Chapter XV: Section I

_Narrative of the Voyage from England to the Pacific_.

The larger ship of this little squadron was named the Desire, of 140 tons burden, and the lesser the Content of 60 tons, to which was added a bark of 40 tons, called the Hugh Gallant, all supplied at his own expence with two years provisions, and manned with 123 officers and men, most of them men of experience, and some of whom had served under Sir Francis Drake. For their better encouragement, he entered into a fair agreement with them, with respect to the proportions in which all prizes should be shared among them. He was likewise careful in providing maps, sea charts, and draughts, and all such accounts as could be procured of voyages already made into those parts which he intended to visit. Likewise, by means of his patron, Lord Hansdon, the lord-chamberlain, he procured a commission from Queen Elizabeth.

Having thus completed his preparations, he set out from London on the 10th July, 1586, for Harwich, where he embarked in the Desire, and sailed thence for Plymouth, where he arrived on the 18th, and waited there for some of his company till the 21st of that month, when he hoisted sail on his intended voyage. On the 25th of that month, one Mr. Hope died, of a wound received in a duel, during their stay at Plymouth. Next day, they fell in with five ships of Biscay, well manned, coming, as they supposed, from the great bank of Newfoundland, which attacked the Desire; but Mr. Candish gave them so warm a reception, that they were glad to sheer off, and continued their course without giving him any farther disturbance. As it grew dark, and he feared losing sight of his consorts, Mr. Candish did not continue the chase.

They fell in with the island of Fuertaventura, on the 1st August, whence they sailed for Rio del Oro and Cape Blanco, and thence along the coast of Guinea, with which navigation Mr Brewer, who sailed in the Desire, was well acquainted. The men now began to complain much of the scurvy, wherefore it was resolved to put them on shore for their recovery on the first opportunity. They made Sierra Leona on the 23d of August, and reached its southern side on the 25th, where they had five fathoms at the lowest ebb; having had for about fourteen leagues, while running into this harbour, from eight to sixteen fathoms. At this place they destroyed a negro town, because the inhabitants had killed one of their men with a poisoned arrow. Some of the men went four miles up the harbour in a boat, on the 3d September, where they caught plenty of fish; and going on shore, procured some lemons. They saw also some buffaloes, on their return to the ship. The 6th they went out of the harbour of Sierra Leona, and staid one tide three leagues from the point at its mouth, the tide there flowing S.W.

The 7th they departed for one of the islands which lie about ten leagues from the point of Sierra Leona, called the Banana isles,[45] and anchored that same day off the principal isle, on which they only found a few plantains. At the east end of this island they found a town, but no inhabitants, and concluded that the negroes sometimes resort thither, by seeing the remains of their provisions. There is no fresh water on the south side of this island that they could find; but there is in three or four places on its north side. The whole island was one entire wood, except a few small cleared spots where some huts stood, and these were encompassed by plantain-trees, the fruit of which is an excellent food. This place is subject to severe thunder-storms, with much rain, in September.

[Footnote 45: Harris erroneously names these the islands of Cape Verd, which are at a vast distance from Sierra Leona. The Banana isles are in lat. 8° N. and long. 12° 30' W. from Greenwich. In Hakluyt these are called the isles of Madrabumba, and are said to be ten leagues from the point of Sierra Leona.--E.]

Leaving these islands and the African coast on the 10th September, and holding their course W.S.W. obliquely across the Atlantic, they fell in with a great mountain in Brazil, on the 31st of October, twenty-four leagues from Cape _Frio_. This mountain has a high round top, shewing from afar like a little town. On the 1st November, they stood in between the island of St Sebastian and the main; where they carried their things on shore, and erected a forge, and built a pinnace, repairing also every thing that was out of order, in which work they were detained till the 23d of November. Sailing from this place on the 26th, they fell in with the coast of South America again in lat. 47° 20' S. whence they proceeded along shore till they came to lat. 48° S. finding a steep beach all along. On the 27th of November they came to a harbour, into which Candish first entered, giving it the name of Port Desire, from that of his ship.[46] Near this harbour they found an island or two well stocked with seals, and another in which there were vast numbers of grey gulls.[47]

[Footnote 46: As laid down in modern maps, the latitude of Port Desire is only 47° 15' S.]

[Footnote 47: Probably penguins.--E.]

This haven of Port Desire was found very favourable for careening and graving of ships, as the tide there ebbed and flowed considerably. At this place the savages wounded two of the Englishmen with their arrows, which were made of canes or reeds, tipt with sharpened flints. These savage natives of the country round Port Desire were exceedingly wild and rude, and as it would seem of a gigantic race, as the measure of one of their foot marks was eighteen inches long.[48] This agrees well with the assertion of Magellan, though some pains have been taken to represent that as fabulous. Magellan called this country Patagonia, and its inhabitants Patagons, meaning to signify that they were five cubits, or _seven feet and a half high_. Hence, as the Portuguese are not commonly very tall, we need not wonder if they styled them giants. If we take the usual proportion of the human foot, as between a fifth and a sixth part of the height of the whole body, the account given by Magellan agrees very exactly with this fact afforded us by Mr Candish; and it will be seen in the sequel, that this is not falsified by any of our subsequent navigators. When any of these savages die, he is buried in a grave constructed of stones near the sea-side, all his darts being fastened about his tomb, and his treasure, consisting of shells, laid under his head.

[Footnote 48: Without meaning to impugn the received opinion, that the Patagons are beyond the ordinary size of man, it may be permitted to say, that the evidence, in the text, the only one here adduced, is altogether inconclusive; and the subsequent reflections are evidently those of Harris, not of Candish.--E.]

They left Port Desire on the 28th December, and anchored near an island three leagues to the southward. The 30th they came to a rock, much like the Eddystone at Plymouth, about five leagues off the land, in lat 48° 30' S. and within a mile of it had soundings in eight fathoms, on rocky ground. Continuing their course along shore S.S.W. they found vast numbers of seals every where on the coast. January 2d, 1587, they fell in with a great white cape in lat. 52° S. and had seven fathoms within a league of the cape. Next day they came to another cape, in lat. 52° 45' S. whence runs a long beach about a league to the southwards, reaching to the opening into the Straits of Magellan.[49] January 6th, they entered the straits, which they found in some places five or six leagues wide, but in others considerably narrower. The 7th, between the mouth of the straits and its narrowest part, they took a Spaniard, who had been left there with twenty-three others of that nation, being all that remained alive of four hundred, who had been landed three years before in these straits. This Spaniard shewed them the hull of a small bark, supposed to have been left by Sir Francis Drake.

[Footnote 49: The cape at the north side of the eastern entrance into the Straits of Magellan, is named Cape Virgin, and is in lat 52° 28' S. The great white cape in lat. 52° S. is not so easily ascertained. Cape Blanco, on this coast, is in lat. 47° S. which cannot have any reference to the white cape of the text.--E.]

The eastern mouth of the straits is in lat. 52° S. From thence to the narrowest part is fourteen leagues W. by N. From thence to Penguin Island is ten leagues W.S.W. by S. They anchored at Penguin Island on the 8th January, where they killed and salted a great store of seals, to serve as sea provisions in case of need. Leaving this place on the 9th, they sailed S.S.W. The fortress built in these straits by the Spaniards, called _Ciudad del Rey Felippe_, had four bulwarks or bastions, in each of which was one large cannon, all of which had been buried, and their carriages left standing. The English dug them all up, and carried them away. Tins city seemed to have been well contrived, especially in its situation in regard to wood and water; but miserable was the life this forlorn remnant of Spaniards had endured for the last two years, during which they had hardly been able to procure any other food than a scanty supply of shell-fish, except when they had the good fortune to surprise a deer, coming down from the mountains in search of water.

The object of the Spaniards, in erecting this fortress, was to have fortified the straits, so as to have excluded all other nations from any passage into the South Sea: but, besides the barrenness of the soil, and excessive severity of the climate their most implacable enemies, the Indians, frequently assailed them, so that they were reduced to the last extremity of distress. All the stores they had brought from Spain were expended, and none could be procured in the country, which produced nothing but deer, and when hunting these for the preservation of their lives, they were sure to be fallen upon by the Indians. At length almost all the Spaniards died in their houses, and the stench of the putrefying carcasses became so intolerable to the few survivors, that they were forced to quit the fortress, and to range along the seacoast living upon roots, leaves, and sea weeds, or any animals they could occasionally fall in with. In this miserable extremity they had determined to attempt exploring their way to the Rio Plata, and were already on their way, when this Spaniard was taken by the English.

Mr Candish named the haven where the fortress stood _Port Famine_, owing to the utter want of all necessaries. It is in lat. 53° S. Leaving this place on the 14th, they ran five leagues S.W. to Cape Froward, in the southernmost part of the straits, in lat. 54° S. Sailing five leagues W. by N. from this cape, they put into a bay, called Muscle Cove, from the great quantities of muscles found there. Leaving that place on the 21st, and sailing N. by W. ten leagues, they came to a fair bay, which Candish named Elizabeth Bay. Leaving that place on the 22d, they found a good river two leagues farther on, up which a boat was towed for three miles. The country about this river was pleasant and level, but all the other land on both sides of the straits was rugged, mountainous, and rocky, inhabited by a strong and well-made, but very brutish kind of savages, who are said to have eaten many of the Spaniards, and seemed much disposed to have feasted also on English flesh; but they failed in their attempts to circumvent them. Discovering a plot laid by these savages to entrap him and his men, Candish gave them a volley of musquetry, which slew several of them, and the rest ran away.

Leaving this river, they sailed two leagues farther, to an inlet named St Jerome's channel; whence, proceeding three or four leagues W. they came to a cape to the northward, whence the course to the western entrance of the straits is N.W. and N.W. by W. for about thirty-four leagues; so that the entire length of these straits is ninety leagues. This western entrance is in lat. 52° 40' S. nearly under the same parallel with the eastern mouth. In consequence of storms and excessive rains, they were forced to remain in a harbour near this western mouth of the straits till the 23d of February. By the excessive rains, pouring down with extreme fury in torrents from the mountains, they were brought into extreme danger; and were also much distressed for want of food, as the excessive severity of the weather hardly permitted their landing, to range the country in search of a supply In their passage through these straits, it was observed that there were harbours on both shores, at every mile or two, tolerably safe and convenient for small ships.