A Voyage to the South Atlantic and round Cape Horn into the Pacific Ocean, etc./Introduction
It will not, I presume, be considered as altogether
unnecessary or uninteresting, if I offer to
the public attention a summary account of my
voyages previous to that which is the subject of
this volume.
I had been already engaged in various commercial undertakings on the North-West coast of America, during a period of seven years: But I never ceased to blend the zeal of my naval character with the spirit of commercial enterprize, and accordingly searched the coast from 36° to 60° North; the inland part of which was before little known to European navigators. I also surveyed several bays, harbours and creeks, and discovered many considerable inlets, particularly between 50° and 53° North, which were supposed to communicate with Hudson's Bay[1]. I likewise made two voyages to China, but, on my return from the first of them, was unfortunately captured by the Spaniards at Nootka-Sound, and sent a prisoner to the port of St. Blas in the Gulph of California. From thence I was permitted to go to Mexico, to make my appeal to the Viceroy; a journey, including my return to St. Blas, of eighteen hundred miles. But after being detained as a prisoner thirteen months, and having lost four of my five vessels, with most of my Officers and half the crew, who had become the victims of disease, I was at length indebted for my liberty to the spirited conduct of the Court of Great-Britain, as soon as it was officially informed of the insult offered to her colours, of the piracy committed on her merchants, and the cruelty exercised towards her subjects.
I now returned to Nootka, in the only vessel which remained to me; and, after suffering incredible hardships from a want of provisions, and the ship getting several times on shore, I procured another valuable cargo of furs and proceeded to China. A prohibition, however, of the sale of these articles, having taken place at that port during my absence, I did not remain there, but, in a short time, set sail, and, at the request of those gentlemen who were joint agents with me, coasted for a market to the West side of Japan, and Eastside of Corea; a coast which had never before been visited by an European vessel. Here an encouraging prospect of a new and valuable commerce for my country unfolded itself before me; when, in a typhoon, in the Latitude of 38° North, on the coast of Corea, I was so unfortunate as to lose my rudder, which obliged me to put back into the port of Chusan in the Northern parts of China, where my loss was repaired, as well as could be contrived, without the professional aid of a carpenter. At this place, I was, by no means, well treated by the Chinese: indeed, to prevent the being plundered of our cargo, and to save ourselves from the ill-usage which we might personally suffer, if we should fall into their hands, we cut from our anchor, and, baffling the pursuit of thirty-six armed junks, returned to Canton[2]. Here I was threatened with still greater evils, for being obliged from the wretched state of the ship, which was almost a wreck, to pass the Bocca Tigris, without stopping to obtain the necessary passport, the Chinese made this act of necessity on my part, an official pretext on theirs to seize the vessel and cargo; and having contrived by stratagem, to get me out of her, detained me as a prisoner in Canton during five days: But when the various unfortunate circumstances which had befallen me were explained, and the truth of them duly attested, before the judicial Mandarins, I was ordered to be enlarged, while my vessel was sent for me, at the expense of the Chinese Government, to Macao to be sold, and myself and cargo, by the same superior interposition, put on board the East-India Company's ship, General Coote, bound for England. On my arrival there, the India Company purchased my cargo for nine thousand seven hundred and sixty pounds sterling. A full account of this voyage and the circumstances connected with it, together with the charts and drawings made to illustrate it, were left in England when I proceeded on my last voyage; a narrative of which, as well as of that I made to Japan and Corea, will hereafter, I trust, be communicated to the public.
In a short time after my arrival in England, an application was made to me by different merchants to undertake another voyage to the countries I had lately visited, on a salary of six hundred pounds per ann. and the reimbursement of all my expences, which were the conditions of my former voyages, or to go on my own terms.
So long an absence from my country as a period of seven years, had occasioned a very considerable change in my situation. During that interval, death had deprived me of my nearest relations; many of those friends also whom I left in England, when I departed from it, and whom I hoped to see again on my return to it, were now no more; so that few or no objects were left to check or interrupt the honest ambition I had never ceased to possess of rising in the Royal Navy, which was my original and favourite profession. I had served on the Quarter-deck of a man of war from the year 1769, and performed the second circumnavigating voyage with Capt. Cooke as a midshipman, on board the Resolution: I had also enjoyed for sixteen years the rank of a lieutenant. I accordingly addressed a letter to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, in which, after setting forth my services and situation, I requested their Lordships, if the professional exertions of my past life did not appear, in their opinion, to merit professional promotion, or if they had no employment to offer me in order to obtain it, that they would be pleased to grant me permission to re-engage in my commercial pursuits. Captain Marshall, one of the Commissioners of the Victualling Office, under whose command I had the honour to serve, during several years, in the rank of first lieutenant, supported me in this application, which was effectually forwarded by Mr. Stephens; who was uninfluenced by any claim in my favour, but such as my services, whatever they might have been, suggested to the justice and generosity of his character.
In consequence of this application, I was informed that the Board of Admiralty had nominated me to undertake a voyage, planned in consequence of a memorial from merchants of the City of London, concerned in the South Sea Fisheries, to the Board of Trade; for the purpose of discovering such parts for the South Whale Fishers who voyage round Cape Horn, as might afford them the necessary advantages of refreshment and security to refit.
This memorial stated the calamitous situation of the ship's crews employed in this trade, from the scurvy and other diseases, incident to those who are obliged to keep the seas, from the want of that relief and refreshment, which is afforded by intermediate harbours.
The Spaniards, it is true, had, of late, admitted ships into their ports for the purpose of refitting; but, from the latest accounts received before I sailed from England, this permission was so restricted as to amount almost to a prohibition, in which it was continually expected to end. It became therefore an object of great importance to obtain such a situation as our commerce required, independent of the Spaniards; as it would, in a great measure, lessen their jealousy, and, at the same time, accomplish the sanguine wishes of our merchants. Impelled by these views and interests, those gentlemen made a proposal to Government to carry out an Officer in one of their ships, in order to discover such a situation, for a gratuity of 500l. sterling. This proposal was accordingly accepted, and Messrs. Enderby and Sons, merchants of great property as well as commercial character in London, and who possessed the largest concern in this branch of the Whale Fishery, were pleased to express their satisfaction at my being named to conduct the intended voyage.
There being at this time, no private vessel in the Thames for sale, which was properly constructed for the purposes of this expedition, a proposition was made to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to lend one of his Majesty's small ships of war for the service, to be returned in the same state, at the conclusion of the enterprise. This plan was favoured with their Lordships approbation; and several vessels being proposed and examined with this view, the Rattler sloop of three hundred and seventy-four tons burthen, was selected, then laying at his Majesty's yard at Woolwich, for considerable repairs. It was, however, found, on more mature consideration, that the alterations necessary to be made for the whaling trade, would render her unfit for his Majesty's future service. An offer was therefore made to the Lords of the Admiralty to purchase the said sloop; and their Lordships thought proper to favour it with their acquiescence; a proof of their indulgent attention to any proposal that may tend to advance the interest or extend the limits of the British commerce, and fisheries. An official order was accordingly given for the delivery of the sloop, on the purchase-money being paid, according to her valuation; and, on the following day, she was received from the Officers of the King's yard, and transported to Mr. Perry's dock, at Blackwall, in order to be repaired and fitted for the particular service in which she was to be employed.
Of this vessel I was appointed sole Commander, which, however, was a mere complimentary nomination, as no pecuniary advantage whatever was attached to it; exclusive of what I might derive from the subsequent generosity of Government. A whaling master and a crew, consisting of twenty-five persons, men and boys, were also appointed; and with the advice and assistance of my kinsman Mr. Binmer, first assistant surveyor of the Navy, who had superintended the original construction of the sloop, such alterations were made, as, without diminishing her strength, or lessening her powers of sailing, were perfectly adapted to the commercial undertaking in which she was about to be employed: so that she was equipped and ready to leave the river by the eleventh day of November, 1792. Every nautical instrument, necessary for determining the longitude and making other useful observations, were also put on board and I purchased of Messrs. Enderby's one half of the ship, which must at once have checked any apprehension on their part, that their private concern would be interrupted or receive any detriment from the attention I might pay to such instructions as were communicated to me by Mr. Stephens.
Messrs. Enderby and Sons had fitted out the ship: but nevertheless, I spared no expense in providing myself with all things which my experience of long voyages, as well as my knowledge of the seas, I was preparing once more to traverse, suggested to me as necessary for preserving the health of those who were to sail with me. I also purchased the various voyages of former navigators, and such books on the subjects of natural history, as might assist me in my pursuits, and enable me to furnish instruction in those branches of science connected with my own; and which remote navigation might tend to advance. In short, I determined to spare no exertion in fulfilling every object of the voyage, which had been entrusted to my care and direction.
As my instructions were not ready by the eleventh of November, the ship was ordered round to Portsmouth, to wait for me. But while I was in daily expectation of receiving my dispatches, the unexpected and alarming conduct of the French Nation, demanded the whole attention of Government, and occasioned an unavoidable suspension of my final instructions. At this delay, however, the ship's company, who engaged in the voyage on proportionable shares of the profits resulting from it, began to express their dissatisfaction; while the owners of different properties in the South Seas, particularly Messrs. Enderby's, Messrs. Champion and Messrs. Mether's, being anxious to convey early intelligence to their vessels, of the situation of our domestic affairs, and the change that appeared to be taking place in Europe, earnestly and anxiously recommended me to proceed on the voyage, without any other instructions than such as had been verbally communicated to me, and the maps with which Mr. Stephens had been so kind as to furnish me. It was, however, thought necessary that, previous to my departure, I should apply for the usual letter of leave of absence, which I immediately obtained.
After this long detention, and the great expences which accompanied it, I should not have been induced to undertake such a voyage, for the mere casual advantages which the fishery might produce, if I had not received the strongest assurances from the beginning, that, if I executed the commission assigned me by the Board of Admiralty, I should not fail of particular promotion; and that in any general promotion which might take place, during my absence, I should not be forgotten.
Though my former voyages were principally undertaken with the views of commercial advantage, I was never inattentive to the advancement of nautical science: my observation was always awake to every object which might instruct myself and enable me to instruct others; and I constantly committed my thoughts to paper as they arose in my mind from the appearance of things around me, or the circumstances, whatever they might be, in which I happened to be involved. I cannot be supposed to possess any claim to literary qualifications, which are only to be obtained in the calm of life, while so many of my years have been past amid the winds and waves, in various climes and distant oceans. Nevertheless, I possess the hope that my work may contain some portion of professional utility, or I should not have presumed to present it to Mr. Stephens, as a testimony, humble as it may be, of my gratitude for his condescending kindness to me.
The owners, Messrs. Enderby and Sons, being perfectly acquainted with the intention and basis of the plan on which the voyage was to be conducted, made out their orders in a manner altogether comformable to the views of Government; and as a proof of their confidence, furnished me with full powers to act as I should think best for our common interest.
I accordingly joined the ship on the 24th of December, 1792, but was unfortunately detained by contrary winds. During this accidental delay, a bounty of five pounds was offered for seamen to enter into his Majesty’s service, which proved too great a temptation for all my crew to withstand, as it afforded a favourable opportunity to those who felt no compunction at robbing their employers of the advance given them to perform a long voyage, to shelter themselves under the proclamation. I employed every possible precaution to prevent the defection of any of my people; nevertheless, three of them contrived to make their escape: and I could not obtain any to supply their place, but by paying a bounty equal to that of the Royal Navy. On this condition I procured three men, natives of the Isle of Wight.
The first day of January, 1793, at length arrived, and by this delay, we lost the prospect of obtaining the premium given by the British Government to whalers sailing round Cape Horn, without clearing out again, for which I received the owners instructions: but the collector at Cowes informed me, that it could not be allowed.
On the second day of January, in the afternoon, the weather promising to be fair, and the wind inclining to the North, I dropped down to Yarmouth Roads. We had a thick fog and Southerly wind all night, and during the next day and following night, there was a heavy gale to the South, with drizzling rain. At noon on the fourth, the wind shifted to the Northward and brought clear weather, with which we sailed.