S J4
«767- on each fide o f them being not more than one-fourth of a
■ — cable’s length wide. Our little bay is about two cables’
length broad, the points bearing eaft and well: o f each
other: in the inner part there is from fixteen to eighteen
fathom, but where we lay it is deeper ; we had one anchor
in feventeen fathom, and the other in forty-five, with great
over-falls between them, and rocks in feveral places. Here
we rode out a very hard gale, and the ground being extremely
uneven, we expefted our cables to be cut in two
every minute, yet when we weighed, to our great furprize,
they did not appear to have been rubbed in any part, though
we found it very difficult to heave them clear o f the rocks.
The land round this bay and harbour is all high, and as the
current fets continually into it, I doubt not but it has another
communication with the fea to the fouth o f Cape De-
feada. The Mailer faid he went up it four miles in a boat,
and could not then be above four miles from the Weftern
Ocean, yet he Hill faw a wide entrance to the S.W. The landing
is every where good, there is plenty of wood and water,
and mufcles and wild geefe in abundance.
From the north Ihore o f the weftern end o f the Streight o f
Magellan, which lies in about latitude 52°^. S. to latitude
48°, the land, which is the weftern coaft o f Patagonia, runs
nearly north and fouth, and confifts wholly of broken illands,
among which are thofe that Sharp has laid down by the
name of the Duke o f York’s Illands; he has indeed placed
them at a confiderable diftance from the coaft, but i f there
had been many illands in that fituation, it is impoffible but
that the Dolphin, the Tamar, or the Swallow, mull have
feen them, as we ran near their fuppofed meridian, and fo
did the Dolphin and the Tamar the laft voyage. Till we
came into this latitude, we had tolerable weather, and little
or
or no current in any direction, but when we came to the y 67-
northward of 48’*, we found-a current fetting ftrongly to the v— ---•
north, fo that probably we then opened the great bay, which
is faid to be ninety leagues deep. We found here a vaft
fwell from the N. W. and the winds generally blew from the
fame quarter; yet we were fet every day twelve or fifteen
miles to the northward of our account.
On Wednefday the 15th, at . about fou r o’clock in the Wednef, 1;.
morning, after furmounting many dangers and difficulties,
we once more got abreaft o f Cape Pillar, with a light breeze
at S. E. and a great fwell. Between five and fix o’clock, juft
* as we opened Cape Defeada, the wind fuddenly fluffed to
S. and S. by W. and blew fo hard that it was with great difficulty
we could carry the reefed top-fails: the fudden
changing of the wind, and its exceffive violence, produced a
fea fo dreadfully hollow, that great quantities o f water were
thrown in upon our deck, fo that we were in the utmoft
danger of foundering; yet we did not dare to ffiorten fail, it
being neceffary to carry all we could fpread, in order to
weather the rocky illands, which Sir John Narborough has
called the Illands of Direction, for we could not now run
back again into the Streight, without falling down among
the broken land, and incurring the dangers of the northern
Ihore, which was to leeward; towards this broken land,
however, and lee Ihore, the ffiip fettled very fall, uotwith-
ftanding our utmoft efforts : in this preffing emergency we
were obliged to Have all the water-calks upon the deck, and
between decks, to clear the veffel, and to make her carry
better fail and at length happily efcaped the danger which
threatened us. After we got clear of thefe illands, and
drew off from the Streight’s mouth and the land, we found
S f 3 the