Joseph Banks. Patrick O’Brian

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СКАЧАТЬ was aquainted up he Bundled upon Deck orderd ship to be cleard for Engaging all hands to Great Guns arms in the Tops Every thing in as good order as if a french man of war of Equal Force was within half a mile Bearing down upon them The Niger which Lay at some Distance from them was haild & told the indians were Coming when the Enemy appeared in the shape of a Troop of these Whobbys swimming & flying about the Harbour which From the Darkness of the night they had not seen before all hands were then sent down to Sleep & no more thought of the indians till the Nigers People came on board next morning who will Probably never Forget that their Companion Cleard Ship & turnd up all hands to a flock of Whobbies

      Banks returned to his earlier diary form on 2 September to record a most surprising fish:

      This day a Halibut was brought aboard so large that his dimensions I fear will appear incredible in England the first I took with my own hands therefore I can venture to affirm them Exact They are as follows

From the Tip of his nose to the end of his Tail	6ft	11 inches
Breadth from fin to fin	3	10
Thickness of his solid Flesh By running a priming wyer through		8¼
Breadth of his Tail	2	0½
Lengh of the Fin next his Gills	0	10
he weighd		284 lb

      which was only 14 lb Less than an Ox Killd for the ships Company the Day he was weighd which was not till near 24 hours after he was Caught so he may fairly be said to have weighd as much as the Ox had he not been wasted as all fish do considerably by Keeping.

      After this he gives a receipt for spruce beer and apart from a note on 6 September “Curlews gone” he returns to a general narrative, of which these are extracts.

      We were told by the Old Salmoneer that there were Owls there as big as Turkies he indeed gave us the Claws of one which I take to be the Strix Bubo of Linnaeus tho I was never Lucky Enough to See one of them the whole time of our Stay nor any of the Shipps Company tho they were Eternally Employd at cutting wood for the Fort in temple Bay

      As an Excuse for my not Stirring More from home while at this Place I mention an escape I had on the Second of this month when mere accident Preservd my Life I set out with the Master of our Ship on a Cruise to the Northwards meaning to Cruise along shore for a week or ten days where no vessel that we Knew of had Ever been we were both Extreemly fond of the Plan & Pushd out of Chatteaux with a foul wind in an open Shallop by way of putting ourselves in a fair winds way we with difficulty Turnd the Lengh of Castle Island when the wind Coming right ahead we agreed it was impossible to go any farther & we Put back into Esquimaux harbour to stay till the next morn in hope of change of wind we had Scarcely made our Boat fast along side of a snow^* there when it began to Blow Very hard and that night Came on a most severe Gale of Wind which Destroyd an infinite number of boats Everywhere the French Particularly whose boats are smaller than ours are said to have lost an hundred men & three of their Ships Drove on shore a brig of Captain Derbys at Isle Bois a little down the Streights was Beat all to Peices this totaly Destroyd our scheme to the northward Sir Thomas being after that very Careful of Letting the boats go out & indeed as the blowing Season was Come in I was Easily Persuaded that I was safer on board the Niger than in any Boat in the Country

      About the latter End of this month Partridges Became much more Plenty then they were before Possibly they Came from the Norward Mr Ankille while Shooting in the neighbourhood of St Peters Bay saw by his account at Least 100 in one Company while he was making up to them to have shot at them an Eagle made a stoop among them & Carried of one the rest immediately took wing & went off I should mention here that tho I have not been able to Procure an Eagle from the Scarcity here are two sorts one of which we had a young one who got away is the Chrysaetos of Linnae the other I apprehend to be a Canadensis but I never could see him but upon the Wing

      Just before we Left this Place the Sergeant of marines belonging to York fort brought me a Porcupine alive it is quite Black except the Quills which are Black & white alternately about the size of an English hare but shorter made after sulking for three or four Days he begins to Eat & I have great hopes of Carrying him home alive

      Early in October the Niger left Labrador for Newfoundland, putting in at Croque, where Banks went to see the garden that Phipps had planted.

      This is a very Strong Vegetable mould which with the Quickness of Vegetation in the Climate had such an Effect on many of our English Seeds that they Run themselves out in stalk Producing little or no fruit Pea haulm we had 11 feet high & as thick as my finger which Produced scarce anything Beans ran till they could not support their own weight & fell without Producing a Pod Probably from the ignorance of the gardener we Left behind who did not Know the Common Practise Even in England of Cutting of their tops Cabbage & Lettuce Throve surprizingly as did our Radishes & small Sallet carrots & Turnips which especially the Last were remarkably Sweet The Coldness of our nights made it necessary to Cover our Onions with Hammocks we left them also till the Very Last but when we got them tho they were very small they were very good

      The garden had thriven, upon the whole, in spite of the fieldmice, and so had the poultry, in spite of the weasels and goshawks; but Banks could not really love the place:

      Croque tho tolerably Pleasant now was intolerable in the Summer on account of its heat & the Closeness of its situation confind on all sides by woods & no place but the Ship Free From mosketos and Gadflies in Prodigious abundance we had only one Clear walk on a morass a little above the Gardens but there you could not Long walk dry shod Sr Thomas & I were both Very Ill here especially me who at one time they did not Expect to recover I know not whether that gave a disgust but we both Joind in Pronouncing the Place the Least agreable of any we had Seen in the Countrey

      Banks then gives an account of the seal fishery and goes on

¹¹After this Short Stay at Croque intended only for filling Water & getting on board the Produce of the Gardens & Poultry we Saild for St Johns on the 10th & arriv’d there on the 13th without any Particular Transaction During our Passage Here we found the Greater Part of the Squadron under the Command of Mr Palliser in the Guernsey whose Civilities We ought to acknowledge as he Shewd us all we could Expect we all Felt great Pleasure in Returning to Society which we had so long been deprivd of St Johns tho the Most Disagreeable Town I Ever met with was For some time Perfectly agreable to us I should not omit to mention the Ceremonies with which we Celebrated the Coronation which happened whilst we were there the Guernsey was Dressd upon the Occasion & if I may compare Great things with small Looked Like a Pedlars Basket at a Horse race where ribbons of divers Colours fly in the wind fastend to yard wands stuck around it after this we were all invited to a Ball Given by Mr Governor where the want of Ladies was so great that My Washerwoman & her sister were there by formal invitation but what surprized me the most was that after Dancing we were Conducted to a realy Elegant Supper Set out with all Kinds of Wines & Italian Liqueurs To the Great Emolument of the Ladies who Eat & Drank to some Purpose Dancing it seems agreed with them By its getting them such Excellent Stomachs

      The Governor’s ball was given on Saturday, 25 October 1766: on the morning of Monday, 27 October, James Cook arrived in HM Brig Grenville, the vessel in which he had been surveying so much of the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador since 1764. The Niger did not sail until the following СКАЧАТЬ