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

by Daniel Defoe

so dear to me as I had expected, for the pay ofthe men amounted to no more than the sum following, viz.--

  To the lieutenant, now made captain L1000

  To the midshipmen, now made lieutenants, each 500_l._ 1000

  To fifty men, each 100_l._ 5000

  To the surgeon 200_l._, and his servant100_l._, over and above their 100_l._as being part of the fifty men 300 ----- L7300

  Having pitched upon the men, I landed them, and made them encamp onshore; but, first of all, I made them every one make wills or letters ofattorney, or other dispositions, of their effects to such persons asthey thought fit, with an account under their hands, endorsed on theback of the said wills, &c., intimating what chests or cases or otherthings they had on board, and what was in them, and what pay was due tothem; and those chests, &c., were sealed up before their faces with myseal, and writings signed by me, the contents unknown. Thus they weresecure that all they had left in the ships, and all that was due tothem, should be punctually and carefully kept and delivered as it wasdesigned and directed by themselves, and this was greatly to theirsatisfaction.

  As to the reward of one hundred pounds a man, and the articles aboutkeeping together, obeying orders, gathering up gold, and the like, I didnot read to them till they were all on shore, and till I was ready toleave them; because, if the rest of the men had heard it, I should havekept nobody with me to have sailed the ships.

  There was as stout a company of bold, young brisk fellows of them, asever went upon any expedition, fifty-three in number; among them asurgeon and his mate, very skilful and honest men both of them, atrumpeter and a drummer, three ship-carpenters, a cook, who was also abutcher by trade, and a barber, two shoemakers who had been soldiersamong the pirates, a smith, and a tailor of the same, so that theywanted no mechanics, whatever might happen to them.

  Give the fellows their due, they took but little baggage with them; but,however, what they had, I took care, with the assistance of my patron,the Spaniard, should be as much carried for them as possible.

  I provided them three large tents made of a cotton stuff, which I boughtin the country, and which we made up on board, which tents were largeenough to cover them all, in case of rain or heat; but as for beds orbedding, they had only seven hammocks, in case any man was sick; for therest, they were to shift as well as they could; the season was hot, andthe climate good. Their way lay in the latitude of 40 to 50 deg., and theyset out in the latter end of the month of October, which, on that sideof the line, is the same as our April; so that the covering was more tokeep them from the heat than the cold.

  It was needful, in order to their defence, to furnish them with arms andammunition; so I gave to every man a musket or fuzee, a pistol, and asword, with cartouches and a good stock of ammunition, powder and shot,with three small barrels of fine powder for store, and lead inproportion; and these things were, indeed, the heaviest part of theirbaggage, excepting the carpenters' tools and the surgeon's box ofmedicines.

  As for the carrying all these things, they might easily furnishthemselves with mules or horses for carriage, while they had money topay for them, and you may judge how that could be wanting, by what hasbeen said of the country.

  We gave them, however, a good large pack of European goods, to makeagreeable presents where they received favours; such as black baize,pieces of say, serge, calamanco, drugget, hats and stockings; notforgetting another pack of hatchets, knives, scissors, beads, toys, andsuch things, to please the natives of the plain country, if they shouldmeet with any.

  They desired a few hand granadoes, and we gave them about a dozen; but,as they were heavy, it would have been very troublesome to have carriedmore.

  The Spaniard stayed till all this was done, and till the men were readyto march, and then told us privately, that it would not be proper forhim to march along with them, or to appear openly to countenance theenterprise; that my two lieutenants knew the way perfectly well; andthat he would go before to his own house, and they should hear of him bythe way.

  All the mules and horses which he had lent us to bring us back he leftwith them to carry their baggage, and our new captain had bought sixmore privately in the country.

  The last instructions I gave to our men were, that they should make thebest of their way over the country beyond the mountains; that theyshould take the exact distances of places, and keep a journal of theirmarch, set up crosses and marks at all proper stations; and that theyshould steer their course as near as they could between the latitude of40 deg., where they would enter the country, and the latitude of 45 deg. south,so that they would go an east-south-east course most of the way, andthat wherever they made the shore they should seek for a creek or portwhere the ships might come to an anchor, and look out night and day forthe ships; the signals also were agreed on, and they had two dozen ofrockets to throw up if they discovered us at sea; they had all necessaryinstruments for observation also, and perspective glasses, pocketcompasses, &c., and thus they set out, October 24th, 1715.

  We stayed five days after they began their march, by agreement, that ifany opposition should be offered them in the country, or any umbragetaken at their design, so that it could not be executed, we might havenotice. But as the Spaniards in the country, who are the most supinelynegligent people in the world, had not the least shadow of intelligence,and took them only to be French seamen belonging to the two French ships(such we past for) who had lain there so long, they knew nothing whenthey went away, much less whither; but, no question, they believed thatthey were all gone aboard again.

  We stayed three days longer than we appointed, and hearing nothing amissfrom them, we were satisfied that all was right with them; so we put tosea, standing off to the west, till we were out of sight of the shore,and then we stood away due south, with a fresh gale atnorth-west-by-west, and fair weather, though the wind chopped about soonafter, and we had calms and hot weather that did us no good, but madeour men sick and lazy.

  The supposed journey of our travellers, their march, and the adventuresthey should meet with by the way, were, indeed, sufficient diversion,and employed us all with discourse, as well in the great cabin androundhouse as afore the mast, and wagers were very rife among us, whoshould come first to the shore of Patagonia, for so we called it.

  As for the place, neither they nor we could make any guess at what partof the country they should make the sea; but, as for us, we resolved tomake the port St. Julian our first place to put in at, which is in thelatitude of 50 deg. 5' and that then, as wind and weather would permit, wewould keep the coast as near as we could, till we came to Punta de St.Helena, where we would ride for some time, and, if possible, till weheard of them.

  We had but a cross voyage to the mouth of the Straits of Magellan,having contrary winds, as I have said, and sometimes bad weather; sothat it was the 13th of December when we made an observation, and foundourselves in the latitude of 52 deg. 30', which is just the height of CapeVictoria, at the mouth of the passage.

  Some of our officers were very much for passing the Straits, and notgoing about by Cape Horn; but the uncertainty of the winds in thepassage, the danger of the currents, &c., made it by no meansadvisable, so we resolved to keep good sea-room.

  The 25th of December, we found ourselves in the latitude of 62 deg. 30', andbeing Christmas-day, I feasted the men, and drank the health of ourtravellers. Our course was south-east-by-south, the wind south-west;then we changed our course, and went east for eight days, and havingchanged our course, stood away, without observation, east-north-east,and in two days more, made the land, on the east of the Strait de laMare, so that we were obliged to stand away east-south-east to take moresea-room, when the wind veering to the south-by-east, a fresh gale, westood boldly away due north, and running large, soon found that we wereentered into the North Sea on Twelfth Day; for joy of which, and
tocelebrate the day, I gave every mess a piece of English beef, and apiece of Chilian pork, and made a great bowl of punch afore the mast, aswell as in the great cabin, which made our men very cheerful, andinstead of a twelfth cake, I gave the cook order to make every mess agood plum-pudding, which pleased them all as well.

  But while we were at our liquor and merry, the wind came about to thenorth-east and blew very hard, threatening us with a storm, and as theshore lay on our leeward quarter, we were not without apprehensions ofbeing driven on some dangerous places, where we could have no shelter; Iimmediately therefore altered my course, and ran away east all night, tohave as much sea-room as possible.

  The next day the wind abated, and hauling away to the east, we stoodnorthward again, and then north-west in three days more, and we madeland, which appeared to be the head island of Port St. Julian, on thenorth side of the port, where we ran in, and about an hour before sunsetcame to an anchor in eleven fathom good holding ground, latitude 49 deg.18'.

  We wanted fresh water, otherwise we would not have made any stay here,for we knew we were a little too far to the south; however, we wereobliged to fill fresh water here for three days together, thewatering-place being a good way up the river, and the swell of the searunning very high.

  During this interval, Captain Merlotte and I went on shore with aboutthirty men, and marched up the country near twenty miles, getting up tothe top of the hills, where we made fires, and at the farthest hill weencamped all night, and threw up five rockets, which was our signal; butwe saw nothing to answer it, nor any sign either of English people ornatives in all the country.

  We saw a noble champaign country, the plains all smooth, and coveredwith grass like Salisbury Plain; very little wood to be seen anywhere,insomuch that we could not get any thing but grass to make a smoke with,which was another of our signals.

  We shot some fowls here, and five or six hares; the hares are as largeas an English fox, and burrow in the earth like a rabbit. The fowls weshot were duck and mallard, teal and widgeon, the same as in England inshape and size, only the colour generally grey, with white in thebreast, and green heads; the flesh the same as ours, and very good.

  We saw wild geese and wild swans, but shot none; we saw also guinacoes,or Peruvian sheep, as big as small mules, but could not get at them; foras soon as we stepped toward them, they would call to one another, togive notice of us, and then troop altogether and be gone.

  This is an excellent country for feeding and breeding of sheep andhorses, the grass being short, but very sweet and good on the plains,and very long and rich near the fresh rivers, and were it cultivated andstocked with cattle, would without doubt produce excellent kinds of allsorts of cattle; nor could it fail producing excellent corn, as wellwheat as barley and oats; and as for peas, they grow wild all over thecountry, and nourish an infinite number of birds resembling pigeons,which fly in flights so great, that they seem in the air like clouds ata great distance.

  As for the soil, that of the hills is gravel, and some stony; but thatof the plains is a light black mould, and in some places a rich loam,and some marl, all of which are tokens of fruitfulness, such as indeednever fail.

  The 14th of January (the weather being hot, and days long, for this wastheir July), we weighed and stood northerly along the shore, the coastrunning from Port St. Julian north-north-east, until we arrived at thefamous islands called Penguin Islands; and here we came to an anchoragain, in the same round bay which Sir John Narborough called PortDesire, it being the 17th of January.

  Here we found a post or cross, erected by Sir John Narborough, with aplate of copper nailed to it, and an inscription, signifying that he hadtaken possession of that country in the name of Charles the Second.

  Our men raised a shout for joy that they were in their own king'sdominions, or as they said, in their own country; and indeed, exceptingthat it was not inhabited by Englishmen, and cultivated, planted, andenclosed after the English manner, I never saw a country so much likeEngland.

  Here we victualled our ships with a new kind of food, for we loadedourselves with seals, of which here are an infinite number, and which wesalted and ate, and our men liked them wonderfully for awhile, but theysoon began to grow weary of them; also the penguins are a very wholesomediet, and very pleasant, especially when a little salted; and as forsalt, we could have loaded our ships with it, being very good and white,made by the sun, and found in standing ponds of salt water, near theshore.

  The penguins are so easily killed, and are found in such vast multitudeson that island (which for that reason is so called), that our men loadedthe long-boat with them twice in one day, and we reckoned there were noless than seven thousand in the boat each time.

  Here we travelled up into the country in search of our men, and made oursignals, but had no answer to them, nor heard any intelligence of them.We saw some people here at a distance, scattering about; but they werebut few, nor would they be brought by any means to converse with us, orcome near us.

  We spread ourselves over the country far and wide; and here we shothares and wild-fowl again in abundance, the country being much the sameas before, but something more bushy, and here and there a few trees, butthey were a great way off. There is a large river which empties itselfinto this bay.

  Finding no news here of our men, I ordered the Madagascar ship to weighand stand farther north, keeping as near the shore as he might withsafety, and causing his men to look out for the signals, which, if theydiscovered, they should give us notice by firing three guns.

  They sailed the height of Cape Blanco, where the land falling back,makes a deep bay, and the sea receives into it a great river at severalmouths, some of them twenty leagues from the other, all farther north.Here they stood into the bay until they made the land again; for at thefirst opening of the bay they could not see the bottom of it, the landlying very low.

  The captain was doubtful what he should do upon the appearance of solarge a bay, and was loath to stand farther in, lest the land, pushingout into the sea again afterwards, and a gale springing up from theseaward, they might be shut into a bay where they had no knowledge ofthe ground; and upon this caution, they resolved among themselves tocome to an anchor for that evening, and to put farther out to sea thenext morning.

  Accordingly the next morning he weighed and stood off to sea; but theweather being very fine, and the little wind that blew beingsouth-west-by-south, he ventured to stand in for the shore, where hefound two or three small creeks, and one large river; and sending in hisshallop to sound, and find out a good place to ride in, upon theirmaking the signal to him that they had found such a place, he stood in,and came to an anchor in eleven fathom good ground, half a league fromthe shore, and well defended from the northerly and easterly winds,which were the winds we had any reason to fear.

  Having thus brought his ship to an anchor, he sent his shallop along theshore to give me an account of it, and desire me to come up to him,which accordingly we did; and here we resolved to ride for some time, inhopes to hear from our little army.

  We went on shore, some or other of us, every day, and especially whenfive of our men, going on shore on the north side of the river, had shotthree Peruvian sheep and a black wild bull; for after that they rangedthe country far and near to find more, but could never come within shotof them, except three bulls and a cow, which they killed after a longand tedious chase.

  We lay here till the 16th of February, without any news of ourtravellers, as I called them. All the hopes we had was, that five of ourmen asking my leave to travel, swore to me they would go quite up to theAndes but they would find them; nay, they would go to the Spanishgentleman himself, if they did not hear of them; and obliged me to staytwenty days for them, and no longer. This I readily promised, andgiving them everything they asked, and two Peruvian sheep to carry theirammunition, with two dozen of rockets for signals, a speaking trumpet,and a good perspective glass, away they went; and from them we had yetheard no news, so that was our present hope.

&nbs
p; They travelled, as they afterwards gave an account, one hundred andtwenty miles up the country, till they were at last forced to resolve tokill one of their guinacoes, or sheep, to satisfy their hunger, whichwas a great grief to them, for their luggage was heavy to carry; but, Isay, they only resolved on it, for just as they were going to do it, oneof them roused a deer with a fawn, and, by great good luck shot themboth; for, having killed the doe, the fawn stood still by her till hehad loaded his piece again, and shot that also.

  This supplied them for four or five days plentifully, and the last dayone of my men being by the bank of the river (for they kept as near theriver as they could, in hopes to hear of them that way), saw somethingblack come driving down the stream; he could not reach it, but callingone of his fellows, their curiosity was such, that the other, being agood swimmer, stripped and put off to it, and, when he came to it, hefound it was a man's hat; this made them conclude their fellows were notfar off, and that they were coming by water.

  Upon this, they made to the first rising ground they could come at, andthere they encamped, and at night fired some rockets, and after thethird rocket was fired, they, to their great joy, saw two rockets riseup from the westward, and soon after that a third; and in two days morethey all joyfully met.

  We had been here, as I have said, impatiently expecting them a greatwhile; but, at last, the man at the main-top, who was ordered to lookout, called aloud to us below, that he saw a flash of fire; andimmediately, the men looking to landward, they saw two rockets rise upin the air at a great distance, which we answered by firing threerockets again, and they returned by one rocket, to signify that they sawour men's signal.

  This was a joyful exchange of distant language to both sides; but I wasnot there, for, being impatient, I had put out and sailed about tenleagues farther; but our ship fired three guns to give me notice, which,however, we heard not, and yet we knew they fired too; for, it being inthe night, our men, who were very attentive with their eyes, as well asears, saw plainly the three