466 A V O Y A G E OF D I S C O V E R Y
1795. to be ftruck, in order that the weak parts- might be. ftrained as little-
. Mll>' . as could be helped; about an hour afterwards, the ftarboard bumkin
was alfo carried away, and the wind, at w . s.w., continued to blow
with great violence until midnight, when it became fomewhat more mo*
derate, and we were enabled-to fet' the mainfail and ftorm ftayfail.
Falfe fires were burnt during the night as fignals to the Chatham.
Saturday =3. Towards the next morning, after lowering the topfails, and hauling
up the mainfail, in a heavy fquall of wind and hail, we wore the fliip,
to wait for our confort. In the afternoon, although the wind con*
tinued nearly from the lame quarter, the weather became more moderate,
and we were able to get up our topgallant yards and malls,
and to make the bell of our way towards the fouth, direfling our
eourle as much to the eaftward as the variation o f the wind would?
permit. This favorable change, however, was net of long duration
Monday 25. for, in the afternoon of the 25th, on the wind veering to the well and
north-well, we were obliged to clofe-reef the fore and maintopfail,.
and take in the mizentopfail. The gale continued to increafe with:
TucHay a6. lb much violence, that, by feven o’clock on tuelday morning, we were-
under the neceffity o f handing our topfails, and getting the top-gallant
yards and malls down upon deck, to relieve the malls, and to.
make the fhip as fnug as poffible. The obferved latitude at noon was
56°4' fouth; by Arnold’s chronometer No. 14, the longjtude appeared
to be 285°52'30“ ; by No. 176, 286"55'; by Kendall’s, 285“ 32' 15"*
and by the dead reckoning 286”- 33'. According to obfervations which
had been procured in the two preceding days, it appeared, that the dead
reckoning had erred thirteen miles in latitude, and twenty-five miles
in longitude, the fhip having been fet fo far to the north-eaflward. The
wind continued to blow very hard, varying between w , s.w. and w .n .w .,
until towards the evening, when it altered to the eaft, and e . s . e . brought
with it a very heavy fall of fnow, and blew fo violently, that our weather
maintopfail Iheet gave way, and obliged us to take in the fail.
Wednef. 27. About fix o’clock the next morning the wind again changed to the s.w.,
and the weather became fufficiently moderate and clear to get up the
topgallant yards and malls, and to fet our reefed topfails. Notwithftanding
BH .. S S
R O U N D T H E W O R L D . 467
ing that at this time there was no great preffure on any part of the rig- lo s ging,
fo extremely rotten and decayed were- our principal ropes and ’---- v--- 1
.fails, that our llarboard maintopfail Iheet broke, the gib-boom fnapped
Ihort off about the middle, and the wind fplit tire mizentopfail. -Juft
before nine o’clock in the forenoon, an illand was Teen bearing by com-
pafs-Ni 15'w., which at firft we fuppofed to be Diego Ramirez; but. as
that is reprefented by former navigators to be a fingle illand in the latitude
o f 56° 38' fouth, longitude 291° 34'; as the land in fight foon put on the
appearance of being much broken; as we had foundings about two in
in thé afternoon at the dillance o f 3 leagues in the depth of 80 fathoms, in
the latitude of 56° 28' fouth, longitude 291° 23'; and as Captain Cook
had paffed between the illands of St. Ildefonfo and Tierra del Fuego, in
the latitude. Of 55° 53* fouth, longitude 290° 19'; I had every reafon to
believe that we had been miltaken, and that the land we had feen at nine
o’clock was--St. Ildefonfo’s illes,-which at this time bore by compafs
W . S-. w. The wind was lefs boifterous on the fucceeding day, but ThuiTdaysS.
the weather continued to be unpleafant, being very dark and gloomy,
with: frequent heavy Ihowers of fnow. About'eleven o’clock at night,
ina fquall of hail, rain, and fndw, the maintopfail was fplit and waste,
-placed by another, which although whole and the bell we had, was in a
-very unferviceable condition.
Notwithllanding that the fnow continued to fall To very heavily that
n o obfervation for the latitude could be procured, yet by four double
-altitudes of the fun taken by two perfons' with different inftruments,: the
latitude was found to be 56° 5-7'; the longitude carried on by the-:dead
reckoning,-and correÉled by Arnold’s chronometer No. 14, appeared to
be 293° 39', and the variation of the compafs 23° eaftwardly.
Confidering that we were now fufficiently advanced to the fouthward
to avoid any inconvenience or interruption from the illands which lie off.
cape Horn, I determined- to lhape fuch a courfe to the- nonh-callward,
as we proceeded in o ut route to St. Helena, as might afford me an opportunity
of feeing and determining the fituation of the Ilia Grande,
the fouthern point of which is ftated to be in latitude 450 30V longitude
3.13“ 20'. On the 30th we were again vifited by ftrong gales and -heavy Friday 30,
3 O 2 fqualls