Chap. I. 
and his winterimJ in Charlton Ifland. 
419 
freely. The Carpenter efpedally was of Opinion, that 
fne was foundered, and would never be ferviceable. He 
alledged, that ihe had fo. beaten that it was not poffible 
but that all her Joints v/ere ioofe and Seams open ; and 
that by Reafon it flowed fo little Water, and no Creek 
being near to bring her aground, he could not devife 
how he might come to mend it ; moreover, her Rudder 
was loft, and he had no Iron- Work to hang on another. 
Some alledged, that we had heaved her up fo high on 
the Sands that they thought we Ihould never get her off 
again, and that they were affured fhe was already docked 
three Feet; others, that fhe lay in the Tide’s Way, and 
that the Tides might tear her to Pieces off the Ground. 
Befides which, tvm of our Anchors we could not now' 
get from under the Ice, which, when the Ice broke, 
would break them to Pieces, and then we Ihould have 
no Anchors to bring us homewdthal, provided we got off 
the Ship, and that fne proved found alfo. I comforted 
them the beft I could to this Effedt. 
“ My Mailers and faithful Companions, be not dif- 
“ mayed for any of thefe Difafters, but let us put our 
“ whole TrtUl: in God. It is he that giveth and he that 
“ taketh av/ay ; he throweth down with one Pland, and 
“ raifeth up wdth another. His AYill be done. If it be 
“ our Fortunes to end our Days here, we are as near 
“ Heaven as in England^ and we are much bound to 
“ God Almighty for giving us fo large a Time' of Re- 
“ pentance, who, as it were, daily calls upon us to prepare 
our Souls for a better Life in Heaven. I make no 
“ doubt but he will be merciful unto us both here on 
Earth and in his blefied Kingdom. He doth not in 
“ the mean time deny that w^e may ufe all honeft Means 
“ to fave and prolong our natural Lives ; and in my 
“ Judgment we are not fo far paft Hope of returninp- 
“ into our native Country, but that I fee a fair Way by 
“ which we may efteft it. Admit the Ship be foun- 
“ dcred, (which God forbid, I hope for the beft) yet 
« have thofe of cur own Nation and others, when they 
‘‘ have been put to thofe Extremities, even out of the 
“ Wreck of their loft Ship built a Pinnace, and re- 
“ turned to their Pkiends again. If it be objedled that 
“ they have happened Jnto better Climates, both for 
« Temperatenefs of the Air, and for pacific and open 
Seas, and provided withal of abundance of frefh Vic- 
tuals, yet tiiere is nothing too hard for courageous 
Minds, which hitherto you have Ihewn, and I doubt 
“ not will ftill do to the uttermoft of your Power.” 
They ail protefted to work to the utmoft of their 
Strength, and that they would refufe nothing that I 
Ihould order them to do to the utmoft Flazard of their 
Lives. I thanked them all, and to the Carpenter for his 
chearful Undertaking I promifed to give him fo much 
Plate prefently as Iliouid be worth 10/. and if fo be I 
went to England in the Pinnace, I would give him her 
freely, and 50 /. in Money over and above, and would 
moreover gratify all them that I Ihould fee induftrious. 
Thus we refoived to build us a new Pinnace with the 
Timber we Iliould get upon the Ifland, that fo in the 
Spring, if we found the Ship not ferviceable we might 
tear her up, and plank her with the Ship’s Planks ; and 
fo for this Night v.^e fettled ourfelves clofe about the 
Fire, and took fome Reft till Day-light. 
The 30th, betimes in the Morning, I caufed the Chirur- 
geon to cut off my Hair fliort, and to Ihave away all 
the Hair of m'y Face, for it was become intolerable, and 
becaufe it would be frozen fo great with Ificles. The 
like did all the reft, 'and we fitted ourfelves to work. The 
firft Thing we were to do was to get our Cloaths and 
Provifions afhore, and therefore I divided the Company. 
The Mafter and a convenient Company with him^v/ere 
to go aboard and get Things out of the Hold. TheCock- 
fwain with his Gang were to go into the Boat, to brino- 
and carry Things afhore. Myfelf wdth the reft to carry 
them half^ a Mile through the Snow', unto the Place 
where we intended to build a Store-houfe. As for the 
heavier Things, we propofed to lay them on the Beach. 
In^tne Aiternoon the Wind was atSouth-fouth-weft,and the 
\v ater veered fo low an Ebb that we thought we minht 
get fomething out of the Hold. We launched out our 
Boat therefore, and with Oars got through the thick 
congealed Water, It froze extreme hard? and I ftood 
on the Shore with a troubled Mind, thinking verily that 
with the Ebb the Boat v/ould be carried into the Sea^ 
and then v/e were all loft Men : But by God’s Afliftance 
they got all fafe to the Ship, and made a Fire there to 
fignify their Arrival on board. They fell prefently to 
AYork, and got fomething out of the Hold upon the 
Decks, but Night coming on, they durft not venture to 
come on Shore, but lay on the Bed in the great Cabin 
being almoft ftarved. 
21. The ill of December was fo cold that I went the 
fame Way over the Ice to the Ship where the Boa^ had 
gone Yefterday. This Day we carried upon our Backs 
in Bundles five hundred of our Fifli, and much of our 
Bedding and CloathsS, vdiich we were fain to dig out of 
the Ice. _ The 2d v/as mild Weather, and fome of the 
Men going over the Ice fell in, and very hardly recover- 
ed ; fo that this Day we could land nothing, neither by 
Boat nor Back. I put them therefore to make us a Store- 
houfe on Shore. In the Evening the Wind came up at 
Weft, and the Ice broke and drove out of the Bay. It 
was very deep and large Ice, that we were afraid it would 
have fpoiied the Ship. The 3d Day there v/ere divers 
great Pieces of Ice that came athwart' the Ship and Ihe 
ftopt them, yet not fo as we could go over them. We 
found a WHy for the Boat, but v/hen Ilie v/as laden fhe 
drew four Feet Vf ater, and could not come within a 
flight Shot of the Shore ; the Men therefore mull wade 
through the congealed V/ater, and carry Things out of 
the Boat upon their Backs. Every time they waded in 
the Ice it was moft lamentable to behold. In this ex- 
treme cold Evening they cut away as much Ice from 
about the Boat as they could, and picked it with Hand- 
fpikes out of her, and endeavoured to hoift her into the 
Ship, there being fmall Hopes that Ihe could go to and 
again any more : But ufe what Means they could, Ihe 
was Jo heavy that they could not hoift her in, but were 
forced to leave her in the Tackles by the Ship-fide. 
The 4th being Sunday we relied and performed the 
Sabbath-Duties of Chriftians. The 5th and 6th were ex- 
treme cold, and we made Bags of our Store-Shirts, and 
in them we carried our Ioofe Bread over the Ice on Shore 
upon our Backs: We alfo digged our Cloaths’ and new 
Sails with Hand-fpikes of Iron out of the Ice, and carri- 
ed them afhore, which we dried by a great Fire. The 
7th Day v/as fo exceeding cold, that our Nofes, Cheeks 
and Elands, did freeze as white as Paper. The 8th and 9th 
it was extremely cold, and it fnowed much ; yet we con- 
tinued our Labour in carrying and rolling Things on 
Shore. In the Evening the Water raifed'Jhe Ice very 
high, and it broke two Thawghts of our Boat, and 
broke in the Side of her, but for that Time we could not 
help it. 
The loth our Carpenter found Timber to make a 
Keel and a Stern for our Pinnace, the reft wrought about 
our Provifions until the 13th Day, and that we Ipent in 
digging our Boat out of the Ice, which we were fain to 
do to the very Keel, and dig the Ice out of her, then we 
got her up ; in doing which many of their Nofes, Cheeks 
and Fingers, did freeze. The Cold now encreafed moft 
extremely. By the 19th we could get no more Things out 
of the Hold, but were fain to leave five Barrels of Beef and 
Pork, all our Beer, and divers other Things, which were 
all frozen in her. The 21ft was fo cold that we could 
not go- out of the Houfe. The 23d we went to get our 
Boat afhore, running her with our Oars, but by ten 
o’ Clock there came fuch a thick Fog that it was as dark 
as Night. I made them give over, and we made whas 
Hafte we could to the Shore, which we had much ado 
to find vvirhout iofing one another. At laft we met all 
at the Houfe, the moft miferable and frozen that can be 
conceived. Upon divers the Cold had railed Blifters as 
big as Walnuts. JTis we imagined to* come by. Reafon 
that they came too haftily to the Fire. Our Well was 
now frozen up, fo that dig as deep as v/e would, we 
could come at no W ater. h/lelted Snow- Winter is very , 
unwholefome, either to drink or to drefs Viduals ; It 
made us fo fiiort-breath’d, that we were fcarce able to 
Ipeak. 
All our Sack, Vinegar, Oil, and every thing elfe that 
was liquid, v/as nov/ frozen as hard as a Piece of Wood,, 
and we cut it with a Piatchet. Our Houfe was all frozen 
on 
V 
