C OMMO D O R E B Y R O N ’s V O Y A G E
M17ar6c5h.. bay there is a bafon, at the entrance of which there is but
three fathom and an h alf at low water, but within there is Monday 11. ten fathom, and room enough for fix or feven fail to lie
where no wind can hurt them.
Tuefday 12.
We continued here till Friday the ijth , and during all that
time had one continued ftorm, with impenetrable fogs, and
inceflant rain. On the 12th, I fent out the boat, with an
officer, to look for harbours on the fouthern fhore: the boat
Thurfday 14. was abfent till the 14th, and then returned, with an account
Friday 15.
that there were five bays between the fhip’s ftation and Cape
Upright, where we might anchor in great fafety. The officer
told me, that near Cape Upright he had fallen in with a
few Indians, who had given him a dog, and that one of the
women had offered him a child which was fucking at her
breaft. It is fcarcely necefiary to fay that he refufed it, but
the offer feems to degrade thefe poor forlorn favages.more
than any thing in their appearance or manner of life : it
muft be a ftrange depravity of nature that leaves them defti-
tute o f affedtion for their offspring, or a moft deplorable
fituation that imprefles neceflities upon them by which it is
furmounted. Some hills, which, when we firft came to this
place, had no fnow upon them,’ were now covered, and the
winter o f this dreary and inhofpitable region feemed to have
fet in at once: the poor feamen not only fuffered much by
the cold, but had fcarcely ever a dry thread about them: I
therefore diftributed among the crews.of both the Ihips, not
excepting the officers,, two bales o f a thick woollen fluff,
called. Fearnought, which is provided by the government,
fo that every body on board had now a warm jacket, which
at this time was found both comfortable and falutary.
At eight o’clock in the morning o f the 15th, we weighed
and made fail, and at three o’clock in the afternoon, we were
9 oonnccee
once more abreaft of Cape Monday, and at five, we anchored
in a bay on the eaft fide o f it. The pitch of the Gape bore ■ Mareh'
N. W. diftant half a mile, and the extream points Of the bay *s-
from E. to'N. by W. We lay at about half a cable’s length
from the neareft fliore, which was a low ifland between the
Ihip and the Cape.
At fix o’clock the next morning, we weighed, and found Saturday .6.
that the palm was gone from the fmall bower anchor. The
wind was at W. N. W. with hard rain: at eight o’clock, we
found a ftrong current fetting us to the eaftward, and at
noon, Cape Monday bore W. N. W. diftant two miles. The
Tamar being to windward o f us, fetched into the bay, and
anchored again. We continued to lofe ground upon every
tack, and therefore, at two o’clock, anchored upon the
fouthern fhore in fixteen fathom, about five miles to the eaftward
o f Cape Monday. At three, however, I weighed again,
for the boat having founded round the Ihip, found the
ground rocky. The wind was N. W. with hard rain, and
we continued working all the reft o f the day, and all night,
every man on board being upon deck the whole time, and
every one wet to the lkin, for the rain, or rather Iheets of
water that came down, did not ceafe a moment.
In the morning, we had again the mortification to find Sunday iy.
that, notwithftanding all our labour, we had loft ground
upon every tack, in confequence o f the current, which continued
to fet with great force to the eaftward. At eight
o’clock, we bore away, and at nine, anchored in the fame
bay from which we failed on the 15th.
The wind continued W. and W. N. W. without any tide to
the weftward, all the 18th and 19' th, and the weather was , Monday 13,
exceedingly bad, with hard fqualls and heavy rain. In the Tuefday 19.
mean time I had fent an officer with a boat to found a bay
V o l . I. L on