I HAD left the old pilot at Waigiou to take care of my house and
to get the prau into sailing order - to caulk her bottom, and to
look after the upper works, thatch, and ringing. When I returned
I found it nearly ready, and immediately began packing up and
preparing for the voyage. Our mainsail had formed one side of our
house, but the spanker and jib had been put away in the roof, and
on opening them to see if any repairs were wanted, to our horror
we found that some rats had made them their nest, and had gnawed
through them in twenty places. We had therefore to buy matting
and make new sails, and this delayed us till the 29th of
September, when we at length left Waigiou.
It took us four days before we could get clear of the land,
having to pass along narrow straits beset with reefs and shoals,
and full of strong currents, so that an unfavourable wind stopped
us altogether. One day, when nearly clear, a contrary tide and
head wind drove us ten miles back to our anchorage of the night
before. This delay made us afraid of running short of water if we
should be becalmed at sea, and we therefore determined, if
possible, to touch at the island where our men had been lost, and
which lay directly in our proper course. The wind was, however,
as usual, contrary, being S.S.W. instead of S.S.E., as it should
have been at this time of the year, and all we could do was to
reach the island of Gagie, where we came to an anchor by
moonlight under bare volcanic hills. In the morning we tried to
enter a deep bay, at the head of which some Galela fishermen told
us there was water, but a head-wind prevented us. For the reward
of a handkerchief, however, they took us to the place in their
boat, and we filled up our jars and bamboos. We then went round
to their camping-place on the north coast of the island to try
and buy something to eat, but could only get smoked turtle meat
as black and as hard as lumps of coal. A little further on there
was a plantation belonging to Guebe people, but under the care of
a Papuan slave, and the next morning we got some plantains and a
few vegetables in exchange for a handkerchief and some knives. On
leaving this place our anchor had got foul in some rock or sunken
log in very deep water, and after many unsuccessful attempts, we
were forced to cut our rattan cable and leave it behind us. We
had now only one anchor left.
Starting early, on the 4th of October, the same S.S.W wind
continued, and we began to fear that we should hardly clear the
southern point of Gilolo. The night of the 5th was squally, with
thunder, but after midnight it got tolerably fair, and we were
going along with a light wind arid looking out for the coast of
Gilolo, which we thought we must be nearing, when we heard a dull
roaring sound, like a heavy surf, behind us. In a short time the
roar increased, and we saw a white line of foam coming on, which
rapidly passed us without doing any harm, as our boat rose easily
over the wave. At short intervals, ten or a dozen others overtook
us with bleat rapidity, and then the sea became perfectly smooth,
as it was before. I concluded at once that these must be
earthquake waves; and on reference to the old voyagers we find
that these seas have been long subject to similar phenomena.
Dampier encountered them near Mysol and New Guinea, and describes
them as follows: "We found here very strange tides, that ran in
streams, making a great sea, and roaring so loud that we could
hear them before they came within a mile of us. The sea round
about them seemed all broken, and tossed the ship so that she
would not answer her helm. These ripplings commonly lasted ten or
twelve minutes, and then the sea became as still and smooth as a
millpond. We sounded often when in the midst of them, but found
no ground, neither could we perceive that they drove us any way.
We had in one night several of these tides, that came mostly from
the west, and the wind being from that quarter we commonly heard
them a long time before they came, and sometimes lowered our
topsails, thinking it was a gust of wind. They were of great
length, from north to south, but their breadth not exceeding 200
yards, and they drove a great pace. For though we had little wind
to move us, yet these world soon pass away, and leave the water
very smooth, and just before we encountered them we met a great
swell, but it did not break." Some time afterwards, I learnt that
an earthquake had been felt on the coast of Gilolo the very day
we had encountered these curious waves.
When daylight came, we saw the land of Gilolo a few miles off,
but the point was unfortunately a little to windward of us. We
tried to brace up all we could to round it, but as we approached
the shore we got into a strong current setting northward, which
carried us so rapidly with it that we found it necessary to stand
off again, in order to get out of its influence. Sometimes we
approached the point a little, and our hopes revived; then the
wind fell, and we drifted slowly away. Night found us in nearly
the same position as we had occupied in the morning, so we hung
down our anchor with about fifteen fathoms of cable to prevent
drifting. On the morning of the 7th we were however, a good way
up the coast, and we now thought our only chance would be to got
close in-shore, where there might be a return current, and we
could then row.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 88 of 109
Words from 89101 to 90140
of 111511
