The Four Great Guns, Which Usually
Stood Between Decks, Were Put Down Into The Hold, There Being Sixteen
Besides, Which
Was more than they now had men to manage, as there only
remained twenty-eight men and boys with Captain
Dampier, who were mostly
landsmen, a very insignificant force indeed with which to make war on a
whole nation.
SECTION II.
Sequel of the Voyage of William Funnell, after his Separation from
Captain Dampier.
We left the Gulf of Amapalla on the 1st February, 1705, where Captain
Dampier remained at anchor in the St George, having a fine gale of wind
at N.E. While in any of the harbours on the coast of Mexico, we were
seldom allowed any thing except flour, only that we used to go on shore,
and found on the rocks plenty of concks, oysters, muscles, and other
shell-fish, on which we made many a hearty meal. Being now bound, as we
hoped, for a land of plenty, we bore hunger and short commons with great
patience, of which we had much need, as our allowance was no more than
half a pound of coarse flour a day to each man, and two ounces of salt
meat every other day. Our vessel was a small bark of about seventy tons
with two masts, which we had taken from the Spaniards, which was so
eaten with worms while in the Gulf of Amapalla, that she already began
to grow very leaky. To add to our distress, we had no carpenter, neither
had we a doctor or any medicines, if any of us happened to fall sick,
and we had no boat to aid us if our vessel should fail. The carpenter,
doctor, and boat being all left with Captain Dampier. Yet, trusting to
God's providence, who had already delivered us out of so many dangers,
we proceeded on our voyage to India; and a bolder attempt was perhaps
never made by such a handful of men in so frail a bark, and nothing but
our anxious desire to revisit our native country could have supported us
under all the difficulties and dangers of this extensive voyage.
The prospect of our difficulties gave us spirit and resolution to
provide against them; and in a council, which we held on this occasion,
we determined on the course we were to pursue, and the allowance of
provisions during the course. We knew the wind we now had was merely a
land breeze, and that by running 100 leagues out to sea we should fall
in with the regular trade-wind, which blows always N.E. or E.N.E. our
first purpose was, therefore, to get into the latitude of 13 deg. N. which
is that of Guam, and then to bear away before the wind in that parallel.
This resolution was formed on the 2d February, all which day and most of
the ensuing night we had fine calm weather, and caught abundance of
yellow-tails, which swam about the vessel.
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