Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ville. The faithful French coloniser had just returned to the Falklands
with a fresh batch of settlers and was visiting the mainland for tim-
ber to build houses and store huts. Spotting the British 'interlopers',
he shadowed them for several days, never coming close enough to
exchange signals or making any attempt to send a boat across to
his rivals. The nearest the two circumnavigators ever came to direct
contact was when the
Florida
ran aground. The French captain sent
off a couple of boats to render assistance but Byron immediately
despatched his own men to forestall them and politely decline their
help. It is strange to picture these two fine captains circling each oth-
er suspiciously like wily and uncertain lions on the veldt. Neither
had instructions covering the situation and, therefore, did not know
what to do. Eventually, Bougainville found an anchorage and pro-
ceeded with his logging operation and Byron passed him on his jour-
ney westward. At about the same time the storeship was sent home
with a detailed report for Lord Egmont.
On 9 April
Dolphin
and
Tamar
reached the Pacific and made for
the island of Maós Afuera, rather than the larger Juan Fernandez so
as to be less likely to be detected by the Spaniards. They found the
shore-line rocky and pounded by a heavy surf, so that bringing off
water was a hazardous enterprise. To minimise the risk Byron had
his boatmen dressed in cork jackets, another innovation he was try-
ing out for the Admiralty. Even thus equipped, one sailor refused
to wade out through the waves to a waiting boat. His shipmates
shouted to him that he would have to be abandoned if he refused to
brave the breakers, since the boat could get no farther inshore. He
replied that he would prefer a lonely life to certain death by drown-
ing. At that point a midshipman jumped into the water with a rope's
end and swam ashore. Before the hesitant seaman knew what was
happening, the officer threw a prepared noose round his waist and
signalled the other sailors to pull. Byron laconically chronicled the
end of this affair:
