1764. T h e Tamar worked into the harbour with the tide of
No,ember'. flood, b u t ! kept my Ration with the Dolphin till I lhould
Wednef. zi. a ]cacpng w;nd, and the wind fluffing to the eaftward,
I weighed about five o’clock in the afternoon, intending to
go up with the evening flood', before I could get under lail,
however, the wind Ihifted again to N.W, by N.; and it being
low water, the Ihip lying but juft within the harbour, and
there being no tide to aflift us, we were obliged to anchor
near the fotith Ihore. The wind came off the land in very
hard flaws, and in a fliort time, our anchor coming home,
the fhip tailed on Ihore again!! a fteep gravelly beach. The
anchoring ground indeed as far as we had yet founded was
b ad , being very hard; fo that, in this fituation, i f the wind
Mows frelh, there is always the greateft reafon to fear that
the anchor lhould come home before the Ihip can be brought
up. While We were on Ihore, it began to blow very hard,
and the tide running like a fluice, it was with the utmoft
difliculty that we could carry an anchor out to heave us off;
however, after about four hours hard labour, this was ef-
fedted, and the Ihip floated in the ftream. As there was only
about fix or feven feet o f the after part o f her that touched
the ground, there was reafon to hope that Ihe had fuffered
no damage ; however, I determined to unhang the rudder,
that it might be examined.
Thrfdayz*. During.all this night and the next morning the wind blew
- with great violence 5 we had let go our bell bower anchor
when we were near the Ihore, in hopes it would have
brought us up, and had not yet been able to weigh it. We
now rode in a very difagreeable fituation with our fmall
bower, and that unfortunately came home again: we therefore
got. a hawfer out of the Tamar, who lay in the ftream,
and after weighing the fmall bower, we got out by her aflift-
y ance>
aricé, and then dropped it again, moft ardently withing for 1764.
fair weather, that wè might get the feip properly moored. ,Novemto~.
- ........... j Thurfday zz.
The next day we founded the harbour higher up, and Friday z3.
found the ground fofter, and the water not fo deep; yet the
wind continued to blow fo hard that we could not venture
to change our Ration. We had found a fmall fpring o f water
about half a mile inland, upon the north fide of the bay,
but it had a brackilh tafte ; I had. alfo made another excur-
lion of fcvcral miles into the country, which I ..found barren
and defolate, in every direction, as far as the eye could’
reach. We had.feen many, guanicoes at a diftance, but we
could not get near enough to have a fhot at them; we
tracked beafts o f feveral kinds in the foil, near a pond of
fait water, and among them a very large tyger: we found
alfo a n e fto f oftriches eggs, which we eat, and thought very
good. It is probable that all the animals which had left
marks of their feet near the fait pond, drank the Water, and
indeed we faw no frelh water for them. The fpring that we
had found, which was not perfectly frelh, was the only one
of the kind that we had been able to d ifc o v e ran d for that
we had been obliged to dig, there being no appearance o f
it except a flight moifture o f the ground.
On the 24th, upon flack water, we carried both the fhips Saturday 24.
higher-up and moored them: the extreme points o f the harbour’s
mouth at low water bore from E. by S. 4 S. to E .; and
the fteeple rock S. E. ’ E. We had here, at low water, but
fix fathom; but at fpring tides the.water rifes no lefs than
four fathom and an half, which is feven and twenty feet.
The tide indeed in this place is fuch as perhaps it is not in
any other. It happened by fome accident that one o f our.
men fell overboard ; the boats were all along-fide,. and the
man was an exceeding good fwimmer, yet before any aflift-
Vor, I. d ance