Crabs are also found in great numbers, and can be had for the trouble of picking up; so that we made shift to fare pretty well during our stay here.
One of the islands to which we made several excursions, was known as Dead Man’s Island, from the fact that an encounter between the members of the crew of a Spanish ship, which was wrecked on the reef in the seventeenth century, resulted in the death of several of their number. The circumstances are these: the crew, after their vessel was stranded, made for this island, having saved provisions and other articles, amongst which was a chest of treasure. A dispute arising regarding the ownership of this treasure, from words they proceeded to blows and bloodshed, and some of them were sacrificed to their avaricious spirit. After the battle the defeated party were banished to another island, and the cause of strife was deposited for greater security on Square Island, where, tradition says, it still remains; and many have been induced by the rumor, incited by love of gain or adventure, to toil in hopes of its éclaircissement. To this day human bones are to be seen on the surface, and had there been as good evidence of the treasure as of the struggle, no doubt our Yankee inquisitiveness and acquisitiveness would have induced some of us to have made search for it.
I can imagine no more inhospitable locality for a ship’s company to be cast away than amongst these islands. They would be unable to find any material to erect a covering for protection from the weather, unless some portions of their vessel were cast ashore—the islands themselves supplying nothing of the kind. To be sure they might manage to eke out a subsistence from the birds and fish which are so abundant at certain periods of the year; but they would be unable to exist without water in the summer season, when, for months, no rain falls. The only place where we found any fresh water was on Middle Island; and it was a mere deposit of rain, in a well dug by the whaling party who formerly made it the scene of their fishing operations.
On the 27th of July we sent off two boats from each ship to erect a look-out on an island several miles to seaward of the ship. Whilst the boats were thus engaged the crews saw humpback whales, but forebore to meddle with them, supposing them to be the pioneers of the school said to frequent these islands, and wishing to do nothing at this early date to scare them from the haunts. On their return to the ship with this cheering intelligence, all was bustle and activity. The blubber-room was cleared out, useless casks were sent ashore, and every preparation was made to carry on whaling with the utmost spirit; but alas! for the vanity and frailty of human expectations, these were the sole and only representatives of their species that we had a sight at during our five weeks’ sojourn amongst the Abrolhas’. Things thus remained in statu quo until the 14th, when, as we began to send up spars and make preparations for our departure, the luminous idea struck somebody of sending one or more boats over to Champion Bay, to ascertain whether whales had been seen on the coast, and whether the Port Gregory whaling company had accomplished anything during the present season. In pursuance of this resolution a boat from each ship, provisioned for a week, was despatched to the main, under the conduct of the mates of the respective vessels. We started at 1 o’clock P.M. with a fair wind, and at nine the same evening made the main land, in the vicinity of a headland known as the Wizard’s Peak. In the opinion of our fourth mate, who had been here previously, we were too far to the northward, and, as the line of breakers presented no point where we could land, in pursuance of his suggestion we kept off to the southward, and continued running until midnight, when we anchored in fifteen fathoms of water, and endeavored to get some sleep; one of our number standing watch all through the night. At daybreak we resumed our course to the southward until about 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when we became convinced of the incapacity of our pilot, and thought it advisable to retrace our course to the northward; the wind being ahead, we had to pull in the teeth of wind and sea. At dark we again came to anchor in fourteen fathoms of water, and passed the night in the same manner as the preceding one. At daylight, seeing nothing of the entrance, the feasibility of a return to the ship was mooted, but as our supply of water had dwindled to a gallon in both boats, we were loath to adopt this measure, except as a dernier resort; but the wind, fortunately for us, having hauled during the night, we set sail, and at nine o’clock in the morning discovered the wished for haven within a few miles of the peak we had sighted the first night—a very fortunate conclusion to our misadventure. On reflection, we could now see the dangers of our late situation. Had a gale come on from the westward we could not possibly have escaped being driven on shore; and if it had come from the eastward, even provided our boats had not been swamped, we were without a supply of water, and must have perished from thirst before we could have reached the ship.
On our landing at Champion Bay we were met upon the beach by the three magistrates of the settlement, and a large proportion of the inhabitants, who anxiously inquired if we had been wrecked. On our answering in the negative, they inquired where we were from. On our again answering, the barques Pacific and Europa, at the Abrolhas’ Islands, they evidently regarded us with suspicion—thinking that we were either mutineers or deserters, who had fabricated this story for our own purposes; and I believe that, had they dared, or even had they thought themselves the strongest party, they would have clapped us all in limbo, until assured of the truth of the story we told. We heard whisperings as to our physical ability. The boats’ crews being picked men, they said, were a very rugged-looking set of fellows; and the fact of each man being provided with his belt and sheath-knife seemed a recommendation to their respect. Then, again, had there been any difficulty, the penal population, who are largely in the majority, would have readily joined the strangers, in hopes of being delivered by them from their penal servitude.
Our first queries were, as to whether whales had been seen in any numbers on the coast the present season. They stated, that, from some unknown cause, the whales’ food was not so plenty as it is during most years at this period. The meducæ, which exist in great quantities, or rather numbers, generally by their volume gave to the water a yellowish hue, but at present scarcely any indication of their existence was perceptible; therefore, although the whales had appeared as usual, they made but a short stay. The Port Gregory fishery had been fortunate enough, during their brief visit, to capture five of them—making quite a profitable season’s business. They took their last whale some weeks since—about the same time that we saw whales at the Abrolhas’; and I am persuaded that we were too late for the season.
On our informing them that there were no whales at the Abrolhas’ Islands, they professed much surprise, and would scarcely give credence to our intelligence; stating that, for years, every vessel which had passed these islands had borne testimony to the immense number of whales that frequented the waters around them.
Having now progressed up towards the settlement, we found it neatly situated, although the buildings, which number about sixty, were much scattered. The herbage appears luxuriant, and the soil fertile. Many of the settlers own immense flocks of sheep and herds of bullocks; but they deprecate the system of raising stock with a view to a pecuniary return: for in the immediate vicinity of the settlement there grew, I was assured, no less than sixteen varieties of vegetable poisons, which the cattle browse, and are soon afterwards affected by spasms that result in death.
A short distance from the settlement there is an extensive copper-mine, which is the means of affording employment to most of the inhabitants. The ore is said to be very rich, and is exported to England, whence several vessels were daily expected for freights of it. This article affords their only means of commerce with foreign countries: their supplies and wool coming through, and being shipped from, Freemantle, to and from which city cutters continually ply.
The wind being unfavorable for us to return to the ship, we made up our minds to enjoy life ashore, for a day or two, as well as circumstances would allow. So, in accordance with the decree of the clerk of the weather, we took up our quarters at the only public house in the place, and were soon deep in the discussion of a dinner, consisting for the most part of fresh mutton. We had brought with us several hams, which the habitues of the house preferred to the fresh meat. We therefore had them boiled, to their as well as our own satisfaction; for while they were engaged with the bacon, we were enabled to appropriate to our ourselves the lion’s share of the other edibles, which—as our appetites had been sharpened by between sixty and seventy hours’ exposure to the bracing sea-breeze, with a spice of hard pulling—we were fully competent to dispose of.