It was the 27th of September in the morning, that is, five days after our departure, when we thus secured our anchor; And the same day we got up our main-yard:  And having now conquered in some degree the distress and disorder which we were necessarily involved in at our first driving out to sea, and being enabled to make use of our canvass, we set our courses, and for the first time stood to the eastward, in hopes of regaining the island of Tinian, and joining our commodore in a few days:  For we were then, by our accounts, only forty-seven leagues to the south-west of Tinian; so that on the first day of October, having then run the distance necessary for making the island according to our reckoning, we were in full expectation of seeing it; but we were unhappily disappointed, and were thereby convinced that a current had driven us to the westward.  And as we could not judge how much we might hereby have deviated, and consequently how long we might still expect to be at sea, we had great apprehensions that our stock of water might prove deficient; for we were doubtful about the quantity we had on board, and found many of our casks so decayed, as to be half leaked out.  However, we were delivered from our uncertainty the next day by having a sight of the island of Guam, by which we discovered that the currents had driven us forty-four leagues to the westward of our accounts.  This sight of land having satisfied us of our situation, we kept plying to the eastward, though with excessive labour, for the wind continuing fixed in the eastern board, we were obliged to tack often, and our crew were so weak, that, without the assistance of every man on board, it was not in our power to put the ship about:  This severe employment lasted till the 11th of October, being the nineteenth day from our departure; when, arriving in the offing of Tinian, we were reinforced from the shore, as hath been already mentioned; and on the evening of the same day, to our inexpressible joy, came to an anchor in the road, thereby procuring to our shipmates on shore, as well as to ourselves, a cessation from the fatigues and apprehensions which this disastrous incident had given rise to.

SECTION XXVIII.

Of our Employment at Tinian, till the final Departure of the Centurion, and of the Voyage to Macao.[1]

The commodore resolved to stay no longer at the island than was absolutely necessary to complete our stock of water, a work which we immediately set ourselves about.  But the loss of our long-boat, which was staved against our poop when we were driven out to sea, put us to great inconveniences in getting our water on board:  For we were obliged to raft off all our cask, and the tide ran so strong, that, besides the frequent delays and difficulties it occasioned, we more than once lost the whole raft.  Nor was this our only misfortune; for, on the third day after our arrival, a sudden gust of wind brought home our