292 L O R D A N S O N ’S V O Y A G E
particular we were moft grievoufcy difappointed ; the wind ftill continuing
to the weftward, or at beft variable. As the getting into the
N. E. trade was to us a matter of thebaft confequence, we flood yet
more to the fouthward, and made many experiments to meet with
it j but all our efforts were for a long time unfuccefsful: So that it
was feven weeks, from our leaving the coaft, before we got into
the true trade-wind. This was an interval, in which we had at
firft believed we fhould well nigh have reached the eaftermoft parts
o f A fm : But we were fo baffled with the contrary and variable
winds,' which for all that time perplexed us, that we were not as
yet advanced above a fourth of the way. The delay alone would
have been a fufficient mortification j but there were other circum-
ftances attending it, which rendered this lituation not lefs terrible,
and our apprehenfions perhaps ftill greater than in any of our paft
calamities. For our two fhips were by this time extremely crazy y
and many days had not paffed, before we difcovered a fpring in the
foremaft of the Centurion, which rounded about twenty-fix inches
o f its circumference, and which was judged to be at leaft four
inches deep. And no fooner had the Carpenters fecured this
maft with fifhing it, than the Gloucejler made a fignal o f diftrefs,
to inform us that {he had a fpring in her main-maft twelve feet
below the truffel-trees j which appeared fo dangerous that ihe
could not carry any fail upon it. Our Carpenters, on a ftridt examination
of this maft, found it exceflively rotten and decayed,
and it being judged neceflary to cut it down as low as it was defective,
it was by this means reduced to nothing but a flump,
which ferved only as a ftep to the top-maft. Thefe accidents augmented
our delay, and being added to our other diftrefies occafioned
us great anxiety about our future fafety. For though after our departure
from Juan Fernandes we had enjoyed a moft uninterrupted
ftate o f health, till our leaving the coaft of Mexico, yet the fcurvy
sow began to make frefh bavock amongft our people : And we
too well knew the effedls of this difeafe, by our former fatal experience,
to fuppofe that any thing except a fpeedy paflage could
2 fecute
fecure the greater part of our crew from being deftroyed thereby.
But as, after being feven weeks at fea, there did not appear any
reafons that could perfuade us we were nearer the trade-wind than
when we fet out, there was no ground for us to imagine, that our
paflage would not prove at leaft three times as long as we at firft
expedted 5 and confequently we had the melancholy profpca, either
o f dying by the fcurvy, or of perilhing with the £hip for want of
hands to navigate her. Indeed, feveral amongft us were willing
to believe, that in this warm climate, fo different from what we
felt in palling round Cape Horn, the violence of this difeafe, and
its fatality, iflfght be in fome degree mitigated ; as it had not been
unufual to fuppofe that its particular virulence during that paflage
was in a great meafure owing to the feverity of the weather : But
the ravage o f the diftemper, in bur prefent circumftances, foon
convinced us o f the falfity of this fpeculation ; as it likewife exploded
certain other opinions, which ufually pafs current about the
caufe and nature of this difeafe.
For it has been generally prefumed, that fufficient fupplies of water
and of frefh provifions, are effedlual preventives of this malady r
but it happened that in the prefent cafe we had a confiderable flock
o f frefh provifions on board, being the hogs and fowls which
were taken at Fait a ; we befides almoft daily caught great abundance
of bopitos, dolphins, and albicores; and the unfettled feafon,
which deprived us of the benefit of the trade-wind, proved extremely
rainy; fo that we were enabled to fill up our water-calks, almoft
as fall as they were empty ; and each man had five pints of water
allowed him every day, during the paflage. But notwithftanding
this plenty of water, notwithftanding that the frelh provifions
were diftributed amongft the fick, and the whole crew often fed
upon fifh j yet neither were the fick hereby relieved, or the pro-
grels or malignity of the difeafe at all abated. Nor was it in thefe
inftances only that we found the general maxims upon this head
defedtive: For though it has been ufually efteemed a neceflary
piece of management to keep all Ihips, where the crews are large,
as clean and airy between decks as poflible; and it hath been believed