Chapter XXXIII: Section VI

_The Run from St Catharines to Port St Julian; with some Account of that Port, and of the Country to the South of the Rio Plata._

In quitting St Catharines, we left the last amicable port we proposed to touch at, and were now proceeding to a hostile, or at best a desert and inhospitable coast. As we were to expect a more boisterous climate to the southward than any we had yet experienced, not only our danger of separation would by this means be much augmented, but other accidents of a more mischievous nature were also to be apprehended, and as much as possible provided against. Mr Anson, therefore, in appointing the various stations at which the ships of the squadron were to rendezvous, had considered that his own ship might be disabled from getting round Cape Horn, or might be lost, and gave therefore proper directions, that, even in that case, the expedition might not be abandoned. The orders delivered to the captains, the day before sailing from St Catharines, were, in case of separation, which they were to endeavour to avoid with the utmost care, that the first place of rendezvous was to be Port St Julian, describing the place from Sir John Narborough's account of it. They were there to provide as much salt as they could take on board, both for their own use and that of the other ships of the squadron; and, if not joined by the commodore after a stay of ten days, they were then to pass through the straits of Le Maire and round Cape Horn into the South-Seas, where the next place of rendezvous was to be the island of Nostra Senora del Socoro, in lat. 45° S. long. 71° 12' W. from the Lizard.[1] They were to bring this island to bear E.N.E. and to cruize from five to twelve leagues distance from it, as long as their store of wood and water would permit, both of which they were directed to expend with the utmost frugality. When under the necessity of procuring a fresh supply, they were to stand in, and endeavour to find an anchorage; and in case they could not, and the weather made it dangerous to supply the ships by standing off and on, they were then to make the best of their way to the island of Juan Fernandez in lat. 33° 37' S. at which island, after recruiting their wood and water, they were to cruize off the anchorage for fifty-six days; and, if not joined by the commodore in that time, they were to conclude that some accident had befallen him, and were forthwith to put themselves under the command of the senior officer, who was to use his utmost endeavour to annoy the enemy both by sea and land. In this view, the new commander was urged to continue in these seas as long as provisions lasted, or as they could be supplied by what could be taken from the enemy, reserving only a sufficiency to carry the ships to Macao, at the entrance of the river of Canton on the coast of China; whence, being supplied with a new stock of provisions, they were to make the best of their way to England. As it was found still impossible to unload the Anna Pink, our victualler, the commodore gave her master instructions for the same rendezvouses, and similar orders to put himself under the command of the remaining senior officer.

[Footnote 1: The centre of the island of Socoro, or Guayteca, on the western coast of Patagonia, is in lat. 43° 10' S. and long. 73° 40' W. from Greenwich.--E.]

Under these orders, the squadron sailed from St Catharines on Sunday the 18th of January, 1741. Next day we had very squally weather, attended with rain, lightning, and thunder; but it soon cleared up again, with light breezes, and continued so to the evening of the 21st, when it again blew fresh, and, increasing all night, it became a most violent storm by next morning, accompanied by so thick a fog that it was impossible for us to see to the distance of two ships lengths, and we consequently lost sight of all the squadron. On this a signal was made, by firing guns, to bring to with the larboard tacks, the wind being due east. We in the Centurion handed the top-sails, bunted the main-sail, and lay to under a reefed-mizen till noon, when the fog dispersed, and we soon discovered all the ships of the squadron, except the Pearl, which did not join till near a month afterwards. The Tryal was a great way to leeward, having lost her main-mast in the squall, and having been obliged to cut away the wreck, for fear of bilging. We therefore bore down with the squadron to her relief, and the Gloucester was ordered to take her in tow, as the weather did not entirely abate till next day, and even then a great swell continued from the eastward, in consequence of the preceding storm. After this accident we continued to the southward with little interruption, finding the same setting of the current we had observed before our arrival at St Catharines; that is, we generally found ourselves about twenty miles to the southward of our reckoning by the log every day. This, with some inequality, lasted till we had passed the latitude of the Rio Plata, and even then the same current, however difficult to be accounted for, undoubtedly continued; for we were not satisfied in attributing this appearance to any error in our reckoning, but tried it more than once, when a calm rendered it practicable.

Immediately on getting to the south of the latitude of the Rio Plata we had soundings, which continued all along the coast of Patagonia. These soundings, when well ascertained, being of great use in determining the position of a ship on this coast, and as we tried them more frequently, in greater depths, and with more attention, than I believe had ever been done before, I shall recite our observations on this subject as succinctly as I can. In lat. 36° 52' S. we had 60 fathoms on a bottom of fine black and grey sand: From thence to 39° 55' S. we varied our depths from 50 to 80 fathoms, but always with the same bottom: Between the last-mentioned latitude and 43° 16' S. we had only fine grey sand with the same variation of depths, except that we once or twice lessened the water to 40 fathoms. After this we continued in 40 fathoms for about half a degree, having a bottom of coarse sand and broken shells, at which time we were in sight of land at not above seven leagues distance. As we edged from the land we had a variety of soundings; first black sand, then muddy, and soon after rough ground with stones: But when we had increased our depth to forty-eight fathoms, we had a muddy bottom to the lat. of 46° 10' S. Hence drawing near the shore, we had at first thirty-six fathoms, and still kept shoaling till we came into twelve fathoms, having constantly small stones and pebbles at the bottom.

Part of this time we had a view of Cape Blanco, in about lat. 47° 10' S. and long. 69° W. from London.[2] Steering from hence S. by E. nearly, we deepened our water to fifty fathoms in a run of about thirty leagues, without once altering the bottom; and then drawing towards the shore, with a S.W. course, varying rather westward, we had constantly a sandy bottom till we came to thirty fathoms, when we had again a sight of land in about lat. 48° 31' S. We made this land on the 17th February, and came to anchor at five that afternoon in lat. 48° 58' S. with the same soundings as before; the southermost land then in view bearing S.S.W. the northermost N.E. a small island N.W. and the westermost hummock W.S.W. At this anchorage we found the tide to set S. by W.

[Footnote 2: Cape Blanco is in lat 47° 20' S. long. 64° 30' W. from Greenwich. At this place, instead of a description of Cape Blanco, the original gives two views of the coast in different directions, as seen from sea; here omitted for reasons already assigned.--E.]

We weighed anchor at five next morning, and an hour afterwards descried a sail, which was soon found to be the Pearl, which had separated from us a few days after leaving St Catharines. Yet she increased her sail and stood away from the Gloucester; and when she came up, the people of the Pearl had their hammocks in their netting, and every thing ready for an engagement. The Pearl joined us about two in the afternoon, and running up under our stern, Lieutenant Salt informed the commodore that Captain Kidd had died on the 31st of January. He likewise said that he had seen five large ships on the 10th of this month, which he for some time imagined had been our squadron, insomuch that he suffered the commanding ship, which wore a red broad pendant exactly resembling that of our commodore at the main top-mast head, to come within gun-shot of the Pearl before he discovered the mistake; but then, finding it was not the Centurion, he haled close upon a wind and crowded from theirs with all sail; and standing across a rippling, where they hesitated to follow, he happily escaped. He had made them out to be five Spanish ships of war, one of which was so exceedingly like the Gloucester that he was under great apprehension when chased now by the Gloucester. He thought they consisted of two seventy-gun ships, two of fifty, and one of forty; the whole of which squadron chased him all that day, but at night, finding they could not get near, they gave over the chase and stood away to the southward.

Had we not been under the necessity of refitting the Tryal, this intelligence would have prevented our making any stay at St Julians; but as it was impossible for that sloop to proceed round Cape Horn in her present condition, some stay there became inevitable; and therefore we came to an anchor again the same evening in twenty-five fathoms, the bottom a mixture of mud and sand, a high hummock bearing from us S.W. by W. Weighing at nine next morning, we sent the cutters of the Centurion and Severn in shore to discover the harbour of St Julian, while the ships kept standing along the coast about a league from the land. At six in the evening we anchored in the bay of St Julian, in nineteen fathoms, the bottom muddy ground with sand, the northermost land in sight bearing N. by E. the S. 1/2 E. and the high hummock, called Wood's Mount by Sir John Narborough, W.S.W. The cutters returned soon after, having discovered the harbour, which did not appear to us where we lay, the northermost point shutting in upon the southermost, and closing the entrance in appearance.

Our principal object in coming to anchor in this bay was to refit the Tryal, in which business the carpenters were immediately employed. Her main-mast had been carried away about twelve feet below the cap, but they contrived to make the remainder of the mast serve. The Wager was directed to supply her with a spare main-top-mast, which the carpenters converted into a new fore-mast. And I cannot help observing, that this accident to the Tryal's masts, which gave us so much uneasiness at the time on account of the delay it occasioned, was the means, in all probability, of preserving this sloop and all her crew. For her masts before this were much too lofty for the high southern latitudes we were proceeding into, so that, if they had weathered the preceding storm, it would have been impossible for them to have stood against the seas and tempests we afterwards encountered in passing round Cape Horn; and the loss of masts, in that boisterous climate, would scarcely have been attended with less than the loss of the vessel and all on board, as it would have been impracticable for the other ships to have given them any assistance whatever, during the continuance of these impetuous storms.

While at this place, the commodore appointed the honourable Captain Murray to succeed to the Pearl, and Captain Cheap to the Wager. He promoted Mr Charles Saunders, first lieutenant of the Centurion, to the command of the Tryal sloop; but, as Mr Saunders lay dangerously ill of a fever in the Centurion, and the surgeons considered his removal to his own ship might hazard his life, Mr Saumarez had orders to act as commander of the Tryal during the illness of Captain Saunders.

At this place, the commodore held a consultation with his captains about unloading and discharging the Anna pink; but they represented that, so far from being in a condition for taking her loading on board, their ships still had great quantities of provisions in the way of their guns between decks, and that their ships were so deep and so lumbered that they would not be fit for action without being cleared. It was therefore necessary to retain the pink in the service; and, as it was apprehended that we should meet with the Spanish squadron in passing the cape, Mr Anson ordered all the provisions that were in the way of the guns to be put on board the Anna pink, and that all the guns which had been formerly lowered into the holds, for the ease of the ships, should be remounted.

As this bay and harbour of St Julian is a convenient rendezvous, in case of separation, for all cruizers bound to the southwards, or to any part of the coast of Patagonia, from the Rio Plata to the Straits of Magellan, as it lies nearly parallel to their usual route, a short account of the singularity of this country, with a particular description of Port St. Julian, may perhaps be neither unacceptable to the curious, nor unworthy the attention of future navigators, as some of them, by unforeseen accidents, may be obliged to run in with the land and to make some stay on this coast; in which case a knowledge of the country, and of its productions and inhabitants, cannot fail to be of the utmost consequence to them.

The tract of country usually called Patagonia, or that southern portion of South America, not possessed by the Spaniards, extends from their settlements to the Straits of Magellan. This country on its eastern side, along the Atlantic ocean, from the Rio Plata southwards, is remarkable for having no trees of any kind, except a few peach trees planted by the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Buenos Ayres; so that the whole eastern coast of Patagonia, extending near four hundred leagues from north to south, and as far back into the interior as any discoveries have yet been made, contains nothing that can be called by the name of wood, and only a few insignificant shrubs in some places. Sir John Narborough, who was sent out expressly by Charles II to examine this country, wintered upon this coast in Port St Julian and Port Desire, in the year 1670, and declares that he did not see a stick in the whole country large enough to make the handle of a hatchet. But, although this country be destitute of wood, it abounds in pasture, as the whole land seems made up of downs of a light dry and gravelly soil, producing great quantities of long grass, which grows in tufts, interspersed with large spots of barren gravel. In many places this grass feeds immense herds of cattle, all derived from a few European cattle brought over by the Spaniards at their first settling, which have thriven and multiplied prodigiously, owing to the abundance of herbage which they every where met with, and are now so increased and extended so far into different parts of Patagonia, that they are not considered as private property; thousands of them being slaughtered every year by the hunters, only for their hides and tallow.

The manner of killing these cattle, being peculiar to that part of the world, merits a circumstantial description. Both Spaniards and Indians in that country are usually most excellent horsemen; and accordingly the hunters employed on this occasion are all mounted on horseback, armed with a kind of spear, which, instead of the usual point or blade in the same line with the shaft, has its blade fixed across. Armed with this instrument, they ride at a beast and surround him, when the hunter that is behind hamstrings him, so that he soon falls, and is unable to rise from the ground, where they leave him and proceed against others, whom they serve in the same manner. Sometimes there is a second party attending the hunters, on purpose to skin the cattle as they fall; but it is said that the hunters sometimes prefer to leave them to languish in torment till next day, from an opinion that the lengthened anguish bursts the lymphatics, and thereby facilitates the separation of the skin from the carcass. Their priests have loudly condemned this most barbarous practice, and have even gone so far, if my memory do not deceive me, as to excommunicate such as persist to follow it, yet all their efforts to put an entire stop to it have hitherto proved ineffectual.

Besides great numbers of cattle which are slaughtered every year in this manner, for their hides and tallow, it is often necessary, for the uses of agriculture, and for other purposes, to catch them alive, and without wounding them. This is performed with a most wonderful and most incredible dexterity, chiefly by means of an implement or contrivance which the English who have resided at Buenos Ayres usually denominate a lash. This consists of a very strong thong of raw hide, several fathoms in length, with a running noose at one end. This the hunter, who is on horseback, takes in his right hand, being properly coiled up, and the other end fastened to the saddle: Thus prepared, the hunters ride at a herd of cattle, and when arrived within a certain distance of a beast, they throw their thong at him with such exactness, that they never fail to fix the noose about his horns. Finding himself thus entangled, the beast usually endeavours to run away, but the hunter attends his motions, and the horse being swifter, the thong is prevented from being so much straitened as to break, till another hunter throws another noose about one of his hind-legs. When this is done, the horses being trained to the sport, instantly turn in opposite directions, straining the two thongs contrary ways, by which the beast is overthrown. The horses then stop, keeping both thongs on the stretch, so that the beast remains on the ground incapable of resistance; and the two hunters alight from their horses and secure the beast in such a manner that they afterwards easily convey him to wherever they please.

They catch horses by means of similar nooses, and are even said to catch tigers in the same manner, which, however strange it may appear, is asserted by persons of credit. It must be owned, indeed, that the address both of Spaniards and Indians in this part of the world, in the use of this lash or noose, and the certainty with which they throw and fix it on any intended part of a beast, even at a considerable distance, is so wonderful as only to be credited and repeated on the concurrent testimony of all who have frequented this country. The cattle killed in the before-mentioned manner are slaughtered only for their hides and tallow, and sometimes their tongues also are taken out; but the rest of the flesh is left to putrify, or to be devoured by birds of prey and wild beasts. The greatest part of it falls to the share of the wild-dogs, of which there are immense numbers to be found in the country. These are all supposed to be descended of Spanish dogs from Buenos Ayres, which had left their masters, allured by the great quantity of carrion, and had run wild where they had such facility of subsisting, for they are plainly of the European breed of dogs. Although these dogs are said to prowl in vast packs, even some thousands together, they do not diminish the number, nor prevent the increase of the cattle, as they dare not attack the herds, by reason of the vast numbers that feed together, but content themselves with the carrion left by the hunters, and perhaps now and then meet with a few stragglers, separated accidentally from the herds to which they belong.

This country, to the southward of Buenos Ayres, is also stocked with great numbers of wild-horses, brought also originally from Spain, and prodigiously increased, and extending to a much greater distance than the cattle. Though many of these are excellent, their numbers make them of very little value, the best of them being sold in the neighbouring settlements, where money is plenty and commodities very dear, for not more than a dollar a piece. It is not certain how far to the southwards these herds of wild cattle and horses extend; but there is reason to believe that stragglers of both are to be met with very near the Straits of Magellan, and they will doubtless in time fill all the southern part of the continent with their breeds, which cannot fail to be of vast advantage to such ships as may touch on the coast. The horses are said to be very good eating, and are even preferred by some of the Indians before the cattle. But however plentiful Patagonia may hereafter become in regard to flesh, this eastern coast of that extensive country seems very defective in regard to fresh water; for as the land is generally of a nitrous and saline nature, the ponds and streams are frequently brackish. However, as good water has been found, though in small quantities, it is not improbable but this inconvenience may be removed, on a farther search.

There are also in all parts of this country a good number of _Vicunnas_, or Peruvian sheep, but these, by reason of their swiftness, are very difficultly killed. On the eastern coast, also, there are immense quantities of seals, and a vast variety of sea-fowl, among which the most remarkable are the penguins. These are, in size and shape, like a goose, but have short stumps like fins instead of wings, which are of no use to them except when in the water. Their bills are narrow, like that of the albatross, and they stand and walk quite erect, from which circumstance, and their white bellies, Sir John Narborough has whimsically likened them to little children standing up in white aprons.

The inhabitants of this eastern coast, to which hitherto I confine my observations, appear to be but few, and rarely have more than two or three of them been seen at a time by any ships that have touched here. During our stay at Port St Julian we did not see any. Towards Buenos Ayres, however, they are sufficiently numerous, and are very troublesome to the Spaniards: But there the greater breadth and variety of the country, and a milder climate, yield them greater conveniences. In that part the continent is between three and four hundred leagues in breadth, while at Port St Julian it is little more than one hundred. I conceive, therefore, that the same Indians who frequent the western coast of Patagonia, and the northern shore of the Straits of Magellan, often ramble to this eastern side. As the Indians near Buenos Ayres are more numerous than those farther south, they also greatly excel them in spirit and activity, and seem nearly allied in their manners to the gallant Chilese Indians, [Araucanians] who have long set the whole Spanish power at defiance, have often ravaged their country, and remain to this hour independent. The Indians about Buenos Ayres have learned to be excellent horsemen, and are extremely expert in the management of all cutting weapons, though ignorant of fire-arms, which the Spaniards are exceedingly solicitous to keep from them. Of the vigour and resolution of these Indians, the behaviour of Orellana and his followers, formerly mentioned, is a memorable instance.

This much may suffice respecting the eastern coast of Patagonia. The western coast is of less extent; and, by reason of the Andes which skirt it, and stretch quite down to the sea side, the shore is very rocky and dangerous. As I shall hereafter have occasion to take farther notice of that coast, I shall not enlarge any farther respecting it in this place, but shall conclude this account with a short description of the harbour of St Julian, the general form of which may be conceived from the annexed sketch. It must however be noticed, that the bar there marked at the entrance has many holes in it, and is often shifting. The tide flows here N. and S. and at full and change rises four fathoms. On our first arrival, an officer was sent on shore to the salt pond marked D. in the sketch, in order to procure a quantity of salt for the use of the squadron; for Sir John Narborough had observed, when he was here, that the salt was very white and good, and that in February there was enough to have loaded a thousand ships. But our officer returned with a sample which was very bad, and said that even of this very little was to be had: I suppose the weather had been more rainy this year than ordinary, and had destroyed the salt, or prevented its fermentation.