<795- as this deviation had been gradually increafing finoe the 31ft o f december,
. J‘"H'ary' s and by our daily obfervations for the latitude, the diredion of this current
feemed to be irregularly between the north-weft and fouth-weft, the
reckoning being fometimes to the north, fometimes correfponding, and
at others to the fouth of the obfervations.
In this fituation the vertical inclination of the magnetic needle was as
under:
Marked end North face Eaft, - - 24° 50'
Ditto ditto Weft, - - 25 30
Ditto South face Eaft, - - 24 45
Ditto ditto Weft, - - 24 30
Mean inclination of the marine dipping-needle, - 24 54
The variation being about 7A degrees eaftwardly.
The two fucceeding days we were fet to the fouthward, at the rate of
Weinet. 7 . about half a mile per hour,' and on wednefday the wind from the north-
eaftward again’became very light, and I found it heceffary to Begin
diftilling frelh water from the fea t; by this prdoefs, without.any great
additional expenditure of fuel, a fupply of from twelve to eighteen gallons
of frelh water was procured in the courfe of each day; and although
it could not be cónfidered óf the firft quality, yet it was per-
fe£Hy frelh, and applicable to all th,e purpofes of cooking. In this re-
fpe£l it was highly acceptable, as by the affiliance of the diftilled water,
we were enabled to appropriate tó greater advantage the abundant Tè-
frelhments which the fea ftill continued to ’affordl and which were Tome
compenfation for the very tedious and tardy progrefs that the faint baffling
winds permitted us to make..
Since wednefday we had frequently noticed very ftrong riplings on the
furface of the water, but felt fcarcely any effeft .from currents. The
Sunday 11. obfervèd latitude on funday was 7* 47Vlqngitude, by Arnold’s N0T14,
■ 266" 27'; No,. 176, 260° 20' ; Kendall’s, 266s 33'; and by'the dead reckoning
268° 32' v. fo tfiat admitting No. 14, as I concèived it to be, riear-
eft the truth, the error in the reckoning, fince thé 5th, had only increa-
fed i g'- The variation of the compafs was now about 8° eaftwardly.
During the laft week the clouds, particularly in the'northern quarter,
2 had
R O U N D T H E W O R L D .
had fometimes hung about the horizon very dark and heavily, but
they had now difperled without any rain, excepting about noon on the
preceding day, when we had a fmart Ihower that Tailed near two
hours, and was the'firft rain that had fallen with us fince our arrival at
Monterrey in the beginning of november laft.
As we thus gently advanced to the louth-eaftward, the riplings on the
furface of the water became more frequent, and were attended with a
greater degree of agitation, making a ruffling biffing noife, like a tide
in Ihoal water; and though we felt lomething of their influence, they
feemed infinitely more to affect the Chatham in her fteerage ; yet, from
the refult o f our obfervations, they did not appear to be the confe-
qitence of any current, which gave rife to an idea, that probably the
fpace we were then palling over was of very uneven bottom. To afeer-
tain this fail foundings were tried, but no bottom was found in thefe
riplings with'140 to 170 fathoms ó f line. During the night of the 12th,
and until noon the following day, we had a frelh breeze from the n .n . e .,
which afterwards veered round to the éaftwafd and e . s .e , nearly in the
direftion in which I wilhed to fleer. On wednefday noon we had reached
the latitude of 5° 37', longitude 268° 31', approaching nearly to the
parallel of the illand of Cocos," and . about 2 or 3 degrees of longitude to
the weftward of its meridian, according to the different accounts of its
fituation in the ocean ; and as wé had no indication whatever of our
having left it tó thé weftward of us, our courfe was dire&ed eaftwardly,
as the moft probable means of finding the illand. "
We were ftill attended by vaft numbers of filhes, varying both in
lize and fpecies ; few birds were now'about us, and ,the abundance of.
turtles was fo much decreafed, that, on thurfday, notwithftanding the day
was for the moll part calm, our boat’s crew- caught only two.. The
weather ftill continued clear, and gave us fo good a view all around
us, that had any land been within the limits of our horizon, it could not.
have efcaped our notice. After having palled to the fouth of the 6th
degree of north latitude, we again found ourfelves under the influence of
the current, that, during the 14th, had fet us 18', in a direftion s. 47 e,,
and, during the laft twenty-four hours, at the fame rate, in a direélion
N. 6.2 É ,
359
>795- January.
Monday 1 2.
Tuefday 13.
Wednef. 14.
Thurfday 15;'