Journal of Jasper Danckaerts, 1679-1680 Part 3

There were several pa.s.sengers, not only women, but men, and some of the bravest, who began to secure the best they had, and were ready and looking out how they might safely reach the land. But the Lord possessed us with His grace. Though seeing all this and knowing the danger, I was not disturbed by it. Margaret proposed throwing some of the cargo overboard, but the pilot and I dissuaded her from it. The captain wished to start the tanks of fresh water, but we hindered him.

Of all the men in the s.h.i.+p I saw no one who was so frightened as Jan.

He ran backwards and forwards and hardly knew what he said or did.

This happened about half past three o'clock in the afternoon, and as we had not yet taken any dinner, and could effect nothing as long as the s.h.i.+p was fast, the victuals were brought out to be eaten. We sat before the hut and ate; but we had not finished when I perceived the s.h.i.+p dragging, as had been predicted. I sprang up quickly and cried out: "We are afloat; the s.h.i.+p's afloat." Immediately thereupon the whole s.h.i.+p was in commotion. The victuals were removed, the boat put to the bow, and every one did his best, rowing as well as he could.

The s.h.i.+p, floating more and more, gave some good pushes and was brought into four fathoms of water, in the middle of the channel, and there anch.o.r.ed. My companion and myself thanked G.o.d in our hearts, and all were very much rejoiced. But no sooner was the danger over, which had somewhat bridled the G.o.dlessness of these bad men, than they returned to their old courses, with cursing and foul language. They were not affected in the least by what had happened, nor by G.o.d's gracious preservation of us. Truly was His hand visible, for it remained perfectly calm, so the s.h.i.+p labored very little. It would otherwise have been all over with us, for our s.h.i.+p not being the strongest, and being moreover very heavily laden, if the wind had changed to the east and forced us on a lee sh.o.r.e, she would have soon gone to pieces; or if we had grounded on the opposite side, which might easily have happened, there would have been little probability of her getting off, because the flood tide would have driven us higher up, especially if it had blown somewhat hard. The flood having run in and a light breeze springing out of the S.E. and S.S.E., the anchor was raised and in a short time we came outside, having been there about six hours. The pilot was paid, and he left the s.h.i.+p; the women whom he had taken in his boat were put on board and we bade him adieu, and set our course.

Before we proceed further we will say a word concerning the island of Texel, where we were about eight days, although the island is well known. It is said to be twenty-eight miles[57] in circ.u.mference, and is nearly oval in form. The sh.o.r.e, inside along the Texelsdiep, is d.y.k.ed; on the outside, along the North Sea, it is beset with dunes.

There are six villages, namely Oosterend, Seelt, the Hoogh, the Burgh, which is the princ.i.p.al one, and has privileges like a city, such as that of inflicting capital punishment and others; the Oude Schilt, which is mostly resorted to by s.h.i.+ps, the Hoorn, and also the West End, which has now fallen into decay. We saw four of them but not the Hoogh which lay out of the way, and the West End which had fallen into decay. Inland the country is rough, and some of it high, so that there are few ditches, except in the low lands for the most part on the side of Texelsdiep. Otherwise they protect their land with small d.y.k.es of earth. The soil is sandy, which affords very good water in the high places. The meadow lands are somewhat dry, but yield a fine gra.s.s. The inhabitants gain their livelihood, for the most part, by raising sheep and making Texel cheese. The sheep are smaller, but fatter and more hardy than they are in Friesland. They seldom bring forth two young at a birth, and when they do, one usually is killed in order that the other may be better nourished. The inhabitants have cows for their own use. The d.y.k.e is not high or thick, but is lined with _wier_, a kind of sea gra.s.s, which they put together and lay against the d.y.k.e somewhat higher than the earth work. Piles are driven outside to hold this wier against it, and prevent the sea from was.h.i.+ng it away. This d.y.k.e is repaired every year by contract. Many fishermen and pilots live along it, both qualifications generally being in the same person, as well as the other pursuits pertaining to navigation.

There are about five hundred pilots in all living on the island of Texel, as can be seen by the numbers which they carry on their sails or wings.

[Footnote 57: In this translation distances are stated in English miles.]

The law is that no s.h.i.+p can go in or out without a pilot; and in case any captain will not take a pilot, he is nevertheless bound to pay the fees of one, and in case the captain will not pay them, the pilots can go to Amsterdam and there obtain it at the expense of the captain. And if the captain take no pilot and an accident happen, the consequences fall upon him; but I believe this first rule only applies to s.h.i.+ps belonging to Amsterdam or other ports in Holland; and that foreign s.h.i.+ps are more free in that respect, but cannot relieve themselves from the second. The pilots who bring in s.h.i.+ps from the outside bring them to the Texel roadstead or the Helder, and others take them to Amsterdam or elsewhere; and those who take them from Amsterdam, go no further than the Texel road or the Vlie,[58] and other pilots carry them out to sea. The fee of the pilots is a guilder[59] a foot for every foot the s.h.i.+p draws, though any sum may be fixed by agreement.

[Footnote 58: The Texel channel being the great western pa.s.sage out from the Zuider Zee, the other or eastern pa.s.sage was the Vlie, lying on the other side of the great shoal known as the Bree Sand, and leading out between the islands of Vlieland and Sch.e.l.ling.]

[Footnote 59: A guilder or florin was equivalent to about 40 cents.]

During the whole time we were there we saw few or no fish, though we supposed this was the place for fish. We remarked further that the inhabitants of Texel were more polite than the boors of Friesland. A large portion of them are Romanists. There was no home-brewed beer tapped in the taverns, but it was all foreign beer, and this I suppose was for the purpose of saving the excise. They are under the jurisdiction of West Friesland and the particular government of the city of Alckmaer,[60] whose weights and measures they use. West of the Oude Schilt there is a small fortification with four points and two redoubts on the d.y.k.e, and some small batteries; but they afford little protection to the place, and still less to the harbor. It was closed and without men, when we were there. When we first came there, the people, unaccustomed to see such persons, regarded us as some individuals in particular. The innkeepers took us to be farmers of the revenue, especially of brandies, and supposed our presence there was to prevent their smuggling, as they themselves told us. The Roman Catholics, as they declared, looked upon us as priests; the Mennonists, as a cla.s.s of their exhorters; and the ordinary Reformed, as preachers; whereby they all showed they did not know us in truth, according to the word in Christ Jesus.

[Footnote 60: West Friesland was the ancient name for the northern part of the province of Holland, Alkmaar one of its chief towns.]

Leaving Texel and the land we came outside the coast, laying our course S.W. with a S.E. wind, with which we sailed some distance from the sh.o.r.e. Towards evening the wind began to blow from the S. and S.S.W. quite hard, and so we stood off through the whole night. I do not know that I ever had in my life so severe a pain in the breast as I had this evening, whether it was from hard work or change of our condition.

_27th, Tuesday._ The wind from the same quarter as before, but blowing harder, for which reason we reefed our topsails. We had twenty-six and twenty-eight fathoms of water. By evening it was somewhat calmer; but as the wind was not steady we stood off from the sh.o.r.e.

_28th, Wednesday._ Finding ourselves in twenty-five and twenty-six fathoms of water and the wind still south and southwest we sailed over by the wind. It continued to blow hard, and we sailed for the most part N. by E. and N.N.E. It annoyed me that I could not get at our chest, in order to obtain my charts and books of navigation. Our mate and others observed the lat.i.tude, and found it to be 52 16'; and we tacked about. The wind continued in the same quarter, sometimes a little lighter, sometimes sharper. We kept mostly a S.S.E. course, with hard weather the first part of the night.

_29th, Thursday._ Having twenty-six and twenty-seven fathoms of water we lay over again. Every day there were many mackerel caught, which for several days were for the cabin only, whatever number were caught, because they were taken with the captain's hooks; but the pa.s.sengers and sailors began to get their hooks ready also and thus every one began to catch and eat. The weather was delightful. I had obtained my things out of the chest, and found the lat.i.tude 52 18' [?]. We stood over to the Flemish or Zeelandish coast, calculating we were not far from Sluis and Bruges. I therefore went aloft frequently to look out for land. We saw several fis.h.i.+ng boats, one of which we hailed toward evening. He was from Zierickzee, and told us Walcheren[61] was about twenty-eight miles E.S.E. of us, and we could see it from the mast head, as was the fact. We laid over again immediately. It now began to blow more from the S.W. and S.W. by W. We had sailed the last night west by north, according to reckoning, twenty-eight miles. This result agreed with my observation within less than four miles, and that of our mate, named Evert. But the captain's and the English mate's calculation brought us before the Maes, as Evert[62] told me.

[Footnote 61: The westernmost island of the province of Zeeland.]

[Footnote 62: Evert Duyckinck; see _post_, p. 28, note 2.]

We sailed now for a day or two among great quant.i.ties of June-bugs or c.o.c.k-chafers, which had been driven off from the land and drowned,[63]

which caused us to reflect upon what G.o.d did formerly in Egypt and elsewhere, and still often does, for His power is always the same, although it is not always understood.

[Footnote 63: In the fragmentary ma.n.u.script journal of the voyage of 1683, Danckaerts notices, on land, between Canterbury and Dover, the same great abundance of beetles, which every evening fly out to sea from Dover in great numbers.]

_30th, Friday._ We tacked over to the Flemish coast this morning in twenty-five fathoms of water; but it was so calm that we made little progress. It was too cloudy to take the lat.i.tude. The wind was very variable, and we could not keep on S.W., or even south, and so drifted for the most part with the tide.

JULY _1st, Sat.u.r.day._ We had drifted the whole night in the calm, and had gone backwards instead of forwards; but in the morning the wind began to blow out of the N.W. and N.N.W. with a stiff breeze. We therefore set all sail, and went ahead tolerably well on a straight course W. by S. and W.S.W. against the current. We saw land many times about two hours' distance, both on the starboard and larboard, that on the starboard being the cape of Dover, and on the larboard, the cape of Calais. There was a free wind and fine weather, though a little haze on the horizon. The land began to loom up more distinctly, and I sketched it twice with crayon. We continued to catch plenty of mackerel, and also weevers and whitings. We arrived before Dover at sunset, when we fired a gun, and a boat came off to us immediately, by which the captain sent some letters ash.o.r.e. We inquired of them the news, and they answered us all was well; but they told the captain privately that 30,000 Scottish Papists had taken up arms for the conspirators.[64]

[Footnote 64: A distorted rumor of the rising of the Covenanters in June, 1679; but everything was now seen in the light of the Popish Plot.]

It is proper that I should say something here of the North Sea. In case you are driven about by strong contrary winds and cannot obtain the lat.i.tude, and, indeed, under any circ.u.mstances, you should use the deep lead frequently, for the depth is well shown on the chart, and often you cannot get sight of the land. The Flemish coast is the least dangerous, although the English is the most surveyed, because the water becomes shoal gradually. You may get into thirteen and fourteen fathoms of water. In the true channel it is twenty and twenty-two fathoms, and in the middle it is deeper, namely, twenty-six and twenty-eight and over, but it is somewhat more uneven. In approaching the English coast the shoals are more even, as twenty-six, eighteen, seventeen fathoms. To navigate the channel it is best to keep nearest the Flemish coast, because it affords a better course, and the current makes it easy to go north, and the sandbars such as the Galper, Wytingh, and Goyn,[65] are more to be avoided than the Flemish banks; and, moreover, close by the sh.o.r.e it is very deep, yet by the setting of the current to the north you may soon be upon them, that is, with an ebb tide.

[Footnote 65: Sandbanks off the southeast coast of England, called by the English the Galloper, the Whiting, and the Goodwin Sands.]

_2d, Sunday._ Made fair progress during the night. We found ourselves in the morning before the point of Bevesier,[66] which I sketched. The wind was northerly with a cool air. About breakfast time a large English s.h.i.+p came up behind us, which we hailed. She was from London and bound for the Straits.[67] She had much sail on, and after pa.s.sing us, set all she had; but not long afterwards a small breeze blowing off sh.o.r.e, she was compelled to begin to take in her topgallant-sails and upperstay-sails. This was scarcely half done when her maintop-mast and mizzentop-mast went by the board, and remained hanging on the side of the s.h.i.+p. The man who was taking in the topgallant-sail fell overboard. When this accident happened she was only a short distance ahead of us; and we, therefore, all ran forward to the forecastle to see whether there were any pieces of wood at our bow to damage us. We sailed by her, close under her lee, and saw somewhat of a crowd running about the s.h.i.+p. Finally they launched their jolly-boat for the purpose of looking after the man who had fallen overboard with the top-mast. Whether there were any more we did not know, and as we sailed ahead of them with considerable speed, we could not see whether they fished any one up or not; but the s.h.i.+p sailed before the wind the best she could, when her top-mast went overboard; we took in very quickly our own topgallant-sail, which we had set, but more from precaution than necessity. Shortly afterwards it was so calm that we merely drifted along; and being nearly midway between Bevesier and the Isle of Wight, and the ebb tide running out, we were compelled by the current to anchor about a mile from the sh.o.r.e.

[Footnote 66: Beachy Head.]

[Footnote 67: Of Gibraltar.]

About four o'clock in the afternoon Margaret came to me while I was engaged in sketching the Isle of Wight. We talked over various matters which were almost the same as those about which she had conversed with my companion the day before, and I therefore met her with the same objections.

_3d, Monday._ We did not advance any during the night, and had drifted along; but a breeze springing up we went ahead a little. It was very foggy, so that we could not see the land. It cleared up in the afternoon, when we found ourselves off against the Isle of Wight; but the wind subsiding, and the tide being spent, we ran for the point of the island, and came to anchor in ten or eleven fathoms near some other s.h.i.+ps which were waiting there for a good wind and tide. The jolly-boat was launched and our Dutch mate and two other persons went ash.o.r.e in order to see if they could obtain some fresh provisions. The tide having pa.s.sed, and the wind s.h.i.+fting, we signalled to them to come on board again, which they did in the evening, when we were already almost under sail. They brought nothing with them, except a little milk which served us as a good refreshment for this evening.

Sailing ahead, we steered above the point with the wind W.S.W., and so gained the open sea. There is a very strong current here, and hard beating along the sh.o.r.e and around the point. The current sent us ahead more than the wind. The coast is quite good and it is deep enough close up to the sh.o.r.e.

_4th, Tuesday._ We found ourselves in the morning opposite Wight with the wind S.S.E., and quite still. After a while there came up a breeze. We pa.s.sed Peveril Point,[68] however, with the ebb. About noon a flute-s.h.i.+p[69] came near us which we hailed. She was from Amsterdam, bound to Cadiz. It was so calm in the evening that we drifted, and turned round several times. We perceived fifteen or eighteen large s.h.i.+ps on the French coast, which saluted each other with many heavy guns. The ebb being spent, we came to anchor again in twenty-one fathoms of water, about two miles from the sh.o.r.e. The flood having run out by evening, we weighed anchor, and before we were under sail had a fresh wind astern. We therefore set all the sail we could, having a favorable wind and tide, by which means we came before Portland.

[Footnote 68: Durlston Head.]

[Footnote 69: A small long three-masted trading-s.h.i.+p.]

_5th, Wednesday._ We still had a fair wind and kept our course W. by S. We pa.s.sed Portland, and came in sight of Goutstar,[70] and arrived off against it about noon. Our mate was of opinion that we had run by the rock of Meeusteen or Jetston,[71] and should have it on the larboard; but on looking out afterwards we found it right before us, about four miles off. We had therefore to hold up and leave it on the starboard. It is a large rock having its head just above the water. It rises up straight, but is very much hacked, which makes it look like a reef. Whenever the sea is rough it is under water. It is dangerous enough, and lies far out in the channel, farther than it is marked down on my chart. We certainly had reason here again to observe the care of the Lord, and His protection through His good providence, which always watches paternally over His children, shown in our becoming aware of this rock before the evening, and just before the evening, for we had not well gone by it before it was dark. If we had been sailing so at night, or if we had not now discovered it, the mate's calculation being as it was, we certainly should not have missed sailing upon it; for when we first saw it, it was straight before us, and we were sailing with a fair wind and tide up to it. We were therefore touched, and thankful to the Lord. This pa.s.sed, we still, while the sun was going down clear, made Deadman's Head,[72] a point jutting out from England, so that we reckoned we were still twenty-eight or thirty-two miles from Falmouth Bay; but the wind had fallen off somewhat. My calculation was, that we were about twelve or sixteen miles from Falmouth.

[Footnote 70: Start Point.]

[Footnote 71: This dangerous reef was called by the Dutch Meeuwsteen (Sea-mews' Rock), by the English Eddystone. Of the lighthouses for which it has been celebrated, the first was begun in 1695.]

[Footnote 72: Dodman Point.]

_6th, Thursday._ During the night I heard the s.h.i.+p tack close about, and therefore supposed that the wind had changed, or that the s.h.i.+p had run too far, or, what was more probable, I was afraid, the wind being about S.E., we had fallen more to the sh.o.r.e. Our mate Evert and I thought we should stand off a little till daylight; but the captain tacked about again, so that we then sailed N.E., intending thus to enter the harbor of Falmouth, but we found no opening, and when the day broke, discovered that they had made a mistake, and had taken the point of Deadman's Head for the point of Falmouth Bay. When the sun rose, they saw they were deep in the bay, on a lee sh.o.r.e, where it all looked strange, and they had a tolerably hard wind. When they saw they were wrong it continued so some time before they became informed. They then wore s.h.i.+p, and sailed with quite easy sheets out of the bay.

This mishap was mainly caused by Master Jan, who wis.h.i.+ng to play the part of a wise man, though truly it was from fear, had been on deck several times during the night in order to look out, afraid, as he said himself, that we might sail upon the point of the Lizard.[73]

Coming up at this time with drowsy eyes, and catching a glimpse of the land, through the mist, he began to call out, that we had pa.s.sed by Falmouth, and would certainly sail upon the Lizard. It was the English mate's watch, who was not very well acquainted with him, and could not keep him still. The captain was therefore called, who also came up rubbing his eyes, and unable to see the land well in the mist. He agreed with Jan, being apprehensive that the s.h.i.+p had sailed more than they thought, and as I myself considered might well be the case, and so let the s.h.i.+p tack about. I deemed it better, however, to keep off from the sh.o.r.e till daylight, when they could see where they were; but the captain relying more upon Jan's opinion, and wis.h.i.+ng to accomplish half a masterpiece, by going into Falmouth in the dark, and surprising the people there to whom the s.h.i.+p was consigned, and so to pa.s.s hereafter as a good and skillful captain, insisted upon sailing in, and so they went in, as has been mentioned. It is no part of the business of a good seaman to run into a place by night, or when it is dark, where he is not well acquainted; but in such case he should work off sh.o.r.e slowly, waiting until day and light, and know where he is, and then see what can be done. Thus the fear of one danger, and the rashness accompanying it, brought us into another, greater than the first.

[Footnote 73: The southernmost point of Cornwall. Falmouth is about midway between it and Dodman Point.]

Sailing then out of this bay, around the west point, we saw at once the neck from which this point of land takes its name of Deadman's Head. It is shaped like a coffin or the mound of earth which peasants form over a grave, one end a little higher than the other, and going up sharp on either side; but it is on the top somewhat jagged. It is on the east side of the point, three or four cable lengths from the main land. We had a third mate (t.i.tus), on board the s.h.i.+p who was to go on the other s.h.i.+p at Falmouth, and who was well acquainted here. He said he had pa.s.sed through the opening between the rock and the main land, and that it was a mile wide and tolerably clear and deep enough.

After having pa.s.sed Deadman's Head and this rock, we came to a small pretty sand-bay, but it lies open. From Deadman's Head you can see, on the point of Falmouth Bay, a church with a small spire, and near it a stone windmill, which forms a good land-mark, for along the whole coast there are few or no steeples. As you sail along this point the castle comes into view standing upon the west point of the harbor of Falmouth, where also there is a stone windmill.[74] The easterly point should be avoided, for it runs out considerably. It is hard bottom, and at low tide there is three fathoms water always; and we sailed in with that depth. As soon as you perceive it is deeper, you have pa.s.sed the east point. Then keep along this sh.o.r.e if the wind be fair, for there is a rock almost directly in the channel. You can go around it close enough, but this should not be done. As it was low water when we entered, it stuck up out of the water. At high tide it is covered.

There is a spar or pole upon it, which cannot be seen far, but the breakers are sufficiently visible. When you sail in, in this manner, you see the other castle also, lying on the east side, on a point inside. After having pa.s.sed the rock, keep a little again on the inside, and then to the west, so as to avoid the second point, upon which the east castle is situated. As soon as you have pa.s.sed that, you have deeper water and softer bottom; and you must then look out that you do no damage to the s.h.i.+pping, for the roadstead commences there, and you can see the town or village of Falmouth lying upon the west side of the bay, and appearing somewhat prettier than it is in fact. When we arrived, we found a large number of vessels lying there; but being desirous of sailing high up, several s.h.i.+ps received good thumps from us, in pa.s.sing by them, and our endeavoring to keep off the shoals. It would have resulted much worse, if our sheet anchor, which was lying up forward, had not caught between the rails of a small vessel, whose mizzenmast we also came foul of, whereby our s.h.i.+p turned round, and at the same time our anchor fell, and we touched bottom in the mud, with fine weather and still water. We thanked our G.o.d again, with our whole hearts, for the double mercy shown us this morning, having not only in a fatherly manner preserved us from an apprehended danger, but delivered us from this one into which we had truly fallen, and had then caused us to arrive so well. To Him belongs all praise and glory, from all His children, and especially from us, to all eternity. Amen.

[Footnote 74: Falmouth, which had come into existence in 1613, numbered in 1679 some two hundred and fifty houses. The two castles alluded to as commanding the harbor were Pendennis castle on the west (southeast of the town), famous for its obstinate defence in 1646 by the royalists under Lord Arundell, and St. Mawes on the east.]

Our anchor had not yet touched bottom when the inspectors or tide-waiters all came on board to examine. Our captain and Margaret went immediately ash.o.r.e; and after the cook had served the breakfast, almost all the pa.s.sengers, both old and young, putting on their best clothes, did the same. My comrade also went to see if any letters had arrived for us, whilst I remained on board to look after things a little; for all our goods were in the berth, and otherwise within reach, and the s.h.i.+p was constantly full of strange people. My comrade soon returned, but brought no letters. This morning while we were launching the boat, I hurt myself in the loins, on my left side; the pain extended through the whole of that side of my body, to my left breast, and across the middle to the right breast. I was all bent up while standing, and had to sit down. I could scarcely draw a breath or move myself; but I felt it was my old complaint, forced upon me anew when I hurt myself. This pain continued for some days, when it gradually pa.s.sed over. At high water we towed the s.h.i.+p higher up, to the warehouse, where we had to unload. The custom house officers, and Mr. Roggers,[75] came on board with some other persons, and when they left, they promised us the s.h.i.+p should be unladen by Tuesday, for which we were glad.

[Footnote 75: The custom house had lately been transferred to Falmouth from Penryn. Bryan Rogers was one of the chief merchants of the former.]

_7th, Friday._ They began early to break open the hatches and discharge the s.h.i.+p. My comrade and I went ash.o.r.e to a place called Pe[n]ryn, a little further up the bay, where it ends and as far as they can go with any vessels. We went walking thence into the country, over and among the hills, for the purpose of recreating and recruiting ourselves, which refreshed us very much, after having been so long in an overburdened s.h.i.+p and with such wicked men.

We returned to Pe[n]ryn at noon in order to see if we could obtain some place or other to lodge and rest ourselves for a time. By chance we came to an inn in that place, called The English s.h.i.+p, the landlord of which was named Maitre Jean, who spoke a little Dutch, but, as we afterwards discovered, better French, so well indeed that we could converse with him. We took dinner there, and agreed with him to lodge there for several days, with the privilege of a chamber to ourselves.

_8th, Sat.u.r.day._ Having slept on board the s.h.i.+p we went in the morning to our new lodgings, where we breakfasted, and then rambled into the country to divert ourselves, and thence to Falmouth, and so returned by evening to our lodgings.

_9th, Sunday._ My companion being disposed to write, I went to their church, to wit the Episcopal,[76] where I was surprised to find in the church yard a great crowd of people sitting together, smoking tobacco and waiting for the last toll of the bell. On entering the church I was still more astonished at the ceremonies which indeed did not differ much from those of popery, and continued quite long enough.

Then followed a sermon, if it may be called such, delivered in a white gown, as were the first services and other ceremonies in like vestments. The sermon was read out of a little book, without the addition of a single word. It began about ten o'clock, and was not very edifying. The text was from II Cor. xiii. 11; and all this continued till about half-past eleven, when church was over, and the burgomasters or mayors,[77] with two golden royal sceptres, were escorted home. In the afternoon I went out for a walk to the s.h.i.+p, which lay about a half-hour from here toward Falmouth, and nearly midway between the two places for the purpose of being unladen.