deg. and 25 deg. west, either in, or about the latitude of 25’ south.  The track of Mons. de la Perouse cuts that parallel in longitude 16 deg.; and he saw no other marks of the vicinity of land than the man-of-war birds which had followed him for several days.  If the presence of these birds be any indication of land, I should suppose that there was some lying between the 11th and 16th degrees of west longitude; and if such an island as St. Paul exist, it will probably be found within those limits.

Having lost all hope of finding this island, I could have wished to recross the equator and run in the latitude of 55’ north; in which parallel the isle Pennedo de St. Pedro, sometimes also called St. Paul, is said to be situate.  In Arrowsmith’s general chart, it is marked in 24 deg. west longitude, whilst another authority places it to the west of 27 deg.,* but I considered that the search might carry me as far as 29 deg., and perhaps further; and my orders being silent with respect to these islands, I did not think myself authorized to thus occupy so much time; and we therefore hauled to the south-westward on the afternoon of the 10th, as before mentioned.  On the following day [FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 11], a gannet was seen, which seemed to imply that our situation of 1 3/4 deg. south, and 211/2 deg. west, was not far removed from some island or rock; for I do not recollect to have seen this bird at a greater distance from land than thirty leagues.

[* Voyage of La Perouse, page 50 of the London translation.  I am lately informed, that Pennedo de St. Pedro lies in latitude 0 deg. 55’ north, and longitude 27 deg. 0’ west; that it makes like four sail of ships, and is covered with birds, but affords no water.]

The trade wind varied from south-south-east to east-south-east, and commonly blew fresh, with frequent squalls.  The swell from the southward, with which these winds were for some days accompanied, caused the ship to work so much, that she soon let in as great a quantity of water on this tack, as she before had done on the other; I therefore judged it advisable to alter the plan of keeping within seven points of the wind, and to go with it upon the beam; and also to put in practice every means of lightening the upper works, for they seemed to be very inadequate to support the weight with which they had been unavoidably loaded.  Two eighteen-pound carronades, stern chacers, were taken off the upper deck and struck into the hold; the spare rudder, and a variety of other things which a want of room had obliged us to stow in the main and mizen channels, were taken within board; and every exterior weight concentrated as much as possible.  After this was done, the tremulous motion caused by every blow of the sea, exciting a sensation as if the timbers of the ship were elastic, was considerably diminished; and the quantity of water admitted by the leaks was also somewhat reduced.

SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER 1801