In The
Morning Of The 21st, We Saw The Unicorn A League And A Half Astern Of
Us, Having A Foresail And Spritsail Out, Which I Afterwards Perceived
Was For The Purpose Of Floating Her About Towards The Shore.
I
immediately caused our fore-courses to be made ready to float our ship
about after the Unicorn, though we had little hope of being able to
assist her in any thing, as the sea was become very rough.
While our men
were throwing loose the forecourse, there came so violent a gust, that
they were obliged to furl it again, otherwise it had been blown away.
After the gust was over, we set our foresail, and, to make her wear
better round, we brailed up our main-course, part of it being blown out
of the bolt rope before the men could furl it. After that was up, we put
our helm hard a-weather, thinking the ship would come round, but all in
vain, for our ship would not wear beyond two or three points, and then
came to again. The sea was now so much grown that we durst not let fall
our spritsail, and the wind so violent that we could not loosen our
fore-topsail; and by this time the Unicorn had gone out of sight.[280]
Finding we could not wear ship, we steered away as near as we could lie
S. by E. till noon, having by that time made a course S. by E. thirteen
leagues from the southermost island we had seen over night, which I
called the Morocco Saddle, or Saddle island, because of a high hill
having a deep swamp or hollow between two peaked tops. This Saddle
island is in lat. 21 deg. 45' N.[281] There are four or five small islands
close to its western side, and three on its eastern side. Besides which,
there are many other islands in different directions, some N.W. others
W.N.W. and W. by N. the southermost of all the islands in sight bearing
from Saddle island to the W. about fifteen leagues off.
[Footnote 280: It will be seen in the sequel that she was lost on the
coast of China, probably run on shore to save the men's lives from the
effects of the increasing leak. - E.]
[Footnote 281: The indicated latitude leads to one of the numerous
islands on the coast of China, at the month of the bay of Canton, about
the longitude of 113 deg. E. from Greenwich. - E.]
This afternoon our ship became very leaky, having suddenly four and a
half feet water in the hold, which kept both pumps going a long while
before we could free her. Towards evening, it pleased God that we
discovered three or four great leaks between wind and water; and after
our carpenters had stopped them, we had great comfort, as we could then
let the pumps stop half an hour, and afterwards free the ship in a
quarter of an hour. From this day, the 21st, at noon, till noon of the
22d, we made five leagues S.S.W. with a pair of courses, and nine
leagues S.W. by W. a-hull, having twenty-seven and a half f. in ooze. In
the afternoon of the 22d, the violence of the wind and waves began to
abate, and our ship became tighter, which plainly shewed that most of
our leaks were between wind and water, wherefore, on the first fair
weather, I caused our carpenters to search the ship's sides, where they
found and stopped many bad places, some a yard long, where the oakum was
all rotten in the seams.
The 24th, we had sight of a great island to the N. about seven leagues
off; having a high hill on its southern end, being the island formerly
mentioned as about fifteen leagues W. from Saddle island. From thence,
till the evening of the 26th, our course was S. by W. twenty-four
leagues, the depths increasing from nineteen to thirty-six f. on ooze.
We had here a small round island S.W. by N. two leagues off, nearly in
latitude 20 deg. 20' N.[282] This island has four small islands on its S.W.
side, but all of them considerably lower, for we saw this from the
distance of at least ten leagues, rising in the shape of a Chinese hat.
From hence, till noon of the 27th, our course was E. by N. two-thirds N.
twelve leagues. This morning at two o'clock the wind veered round to
S.S.E. and at noon was due S. From noon of the 27th, to noon of the
28th, we stood E.N.E. eighteen leagues, and had then almost forty-one f.
on ooze. Till noon of the 29th, we made other eighteen leagues E.N.E.
when we were in 21 deg. 10' N. To the 30th, at noon, other eighteen leagues
E.N.E. To noon of 1st July, our course was E.N.E. 1/2 N. twenty-two
leagues, our latitude being then 22 deg. 10' N. Here, from the topmast-head
we saw land N.N.W. 1/2 N. From noon this day, till seven p.m. we sailed
N.E. by N. six leagues. At six this evening we saw three Chinese
fishing-boats.
[Footnote 282: There must be a material error here, as the latitude in
the text would carry us back to the peninsula to the north of Hainan,
more than two degrees of longitude backwards. Indeed, the text seems
corrupted in many respects, even the bearings being extremely
suspicious. - E.]
This evening the wind came up at E.S.E. with which we stood to the
southwards; and having sprung our main topmast only a little before, we
could only bear a course and bonnet, and therefore made our way no
better than S.W. From noon of the 2d, till eight p.m. our way was S.
four leagues.
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