Page:Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World by Lemuel Gulliver First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships.djvu/43

CHAP. 1 Wife and Family. I removed from the Old-Jury to Fetter-Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get Business among the Sailors ; but it would not turn to account. After three years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous Offer from Captain William Prichard, Master of the Antelope, who was making a Voyage to the South-Sea. We set sail from Bristol May 4, 1699, and our Voyage at first was very prosperous.

would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the Reader with the Particulars of our adventures in those Seas: Let it suffice to inform him, that in our Passage from thence to the East-Indies, we were driven by a violent Storm to the Northward of Van Diemen's Land. By an Observation, we found ourselves in the Latitude of 30 Degrees 2 Minutes South. Twelve of our Crew were dead by immoderate Labour and ill Food, the rest were in a very weak condition. On the fifth of November, which was the beginning of Summer in those parts, the Weather being very hazy, the Seamen spyedspied [sic] a Rock, within half a Cable's length of the Ship; but the Wind was so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six of the Crew, of whom I was one, "having let down the Boat into the Sea, made a shift to get clear of the Ship, and the Rock. We rowed by my Computation about three Leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already spent with labour while we were in the Ship. We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the Boat was overset by a sudden Flurry from the North. What became of my Companions in the Boat, as well as of those who escaped on the Rock, or were left in the Vessel, I cannot tell ; but conclude they were all lost. For my own part, I swam as Fortune directed me, and was push'd forward by Wind and Tide. I often let my Legs drop, and could feel no bottom: But when I was almost gone, and able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth; and by this time the Storm was much abated. The Declivity was so small, that I walked near a Mile before I got to the shore, which I conjectur'd was about eight a-clock in