On the 7th of March we made the Western Islands, and went between St Michael and Tercera; in this situation we found the variation 13° 36′ W., and the winds began to blow from the S.W. The gale, as we got farther to the westward, increased, and on the 11th, having got to W.N.W. it blew very hard, with a great sea; we scudded before it with the foresail only, the foot-rope of which suddenly breaking, the sail blew all to pieces, before we could get the yard down, though it was done instantly. This obliged us to bring the ship to, but having, with all possible expedition, bent a new foresail, and got the yard up, we bore away again; this was the last accident that happened to us during the voyage. On the 16th, being in latitude 49° 15' N. we got soundings. On the 18th, I knew by the depth of water that we were in the Channel, but the wind being to the northward, we could not make land till the next day, when we saw the Star Point; and on the 20th, to our great joy, we anchored at Spithead, after a very fine passage, and a fair wind all the way from the Cape of Good Hope. her the next morning; it was the Swallow. I offered Capt. C. all the services that one may render to another at sea. He wanted nothing; but upon his telling me that they had given him letters for France at the Cape, I sent on board for them. He presented me with an arrow which he had got in one of the isles he had found in his voyage round the world, a voyage that he was far from suspecting we had likewise mude. His ship was very small, went very ill, and when we took leave of him, he remained as it were at anchor. How much he must have suffered in so bad a vessel, may well be conceived. There were eight leagues difference between his estimated longitude and ours; he reckoned himself so much more to the westward.' A little before, he had spoken of his wishing to join Carteret, over whom he knew he had great advantage in sailing. This was in leaving the Cape of Good Hope, at which time Carteret was eleven days gone before him.-E. A Table A Table of the Variation of the Compass, as observed on board the Swallow, in her Voyage round the Globe, in the Years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769. N.B. The days of the month in this Table are not by the nautical account, as is the custom, but, for the convenience of those that are not used to that way of reckoning, are reduced to the civil account. A.M. denotes that the observation was made in the forenoon, and P.M. in the afternoon of that day on the noon of which the latitude and longitude of the ship were taken. |