I 
414 ' Captain s Voyage into Book II. 
Should be put to extremity, we might have fome Know- 
ledge which \¥ay to go. This Night proved calm, and 
fair V/eather, and' we rid quietly. 
12. On thei ith, in the Morning, 1 went in the Boat afhore 
myfelf, and fent the Boat about among broken Grounds, 
to found j I found the Land utterly barren, ■ even of that 
which ,I thought eafily to , be found ; which was Sciirvy- 
grafs. Sorrel, or fome Herb or other, to have refreflied 
our iick People. I could not perceive that the Tide 
flowed here ordinarily above two Feet. There was much 
Drift- Wood on the Shore^ and fome of it drove up Very 
■high in the North-fide of the ifland, where I judged that 
the Storms were very great at North, in the Winter. 
.Thus I returned aboard, and fent many of our Tick Men 
to another Part of the Hland, to fee if themfelves could 
•fortunately find out any Relief for their Grief. At Noon, 
by good Obfervation, w'e were in Latitude 52 Degrees 
45 Minutes. In the Evening our Men returned comfort- 
lefs, and then we weighed, and flood to the Weflward, 
coiTiing to an Anchor under another liland, in twenty 
Fathom. 
The 1 2th in the Morning it began to blow hard at 
South-eaft, which v/as partly off the Shore, and the Ship 
began to drive, it being foft oozy Ground. We heaved 
in our Anchor thereupon, and failed under two Courfes. 
Whiift moft were bufy in heaving out the Top-Sails, 
fome, that fliould have had efpedal Care of the Ship, ran 
•.her afliore upon the Rocks, out of mere Careleffnefs in 
■looking out and about, or heaving of. the Lead, after 
they had feen Land all Night long, and might even then 
have feen it, if they had not been blind with Self-conceit, 
and been envionfly oppofite in Opinion. The firft Blow 
ftruck me out of a deep Sleep, ^.nd I, running out ot my 
Cabin, thought no other, at firft, but I had been waken- 
•cd to provide myfelf for another World. 
After I had controuled a little Paffionj and had check- 
ed fome bad - Council tliat was given me to revenge my- 
felf upon them that had committed this Error, I ordered 
what fhould be done to get off thefe 'Rocks. Firft we 
■hav/led all our Sails back^ but that did no good, but 
.made her beat the harder. Whereupon we ftruck all our 
,.Saib amain, and furled them up dole, tearing down our 
Stern to bring the Cable through the Cabin, to Capftang, 
-and fo laid 'out an Anchor to heave her aftern. I order- 
ed all the Water in the Hold to be ftaved, and fet fome 
to the Pumps to pump it out, and intended to do, the 
like with our Beer ^ others I put to throw out all our 
Coals, which was foon and readily done. We coded out 
our Cables into the Long-boat, all this while the Ship 
.beating fo furioufly, that we faw fome of the Sheathing 
fwim by us. Then we ftood, as many as could, to the 
Capftang, and heaved with fuch a good Will, that the 
Cable broke, and we loft our Anchor, but wdth all Speed 
therefore we put another. We could not now perceive 
• whether fhe leaked or no, and that by Reafon we were 
■ employed in pumping out the Water, which we had 
bulged in Hold, though we feared fhe had received her 
Death’s V/ound. Therefore we put into the Boat the 
: Carpenter’s Tools, a Barrel of Bread, a Barrel of Powder, 
■. fix' Mufleets, with fome Matches and a Tinder-Box rifn- 
Hooks and Lines ; Pitch and Oakham ; and, to be brief, 
. v/hatever could be thought on in fuch an Extremity. 
-All this we fent aftiore to prolong a miferable Life for a 
few Days. We were five Hours thus beating, in which 
.Time fhe ftruck an hundred Blows, infomuch that we 
.thought every ftroke had been the laft tiiat it was poffi- 
ble'fhe could have endured. Ihe Water we could not 
perceive all this while to flow any thing at all. 
At length it pleafed God ftie beat over all the Rocks, 
, though yet v/e knev/ not whether fhe was ftaunch •, where- 
upon we went to pumping all Hands, till we made the 
■ Pumps^ fuck, and then we faw how much Water fhe 
made in a Glafs. ■ We found her to be very leaky, but 
we v/ent to Prayer, and gave God Thanks it was no 
• worfe ; and fo fitted aii things again, and got further off 
*and came to an Anchor. In the Evening it began to 
blow very hard at Yri eft-fou th- weft, which if it had done 
whiift we were on the Rocks, we had loft pur Ship with- 
out any Redemption. With much ado we weighed our 
Anchor, and let her drive to the Eaftward, among the 
broken Ground and Rocks, the Boat going before found- 
ing ; at length we came among Breaches, and the Boat 
miade Signs to us that there was no going further among 
the Rocks, therefore we again came to an Anchor, where 
we rid all Night, and where our Men, which were tired 
out with extreme Labour, were indifferent well refreflied. 
Here I muff obferve, that v/hen the Wind was at Souths 
it flowed very little, or no Water at all, fo that we could 
not bring our Ship a-ground to look to her, for we 
pumped almoft continually. 
13. The 13th at Noon we weighed, and flood to the 
Weft ward, but in that Courfe it was all broken Ground, 
Shdles, and funken Rocks , fo that we wondered how 
we came in among them in a thick Fog. Then v/e 
fliaped our Courfe to the Northward, and after fome Con- 
fijltations with m.y Affociates, I refolved to get about this 
Land, and fo to go down into the bottom of Hudfon^s 
Bay^ and fee if I could difeover a Way into the River 
Canada-, and if I failed in that, then to winter on the 
main Land, where there is more Comfort to be expelled 
than among the Rocks or Hands. We ftood along the 
Shore in Sight of many Breaches. When it was Night 
we ftood under our Fore-fail, the Lead frill going. At 
laft the Water fliallowed upon us to ten Fathom, and it 
began to blow hard. W e tacked about, and it deepened 
to twelve or fourteen Fathom, but by and by it fliallow- 
ed again to eight Fathom j then we tacked about again, 
and fuddenly it fliailow'ed to fix and five •, lb we ftruck 
our Sails amain, and came to an Anchor, refolving to 
ride it for Life and Death. We rid all Night, and 
tliought our Ship would have been torn to Pieces. At 
Break of Day, the 14th, v/e v/ere joyful Men when we 
could look about ; we deferied an Hand fome two Leagues 
off at Weft and by North,’ and this was the Shole that 
lay about it. Flere ran a diftrafted, but yet a very quick, 
I'ide, of which we taking the Opportunity, got up our 
Anchor, and ftood North-weft, to clear ourfelves of this 
Shole ; in the Afternoon the Wind came up at North- 
eaft, and we ftood along the Weftern Shore, in Sight 
of a multitude of Breaches. In the Evening it began to 
blow a Storm, and the Sea went very high, and was aft 
in a Breach. Our Shallop, which we now towed at Stern, 
being moored with two Hawfers, was funk, with her Keel 
up. This made our Ship to hull very broad, fo that the 
Sea did continually over- rack us. Yet we endured it, and 
thought to recover her. All Nisiht the Storm continued 
with Violence, and with fome Rain *, in the Morning it 
was very thick Weather. 
The Water fhoaled apace, with fuch an over-grown 
Sea withal, that a Sail was not to he endured and what 
was worfe, there was no trufting to an Anchor. Now 
therefore we began to prepare our felves, how to make a 
good End of a miferable tormented Life. About Noon, 
as it cleared up, we faw tv/o Hands under our Lee, v/ here- 
upon we bore up to them, and feeing' an Opening be- 
twixt them, we endeavoured to get into it before Night, 
for that there was no hope of us if we continued out at 
Sea that Night, therefore come Life, or come Death, we 
muft run this EIazard. We found it to be a good Sound, 
where we rid all Night fafely, and recovered our Strengths 
again, which were- much impaired with continual La- 
bour ; but before we could get into this good Place, our 
Shallop broke away, being moored with two Hawfers, 
and we loft her to our great Grief. Thus now we had 
but the Ship’s Boat, and ftie was all torn and briiifed too- 
This Hand was the fame that we had formerly coafted 
the Weftern Side of, and had named Lord W ^fiords 
Ifland. Here we remained till the 1 9th, all which Time 
it did nothing but fnow and blow extremely, infomuch 
that we durft not put our Boat overboard. 
This Day the Wind fhifted North-north-eaft, and we 
weighed and ftood to the Southward, but by Noon the 
Wind came up at South, and fo we came to an Anchor 
under another Hand ; on which I went on Shore, and 
named it Idhe Karl of BrifioV s Ifland. The Carpenter 
wrought hard in repairing our Boat, whiift I wandered 
j 
