A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 794 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13.

A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 eBook

Robert Kerr (writer)
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 794 pages of information about A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13.

We kept at a small distance from the shore all this morning, with the wind at S.W., and had a very distinct view of it:  It is of a moderate height, and the surface is broken by many hills which are green and woody; but we saw no appearance of inhabitants.  At noon, Cape Saunders bore N. 30 W. distant about four leagues.  We had variable winds and calms till five o’clock in the evening, when it fixed at W.S.W. and soon blew so hard that it put us past our topsail, and split the foresail all to pieces:  After getting another to the yard, we continued to stand to the southward under two courses; and at six the next morning, the southermost land in sight bore W. by N. and Cape Saunders N. by W. distant eight leagues:  At noon, it bore N. 20 W. fourteen leagues; and our latitude by observation was 46 deg. 36’.  The gale continued, with heavy squalls and a large hollow sea all the afternoon; and at seven in the evening, we lay-to under our foresail, with the ship’s head to the southward:  At noon on the 27th, our latitude was 46 deg. 54’, and our longitude from Cape Saunders 1 deg. 24’ E. At seven in the evening, we made sail under our courses; and at eight the next morning set the top-sails close reefed.  At noon, our latitude was 47 deg. 43’, and our longitude east from Cape Saunders 2 deg. 10’.  At this time we wore and stood to the northward:  In the afternoon, we found the variation to be 16 deg. 34’ E. At eight in the evening, we tacked and stood to the southward, with the wind at west.

At noon, this day, our latitude, by account, was 47 deg. 52’, and our longitude from Cape Saunders 1 deg. 8’ E. We stood to the southward till half an hour past three in the afternoon; and then, being in latitude 48 deg.  S. and longitude 188 deg.  W., and seeing no appearance of land, we tacked and stood to the northward, having a large swell from the S.W. by W. At noon, the next day, our latitude was 46 deg. 42’ S.; and Cape Saunders bore N. 46 W. distant eighty-six miles.  The south-west swell continuing till the 3d, confirmed our opinion, that there was no land in that quarter.  At four in the afternoon, we stood to the westward with all the sail we could make.  In the morning of the 4th, we found the variation to be 16 deg. 16’ E. This day we saw some whales and seals, as we had done several times after our having passed the streight; but we saw no seals while we were upon the coast of Eahienomauwe.  We sounded both in the night and this morning, but had no ground with one hundred and fifty fathom.  At noon, we saw Cape Saunders bearing N. 1/2 W.; and our latitude by observation was 46 deg. 31’ S. At half an hour past one o’clock, we saw land bearing W. by S., which we steered for, and before it was dark were within three or four miles of it:  During the whole night we saw fires upon it, and at seven in the morning were within about three leagues of the shore, which appeared to be high, but level.  At three o’clock in the afternoon, we saw the land extending from N.E. by N. to N.W. 1/2 N.; and soon after we discovered some low land, which appeared like an island, bearing S. 1/2 W. We continued our course to the W. by S., and in two hours we saw high land over the low land, extending to the southward as far as S.W. by S.; but it did not appear to be joined to the land to the northward, so that there is either water, a deep bay, or low land between them.

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A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.