A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13

by Robert Kerr

[Footnote 83: It is almost superfluous to tell any reader now that the animal mentioned is the kangaroo, of which specimens are to be seen in nearly every travelling collection of wild beasts.--E.]

After the ship was hauled ashore, all the water that came into her of course went backwards; so that although she was dry forwards, she had nine feet water abaft: As in this part therefore her bottom could not be examined on the inside, I took the advantage of the tide being out this evening to get the master and two of the men to go under her, and examine her whole larboard side without. They found the sheathing gone about the floor-heads abreast of the main-mast, and part of a plank a little damaged; but all agreed that she had received no other material injury. The loss of her sheathing alone was a great misfortune, as the worm would now be let into her bottom, which might expose us to great inconvenience and danger; but as I knew no remedy for the mischief but heaving her down, which would be a work of immense labour and long time, if practicable at all in our present situation, I was obliged to be content. The carpenters however continued to work under her bottom in the evening till they were prevented by the tide; the morning tide did not ebb out far enough to permit them to work at all, for we had only one tolerable high and low tide in four-and-twenty hours, as indeed we had experienced when we lay upon the rock. The position of the ship, which threw the water in her abaft, was very near depriving the world of all the knowledge which Mr Banks had endured so much labour, and so many risks, to procure; for he had removed the curious collection of plants which he made during the whole voyage into the bread-room, which lies in the after-part of the ship, as a place of the greatest security; and nobody having thought of the danger to which laying her head so much higher than the stem would expose them, they were this day found under water. Most of them however were, by indefatigable care and attention, restored to a state of preservation, but some were entirely spoilt and destroyed.

The 25th was employed in filling water and overhauling the rigging, and at low-water the carpenters finished the repairs under the larboard bow, and every other place which the tide would permit them to come at; some casks were then lashed under her bows to facilitate her floating, and at night, when it was high water, we endeavoured to heave her off, but without success, for some of the casks that were lashed to her gave way.

The morning of the 26th was employed in getting more casks ready for the same purpose, and in the afternoon we lashed no less than eight-and-thirty under the ship's bottom, but to our great mortification these also proved ineffectual, and we found ourselves reduced to the necessity of waiting till the next spring-tide.

This day some of our gentlemen who had made an excursion into the woods, brought home the leaves of a plant which was thought to be the same that in the West Indies is called coccos; but upon trial the roots proved too acrid to be eaten; the leaves, however, were little inferior to spinnage. In the place where these plants were gathered, grew plenty of the cabbage trees which have occasionally been mentioned before, a kind of wild plantain, the fruit of which was so full of stones as scarcely to be eatable; another fruit was also found about the size of a small golden pippin, but flatter, and of a deep purple colour: When first gathered from the tree, it was very hard and disagreeable, but after being kept a few days became soft, and tasted very much like an indifferent damascene.

The next morning we began to move some of the weight from the after-part of the ship forward, to ease her; in the mean time the armourer continued to work at the forge, the carpenter was busy in caulking the ship, and the men employed in filling water and overhauling the rigging: In the forenoon, I went myself in the pinnace up the harbour, and made several hauls with the seine, but caught only between twenty and thirty fish, which were given to the sick and convalescent.

On the 28th, Mr Banks went with some of the seamen up the country, to shew them the plant which in the West Indies is called Indian kale, and which served us for greens. Tupia had much meliorated the root of the coccos, by giving them a long dressing in his country oven, but they were so small that we did not think them an object for the ship. In their walk they found one tree which had been notched for the convenience of climbing it, in the same manner with those, we had seen in Botany Bay: They saw also many nests of white ants, which resemble those of the East Indies, the most pernicious insects in the world. The nests were of a pyramidical figure, from a few inches to six feet high, and very much resembled the stones in England, which are said to be monuments of the Druids. Mr Gore who was also this day four or five miles up the country, reported that he had seen the footsteps of men, and tracked animals of three or four different sorts, but had not been fortunate enough to see either man or beast.

At two o'clock in the morning of the 20th, I observed, in conjunction with Mr Green, an emersion of Jupiter's first satellite; the time here was 2h 18' 53", which gave the longitude of this place 214° 42' 30" W.; its latitude is 15° 26' S. At break of day, I sent the boat out again with the seine, and in the afternoon it returned with as much fish as enabled me to give every man a pound and a half. One of my midshipmen, an American, who was this day abroad with his gun, reported that he had seen a wolf, exactly like those which he had been used to see in his own country, and that he had shot at it, but did not kill it.

The next morning, encouraged by the success of the day before, I sent the boat again to haul the seine, and another party to gather greens: I sent also some of the young gentlemen to take a plan of the harbour, and went myself upon a hill, which lies over the south point, to take a view of the sea. At this time it was low water, and I saw, with great concern, innumerable sand-banks and shoals lying all along the coast in every direction. The innermost lay about three or four miles from the shore, the outermost extended as far as I could see with my glass, and many of them did but just rise above water. There was some appearance of a passage to the northward, and I had no hope of getting clear but in that direction, for as the wind blows constantly from the S.E., it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to return back to the southward.

Mr Gore reported that he had this day seen two animals like dogs, of a straw colour, that they ran like a hare, and were about the same size. In the afternoon, the people returned from hauling the seine, with still better success than before, for I was now able to distribute two pounds and an half to each man: The greens that had been gathered I ordered to be boiled among the peas, and they made an excellent mess, which, with copious supplies of fish, afforded us unspeakable refreshment.