August 19, 2025 • 20 mins
Owen Chase (October 7, 1797 – March 7, 1869) served as the First Mate of the ill-fated whale ship Essex, which met a tragic fate when it was rammed and sunk by a sperm whale on October 28, 1820. In the aftermath, Chase penned the gripping account titled Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale-Ship Essex, published in 1821. This harrowing tale not only chronicles the desperate survival of the crew but also served as a profound inspiration for Herman Melvilles iconic novel, Moby-Dick. (Summary from Wikipedia)
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Section seven of the Shipwreck of the whale ship Essex
by Owen Chase. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Recording by Phil Schamp, Chapter three, Part four, December fifteenth
to the twenty second. On the fifteenth our boat continued
to take in water so fast from her leaks, and
(00:22):
the weather proof so moderate, we concluded to search out
the bad places and endeavor to mend them as well
as we should be able. After a considerable search and
removing the ceiling near the bows, we found the principal
opening was occasioned by the starting of a plank or
streak in the bottom of the boat next to the keel.
To remedy this, it was now absolutely necessary to have
(00:46):
access to the bottom, the means of doing which did
not immediately occur to our minds. After a moment's reflection, however,
one of the crew, Benjamin Lawrence, offered to tie a
rope around his body, take a boat's hatchet in his hand,
and thus go under the water and hold the hatchet
against a nail to be driven through from the inside
(01:07):
for the purpose of clenching it. This was accordingly all
affected with some little trouble, and answered the purpose, much
beyond our expectations. Our latitude was this day twenty one
degrees forty two minutes south. The oppression of the weather,
still continuing through the sixteenth bore upon our health and
(01:27):
spirits with an amazing force and severity. The most disagreeable
excitements were produced by it, which added to the disconsolate
endurance of the calm, called loudly for some mitigating expedient,
some sort of relief to our prolonged sufferings. By our
observations to day, we found, in addition to our other calamities,
(01:50):
that we had been urged back from our progress by
the heave of the sea a distance of ten miles,
and were still without any prospect of wind. In this
distressing posture of our affairs, the Captain proposed that we
should commence rowing, which, being seconded by all, we immediately
concluded to take a double allowance of provision and water
(02:12):
for the day, and row during the cool of the
nights until we should get a breeze from some quarter
or other. Accordingly, when night came we commenced our laborious operations.
We made but a very sorry progress. Hunger and thirst
and long inactivity had so weakened us that in three
hours every man gave out, and we abandoned the further
(02:35):
prosecution of the plan. With the sunrise the next morning,
on the seventeenth, a light breeze sprung up from the southeast,
and although directly ahead, it was welcomed with almost frenzied
feelings of gratitude and joy. December eighteenth, the wind had
increased this day considerably, and by twelve o'clock blew a gale,
(02:58):
veering from southeast east to east southeast. Again, we were
compelled to take in all sail and to lie too
for the principal part of the day. At night, however,
it died away, and the next day, the nineteenth, proved
very moderate and pleasant weather, and we again commenced to
make a little progress. December twentieth, This was a day
(03:22):
of great happiness and joy. After having experienced one of
the most distressing nights in the whole catalog of our sufferings,
we awoke to a morning of comparative luxury and pleasure.
About seven o'clock, while we were sitting dispirited, silent, and
ejected in our boats, one of our companions suddenly and
loudly called out there is land. We were all aroused
(03:45):
in an instant, as if electrified, and casting our eyes
to leeward. There indeed was the blessed vision before us,
as plain and palpable as could be wished for. A
new and extraordinary impulse now took possession of us. We
shook off the lethargy of our senses and seemed to
(04:06):
take another and a fresh existence. One or two of
my companions, whose lagging spirits and worn out frames had
begun to inspire them with an utter indifference to their fate,
now immediately brightened up and manifested a surprising alacrity and
earnestness to gain without delay the much wished foreshore. It
(04:27):
appeared at first a low white beach, and lay like
a basking paradise before our longing eyes. It was discovered
nearly at the same time by the other boats, and
a general burst of joy and congratulation now passed between us.
It is not within the scope of human calculation by
a mere listener to the story to divine what the
(04:49):
feelings of our hearts were on this occasion. Alternate expectation, fear, gratitude, surprise,
and exaltation each aid our minds and quickened our exertions.
We ran down for it, and at eleven o'clock a
m we were within a quarter mile of the shore.
(05:09):
It was an island to all appearance, as nearly as
we could determine, it about six miles long and three broad,
with a very high, rugged shore, and surrounded by rocks.
The sides of the mountains were bare, but on the
tops it looked fresh and green with vegetation. Upon examining
our navigators, we found it was Doocey's Island, lying in
(05:33):
latitude twenty four degrees forty minutes south longitude one hundred
and twenty four degrees forty minutes west. A short moment
sufficed for reflection, and we made immediate arrangements to land.
None of us knew whether the island was inhabited or not,
nor what it afforded, if anything. If inhabited, it was
(05:55):
uncertain whether by beasts or savages, and a momentary suspense
was created by the dangers which might possibly arise by
proceeding without due preparation and care. Hunger and thirst, however,
soon determined us, and having taken the musket and pistols,
I with three others, affected a landing upon some sunken rocks,
(06:17):
and waded thence to the shore. Upon arriving at the beach,
it was necessary to take a little breath, and we
laid down for a few minutes to rest our weak
bodies before we could proceed. Let the reader judge, if
he can, what must have been our feelings, now, bereft
of all comfortable hopes of life, for the space of
(06:38):
thirty days of terrible suffering, our bodies wasted to mere
skeletons by hunger and thirst, and death itself staring us
in the face, to be suddenly and unexpectedly conducted to
a rich banquet of food and drink, which subsequently we
enjoyed for a few days to our full satisfaction. And
he will have but a faint eye idea of the
(07:00):
happiness that here fell to our lot. We now, after
a few minutes, separated and went different directions in search
of water, the want of which had been our principal privation,
and called for immediate relief. I had not proceeded far
in my excursion before I discovered a fish about a
foot and a half in length, swimming along in the
(07:23):
water close to the shore. I commenced an attack upon
him with the breach of my gun, and struck him,
I believe, once, and he ran under a small rock
that lay near the shore, from whence I took him
with the aid of my ramrod, and brought him up
on the beach, and immediately fell to eating. My companions
(07:43):
soon joined in the repast, and in less than ten
minutes the hole was consumed, bones and skin and scales
in all. With full stomachs, we imagined we could now
attempt the mountains, where, if in any part of the
island we considered, water would be most probably obtained. I
(08:03):
accordingly clamored with excessive labor, suffering and pain up amongst
the bushes, roots, and underwood of one of the crags,
looking in all directions in vain for every appearance of
water that might present itself. There was no indication of
the least moisture to be found within a distance to
which I had ascended. Although my strength did not enable
(08:25):
me to get higher than about twenty feet, I was
sitting down at the height that I had attained, to
gather a little breath, and ruminating upon the fruitlessness of
my search and the consequent evils and continuation of suffering
that it necessarily implied when I perceived that the tide
had risen considerably since our landing, and threatened to cut
(08:47):
off our retreat to the rocks, by which alone we
should be able to regain our boats. I therefore determined
to proceed again to the shore, and informed the captain
and the rest of our want of success in pro
curing water, and consult upon the propriety of remaining at
the island any longer. I never for one moment lost
(09:07):
sight of the main chance which I conceived we still
had of either getting to the coast or of meeting
with some vessel at sea, and felt that every minute's
detention without some equivalent object was lessening those chances by
a consumption of the means of our support. When I
had got down, one of my companions informed me that
(09:29):
he had found a place in a rock some distance
off from which the water exuded in small drops at
intervals of about five minutes, that he had, by applying
his lips to the rock, obtained a few of them,
which only served to wet his appetite, and from which
nothing like the least satisfaction had proceeded. I immediately resolved in
(09:52):
my own mind upon this information to advise, remaining until morning,
to endeavor to make a more thorough search the next
time day, and with our hatchets to pick away the
rock which had been discovered, with the view of increasing,
if possible, the run of water. We all repaired again
to our boats, and there found that the captain had
(10:12):
the same impressions as to the propriety of our delay
until morning. We therefore landed, and, having hauled our boats
up on the beach, laid down in them that night,
free from all the anxieties of watching and labor, and
amid all our sufferings, gave ourselves up to an unreserved
forgetfulness and peace of mind that seemed so well to
(10:34):
accord with the pleasing anticipations that this day had brought forth.
It was but a short space, however, until the morning
broke upon us, and sense and feeling and gnawing hunger,
and the raging fever of thirst then redoubled my wishes
and efforts to explore the island again. We had obtained
(10:54):
that night a few crabs by traversing the shore a
considerable distance, and a few very small fish, but waited
until the next day for the labours of which we
considered a night of refreshing and undisturbed repose would better
qualify us. December twenty first, we had still reserved our
(11:15):
common allowance, but it was entirely inadequate for the purpose
of supplying the raging demands of the palate, and such
an excessive and cruel thirst was created as almost to
deprive us of the power of speech. The lips became
cracked and swollen, and a sort of glutinous saliva collected
in the mouth, disagreeable to the taste, and intolerable beyond expression.
(11:40):
Our bodies had wasted away to almost skin and bone,
and possessed so little strength as often to require each
other's assistance in performing some of its weakest functions. Relief,
we now felt, must come soon, or nature would sink.
The most perfect discipline was still made maintained in respect
(12:01):
to our provisions, and it now became our whole object.
If we should not be able to replenish our subsistence
from the island, to obtain, by some means or other,
a sufficient refreshment to enable us to prosecute our voyage.
Our search for water accordingly again commenced with the morning
(12:21):
each of us took a different direction, and prosecuted the
examination of every place where there was the least indication
of it, The small leaves of the shrubbery affording a
temporary alleviation by being chewed in the mouth, and but
for the peculiarly bitter taste which those of the island possessed,
would have been an extremely grateful substitute. In the course
(12:44):
of our rambles, too, along the sides of the mountain,
we would now and then meet with tropic birds of
a beautiful figure and plumage, occupying small holes in the
sides of it, from which we plucked them without the
least difficulty. Upon our approaching them. They made no attempts
to fly, nor did they appear to notice us at all.
(13:06):
These birds served us for a fine repast, numbers of
which were caught in the course of the day, cooked
by fires which we made on the shore, and eaten
with the utmost avidity. We found also a plant in
taste not unlike the pepper grass, growing in considerable abundance
in the crevices of the rocks, and which provided to
(13:28):
us a very agreeable food by being chewed with the
meat of the birds. These with birds nests, some of
them full of young and others of eggs. A few
of which we found in the course of the day,
served us for food and supplied the place of our bread,
from the use of which during our stay here we
had restricted ourselves. But water, the great object of all
(13:52):
our anxieties and exertions, was nowhere to be found, and
we began to despair of meeting with it on the island.
Our state of extreme weakness, and many of us without
shoes or any covering for the feet, prevented us from
exploring any great distance, lest, by some sudden faintness or
over exertion, we should not be able to return, and
(14:15):
at night be exposed to the attacks of wild beasts,
which might inhabit the island, and be alike incapable of
resistance as beyond the reach of the feeble assistance that
otherwise could be afforded to each. The whole day was
thus consumed in picking up whatever had the least shape
or quality of sustenance, and another night of misery was
(14:38):
before us, to be passed without a drop of water
to cool our parching tongues. In this state of affairs,
we could not reconcile it to ourselves to remain longer
at this place. A day an hour lost to us
unnecessarily here might cost us our preservation. A drop of
the water that we then had in our p posession
(15:00):
might prove, in the last stages of our debility, the
very cordial of life. I addressed the substance of these
few reflections to the captain, who agreed with me in
opinion upon the necessity of taking some decisive steps in
our present dilemma. After some considerable conversation on this subject,
(15:22):
it was finally concluded to spend the succeeding day in
the further search for water, and if none should be found,
to quit the island. The morning after December twenty second.
We had been employed during the last night in various occupations,
according to the feelings or the wants of the men.
(15:42):
Some continued to wander about the shore and to short
distances in the mountains, still seeking for food and water.
Others hung about the beach near the edge of the sea,
endeavoring to take the little fish that came about them.
Some slept insensible to every feeling, but while others spent
the night in talking of their situation. And reasoning upon
(16:05):
the probabilities of their deliverance. The dawn of day aroused
us again to labor, and each of us pursued his
own inclination as to the course taken over the island
after water. My principal hope was founded upon my success
in picking the rocks where the moisture had been discovered
the day before, and thither I hastened as soon as
(16:26):
my strength would enable me to get there. It was
about a quarter of a mile from what I may
call our encampment, and with two men who had accompanied me,
I commenced my labors with a hatchet and an old chisel.
The rock proved to be very soft, and in a
very short time I had obtained a considerable hole, But
(16:47):
alas without the least wished for effect, I watched it
for some little time with great anxiety, hoping that as
I increased the depth of the hole the water would
presently flow. All my hopes and efforts were unavailing, and
at last I desisted from further labor and sat down
near it in utter despair. As I turned my eyes
(17:10):
towards the beach, I saw some of the men in
the act of carrying a keg along from the boats
with I thought an extraordinary spirit and activity, and the
ideas suddenly darted across my mind that they had found
water and were taking a keg to fill it. I
quitted my seat in a moment, made the best of
my way towards them with a palpitating heart, and before
(17:32):
I came up with them, they gave me the cheering
news that they had found a spring of water. I
felt at that moment as if I could have fallen down,
and thanked God for this signal act of his mercy.
The sensation that I experienced was indeed strange, and such
as I shall never forget. At one instant I felt
(17:53):
an almost choking excess of joy, and at the next
I wanted the relief of a flood of tears. When
I arrived at the spot whither I had hastened as
fast as my weak legs would carry me, I found
my companions had all taken their fill, and with an
extreme degree of forbearance, I then satisfied myself by drinking
(18:14):
in small quantities and at intervals of two or three
minutes apart. Many had notwithstanding the remonstrances of prudence, and
in some cases force, laid down and thoughtlessly swallowed large
quantities of it, until they could drink no more. The
effect of this was, however, neither so sudden nor bad
(18:36):
as we had imagined. It only served to make them
a little stupid and indolent for the remainder of the day.
Upon examining the place from whence we had obtained this
miraculous and unexpected succor, we were equally astonished and delighted
with the discovery. It was on the shore above which
the sea flowed to the depth of near six feet,
(18:58):
and we could procure water therefore or from it, only
when the tide was down. The crevice from which it
rose was in a flat rock, large surfaces of which
were spread around and composed the face of the beach.
We filled our two kegs before the tide rose, and
went back again to our boats. The remainder of this
day was spent in seeking for fish, crabs, birds, and
(19:22):
anything else that fell in our way that could contribute
to satisfire appetites, and we enjoyed during that night a
most comfortable and delicious sleep, unattended with those violent cravings
of hunger and thirst that had poisoned our slumbers for
so many previous ones. Since the discovery of the water, too,
(19:43):
we had began to entertain different notions altogether of our situation.
There was no doubt we might here depend upon a
constant and ample supply of it as long as we
chose to remain, and in all probability we could manage
to obtain food till the island should be visited by
some vessel, or time allowed to devise other means of
(20:05):
leaving it. Our boats would still remain to us. A
stay here might enable us to mend, strengthen, and put
them in more perfect order for the sea, and get
ourselves so far recruited as to be able to endure,
if necessary, a more protracted voyage to the mainland. I
made a silent determination in my own mind that I
(20:26):
would myself pursue something like this plan, whatever might be
the opinion of the rest. But I found no difference
in the views of any of us as to this matter.
We therefore concluded to remain at least four or five days,
within which time it could be sufficiently known whether it
would be advisable to make any arrangements for a more
(20:48):
permanent abode. End of Section seven.
Section seven of the Shipwreck of the whale ship Essex
by Owen Chase. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
Recording by Phil Schamp, Chapter three, Part four, December fifteenth
to the twenty second. On the fifteenth our boat continued
to take in water so fast from her leaks, and
(00:22):
the weather proof so moderate, we concluded to search out
the bad places and endeavor to mend them as well
as we should be able. After a considerable search and
removing the ceiling near the bows, we found the principal
opening was occasioned by the starting of a plank or
streak in the bottom of the boat next to the keel.
To remedy this, it was now absolutely necessary to have
(00:46):
access to the bottom, the means of doing which did
not immediately occur to our minds. After a moment's reflection, however,
one of the crew, Benjamin Lawrence, offered to tie a
rope around his body, take a boat's hatchet in his hand,
and thus go under the water and hold the hatchet
against a nail to be driven through from the inside
(01:07):
for the purpose of clenching it. This was accordingly all
affected with some little trouble, and answered the purpose, much
beyond our expectations. Our latitude was this day twenty one
degrees forty two minutes south. The oppression of the weather,
still continuing through the sixteenth bore upon our health and
(01:27):
spirits with an amazing force and severity. The most disagreeable
excitements were produced by it, which added to the disconsolate
endurance of the calm, called loudly for some mitigating expedient,
some sort of relief to our prolonged sufferings. By our
observations to day, we found, in addition to our other calamities,
(01:50):
that we had been urged back from our progress by
the heave of the sea a distance of ten miles,
and were still without any prospect of wind. In this
distressing posture of our affairs, the Captain proposed that we
should commence rowing, which, being seconded by all, we immediately
concluded to take a double allowance of provision and water
(02:12):
for the day, and row during the cool of the
nights until we should get a breeze from some quarter
or other. Accordingly, when night came we commenced our laborious operations.
We made but a very sorry progress. Hunger and thirst
and long inactivity had so weakened us that in three
hours every man gave out, and we abandoned the further
(02:35):
prosecution of the plan. With the sunrise the next morning,
on the seventeenth, a light breeze sprung up from the southeast,
and although directly ahead, it was welcomed with almost frenzied
feelings of gratitude and joy. December eighteenth, the wind had
increased this day considerably, and by twelve o'clock blew a gale,
(02:58):
veering from southeast east to east southeast. Again, we were
compelled to take in all sail and to lie too
for the principal part of the day. At night, however,
it died away, and the next day, the nineteenth, proved
very moderate and pleasant weather, and we again commenced to
make a little progress. December twentieth, This was a day
(03:22):
of great happiness and joy. After having experienced one of
the most distressing nights in the whole catalog of our sufferings,
we awoke to a morning of comparative luxury and pleasure.
About seven o'clock, while we were sitting dispirited, silent, and
ejected in our boats, one of our companions suddenly and
loudly called out there is land. We were all aroused
(03:45):
in an instant, as if electrified, and casting our eyes
to leeward. There indeed was the blessed vision before us,
as plain and palpable as could be wished for. A
new and extraordinary impulse now took possession of us. We
shook off the lethargy of our senses and seemed to
(04:06):
take another and a fresh existence. One or two of
my companions, whose lagging spirits and worn out frames had
begun to inspire them with an utter indifference to their fate,
now immediately brightened up and manifested a surprising alacrity and
earnestness to gain without delay the much wished foreshore. It
(04:27):
appeared at first a low white beach, and lay like
a basking paradise before our longing eyes. It was discovered
nearly at the same time by the other boats, and
a general burst of joy and congratulation now passed between us.
It is not within the scope of human calculation by
a mere listener to the story to divine what the
(04:49):
feelings of our hearts were on this occasion. Alternate expectation, fear, gratitude, surprise,
and exaltation each aid our minds and quickened our exertions.
We ran down for it, and at eleven o'clock a
m we were within a quarter mile of the shore.
(05:09):
It was an island to all appearance, as nearly as
we could determine, it about six miles long and three broad,
with a very high, rugged shore, and surrounded by rocks.
The sides of the mountains were bare, but on the
tops it looked fresh and green with vegetation. Upon examining
our navigators, we found it was Doocey's Island, lying in
(05:33):
latitude twenty four degrees forty minutes south longitude one hundred
and twenty four degrees forty minutes west. A short moment
sufficed for reflection, and we made immediate arrangements to land.
None of us knew whether the island was inhabited or not,
nor what it afforded, if anything. If inhabited, it was
(05:55):
uncertain whether by beasts or savages, and a momentary suspense
was created by the dangers which might possibly arise by
proceeding without due preparation and care. Hunger and thirst, however,
soon determined us, and having taken the musket and pistols,
I with three others, affected a landing upon some sunken rocks,
(06:17):
and waded thence to the shore. Upon arriving at the beach,
it was necessary to take a little breath, and we
laid down for a few minutes to rest our weak
bodies before we could proceed. Let the reader judge, if
he can, what must have been our feelings, now, bereft
of all comfortable hopes of life, for the space of
(06:38):
thirty days of terrible suffering, our bodies wasted to mere
skeletons by hunger and thirst, and death itself staring us
in the face, to be suddenly and unexpectedly conducted to
a rich banquet of food and drink, which subsequently we
enjoyed for a few days to our full satisfaction. And
he will have but a faint eye idea of the
(07:00):
happiness that here fell to our lot. We now, after
a few minutes, separated and went different directions in search
of water, the want of which had been our principal privation,
and called for immediate relief. I had not proceeded far
in my excursion before I discovered a fish about a
foot and a half in length, swimming along in the
(07:23):
water close to the shore. I commenced an attack upon
him with the breach of my gun, and struck him,
I believe, once, and he ran under a small rock
that lay near the shore, from whence I took him
with the aid of my ramrod, and brought him up
on the beach, and immediately fell to eating. My companions
(07:43):
soon joined in the repast, and in less than ten
minutes the hole was consumed, bones and skin and scales
in all. With full stomachs, we imagined we could now
attempt the mountains, where, if in any part of the
island we considered, water would be most probably obtained. I
(08:03):
accordingly clamored with excessive labor, suffering and pain up amongst
the bushes, roots, and underwood of one of the crags,
looking in all directions in vain for every appearance of
water that might present itself. There was no indication of
the least moisture to be found within a distance to
which I had ascended. Although my strength did not enable
(08:25):
me to get higher than about twenty feet, I was
sitting down at the height that I had attained, to
gather a little breath, and ruminating upon the fruitlessness of
my search and the consequent evils and continuation of suffering
that it necessarily implied when I perceived that the tide
had risen considerably since our landing, and threatened to cut
(08:47):
off our retreat to the rocks, by which alone we
should be able to regain our boats. I therefore determined
to proceed again to the shore, and informed the captain
and the rest of our want of success in pro
curing water, and consult upon the propriety of remaining at
the island any longer. I never for one moment lost
(09:07):
sight of the main chance which I conceived we still
had of either getting to the coast or of meeting
with some vessel at sea, and felt that every minute's
detention without some equivalent object was lessening those chances by
a consumption of the means of our support. When I
had got down, one of my companions informed me that
(09:29):
he had found a place in a rock some distance
off from which the water exuded in small drops at
intervals of about five minutes, that he had, by applying
his lips to the rock, obtained a few of them,
which only served to wet his appetite, and from which
nothing like the least satisfaction had proceeded. I immediately resolved in
(09:52):
my own mind upon this information to advise, remaining until morning,
to endeavor to make a more thorough search the next
time day, and with our hatchets to pick away the
rock which had been discovered, with the view of increasing,
if possible, the run of water. We all repaired again
to our boats, and there found that the captain had
(10:12):
the same impressions as to the propriety of our delay
until morning. We therefore landed, and, having hauled our boats
up on the beach, laid down in them that night,
free from all the anxieties of watching and labor, and
amid all our sufferings, gave ourselves up to an unreserved
forgetfulness and peace of mind that seemed so well to
(10:34):
accord with the pleasing anticipations that this day had brought forth.
It was but a short space, however, until the morning
broke upon us, and sense and feeling and gnawing hunger,
and the raging fever of thirst then redoubled my wishes
and efforts to explore the island again. We had obtained
(10:54):
that night a few crabs by traversing the shore a
considerable distance, and a few very small fish, but waited
until the next day for the labours of which we
considered a night of refreshing and undisturbed repose would better
qualify us. December twenty first, we had still reserved our
(11:15):
common allowance, but it was entirely inadequate for the purpose
of supplying the raging demands of the palate, and such
an excessive and cruel thirst was created as almost to
deprive us of the power of speech. The lips became
cracked and swollen, and a sort of glutinous saliva collected
in the mouth, disagreeable to the taste, and intolerable beyond expression.
(11:40):
Our bodies had wasted away to almost skin and bone,
and possessed so little strength as often to require each
other's assistance in performing some of its weakest functions. Relief,
we now felt, must come soon, or nature would sink.
The most perfect discipline was still made maintained in respect
(12:01):
to our provisions, and it now became our whole object.
If we should not be able to replenish our subsistence
from the island, to obtain, by some means or other,
a sufficient refreshment to enable us to prosecute our voyage.
Our search for water accordingly again commenced with the morning
(12:21):
each of us took a different direction, and prosecuted the
examination of every place where there was the least indication
of it, The small leaves of the shrubbery affording a
temporary alleviation by being chewed in the mouth, and but
for the peculiarly bitter taste which those of the island possessed,
would have been an extremely grateful substitute. In the course
(12:44):
of our rambles, too, along the sides of the mountain,
we would now and then meet with tropic birds of
a beautiful figure and plumage, occupying small holes in the
sides of it, from which we plucked them without the
least difficulty. Upon our approaching them. They made no attempts
to fly, nor did they appear to notice us at all.
(13:06):
These birds served us for a fine repast, numbers of
which were caught in the course of the day, cooked
by fires which we made on the shore, and eaten
with the utmost avidity. We found also a plant in
taste not unlike the pepper grass, growing in considerable abundance
in the crevices of the rocks, and which provided to
(13:28):
us a very agreeable food by being chewed with the
meat of the birds. These with birds nests, some of
them full of young and others of eggs. A few
of which we found in the course of the day,
served us for food and supplied the place of our bread,
from the use of which during our stay here we
had restricted ourselves. But water, the great object of all
(13:52):
our anxieties and exertions, was nowhere to be found, and
we began to despair of meeting with it on the island.
Our state of extreme weakness, and many of us without
shoes or any covering for the feet, prevented us from
exploring any great distance, lest, by some sudden faintness or
over exertion, we should not be able to return, and
(14:15):
at night be exposed to the attacks of wild beasts,
which might inhabit the island, and be alike incapable of
resistance as beyond the reach of the feeble assistance that
otherwise could be afforded to each. The whole day was
thus consumed in picking up whatever had the least shape
or quality of sustenance, and another night of misery was
(14:38):
before us, to be passed without a drop of water
to cool our parching tongues. In this state of affairs,
we could not reconcile it to ourselves to remain longer
at this place. A day an hour lost to us
unnecessarily here might cost us our preservation. A drop of
the water that we then had in our p posession
(15:00):
might prove, in the last stages of our debility, the
very cordial of life. I addressed the substance of these
few reflections to the captain, who agreed with me in
opinion upon the necessity of taking some decisive steps in
our present dilemma. After some considerable conversation on this subject,
(15:22):
it was finally concluded to spend the succeeding day in
the further search for water, and if none should be found,
to quit the island. The morning after December twenty second.
We had been employed during the last night in various occupations,
according to the feelings or the wants of the men.
(15:42):
Some continued to wander about the shore and to short
distances in the mountains, still seeking for food and water.
Others hung about the beach near the edge of the sea,
endeavoring to take the little fish that came about them.
Some slept insensible to every feeling, but while others spent
the night in talking of their situation. And reasoning upon
(16:05):
the probabilities of their deliverance. The dawn of day aroused
us again to labor, and each of us pursued his
own inclination as to the course taken over the island
after water. My principal hope was founded upon my success
in picking the rocks where the moisture had been discovered
the day before, and thither I hastened as soon as
(16:26):
my strength would enable me to get there. It was
about a quarter of a mile from what I may
call our encampment, and with two men who had accompanied me,
I commenced my labors with a hatchet and an old chisel.
The rock proved to be very soft, and in a
very short time I had obtained a considerable hole, But
(16:47):
alas without the least wished for effect, I watched it
for some little time with great anxiety, hoping that as
I increased the depth of the hole the water would
presently flow. All my hopes and efforts were unavailing, and
at last I desisted from further labor and sat down
near it in utter despair. As I turned my eyes
(17:10):
towards the beach, I saw some of the men in
the act of carrying a keg along from the boats
with I thought an extraordinary spirit and activity, and the
ideas suddenly darted across my mind that they had found
water and were taking a keg to fill it. I
quitted my seat in a moment, made the best of
my way towards them with a palpitating heart, and before
(17:32):
I came up with them, they gave me the cheering
news that they had found a spring of water. I
felt at that moment as if I could have fallen down,
and thanked God for this signal act of his mercy.
The sensation that I experienced was indeed strange, and such
as I shall never forget. At one instant I felt
(17:53):
an almost choking excess of joy, and at the next
I wanted the relief of a flood of tears. When
I arrived at the spot whither I had hastened as
fast as my weak legs would carry me, I found
my companions had all taken their fill, and with an
extreme degree of forbearance, I then satisfied myself by drinking
(18:14):
in small quantities and at intervals of two or three
minutes apart. Many had notwithstanding the remonstrances of prudence, and
in some cases force, laid down and thoughtlessly swallowed large
quantities of it, until they could drink no more. The
effect of this was, however, neither so sudden nor bad
(18:36):
as we had imagined. It only served to make them
a little stupid and indolent for the remainder of the day.
Upon examining the place from whence we had obtained this
miraculous and unexpected succor, we were equally astonished and delighted
with the discovery. It was on the shore above which
the sea flowed to the depth of near six feet,
(18:58):
and we could procure water therefore or from it, only
when the tide was down. The crevice from which it
rose was in a flat rock, large surfaces of which
were spread around and composed the face of the beach.
We filled our two kegs before the tide rose, and
went back again to our boats. The remainder of this
day was spent in seeking for fish, crabs, birds, and
(19:22):
anything else that fell in our way that could contribute
to satisfire appetites, and we enjoyed during that night a
most comfortable and delicious sleep, unattended with those violent cravings
of hunger and thirst that had poisoned our slumbers for
so many previous ones. Since the discovery of the water, too,
(19:43):
we had began to entertain different notions altogether of our situation.
There was no doubt we might here depend upon a
constant and ample supply of it as long as we
chose to remain, and in all probability we could manage
to obtain food till the island should be visited by
some vessel, or time allowed to devise other means of
(20:05):
leaving it. Our boats would still remain to us. A
stay here might enable us to mend, strengthen, and put
them in more perfect order for the sea, and get
ourselves so far recruited as to be able to endure,
if necessary, a more protracted voyage to the mainland. I
made a silent determination in my own mind that I
(20:26):
would myself pursue something like this plan, whatever might be
the opinion of the rest. But I found no difference
in the views of any of us as to this matter.
We therefore concluded to remain at least four or five days,
within which time it could be sufficiently known whether it
would be advisable to make any arrangements for a more
(20:48):
permanent abode. End of Section seven.
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