All This Stir And
Apprehension, As We Afterwards Found, Arose From One Poor Man, Who
Passed In Our Imaginations For
A Spanish garrison, a body of Frenchmen,
or a crew of pirates, and it is incredible what strange notions some
Of
our people entertained about this light; yet it served to show their
tempers and spirits, and enabled us to guess how our men would behave,
in case there really were enemies on the island.
[Footnote 219: Juan Fernandez is in lat 33 deg. 40' S. long. 79 deg. W. Massa
Faera, in the same latitude, is in long. 80 deg. 50' W. from Greenwich. - E.]
While under these apprehensions, we stood to the back of the island in
order to fall in with the southerly wind, till we were past the island.
We then stood back for it again, and ran close aboard the land that
begins to form its N.E. side. The flaws came heavy off the land, and we
were forced to reef our top-sails when we opened the middle bay, where
we expected to have found our enemy, but saw all clear, and no ships
either there or in the other bay near the N.E. end. These are the only
bays in which ships can ride that come here for refreshments, the middle
one being the best. We now conjectured that there had been ships here,
but that they had gone away on seeing us. About noon of the 2d February,
we sent our yawl on shore, in which was Captain Dover, Mr Fry, and six
men, all armed; and in the mean time we and the Duchess kept turning in,
and such heavy squalls came off the land that we had to let fly our
top-sail sheets, keeping all hands to stand by our sails, lest the winds
should blow them away.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 559 of 825
Words from 151690 to 152000
of 224764
