Life And Adventures Of Peter Wilkins, Vol. I. (of II.) Page 12

  CHAPTER VIII.

  How the author passed his time with Glanlepze--His acquaintance with some English prisoners--They project an escape--He joins them--They seize a Portuguese ship and get off.--Make a long run from land--Want water--They anchor at a desert island--The boat goes on shore for water--They lose their anchor in a storm--The author and one Adams drove to sea--A miraculous passage to a rock--Adams drowned there-- The author's miserable condition

  I passed my time with Glanlepze and his wife, who both really lovedme, with sufficient bodily quiet, for about two years: my businesswas chiefly, in company with my patron, to cultivate a spot of groundwherein we had planted grain and necessaries for the family; and once ortwice a week we went a fishing, and sometimes hunted and shot venison.These were our chief employments; for as to excursions for slaves, whichis a practice in many of those countries, and what the natives get moneyby, since our own slavery, Glanlepze and I could not endure it.

  Though I was tolerably easy in my external circumstances, yet my mindhankering after England made my life still: unhappy; and that infelicitydaily increased as I saw the less probability of attaining my desire. Atlength, hearing of some European sailors who were under confinement forcontraband trade at a Portuguese fort about two miles from Quamis, Iresolved to go to see them; and if any of them should be English, atleast to inquire after my native country. I went and found two Dutchmenwho had been sailors in British pay several years, three Scotchmen,an Irishman, and five Englishmen, but all had been long in Englishmerchants' service. They were taken, as they told me, by a Portuguesevessel, together with their ship, as a Dutch prize under pretence ofcontraband trade. The captain was known to be a Dutchman, though hespoke good English, and was then in English pay and his vessel English;therefore they would have it that he was a Dutch trader, and so seizedhis ship in the harbour, with the prisoners in it The captain, who wason shore with several of his men, was threatened to be laid in irons ifhe was taken, which obliged him and his men to abscond, and fly overlandto an English factory for assistance to recover his ship and cargo;being afraid to appear and claim it amongst so many enemies without anadditional force. They had been in confinement two months, and theirship confiscated and sold. In this miserable condition I left them, butreturned once or twice a week for a fortnight or three weeks to visitthem. These instances of regard, as they thought them, created someconfidence in me, so that they conversed with me very freely. Amongstother discourse, they told me one day that one of their crew who wentwith the captain had been taken ill on the way, and being unable toproceed, was returned; but as he talked good Portuguese, he was notsuspected to belong to them; and that he had been to visit them, andwould be there again that day. I had a mind to see him, so stayed longerthan I intended, and in about an hour's time he came. After he wasseated he asked who I was, and (privately) if I might be trusted. Beingsatisfied I might, for that I was a Cornish man, he began as follows,looking narrowly about to see he was not overheard: "My lads," says he,"be of good courage; I have hopes for you; be but men and we shall seebetter days yet." I wondered to what this preface tended, when he toldus that since his return from the captain, as he spoke good Portugueseand had sailed on board Portuguese traders several years, he mixed amongthat people, and particularly among the crew of the "Del Cruz," the shipwhich had taken them; that that ship had partly unloaded, and was takingin other goods for a future voyage; that he had informed himself oftheir strength, and that very seldom more than three men and two boyslay on board; that he had hired himself to the captain, and was to goon board the very next day. "Now," says he, "my lads, if you can breakprison any night after to-morrow, and come directly to the ship (tellingthem how she lay, for, says he, you cannot mistake, you will find twoor three boats moored in the gut against the church), I will be ready toreceive you, and we will get off with her in lieu of our ship they havetaken from us, for there is nothing ready to follow us."

  The prisoners listened to this discourse very attentively; but scratchedtheir heads, fearing the difficulty of it, and severer usage if theymiscarried, and made several objections; but at last they all swore toattempt it the night but one following. Upon which the sailor went awayto prepare for their reception on board. After he was gone, I surveyedhis scheme attentively in my own mind, and found it not so difficult asI first imagined, if the prisoners could but escape cleverly. So beforeI went away I told them I approved of their purpose; and as I was theircountryman, I was resolved, with their leaves, to risk my fortune withthem. At this they seemed much pleased, and all embraced me. We thenfixed the peremptory night, and I was to wait at the water-side and getthe boats in readiness.

  The prison they were in was a Portuguese fort, which had been desertedever since the building a much better on the other side of the river, agunshot lower. It was built with walls too thick for naked men to storm;the captives were securely locked up every night; and two soldiers,or sentinels, kept watch in an outer-room, who were relieved from themain-guard in the body of the building.

  The expected night arrived, and a little before midnight, as had beenconcerted, one of the prisoners cried out he was so parched up he was onfire, he was on fire! The sentinels were both asleep, but the first thatwaked called at the door to know what was the matter. The prisoner stillcrying out, "I am on fire!" the rest begged the sentinel to bring a bowlof water for him, for they knew not what ailed him.

  The good-natured fellow, without waking his companion, brought thewater, and having a lamp in the guard-room, opened the door; when theprisoners seizing his arms, and commanding him to silence, bound hishands behind him, and his feet together; then serving the other in thesame manner, who was now just awake, and taking from them their swordsand muskets, they made the best of their way over the fort wall; whichbeing built with buttresses on the inside was easily surmounted. Beinggot out, they were not long in finding me, who had before this time madethe boats ready and was impatiently waiting for them; so in we all gotand made good speed to the ship, where we were welcomed by our companionready to receive us.

  Under pretence of being a new-entered sailor, he had carried someMadeira wine on board, and treated the men and boys so freely that hehad thrown them into a dead sleep, which was a wise precaution. Therebeing now, therefore, no fear of disturbance or interruption, we drew upthe two boats and set all hands at work to put the ship under way; andplied it so closely, the wind favouring us, that by eleven o'clock thenext morning we were out of sight of land; but we set the men and boysadrift, in one of the boats, nigh the mouth of the river.

  The first thing we did after we had made a long run from shore was toconsult what course to steer. Now, as there was a valuable loading onboard of goods from Portugal and others taken in since, some gave theiropinion for sailing directly for India, selling the ship and cargo thereand returning by some English vessel; but that was rejected; for we didnot doubt but notice would be given of our escape along the coast, andif we should fall into the Portuguese's hands, we could expect no mercy;besides, we had not people sufficient for such an enterprise. Others,again, were for sailing the directest course for England; but I toldthem, as our opinions were different, and no time was to be lost, myadvice was to stretch southward till we might be quite out of fear ofpursuit, and then, whatever course we took, by keeping clear of allcoasts, we might hope to come safe off.

  My proposal seemed to please the whole crew; so crowding all the sailwe could, we pushed southwards very briskly before the wind for severaldays. We now went upon examining our stores, and found we had flourenough, plenty of fish and salt provisions, but were scant of water andwood; of the first whereof there was not half a ton, and but very littleof the latter. This made us very uneasy, and being none of us expert innavigation farther than the common working of the ship, and having nochart on board that might direct us to the nearest land, we were almostat our wits' end, and came to a short allowance of liquor. That we mustget water if we could was indisputable; but where to do it puz
zled us,as we had determined not to get in with the African shore on any accountwhatever.

  In this perplexity, and under the guidance of different opinions (forwe were all captains now), we sometimes steered eastward, and sometimeswestward, for about nine days, when we espied a little bluish cloud-likeappearance to the southwest; this continuing, we hoped it might be land,and therefore made to it. Upon our nearer approach we found it to be,as we judged, an island; but not knowing its name or whether it wasinhabited, we coasted round it two days to satisfy ourselves as to thislast particular. Seeing no living creature on it during that time, andthe shore being very broken, we came to an anchor about two miles fromit, and sent ten of our crew in our best boat with some casks to getwater and cut wood. The boat returned at night with six men and thecasks filled, having left four behind to go on with the cutting of woodagainst next day. Accordingly next morning the boat went off again andmade two turns with water and wood ere night, which was repeated for twoor three days after. On the sixth she went off for wood only, leavingnone but me and one John Adams on board.

  The boat had scarce reached the island this last turn before the dayovercast, and there arose such a storm of wind, thunder, lightning, andhail as I had never before seen. At last our cable broke close to theanchor, and away we went with the wind full southward by west; and nothaving strength to keep the ship upon a side wind, we were forced to sether head right before it and let her drive. Our hope was, every hour,the storm would abate; but it continued with equal violence for manydays, during all which time neither Adams nor I had any rest, for one orother of us was forced, and sometimes both, to keep her right before thewind, or she would certainly have overset. When the storm abated, as itdid by degrees, neither Adams nor I could tell where we were, or in whatpart of the world.

  I was sorry I had no better a sailor with me, for neither Adams normyself had ever made more than one voyage till now, so that we were bothunacquainted with the latitude, and scarce knew the use of the compassto any purpose; and being out of all hope of ever reaching the island toour companions, we neither knew which way to steer, nor what to do; andindeed had we known where we were, we two only could not have beenable to navigate the ship to any part we desired, or ever to get to theisland, unless such a wind as we had before would of itself have drivenus thither.

  Whilst we were considering, day after day, what to do, though the seawas now very calm and smooth, the ship seemed to sail at as great a rateas before, which we attributed to the velocity she had acquired bythe storm, or to currents that had set that way by the violence of thewinds. Contenting ourselves with this, we expected all soon to be rightagain; and as we had no prospect of ever seeing our companions, we keptthe best look-out we could to see for any vessel coming that coursewhich might take us in, and resolved to rest all our hopes upon that.

  When we had sailed a good while after this manner, we knew not whither,Adams called out, "I see land!" My heart leapt within me for joy, andwe hoped the current that seemed to carry us so fast set in for someislands or rivers that lay before us. But still we were exceedinglypuzzled at the ship's making such way, and the nearer we approached theland, which was now very visible, the more speed the ship made, thoughthere was no wind stirring. We had but just time to think on thisunexpected phenomenon, when we found that what we had taken for land wasa rock of an extraordinary height, to which, as we advanced nearer,the ship increased its motion, and all our strength could not make heranswer her rudder any other way. This put us under the apprehensionof being dashed to pieces immediately, and in less than half an hour Iverily thought my fears had not been groundless. Poor Adams told me hewould try when the ship struck if he could leap upon the rock, and ranto the head for that purpose; but I was so fearful of seeing my dangerthat I ran under hatches, resolving to sink in the ship. We had nosooner parted but I felt so violent a shock that I verily thought theship had brought down the whole rock upon her, and been thereby dashedto pieces, so that I never more expected to see the light.

  I lay under this terror for at least half an hour, waiting the ship'seither filling with water or bulging every moment. But finding neithermotion in her nor any water rise, nor the least noise whatsoever, Iventured with an aching heart from my retreat, and stole up the hatchwayas if an enemy had been on deck, peeping first one way then another.Here nothing presented but confusion, the rock hung over the hatchwayat about twenty feet above my head, our foremast lay by the board, themainmast yard-arm was down, and great part of the mainmast snappedoff with it, and almost everything upon deck was displaced. This sightshocked me extremely; and calling for Adams, in whom I hoped to findsome comfort, I was too soon convinced I had lost him.

  Wilkins thinks of destroying himself--His soliloquy--Strange accident inthe hold--His surprise--Cannot climb the rock--His method to sweeten hiswater--Lives many months on board---Ventures to sea in his boat severaltimes, and takes many fish--Almost overcome by an eel.