Robert Kerr

“ At nine o'clock, the wind shifting to the southward, and the sky lowring, we tacked and stood off to the E., and soon after, we saw a vessel, close in with the land, standing along the shore to the northward, and another in the offing, coming down on us before the wind. Objects of any kind, belonging to a country so famous, and yet so little known, it will be easily conceived, must have excited a general curiosity, and accordingly every soul on board was upon deck in an instant, to gaze at them. As the vessel to windward approached us, she hauled farther off shore ”

“ Mr Cummins said, Sir, what shall we do with a vessel, without provisions, for ninety souls? The captain answered, We will take a vessel loaded with flour from Chili, there being a great many trading vessels that way, and then we will proceed through the Streights of Magellan. Mr Cummins said, How shall we take a vessel without guns, not having any but muskets, and our enemies know, as well as ourselves, that we have a squadron in these seas, therefore, undoubtedly are well armed, and keep a good look-out? ”

“ The boatswain, carpenter, Lieutenant Ewers, and three of the people, swam off, but the sea-breeze coming in, and the surf rising, the rest were discouraged from coming off; we hauled a good birth off the shore, where we lay the remainder of the day, and all the night. The greatness of the sea broke off our rudder-head, and we expected every minute the vessel would founder at her anchor. ”

“ Wednesday the 6th, departed this life Mr Thomas Harvey, the purser; he died a skeleton for want of food: This gentleman probably was the first purser belonging to his majesty's service that ever perished with hunger. We see daily a great number of whales.
Sunday the 10th, this day at noon, in working the bearings, and distant to Cape St Andrew, do find myself not above thirteen leagues distant from the land, therefore hauled in N.W. to make it before night. We saw to-day abundance of insects, particularly butterflies and horse-stingers. ”

“ We had no sooner taken this imperfect view, than we were again covered with a thick fog. Being now, according to our maps, only eight leagues from the entrance of Awatska Bay, as soon as the weather cleared up we stood in to take a nearer view of the land; and a more dismal and dreary prospect I never beheld. The coast appears strait and uniform, having no inlets or bays; the ground from the shore rises in hills of a moderate elevation, behind which are ranges of mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds. ”

“ In the morning of the 3d, we found ourselves, by our reckoning, upward of fifty leagues from the land; which circumstance, together with the very extraordinary effect of currents we had before experienced, the late season of the year, the unsettled state of the weather, and the little likelihood of any change for the better, made Captain Gore resolve to leave Japan altogether, and prosecute our voyage to China; hoping, that as the track he meant to pursue had never yet been explored, he should be able to make amends, by some new discovery, for the disappointments we had met with on this coast. ”

“ Major Behm told us, that the cold and inclemency of the winter of 1779 was such, that for several weeks all intercourse between the inhabitants was entirely stopped, every one being afraid to stir even from one house to another, for fear of being frost-bitten. This extraordinary rigour of climate, in so low a latitude, may be accounted for from its being situated to the east of an immense uncultivated tract of country, and from the prevalence of the westerly winds, blowing over so extensive and cold a continent. ”

“ Notwithstanding the irreparable loss we suffered from the sudden resentment and violence of these people, yet, in justice to their general conduct, it must be acknowledged, that they are of the most mild and affectionate disposition; equally remote from the extreme levity and fickleness of the Otaheitans, and the distant gravity and reserve of the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands. They appear to live in the utmost harmony and friendship with one another. ”

“ Your zeal for the national service deserves the love of every honest Briton: to leave an abundant fortune, your family, and your country, to hazard your life in the most perilous expeditions, with no other motive than to retrieve the honour of the nation, shows the spirit of a true British hero, and deserves the highest commendations. ”

“ When persons have surmounted great difficulties, it is a pleasure for them to relate their story; and if we give ourselves this satisfaction, who has any cause to be offended? Are we, who have faced death in so many shapes, to be intimidated, lest we should give offence to the--Lord knows whom? We never saw a satyrical journal in our lives, and we thought that kind of writing was the most obnoxious to give offence.
It has been a thing usual, in publishing of voyages, to introduce abundance of fiction; and some authors have been esteemed merely for being marvellous. ”

“ Gentlemen, I shall never live to see England, but die by inches in the voyage; and it is surprising to me to think what you can expect by going to the southward, where there are ten thousand difficulties to be encounter'd with: I am sorry so many brave fellows should be led to go where they are not acquainted, when, by going to the northward, there is the island of Chili, not above ninety leagues, where we need not fear taking prizes, and may have a chance to see the commodore. ”

“ Swimming is not only a necessary art, in which both their men and women are more expert than any people we had hitherto seen, but a favourite diversion amongst them. One particular mode, in which they sometimes amused themselves with this exercise, in Karakakooa Bay, appeared to us most perilous and extraordinary, and well deserving a distinct relation. ”

“ In one of our excursions, I, with two more, in a wretched punt of our own making, had no sooner landed at our station upon a high rock, than the punt was driven loose by a sudden squall; and had not one of the men, at the risk of his life, jumped into the sea and swam on board her, we must in all probability have perished, for we were more than three leagues from the island at the time. Among the birds we generally shot, was the painted goose, whose plumage is variegated with the most lively colours ”

“ The first night we lay at an island destitute of all refreshment, where having found some shelter for our boat and made ourselves a fire, we slept by it. The next night we were more unfortunate, though our wants were increasing, for, having run to the westward of Montrose Island, we found no shelter for the barge, but were under the necessity of lying upon our oars, suffering the most extreme pangs of hunger. The next day brought us to the bottom of a great bay, where the Indian guide had left his family, a wife and two children, in a hut. ”

“ There is a little rivulet, neatly faced with stone, runs through every street, by which they can cool the streets or water their gardens when they please. The whole town is extremely well paved. Their gardens are full of noble orange-trees and floripondies, with all sort of flowers, which perfume the houses and even the whole city. ”

“ This is by much the best and pleasantest spot we had seen in this part of the world, though it has nothing on it eatable but some berries, which resemble goose-berries in flavour: they are of a black hue, and grow in swampy ground; and the bush or tree that bears them, is much taller than that of our goose berries. We remained here some time, living upon these berries and the remainder of our seal, which was now grown quite rotten. Our two or three first attempts to put out from this island were without success, the tempestuous weather obliging us to put back again. ”

“ The land is to appearance very good, but on digging beneath the surface we find it almost an entire stone. We saw no people here, though it is plain there have been some lately, by their wigwams or huts. We are so closely pent up for want of room, that our lodging is very uncomfortable; the stench of the men's wet cloaths makes the air we breathe nauseous to that degree, that one would think it impossible for a man to live below. We came to sail, and steered out of the lagoon west; went into a sandy bay one league to the southward of the lagoon. Indian huts to be seen, but no natives. ”

“ Attempts have been made at different periods by the Russians to open up a trade with Japan; and, indeed, one purpose of the voyage which Captain Krusenstern undertook, was to conciliate the emperor or government of that island. No one, who is at all acquainted with the history of the people, will be surprised to learn that the Japanese did not think themselves honoured by the embassy; that they even refused the presents which had been carried out, and would not concede the favour of an alliance which was courted. ”

“ JOHN BULKELEY AND JOHN CUMMINS,
Late Gunner and Carpenter of the WAGER.
Bold were the Men who on the Ocean first Spread the new Sails, when Shipwreck was the worst; More Dangers now from Man alone we find, Than from the Rocks, the Billows, and the Wind. ”

“ The carpenter said, Sir, if a shot should take the boat under water, it would not be in my power to stop a leak of that kind, where the plank is so thin, that in some places it is not above three quarters of an inch thick. The captain then said, Gentlemen; I am agreeable to any thing, and willing to go any way, for the preservation of the people; but at the same time would have you consider of it, the wind being always against us on the other side the land, and we have above seven hundred leagues to the river Plate. ”

“ But as the preservation of life had now in a great measure lost its actuating principle upon us, we still kept pushing through it, till we opened a bay to the northward. In all my life I never saw so dreadful a sea as drove in here; it began to break at more than half a mile from the shore. Perceiving now that it was impossible for any boat to get round, the men lay upon their oars till the boat was very near the breakers, the mountainous swell that then ran heaving her in at a great rate. ”

“ The place being exceeding dangerous, we could not venture any farther after the cutter, therefore we hauled by the wind to the southward, it continued blowing hard, with thick weather, with sunken rocks and breakers, so that we were obliged to bear away before the wind into a large bay, the tide running rampant, and in a great swell, every where surrounded with sunken rocks, that we thought nothing but a miracle could save us: at last we got safe into the bay, and came to in two fathom water, we steered in east. ”

“ After working like galley slaves all day, towards night, when we landed, instead of taking any rest, Mr Campbell and I were sometimes obliged to go miles along shore to get a few shell-fish; and just as we have made a little fire in order to dress them, he has commanded us into the boat again, and kept us rowing the whole night without ever landing. It is impossible for me to describe the miserable state we were reduced to: Our bodies were so emaciated, that we hardly appeared the figures of men. ”

“ The wind blowing hard, and the sea tumbling in, we were under a necessity of hauling off and putting to sea, for fear of losing the boat. Since we left the island where the Wager was lost, we have several times very narrowly escaped being made a wreck, and sometimes have been preserved when we have seen our fate before our eyes, and every moment expected it, and when all the conduct and ability of men could have availed nothing. ”

“ The shores are low, with mountains rising to a great height farther up the country. The depth of water in the mid-way between them was twenty-nine and thirty fathoms, decreasing gradually as we approached either continent, with the difference of being somewhat shoaler on the American than on the Asiatic coast, at the same distance from land. The bottom in the middle was a soft slimy mud, and on drawing near to either shore, a brown sand, intermixed with small fragments of bones, and a few shells. We observed but little tide or current; what there was came from the westward. ”

“ When contests and dissensions shall be found to have gone that length, it will be obvious to every reader, why a licentious crew should hearken to any factious leader, rather than to the solidity of their captain's advice, who made it evident to every unprejudiced understanding, that their fairest chance for safety and a better fortune, was to proceed with the long-boat till they should make prize of some vessel of the enemy, and thereby be enabled to bring to the commodore a supply of stout fellows to assist in his conquests, and share in the honour and rewards. ”

“ Though Ooshesheer is the southernmost island that the Russians have yet brought under their dominion, yet I understand that they trade to Ooroop, which is the eighteenth; and according to their accounts, the only one where there is a good harbour for ships of burthen. Beyond this, to the south, lies Nadeegsda, which was represented to us by the Russians as inhabited by a race of men remarkably hairy, and who, like those of Ooroop, live in a state of entire independence. ”