In The Mean While They Suffered Much
From Cold, In So Much That They Lost Above An Hundred Men, Among Whom
Was Captain Buckholt, Who Was Succeeded By Baltazar De Cordes.
Storms
were so frequent and violent during this time, that the ships could not
ride quietly at anchor, and the seamen were forced to be continually at
work to keep them right.
They were also forced to go often on shore, in
rain, snow, and hail, to get in fresh water, wood, muscles, and such
other food as they could find, by which they were greatly fatigued. The
scarcity of victuals was so great, and the climate so severe, that they
were almost starved with hunger and cold, and their appetites so
insatiable, that they devoured roots or any thing else they could find,
raw and uncooked. Most of the seamen had no watch-coats or other warm
cloathing, to enable them to support the fatigue of watching and their
daily labour, having made no provision of such things, as they believed
themselves bound to warm climes. To remedy this evil, the general
ordered cloth to be distributed among them.
[Footnote 86: In Harris these are erroneously called Pimento, but they
must have been the Wintera aromatica. The Pimento, or Myrtus
Pimenta, is a native of the warm regions of America and the West India
islands, producing Pimento, All-spice, or Jamaica pepper. - E.]
[Footnote 87: This date, here anticipated, refers to the day when they
afterwards set sail. - E.]
It was found that many of the seamen, when at their meals, were in use
to sell their victuals to others at high prices, and afterwards
satisfied their hunger with raw muscles and green herbs, which
occasioned them to fall into dropsies and other lingering sickness, of
which several died: For this reason, the captains and other officers
were ordered to be present at all their meals, to see and oblige them to
eat their allowances.
The 7th May the vice-admiral was sent, with two boats, to an island
opposite Great bay, to catch sea-dogs.[88] He found there seven small
boats or canoes, with savages on board, who were of a reddish colour
with long hair, and, as well as he could observe, seemed ten or eleven
feet high. On seeing the Dutch boats, the savages went on shore and
threw many stones at the Dutch, so that they did not venture to land.
The savages then took courage, and came towards them in their canoes;
and coming within musket-shot, the vice-admiral made his men give them a
general discharge, by which four or five of the savages were slain, and
the rest so frightened that they escaped again on shore. They then
pulled up some trees, which appeared afar off to be a span thick; but
the vice-admiral chose to let them alone, and returned to the ships. The
26th of May, as some seamen were on shore, looking for muscles, roots,
and herbs, and were dispersed, expecting no danger, a number of savages
fell upon them suddenly, killed three of them, whom they tore in pieces,
and wounded two, who were rescued by the admiral.
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