December. wind blew fo hard he could not get into it, and 1764. that he therefore ftood away to the fouthward. At this time I alfo was steering fouthward; for Friday 7. the weather being extremely fine, I could fee very far to the northward of the fituation in which it is laid down. As I fuppofed it must lie to the eastward of us, if indeed it had any existence, I made the Tamar fignal to spread early in the afternoon; and as the weather continued to be very clear, we could fee, between us, at least twenty leagues. We steered S. E. by the compass, and at night brought to, being by my account in latitude 47° 18′ S. The next morning it blew very hard Saturday 8. at N. W. by N. and I ftill thought the island might lie to the eastward; I therefore intended to stand about thirty leagues that way, and if I found no island, to return into the latitude of 47° again. But a hard gale coming on, with a great fea, I brought to about fix o'clock in the evening under the main-fail; and at fix o'clock the next morning, Sunday 9. the wind being at W. S. W. we made fail again under our courses to the northward. I now judged myself to be about fixteen leagues to the eastward of the track I had run before: Port Defire bore S. 80° 53′ W. diftant ninety-four leagues; and in this fituation I faw a great quantity of rockweed, and many birds. We continued to ftand to the northward the next day under our courfes, Monday 10. with a hard gale from S. W. to N. W. and a great fea. At night, being in latitude 46° 50′ S., I wore ship, and stood in to the weftward again, our fhips having spread every day as far as they could. be December. 1764. be feen by each other: and on the 11th at noon; being now certain that there could be no fuch Tuesday 11. ifland as is mentioned by Cowley, and laid down by Halley under the name of Pepys' Ifland, I re folved to stand in for the main, and take in wood and water, of which both ships were in great want, at the first convenient place I could find, especially as the season was advancing very faft, and we had no time to lofe. From this time we continued to haul in for the land as the winds would permit, and kept a look-out for the islands of Sebald de Wert, which, by all the charts we had on board, could not be far from our track: a great number of birds were every day about the ship, and large whales were continually fwimming by her. The weather in general was fine, but very cold, and we all agreed, notwithstanding the hope we had once formed, that the only difference between the middle of fummer here, and the middle of winter in England, lies in the length of the days. On Saturd. 15. Saturday the 15th, being in latitude 50° 33′ S. longitude 66° 59′ W. we were overtaken about fix in the evening by the hardest gale at S. W. that I was ever in, with a sea still higher than any I had feen in going round Cape Horn with Lord Anfon: I expected every moment that it would fill us, our ship being much too deep waifted for fuch a voyage: it would have been fafeft to put before it under our bare poles, but our stock of. fresh water was not fufficient, and I was afraid of being driven so far off the land as not to be able to recover it before the whole was exhaufted; wè therefore therefore lay to under a balanced mizen, and fhipped many heavy feas, though we found our skreen bulk-heads of infinite fervice. 1764. December. Saturd. 18. Wednef. 19. The ftorm continued with unabated violence Sunday 16. the whole night, but about eight in the morning, began to fubfide. At ten, we made fail under our courfes, and continued to fteer for the land till Tuesday the 18th, when, at four in the morning, Tuesday 18. we faw it from the mast-head. Our latitude was now 51° 8' S. our longitude 71° 4′ W. and Cape Virgin Mary, the north entrance of the Streights of Magellan, bore S. 19° 50′ W. diftant nineteen leagues. As we had little or no wind we could not get in with the land this day; the next morning, however, it being northerly, I stood in to a deep bay, at the bottom of which there appeared to be a harbour, but I found it barred, the fea breaking quite from one fide of it to the other; and at low water I could perceive that it was rocky, and almost all dry: the water was shoal at a good distance from it, and I was in fix fathom before I ftood out again. In this place there seemed to be plenty of fish, and we saw many porpoifes fwimming after them, that were as white as fnow, with black fpots; a very uncommon and beautiful fight. The land here has the fame appearance as about Port Defire, all downs, without a fingle tree. At break of day, on the 20th, we were off Cape Thurd, 201 Fair-weather, which bore about weft at the diftance of four leagues, and we had here but thirteen fathom water, fo that it appears neceffary to give December. 1764. give that Cape a good birth. From this place İ ran clofe on fhore to Cape Virgin Mary, but I Thurid. 20. found the coast to lie S. S. E. very different from Sir John Narborough's description, and a long fpit of fand running to the fouthward of the Cape for above a league: in the evening I worked up close to this fpit of fand, having feen many guanicoes feeding in the vallies as we went along, and a great smoke all the afternoon, about four or five leagues up the Streight, upon the north fhore. At this place I came to an anchor in fifteen fathom water, but the Tamar was fo far to leeward, that she could not fetch the anchoring ground, and therefore kept under way all night. Friday 21. The next morning, at day-break I got again under fail, and feeing the fame fmoke that I had observed the day before, I ftood in for it, and anchored about two miles from the fhore. This is the place where the crew of the Wager, as they were paffing the Streight in their boat, after the lofs of the veffel, faw a number of horsemen, who waved what appeared to be white handkerchiefs, inviting them to come on fhore, which they were very defirous to have done, but it blew fo hard that they were obliged to stand out to fea. Bulkeley, the gunner of the Wager, who has published fome account of her voyage, fays, that they were in doubt whether these people were Europeans who had been shipwrecked upon the coast, or na. tive inhabitants of the country about the river Gallagoes. Juft as we came to an anchor, I faw with my glass exactly what was feen by the people in the Wager, a number of horsemen riding back- 1764. December. Friday 21. |