Ansons Voyage Round the World | Page 9

loaded their pistols, they set the cabin door partly open, and fired some shot amongst the Indians on the quarter-deck, at first without effect. But at last Mindinuetta had the good fortune to shoot Orellana dead on the spot; on which his faithful companions, abandoning all thoughts of further resistance, instantly leaped into the sea, where they every man perished. Thus was this insurrection quelled, and the possession of the quarter-deck regained, after it had been full two hours in the power of this great and daring chief and his gallant and unhappy countrymen.
Pizarro, having escaped this imminent peril, steered for Europe, and arrived safe on the coast of Galicia* in the beginning of the year 1746, after having been absent between four and five years.
(*Note. Galicia is the north-western province of Spain.)
CHAPTER 3.
FROM MADEIRA TO ST. CATHERINE'S--UNHEALTHINESS OF THE SQUADRON.
On the 3rd of November we weighed from Madeira.
On the 20th the captains of the squadron represented to the Commodore that their ships' companies were very sickly, and that it was their own opinion as well as their surgeons' that it would tend to the preservation of the men to let in more air between decks; but that their ships were so deep they could not possibly open their lower ports. On this representation the Commodore ordered six air-scuttles to be cut in each ship, in such places where they would least weaken it.
We crossed the Equinoctial, with a fine fresh gale at south-east on Friday, the 28th of November, at four in the morning, being then in the longitude of 27 degrees 59 minutes west from London.
On the 12th of December we spoke with a Portuguese brigantine from Rio de Janeiro, who informed us that we were sixty-four leagues from Cape St. Thomas, and forty leagues from Cape Frio.
DISEASE.
We now began to grow impatient for a sight of land, both for the recovery of our sick and for the refreshment and security of those who as yet continued healthier. When we departed from St. Helens, we were in so good a condition that we lost but two men on board the Centurion in our long passage to Madeira. But in this present run between Madeira and St. Catherine's we had been very sickly, so that many died, and great numbers were confined to their hammocks, both in our own ship and in the rest of the squadron; and several of these past all hopes of recovery. By our continuance at sea all our complaints were every day increasin, so that it was with great joy that we discovered the coast of Brazil on the 18th of December, at seven in the morning.
We moored at the island of St. Catherine's on Sunday, the 21st of December, the whole squadron being sickly and in great want of refreshments: both which inconveniences we hoped to have soon removed at this settlement, celebrated by former navigators for its healthiness and its provisions, and for the freedom, indulgence, and friendly assistance there given to the ships of all European nations in amity with the Crown of Portugal.
Our first care, after having moored our ships, was to send our sick men on shore. We sent about eighty sick from the Centurion, and the other ships I believe, sent nearly as many in proportion to the number of their hands. As soon as we had performed this necessary duty, we scraped our decks, and gave our ship a thorough cleansing; then smoked it between decks, and after all washed every part well with vinegar. Our next employment was wooding and watering our squadron, caulking our ships' sides and decks, overhauling our rigging, and securing our masts against the tempestuous weather we were, in all probability, to meet with in our passage round Cape Horn in so advanced and inconvenient a season.
In order to render the ships stiffer, and to enable them to carry more sail abroad, and to prevent their labouring in hard gales of wind, each captain had orders given him to strike down some of their great guns into the hold. These precautions being complied with, and each ship having taken in as much wood and water as there was room for, the whole squadron was ready for the sea; on which the tents on shore were struck, and all the sick were received on board. And here we had a melancholy proof how much the healthiness of this place had been overrated by former writers, for we found that though the Centurion alone had buried no less than twenty-eight men since our arrival, yet the number of our sick was in the same interval increased from eighty to ninety-six.
And now our crews being embarked, and everything prepared for our departure, the Commodore made a signal for all captains, and delivered them their orders,