[17] For instance, Ringrose (Dampier's companion in Sharp's voyage) writes under date of January 9th, 1681: “There was now a great rippling sea, rising very high. It is reported there is an enchanted island hereabouts, which some positively say they have sailed over.“
[18] The statements of Harris, who may be claimed as a contemporaneous authority, are interesting on this account. He writes, of course, without the prejudices of Dampier's sea-associates.
[19] “A Voyage Round the World, containing an account of Captain Dampier's expedition into the South Seas, 1703-4, with the Author's Voyage from Amapalla on the West Coast of Mexico to East India,” 1707.
[20] A Voyage Round the World by the way of the Great South Sea, by Captain George Shelvocke. Second Edition, 1757, p. 76. The whole description of his passage of the Horn, with his sketch of Staten Island, “covered with snow to the very wash of the sea,” is admirable.
[21] I should add, however, that on Selkirk repenting his rash decision, and requesting leave to return to his duty, Stradling refused to receive him on board.
[22] Norwood's Navigation, already referred to.
[23] This term “bark” is used generically by the old writers. Rigs were few, and vessels, it would seem, took their names from their dimensions, as galleon, carrack, galley, and the like. In our own times—and it has been so for a century and a half, at least—a craft is defined by her rig. Thus a vessel rigged as a ship would be called a ship though she were only fifty tons.
[24] “A Cruising Voyage Round the World: first to the South Seas, thence to the East Indies, and homewards by the Cape of Good Hope. Begun in 1708 and finished in 1711. Containing a Journal of all the Remarkable Transactions; particularly of the taking of Puna and Guayaquil, of the Acapulco ship, and other Prizes. An Account of Alexander Selkirk's living alone four years and four months on an Island; and a brief Description of several Countries in our Course noted for Trade, especially in the South Sea, etc.” By Captain Woodes Rogers, 1712.
[25] An Historical Account of all the Voyages Round the World, vol. i. 1773.
[26] But as a member of the committee he might also have claimed a right to participate in the dangers as well as in the commercial risks of the expedition.