Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
won his followers over but it was not without some misgivings that
they agreed to go on short rations and set sail on 31 March 1686.
They had good winds and weather and most days were able
to make well over a hundred miles (their best daily run was 216
miles, their worst 64). To the nervous Captain Swan this excellent
progress was a two-edged sword: it kept the men's spirits up but it
also made them discontented with their daily ration of eight spoon-
fuls of boiled maize. Since the crossing would soon be complete, they
insisted, there was no need for such economy. On the twentieth day
Swan reluctantly agreed to increase the dole to ten spoonfuls. After
a month at sea, the sailors began to scour the horizon with growing
anxiety. After thirty-nine days they had, by the rough computation of
log and line, reached the latitude of the Ladrones (the Marianas), ac-
cording to the English charts, but there was no sign of land. Food was
running short and they had not been able to catch any fish to sup-
plement their miserable maize diet. A few days more and the crew
were plotting mutiny and cannibalism. When their victuals ran out
they resolved to kill and eat those who had been in favour of this haz-
ardous course, starting with Swan. The captain later jokingly pointed
out to Dampier that though he, too, had been on the crew's menu, he
would probably have been quite safe: he was so thin that he 'would
have made them but a poor meal'.
In the midst of the captain's difficulties there came what must
have been for him a welcome diversion. One of the crew was caught
stealing. Lawless men often seem to have an obsession with the
formalities and rituals of the law - witness the drumhead tribunals
and 'people's courts' beloved of terrorist groups. Thus, this wretch
had to be properly arraigned and condemned by due process of law.
He was sentenced to receive three lashes from each member of the
crew. There were one hundred men aboard the
Cygnet
. This was sav-
age even by the standards of the day. Regulations in the Royal Navy
limited the maximum sentence that could be handed out by a com-
