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HISTORY OF THE SEA. 



islands supposed to exist in the South under the name of Terra 

 Australia Incognita. He died, however, before any step was 

 taken by the Company in furtherance of his designs. His son, 

 Jacob Roggewein, renewed the application in 1721, presenting 

 a memorial, in accordance with which immediate orders were 

 given for equipping three vessels, — the Eagle, of thirty-six 

 guns, the Tienhoven, of twenty-eight, and the African galley, of 

 fourteen. Roggewein was made admiral, and two hundred and 

 seventy-one men were embarked upon the three ships. They 

 sailed from the Texel on the 21st of August, 1721. 



When approaching the Canaries, they saw a fleet of five sail, 

 carrying white, red, and black colors, which caused the admiral 

 to suspect them to be pirates. He gave the signal for action, 

 when the enemy struck their red flag and hoisted a black one, 

 on which was a death's-head with a powder-horn and cross- 

 bones. A brisk encounter succeeded ; and, after two hours, the 

 pirates spread their canvas and bore away with all speed. 

 Roggewein did not follow them, — as all ships of the West and 

 East India Companies had strict orders to pursue their course 

 and never to give chase. He had a long and painful passage 

 across the Atlantic, — the crews suffering from heat, hunger, 

 thirst, and the scurvy. Many of the men had high fevers, and 

 some of them fits like the epilepsy. 



During a terrible hurricane on the 21st of December, the 

 Tienhoven parted company, and the Eagle and the African gal- 

 ley kept on together as far as the Strait of Magellan. In this 

 latitude, Roggewein saw the group of islands which a French 

 privateer had named Islands of St. Louis, but which some Dutch 

 traders had subsequently called the New Islands. Roggewein 

 baptized the group anew, and, thinking that if it should ever be 

 inhabited the people would be the antipodes of the Dutch, gave 

 it the name of Belgia Australis. He determined to make the 

 passage through Lemaire's Strait, and, being propelled by a 

 favorable wind and rapid currents, attained the western coast of 



