As we were utterly
ignorant of the coast, had we been driven ashore by the western winds,
which blew almost constantly there, we did not expect to have avoided the
loss of our ship and of our lives.
And this continued peril, which lasted for about a fortnight, was greatly
aggravated by the difficulties we found in working the ship; as the
scurvy had by this time destroyed so great a part of our hands, and had
in some degree affected almost the whole crew. Nor did we, as we hoped,
find the winds less violent as we advanced to the northward; for we had
often prodigious squalls, which split our sails, greatly damaged our
rigging, and endangered our masts.
CHAPTER 8.
JUAN FERNANDEZ--THE TRIAL REJOINS.
THE SEARCH FOR JUAN FERNANDEZ.
It were endless to recite minutely the various disasters, fatigues, and
terrors which we encountered on this coast; all these went on increasing
till the 22nd of May, at which time the fury of all the storms which we
had hitherto encountered seemed to be combined, and to have conspired our
destruction. In this hurricane almost all our sails were split, and great
part of our standing rigging broken; and, about eight in the evening, a
mountainous overgrown sea took us upon our starboard quarter, and gave us
so prodigious a shock that several of our shrouds broke with the jerk, by
which our masts were greatly endangered. Our ballast and stores, too,
were so strangely shifted that the ship heeled afterwards two streaks to
port.
Pages:
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61