, 3s £ q ;R D A R S O N ' S V O Y A G E
C II A P. III.
A fhort account o f what befel the Anna Pink before
fhe joined us ; with in account of the lofs o f the
Wager, and o f the putting back o f the Severn and
Pearl, the two remaining fhips of the fquadron.
ON the firft appearance of the Anna Pink, it feemed won-
detftil to us how the crew of a veffel, which came to this
rendezvous two months after us, fhould be capable o f
working their ihip in the manner they did, with & little appear-*
ance of debility and diftrefs: but .this difficulty was foon folved,-
when fhe came to an anchor; for we then found that they had
been in harbour fince the middle o f May, which was near a month
before we arrived at Juan Fernanda ; fo that their fufferings (the
rifque they had run of Ihipwreek only excepted) were greatly fhort
of what had been undergone by the reft o f the fquadron., It
feems, on the u6th of May, they fell in with the land, which was
then but four leagues diftant, in the latitude o f 450: 1 5 'South.
On the firft fight of it, they wore Ihip and flood to the fouthward:
but their fore-topfail fplitting, and the wind being W . S. W , they
drove towards the fhore; and the Captain, at laft, either unable
to dear the land, or, as others fay, refolved to keep the fea no
longer, fleered for the eoaft, with a view of difcovering fome fhelter
amongft the many Iflands which then appeared in fight: and,
about four hours after the firft view of the land, the Pink had the
good fortune to come to an anchor, to the eaftward of the Ifland
o f Inchin ; but as they did not run fufficiently near to the Eaft-
fliore o f that Iftand, and had not hands enough to veer away the
«able brilkly, they were foon driven to the eaftward, deepening
their water,from twenty-five fathosa to thirty-five; and, ftill continuing
to drive, they, next day, the 17th o f May, let go their
fheet-anchar. This, though it brought them up far a fhort time,
? et>
yet, on the 18th, they drove, again, till they came into fixty-five.
fathom water;, ajid were now within a mile of.the land, and expected
to be forced on ftiore every moment, in a place where the
eoaft war-fo very high, and fteep too, that thpre was not the leaft
profpeft o f faving the fhip or cargo as their boats were very leaky
and there was, no appearance o f a landing-.place, the whole crew,
eonfifting of- fixteen men and boys, gave themfelves over for loft,
apprehending, that,- if any of them,, by fome extraordinary chance,
fhould get on fhore, they Would, in all probability, be maflacred
by the Savages an the eoaft; for thefe,, knowing no other Europeans
but Spaniards, it might beexpeaed they would treat all itrangers.
with the fame cruelty which , they had fo often, and fo fignally,
exerted againft their Spanifh neighbours. -Under thefe terrifying
oir-oumftances, the Pink drove nearer and nearer to the,rocks
which formed the fhore; but, at laft, when the; crew expefled
each inftant to ftrike, they perceived a final! opening in the land,
which raifed their hopes; and, immediately cutting.away their,
two anchors, they fleered for it, and found it to be a fmall chan*
nel betwixt an Ifland and the Main, that led them into a n o ft excellent
harbour, which, for its fecurity againft all winds and fweUs,
and the fmoothnefs of its. water, may perhaps compare, with any
in the known world. ‘And, this place being fcarcely two miles
diftant from the fpot where they deemed their deftru&ion inevitable,
the horrors o f ftilpwreck, and of immediate death, which
had fo long and fo ftrongly poflbfled them, vanifhed. almoft m-
ftantaneoufly, and gave place to the more, joyous, ideas offecurity,
refreftiment, andrepofe.
In this harbour, difeovered in this almoft miraculous manner,
the Pink came to. an anchor in twenty-five fathom Water,-with
only a hawfer and a fmall anchor, of about three hundrpdjweight.
Here fhe .continued for near two months; ;apd here her people,
who were many of them ill of the fcur.vy, were foon reftored to
perfeft health by the frefh provifions, of which they .procured
cood ftore, and the excellent water with which the adjacent fljorp
-—, T 2 ' abounded.