330 



HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



fired a gun and got under way, and, though the admiral re- 

 mained stationary, continued sailing on and firing guns, as if he 

 had been commander-in-chief. Such, said Van Noort, is the 

 effect, upon a vice-admiral, of having a larger number of anchors 

 than his superior. He caused him to be arrested and to be 

 tried upon the charge of exciting mutiny by insubordinate con- 

 duct, and allowed him three weeks to prepare his defence. At 

 this period the number of deaths in the fleet had amounted to 

 ninety-seven persons. 



When the three weeks expired, the vessels were still in the 

 Strait, and the council was assembled on board the admiral's 

 vessel, to hear the defence of the prisoner, which proved insuf- 

 ficient for his acquittal, and he was condemned to be set on shore 

 and abandoned in the Strait. This sentence was publicly read on 

 board the different ships, and, on the 26th of January, 1600, Jacob 

 Olaesz was carried in a boat to the shore, with a small stock of 

 bread and wine. He was thus left to shift for himself among 

 the wild beasts and still more savage inhabitants. Van Noort 

 ordered a prayer and exhortation to be read in the fleet during 

 the execution of this terrible verdict. 



Being still at anchor in the Strait in the middle of February, 

 the admiral announced his determination to persevere two months 

 longer, and, if it were still impossible to reach the Pacific by 

 the west, to turn eastward and reach it by the Cape of Good 

 Hope. On the 29th, the wind having veered, Van Noort, with 

 two ships and a yacht, after a tedious navigation of a year and 

 a hair, finally entered the Great South Sea. A storm compelled 

 the admiral to cast loose and abandon the long-boat which had 

 been built at Cape Froward, and forced the new vice-admiral to 

 part company. His ship was never seen again.' During an 

 anchorage upon the coast of Chili, one of the sailors whom we 

 have already mentioned as sentenced to be abandoned upon any 

 coast where they could be of service, was sent ashore to open 

 negotiations with the natives. If he succeeded and returned in 



