Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Such are the facts. The explanations of those facts given by the
two captains differed widely. Wallis claimed that only weather con-
ditions forced his reluctant separation from the consort:
. . . it falling little wind was obliged to make all the sail we could
to get without the Strait's Mouth. At 11 would have shortened sail for
the Swallow, but could not, and was obliged to carry to clear the Isles
of Direction the current setting us strong down upon them, and the
wind westing. We soon after lost sight of the Swallow, and never saw
or heard of her after. I would have gone back into the Straits but the
weather coming on thick and dirty we were all of opinion that we had
nothing to do but get an offing as soon as possible, for the sea raising
fast and the weather greasy, that the ship could not weather Tierra del
Fuego on one tack nor, the land off Cape Victory on the other unless we
pressed her with sail before the sea rose to too great a height.
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Carteret, by contrast, was convinced that his superior had
deserted him as soon as he had outlived his usefulness by bringing
Dolphin
within sight of the Pacific. His version of events on the fate-
ful night portrays Wallis as doing everything possible to disembar-
rass himself of the sluggish sloop:
The Dolphin had all along before much outsailed us, but now as
our bottom was grown much fouler, and hers by being coppered, kept
always clean, we found now that she sailed faster with only topsails,
with a reef in them, than the Swallow did with all the sails we could set.
At 6 o'clock in the evening . . . the western entrance of the Straits fairly
open, and the Great South Sea in sight. I had all the time before this,
been made to keep ahead, but soon after it was dark, we observed the
Dolphin, who was nearly abreast of us, set her foresail, by which she
soon shot ahead of us, and before 9 o'clock (as she did not carry, nor
during the whole night, did she show us any lights) we had quite lost
