ort of a cannon, which could be no other
than the evening gun fired by the Anna, as formerly mentioned, more
especially as the gun heard at Wager Island was at that time of the
day.

[Footnote 4: Inchin island, where the Anna pink lay, has been formerly
stated to be in lat. 46 deg. 30' S. the supposed latitude in which the
Wager was lost, stated in the text at 47 deg. S. is only _ten_ marine
leagues to the southward, instead of _thirty_, and must therefore
have been on some one of the islands toward the southern coast of the
peninsula de Tres Montes, on the north of the Golfo de Penas.--E.]

Captain Cheap and his people embarked in the barge and yawl, on the
14th of December, in order to proceed to the northward, taking on
board along with them all the provisions they could gather from the
wreck of the ship; but they had scarcely been an hour at sea, when the
wind began to blow hard, and the sea to run so high, that they were
obliged to throw the greatest part of their provisions overboard, to
avoid immediate destruction. This was a terrible misfortune, in a part
of the world where food was so difficult to be got; yet they persisted
in their design, going on shore as often as they could, in search
of subsistence. About a fortnight after their departure from Wager
island, another dreadful accident befel them, as the yawl sunk at
an anchor, and one of her hands was drowned; and, as the barge was
incapable of carrying the whole company, they were reduced to the hard
necessity of leaving four marines behind them, on that desolate
coast. They still, however, kept their course to the northward; though
greatly delayed by cross winds, and by the frequent interruptions
occasioned by the necessity of searching for food on shore, and
constantly struggling with a series of the most sinister events. At
length, about the end of January, 1742, having made three unsuccessful
attempts to double a head-land, which they supposed to be that called
Cape _Tres Montes_ by the Spaniards, and finding the difficulty
insurmountable, they unanimously resolved to return to Wager Island,
which they effected about the middle of February, quite disheartened
and desponding, through their reiterated disappointments, and almost
perishing with hunger and fatigue.

On their return, they had the good fortune to fall in with several
pieces of beef, swimming in the sea, which had been washed out of
the wreck, which afforded them a most seasonable relief, a