A New Voyage Round the World by a Course Never Sailed Before

by Daniel Defoe

sold it, since my return, forthree-and-fifty pounds.

  After taking this oyster, I ordered all our boats out a dredging, and intwo days' time so great a quantity there was, that our men had takenabove fifty bushels, most of them very large. But we were surprised anddisappointed, when, at the opening all those oysters, we found not onepearl, small or great, of any kind whatever, so we concluded that theother was a lucky hit only, and that perhaps there might not be any moreof that kind in these seas.

  While we were musing on the oddness of this accident, the boatswain ofthe Madagascar ship, whose boat's crew had brought in the great oysterin which the pearl was found, and who had been examining the matter,came and told me that it was true that their boat had brought in theoyster, and that it was before they went out a dredging in the offing,but that their boat took these oysters on the west side of the island,where they had been _shoring_, as they called it, that is to say,coasting along the shore, to see if they could find anything worth theirlabour, but that afterwards the boats went a dredging in the mouth ofthe bay where we rode, and where, finding good store of oysters, theyhad gone no farther.

  Upon this intelligence we ordered all hands to dredging again, on thewest side of the island. This was in a narrow channel, between thisisland and a little cluster of islands which we found together extendedwest, the channel where our men fished might be about a league over, orsomething better, and the water about five or seven fathoms deep.

  They came home well tired and ill pleased, having taken nothing near somany oysters, as before; but I was much better pleased, when, in openingthem, we found a hundred and fifty-eight pearls, of the most perfectcolour, and of extraordinary shape and size, besides double the numberof a less size, and irregular shape.

  This quickened our diligence, and encouraged our men, for I promisedthe men two pieces of eight to each man above his pay, if I got anyconsiderable quantity of pearl. Upon this they spread themselves amongthe islands, and fished for a whole week, and I got such a quantity ofpearl as made it very well worth our while; and, besides that, I hadreason to believe the men, at least the officers who went with them,concealed a considerable quantity among themselves; which, however, Idid not think fit to inquire very strictly after at that time.

  Had we been nearer home, and not at so very great an expense, as threeships, and so many men at victuals and wages, or had we been where wemight have left one of our vessels to fish, and have come to them again,we would not have given it over while there had been an oyster left inthe sea, or, at least, that we could come at: but as things stood, Iresolved to give it over, and put to sea.

  But when I was just giving orders, Captain Merlotte came to me, and toldme that all the officers in the three ships had joined together to makean humble petition to me, which was, that I would give them one day tofish for themselves; that the men had promised that, if I would consent,they would work for them gratis; and likewise, if they gained anythingconsiderable, they would account for as much out of their wages asshould defray the ships' expense, victuals, and wages, for the day.

  This was so small a request, that I readily consented to it, and toldthem I would give them three days, provided they were willing to givethe men a largess, as I had done, in proportion to their gain. This theyagreed to, and to work they went; but whether it was that the fellowsworked with a better will, or that the officers gave them more liquor,or that they found a new bank of oysters, which had not been found outbefore, but so it was, that the officers got as many pearls, and some ofextraordinary size and beauty, as they afterwards sold, when they cameto Peru, for three thousand two hundred and seventeen pieces of eight.

  When they had done this, I told them it was but right that, as they hadmade so good a purchase for themselves by the labour of the men, the menshould have the consideration which I had proposed to them. But now Iwould make another condition with them, that we would stay three daysmore, and whatever was caught in these three days should be shared amongthe men at the first port we came at, where they could be sold, that themen who had now been out so long might have something to buy clothes andliquors, without anticipating their wages; but then I made a conditionwith the men too, viz., that whatever was taken they should deposit itin my hands, and with the joint trust of three men of their ownchoosing, one out of each ship, and that we would sell the pearl, and Ishould divide the money among them equally, that so there might be noquarrelling or discontent, and that none of them should play any part ofit away. These engagements they all came willingly into, and away theywent a dredging, relieving one another punctually, so that in the threewhole days every man worked an equal share of hours with the rest.

  But the poor men had not so good luck for themselves as they had fortheir officers. However, they got a considerable quantity, and some veryfine ones; among the rest they had two in the exact shape of a pear, andvery exactly matched; and these they would needs make me a present of,because I had been so kind to them to make the proposal for them. Iwould have paid for them two hundred pieces of eight, but one and all,they would not be paid, and would certainly have been very much troubledif I had not accepted of them. And yet the success of the men was not sosmall but, joined with the two pieces of eight a man which I allowedthem on the ships' account, and the like allowance the officers madethem, and the produce of their own purchase, they divided afterwardsabout fifteen pieces of eight a man, which was a great encouragement tothem.

  Thus we spent in the whole, near three weeks here, and called these thePearl Islands, though we had given no names to any of the places before.We were the more surprised with this unexpected booty, because we allthought it very unusual to find pearl of so excellent a kind in such alatitude as that of 49 to 50 deg.; but it seems there are riches yet unknownin those parts of the world, where they have never been yet expected,and I have been told, by those who pretend to give a reason for it, thatif there was any land directly under the poles, either south or north,there would be found gold of a fineness more than double to any that wasever yet found in the world: and this is the reason, they say, why themagnetic influence directs to the poles, that being the centre of themost pure metals, and why the needle touched with the loadstone ormagnet always points to the north or south pole. But I do not recommendthis, as a certainty, because it is evident no demonstration could everbe arrived at, nor could any creature reach to that particular spot ofland under the pole, if such there should be, those lands beingsurrounded with mountains of snow and frozen seas, which never thaw, andare utterly impassable either for ships or men.

  But to return to our voyage; having thus spent as I have said, threeweeks on this unexpected expedition, we set sail, and as I was almostsatisfied with the discoveries we had made, I was for bending my coursedue east and so directly for the south part of America; but the windsnow blowing fresh from the north-west, and good weather, I took theoccasion as a favourable summons, to keep still on southing as well aseast till we came into the latitude of 56 deg., when our men, who had beenall along a warm weather voyage, began to be pinched very much with thecold, and particularly complained that they had no clothes sufficientfor it.

  But they were brought to be content by force; for the wind continuing atnorth and north-north-west, and blowing very hard, we were obliged tokeep on our course farther south, indeed, than I ever intended, and oneof the men swore we should be driven to the south pole. Indeed, werather ran afore it than kept our course, and in this run we sufferedthe extremest cold, though a northerly wind in those latitudes is thewarm wind, as a southerly is here; but it was attended with rain andsnow, and both freezing violently. At length one of our men cried out,Land, and our men began to rejoice; but I was quite of a differentopinion, and my fears were but too just, for as soon as ever he criedLand, and that I asked him in what quarter, and he answered due south,which was almost right ahead, I gave orders to wear the ship, and puther about immediately, not doubting but instead of land I should find ita mountain of ice, and so it was; and it was happy for us that we had astout shi
p under us, for it blew a fret of wind. However, the ship camevery well about, though when she filled again, we found the ice not halfa league distance under our stern.

  As I happened to be the headmost ship, I fired two guns to give noticeto our other vessels, for that was our signal to come about, but thatwhich was very uneasy to me, the weather was hazy, and they were bothout of sight; which was the first time that we lost one another in thoseseas; however, being both to windward, and within hearing of my guns,they took the warning, and came about with more leisure and less hazardthan I had done.

  I stood away now to the eastward, firing guns continually, that theymight know which way to follow; and they answered me duly, to let meknow that they heard me.

  It was our good fortune also, that it was day when we were so nearrunning into this danger. In the afternoon the wind abated, and theweather cleared up; we then called a council, and resolved to go nofarther south, being then in the latitude of 67 deg.