1767. longitude 750 30' W. of our departure: the variation was
J? : . 7 here 6° E.
Wednef. 22. On the 22d, we were got into latitude 18s S., longitude
1610 W. which was about qne thoufand eight hundred
leagues to the weftward of the continent of America, and in
all this track we had no indication of a continent. The men
now began to be very fickly, the fcurvy having made great
progrefs among them, and as I found that all my endeavours
to keep in a high fouthern latitude at this time, were
ineffectual, and that the badnefs of the weather, the vari-
ablenefs of the winds, and above all the defeats of the fhip,
rendered our progrefs flow, I thought it abfolutély neceflary
to fix upon that courfe which was mott likely to preferve the
veffel and the crew ; infte.ad therefore of attempting to return
back by the fouth eaft, in which, coflfidering our condition,
and the advanced feafon of the year, it was fcarcely pofliblé
that we fhould fucceed, I bore away to the northward, that
I might get into the trade-wind, keeping ftill in fuch a track
as, if the charts were to be trailed, was moil likely to bring
me to fome ifland, where the refrefliments of which we
flood fo much in need might be procured ; intending then,
if the ihip could be put into a proper condition, to have pur-
fued the voyage to the ibuthward, when the fit feafon fhould
return, to have attempted farther difcoveries in this track ;
and, if I ihould difcover a continent, and procure a fufficient
fupply of profilions there, to keep along the coaft to the
fouth ward till the fun had croffed the equinoélial, and then,
getting into a high fouthern latitude, either have gone weft
about to the Cape of Good Hope, or returned to the eaft-
ward, and having touched at Falkland’s Iflands if neceflary,
made the heft of my way from thence back to
Europe.
When
1767.
. J-f.'v.
Wednefr 22+
When I got into latitude £6° S. and not before, I found
the true trade-wind and as we proceeded to the north weft,
and the northward, we found the variation increafe very
fa ll; for when we had advanced to latitude 18° 15' S. and
were in longitude 8o«'i'W. of our departure, it was 7*3-0 E.
We had bad. weather, with hard gales, and a great fea from
the eaftwardtill the 25th, when being in latitude 12° iy 'S . Saturday-2& .
we faw- many birds flying in flocks, and fuppofed ourfelves
to be near- Ibme land, particularly feveral iflands that are
laid down in the charts, and one which' was feen by Commodore.
Byron in. 1 7.65, and called the Ifland o f Danger;
none o f thefe iflands however could we fee. At this time it:
blew fo hard that, although we went before the wind, we
were obliged to reef our topfails, and the weather was ftill
very thick and rainy. The next morning, being in latitude Sunday 26.'
io° S., longitude.1670 W. we kept nearly in the fame parallel,
in hopes to have fallen in with fome of the iflands »
called Solomon’s Iflands, this being the latitude in which the
fouthermoft of them is laid down,. We had here the trade
wind ftrong, with violent fqualls and'much rain; and con- ^
tinuing our. courfe. till Monday the 3d o f Augufl, we were Monday 3,.
then in latitude 100 18 'S.-,-longitude by account 1770 4 E .; .
our diftance weft from the continent o f America about
twenty-one hundred-leagues, and-we-were five degrees-to
the-weftward of the flotation of thofe iflands in the charts.
It was not our good fortune however to fa ll in with any
la n d ; p robably. w e might pa-fis near fome, which the thick
weather prevented our fe e in g ;- fo r in this run great numbers
of- fea birds were often about? the Ihip : however, as
Commodore Byron in his laft voyage failed' over th e northern
limits o f that part o f the ocean in which the iflands o f
SOlomon are faid to lie,- and as I failed over the fouthern
limits without- feeing-them, there is great, reafon. to com -
V o t .I . $ 9 elude a