increase our stock before we sailed to the westward.
In the middle of the night of the 16th, we had the wind first to the S.S.E. and then to the S.E. with which we kept away N.W. and N.N.W. in high spirits, hoping that in a short time we should be in a more temperate climate: We had the misfortune, however, very soon to find ourselves disappointed, for on the 18th, the wind came to the N.N.W. and blew directly from the point upon which we were steering. We had now got about a hundred leagues from the streight's mouth; our latitude was 48°39'S., and we were, by account, 4°33'W. of Cape Pillar; but from this time, till the 8th of May, the wind continued unfavourable, and blew a continued storm, with sudden gusts still more violent, and much rain and hail, or rather fragments of half-melted ice: At intervals also we had thunder and lightning, more dreadful than all the past, and a sea which frequently laid the whole vessel under water.
From the time of our clearing the streight, and during our passage along this coast, we saw a great number of sea-birds, particularly albatrosses, gannets, sheerwaters, and a thick lumpish bird, about as big as a large pigeon, which the sailors call a Cape-of-Good-Hope hen: They are of a dark-brown or blackish colour, and are therefore sometimes called the black gull: We saw also a great many pintado birds, of nearly the same size, which are prettily spotted with black and white, and constantly on the wing, though they frequently appear as if they were walking upon the water, like the peterels, to which sailors have given the name of Mother Carey's chickens; and we saw also many of these.