Part 8
_June 30._--Wind northerly and N.W. Drizzling rain, with fog: nothing in sight from the hill. The necessity of drying clothes and bedding had become so great, that the crew were employed in lighting large fires in the neighbouring wood, to endeavour to effect this object; and, though a novel one, and in a damp fog, it succeeded tolerably well. The officers could not now stroll far, and our supply of game was at an end. Occasional visits to the Indian hut below us were sometimes paid. To day, our little old Indian proprietor was squatted before his fire in the centre of his hut, which was full of smoke, poultry, and dogs, making a net, for holding potatoes or apples, out of strips of coarse rushes, that grow abundantly in the neighbourhood. A native of Arauco rents of him land to the extent of from 4000 to 6000 acres, for the value of ten dollars annually; used as a run for a few horses and cattle, but liable to a visit from the more southern or hostile Indians. Two or three of the grown up females usually paid a daily visit to a spring situated in the wood joining our camp, with calabashes, and aided each other in washing their heads and hair, to which they appeared to pay great attention; a considerable time being occupied in the _examination_ and arrangement of the back hair, which was dark and very long, bound up in the form of the old-fashioned queue, with a band comprised of coloured worsted threads, and allowed to hang down the back, and terminating with many little ornaments of brass or glass beads. Mustered, as usual. The weather dark and foggy.
_July 1. 1835._--Wind northerly. The weather thick and misty. The crew had again recourse to lighting large fires in the wood, to dry their bedding and clothes. Nothing yet in sight from our look-out. Our sick list numbered about eleven, who were seriously ill, but many more were complaining from rheumatism; but the hope, which was kept alive, of our being succoured made them bear their pains patiently. Mustered our arms as usual, and prepared and lighted the signal fires on the hills. The evening proved dark and foggy.
_July 2._--Wind N.W. and N. The weather remained thick, with rain at times. Nothing visible in the offing: and our hope of seeing the schooner at an end. As the weather permitted, the crew were occupied in preparing wood for the camp and hill fires. A supply of potatoes arrived from the northward for us, and proved most seasonable, as our stock was nearly exhausted. One addition was made to our sick list; Mr. Lane, the assistant surgeon, was amongst the seriously ill with fever. A portion of clothing, &c., was dried by fire during the day. The weather cleared towards evening, and at intervals the moon was seen, which, for a length of time, with us, had been a rare occurrence.
_July 3._--Wind north-westerly and calm; the morning thick and foggy, but inclined to clear at times on the horizon at sea, with a prospect of better weather. At 1 30′ P.M. two guns were distinctly heard from the look-out hill, by the captain and several officers who were there, in the south direction, and apparently not more distant than six or eight miles. Several of us walked along the cliff bordering on the sea, for some miles to the southward, watching anxiously for the weather to clear away, and discover a sail; but nothing was seen. The mice continued our enemies, and habit in their case did not overcome the annoyance they were to us; at night particularly, in disturbing our sleep. One of the sentinels was taken ill to-day on his post. No further increase of our sick list. A party of the officers gathered enough wild turnip-tops for our mess dinner, which proved very acceptable. At sunset, discharged arms and cannonade, and reloaded for the night. All anxiously looking for some relief. A part of our stock of blue lights was placed in the hut on the hill, in case they might be wanted as signals to any ship appearing at sea.
_July 4._--Wind light and westerly. This was the first clear morning we had witnessed for many days, and it cheered us to see once again the sunshine. Some more turnip-tops were gathered for our dinner to-day on the hills; this, though apparently trifling, was in our situation very acceptable. Discharged arms as usual at sunset, and reloaded for the night.
An altitude obtained to-day on the sand at the entrance of the Leubu gave us a latitude of 37° 36′ S., which proved to be many miles north of our situation as shown on the old Spanish chart. A tolerable haul of fish was got outside the river. The crew busily employed in airing and drying their clothes and bedding, and in holding themselves prepared at any moment to embark; orders to that effect having been given for some days past, as well as preparations made for moving our baggage from the camp to the pier. The necessity of separating our sick from their companions, who were still in health, caused us to set about erecting a large hut in imitation of that of the Indians, endeavouring, if possible, to thatch it in a similar manner with the common rushes that grow in great abundance very near us, and thus afford to the sick shelter from the rains. To this end the united strength of our carpenters and the greater part of our crew was employed in felling trees of a convenient size to form uprights for the sides and rafters, for the purpose of a good sloping roof; cutting and collecting also the rushes for thatch; and so earnestly did we set about the work, that the whole frame of the hut, which was secured together with strands of rope-yarns, was near its completion by the evening. Several flocks of parrots visited us this morning, and continued their flight and noise round our camp for some hours: two of them were shot. Don Bernardino complained to us of the difficulty he found in getting a supply of potatoes, arising from the great distance they had to be brought, and in many instances the ravages committed on the crops by the mice. Our sick list remained stationary; several of the crew were in a weak state, and with the assistant-surgeon and three midshipmen were most seriously ill, with what now looked like typhus fever. At sunset went through our daily muster; the weather cloudy, but dry; wind light and variable.
_July 5_.--The wind light from the southward, and the weather clear. At 7 30′ A.M. a sail was reported in sight from the look-out on the hill: this joyful sound opened the ears of all; and when, after a most anxious examination, through the few glasses we possessed, she was pronounced to be a man-of-war, it was received by a cheer throughout the camp, and every heart expanded with joy at the gladdening prospect at length opened to us. Large fires were lighted on the hill, and all possible demonstration made to show our position. About 10 A.M. we had the satisfaction of making out His Majesty’s ship Blonde, and observing her hoist her colours, and fire two guns as a signal that we were seen. Orders were now given to prepare for embarkation; all hands were therefore employed in removing to the pier our heavy baggage, in which we were much expedited by our having made several sledges adapted to this purpose, and dragged by the crew. Towards noon four boats were seen to leave the Blonde, but the distance they had to row prevented their reaching our little landing place inside the entrance of the river until it was too late to risk any embarkation. The first boat that arrived brought our tried friend Captain Fitzroy, who, agreeing with Captain Seymour on the propriety of deferring our operations until daylight next morning, immediately returned to the Blonde to communicate to Commodore Mason the arrangement that had been made, fortunately getting to the ship soon after dark, taking with him a second boat’s crew of the Challenger’s men, to supply the place of those who were to remain on shore with the three boats, which we had hauled up on the banks of the Leubu, and secured for the night. Captain Seymour had also sent an officer with Captain Fitzroy, to give to the Commodore every information he might require as to our condition and readiness for embarkation.
During the day there arrived on the north bank of the Leubu a guard of thirty infantry from Arauco, under the command of an officer, sent by the authorities there to be at our service: however, as most happily our period of encampment was about to be put an end to, they bivouacked on the opposite bank of the river, the officer crossing and taking up his quarters with us, and receiving our thanks for his exertions in our cause, and a letter from the Consul to the government authorities at Arauco, expressive of our warm acknowledgment for their kind attention towards us. Some showers of rain fell in the evening, but the night promised fair and clear weather.
_July 6._--Wind S.E., with clear weather. Nothing could have happened more providentially for us than the favourable manner in which we were this day circumstanced with regard to the wind and weather, and which permitted the Blonde at 9 A.M. to anchor off the point below our signal hill. We had at daylight launched and loaded the Blonde’s three boats, and immediately despatched them; had struck the tents, lashed up our bedding and clothing, and brought all to the pier, ready to put into the boats as they arrived.
Many of the sick were sent off in the fastest rowing boat of those which were first despatched. Towards the middle of the day, the Commodore landed and visited the remains of our camp, and by 6 P.M. every one, with the whole of our baggage, was embarked, the last two boats having taken off the Captain, Mr. Rouse the Consul, and five officers with the marines, who had, as consistent with our previous system of caution, been retained to the last as a rear-guard, and only discharged their muskets as they left the scene of our long and cheerless encampment.
It can fall to the lot of few to experience the varied sensations occasioned by our sudden transition to a man-of-war, and our restoration to those comforts to which we had so long been strangers; allied, it is to be hoped, with thankful hearts to the Almighty for the abundant mercies vouchsafed towards us. We shall long cherish recollections of the very kind attentions paid by the officers of the Blonde to our wants and comforts. We were under weigh soon after dusk for Concepçion.
_July 7._--When about to enter the port of Concepçion, we observed a schooner to leeward, under jury-masts: on going to her relief she proved to be the Carmen, which the Commodore had despatched from this port to our assistance. In her way to the Leubu, that river being incorrectly laid down in the chart, she had run past it; and having been dismasted in a heavy squall, and drifted into the current which had proved fatal to the Challenger, was for some time in danger of sharing her fate on the Isle of Mocha. The Blonde towed her into Talcuhuana Bay, where and at Concepçion we were eyewitnesses to the wide-spreading devastation occasioned by the late earthquake. The Commodore, with Captains Seymour and Fitzroy, made visits to the Chilian authorities at Concepçion, for the purpose of thanking them for the attentions and assistance we had experienced, connected with our shipwreck.
An old English inhabitant of the city of Concepçion described the earthquake as having taken place at a time when he was in the street fronting his house, overlooking the labour of some workmen in building a wall that was to enclose it. It was a clear sunny morning, and about twenty minutes after eleven: he suddenly found himself unable to stand from the heaving of the earth, which increased so much that he fell to the ground; and there, on his knees and hands to steady himself, he remained in a dense cloud of dust, which precluded the possibility of seeing any of the surrounding objects, until the first dreadful shock had passed. The shrieks and cries of the inhabitants, which had accompanied the destruction of the city, continued to be heard far and near; and the scene which presented itself, on the clearing of the dust caused by the falling of the buildings, was one of the most appalling desolation. Parents and children, relations and friends, were searching for each other in that distraction of mind which terror, anxiety, and apprehension for their safety at such a calamitous moment created. Not a building remained standing of the late city of Concepçion: high and low, rich and poor, were mingled in an overwhelming destruction. The ruins of a church and a convent, erected by the old Spaniards on a most magnificent and substantial scale, and which had withstood for ages the frequent shocks of previous earthquakes, with which the southern continent of America is so peculiarly afflicted, were scattered on all sides, and presented to the beholder a most striking and fearful assurance of the vanity, as well as the instability, of all that is created by the hand of man.
At Talcuhuana, the village which is situated on the border of the bay forming the anchorage for shipping, communicating with Concepçion, and about six miles from that city, the sea rose between thirty and forty feet, and came in, in one great wave immediately following the movement of the earth; landed a schooner at the back of the houses; and retiring, swept every thing before it; the inhabitants only escaping to the hills with their lives. Numerous articles were found on an island at the entrance of the bay of Talcuhuana, twelves miles distant from the village; and, most singular to relate, amongst them, lying on a sandy beach, was a large window frame, recognised by its owner, with the sash and glass unbroken. Several volcanos were seen to rise outside the bay, which, after burning with violence for twenty minutes or more, sank again below the surface of the water.
Our informant was a man of seventy-five years, married, but had no family; he had experienced, in the course of his long life, the most severe reverses of fortune; and had retired from the coast of Peru, with the little resources his labours had allowed him to collect, to end his days on a small spot of ground he had purchased in the city of Concepçion. With the destruction of the city perished the greatest portion of his property; yet, despite of such a misfortune, there was visible that beautiful contentedness of mind which is alone to be derived from an acquiescence in whatever affliction the hand of the Almighty is pleased to send us. It must not be omitted to mention, that Mrs. ----, the wife of this gentleman, recovering from the panic of fear, got out from the ruins of their house a part of that day’s dinner, which was eaten, in thankfulness and tranquillity, under a tree in the court-yard adjoining the remains of their dwelling.
The effects of this calamitous earthquake were not confined to the immediate neighbourhood of Concepçion, but were also particularly severe at the island of Juan Fernandez, distant 300 miles in a W.N.W. direction. The sea, there, advanced as in Talcuhuana Bay, and totally destroyed the few buildings which were in the occupation of the military governor and Chilian garrison. On the sea retiring, a volcano rose in the anchorage, and continued burning for some time. It was also reported that the island had sunk many feet below its former level.
The island of Santa Maria, situated near the spot of the Challenger’s wreck, was found, on examination, to have been upheaved ten feet; and the anchorage which had previously existed between it and the main land was no longer considered safe.
On the 9th we sailed from Concepçion, taking leave of Mr. Rouse, our worthy Consul, who left us, carrying with him the warm esteem and respect of all. During the whole time since his entering into communication with us, we had benefited by his able services: added to his official tact, his urbanity and kind disposition had endeared him to all classes; and should his assistance be called for under a calamity similar to our own, the unfortunate will find an efficient friend in the British Consul at Concepçion. After touching at Valparaiso, where two of our sick companions were sent to sick quarters, and performing the melancholy duty of burying Mr. Lane, the assistant-surgeon, who had sunk under the effects of typhus fever, the officers and part of the Challenger’s crew embarked on board His Majesty’s ship Convoy at Coquimbo; whence we sailed on the 22d July, cheered by the Blonde, and our own pleasing anticipations of soon meeting the congratulations of our friends, and the sympathy of our generous countrymen.
Including our stay of one week at Rio de Janeiro, we completed our passage to Spithead in eighty-four days, during which the inconveniences of a crowded ship were obviated by the attentions to our accommodation, and the arrangements kindly made by Captain Eden. Amongst the sick during this period, of whom the young gentlemen formed a large portion, Mr. Fry, a supernumerary clerk, died; the others, with a few exceptions, shortly became convalescent.
The misfortune of the Challenger may not be without a moral bearing. Our costly experience may prove useful to future navigators upon this dangerous coast. With the civilised portion of the inhabitants of a country of growing commercial importance, the British character has been upheld; and the many relics of our disaster left with the rude natives, during our long sojourn amongst them, will tend to perpetuate the event; and in their remote traditions may figure, as a leading tale, the fate of the “Desafiador,” and the adventures of her crew on the plains of Molquilla.
It remains but to add the result of the Court Martial, which was held on the 19th of October, on board His Majesty’s ship Victory, at Portsmouth harbour, by order of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, for the trial of Captain Seymour, the officers, and crew of His Majesty’s late ship Challenger, for their conduct in the loss of that ship.
The sentence pronounced on that occasion, so honourable to the feelings of all, was as follows:--
“The Court is of opinion, that the cause of the loss of His Majesty’s late ship Challenger was by the ship being then by an unusual and unexpected current, set between noon of the 17th of May last to the time of her wreck, on the 19th of the same month, thirty-four miles of latitude to the southward, which latitude, by dead reckoning, up to the time of taking the sights, being used to work the sights of the chronometer, on the morning of the 19th of May, placed the ship sixty miles to the N.W. of her actual position at that time. The Court is further of opinion, that no blame whatever is attached to Captain Michael Seymour, nor to the said John MacDonald, nor to any of the officers or ship’s company of His Majesty’s late ship Challenger, on the occasion of the loss of the said ship; and the Court doth therefore _fully acquit_ the said Captain Michael Seymour, the said Mr. J. MacDonald, and the surviving officers and ship’s company of His Majesty’s said late ship Challenger, and they are hereby fully acquitted accordingly. The Court cannot close its proceedings without expressing the high sense it entertains of the conduct of Captain Michael Seymour, his surviving officers and ship’s company, when placed in circumstances of the greatest danger, as well as afterwards during a period of seven weeks that they remained on a wild and inhospitable coast, strongly marking the advantages of that steady discipline that has raised the British navy to the confidence of the country, and which, in this instance (as well as in many others), has been the cause of the preservation of the lives and health of the crew, and of their arrival, with two melancholy exceptions, in safety to their own country.”
The President then rose and said, “Captain Seymour, I have much pleasure in returning you your sword, and may you continue to wear it with honour to yourself and advantage to your country.--Mr. MacDonald, I have equal pleasure in returning you yours.”
The Court Martial excited a great degree of interest, in which sympathy for the officers and ship’s company of the Challenger for the hardships they had endured had a considerable share.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
At the encampment on the beach of Molquilla, in front of and near to the wreck of His Majesty’s ship Challenger, Michael Seymour, Esq., Captain, on the first day of June, 1835, at a meeting held by the undersigned captain and officers of His Majesty’s said ship, in the presence of Henry William Rouse, Esq., His Majesty’s Consul in the province of Concepçion, to take into consideration the actual situation and condition of the said ship, the state of her remaining stores, provisions, and furniture, as well those still on board, as those landed, for the purpose of adopting such measures as would be most proper, under existing circumstances, for the benefit of his Majesty’s service, and the health and security of the crew; after full and mature deliberation, the following resolutions were agreed to unanimously:--
_First_,--That the condition and situation of the hull of the said ship since the moment of her striking the ground on the 19th ultimo up to the present period (as proved by repeated surveys taken) has afforded no kind of hope that any exertions could have removed her from the beach where she now lies; and even were this possible, she would not swim from the injury she has received. Also, that neither vessels nor boats can with any kind of safety approach the wreck; neither can boats live in the surf outside.