any; and this may be the reafon why the flefh o f them is not
fo good as fome I have eat on the Coait of New South Wales,
■ which were caught on the fpot where they fed.
The watch made 8° 45' difference of longitude between St.
Helena and Afcenfion; ‘which, added to 5° 49'» the longitude
of James Fort in St. Helena, gives 14° 34' for the longitude
of the Road of Afcenfion, or 140 30' for the middle of the
ifland, the latitude of which is 8° S. The lunar obfervations
made by Mr. Wales, and reduced to the fame point of the
Ifland by the watch, gave 140 38' 30" Weft longitude.
On the 31ft of May, we left Afcenfion and fleered to the
northward with a fine gale at S. E. by E. I had a great defire
to vifit the Ifland of St. Matthew, to fettle its lituation; but
as I found the winds would not let me fetch it, I fleered for
the Ifland of Fernando deNoronha on the coaft of Brazil, in order
to determine its longitude, as I could not find this had yet
been done. Perhaps I fhould have performed a more acceptable
fervice to navigation, if I had gone in fearch of the Ifland
of St. Paul, and thofe fhoals which are faid to lie near the
equator, and about the meridian of 20° Weft ; as neither their
lituation nor exiftence are well known. The truth is, I was
unwilling to prolong the paflage in fearching for what I was
not fure to find; nor was I willing to give up every objetft,
which might tend to the improvement of navigation or geography,
for the fake of getting home a week or a fortnight
fooner. It is but feldom that opportunities of this kind offer ■
and when they do, they are too often neglected.
In our paffage to Fernando de Noronha, we had fteady
frefh gales between the S. E. and E. S. E., attended with fair
and clear weather 3 and as we had the advantage of the moon,
a day or night did not pafs without making lunar obfervations
for the determining our longitude. In this run, the variation
of the compafs gradually deereafed from n ° Weft,
which it was at Afcenfion, to 1° Weft, which we found off
Fernando de Noronha. This was the mean refult of two
compaffes, one of which gave i°37', and the other 23' Weft.
On the gth of June at noon we made the Ifland of Fernando
de Noronha bearing S. W.- b yW .J W. diftant fix or
feven leagues, as we afterwards found by the log. It appeared
in detached and peaked hills, the largeft of which
looked like a church tower or fteeple. As we drew near the
S. E. part of the ifle, w.e perceived feveral unconne&ed
funken rocks lying near a league from the fhore, on which
the fea broke in a great furf. After ftanding very near thefe
rocks, we hoifted our colours, and then bore up round the
North end of the Ifle, or rather round a group o f little iflots;
for we could fee that the land was divided by narrow channels.
There is a ftrong fort on the one next the main ifland
where there are feveral others ; all of which feemed to have
every advantage that nature can give them, and they are fo
difpofed as wholly to command all the anchoring and landing
places aboutthe ifland. We continued to fleer round the
northern point, till the fandy beaches (before which is the
road for fhipping) began to appear, and the forts and the
peaked hills were open to the weftward of the faid point. At
this time, on a gun being fired from one of the forts, the
Portuguefe colours were difplayed, and the example was followed
by all the other forts. As the purpole, for which I
made the ifland, was now anfwered, I had no intention to anchor;
and therefore, after firing a gun to leeward, we made
fail and Hood away to the northward with a fine frefh gale at
E. S. E.
Wednef- 31*
June*
Friday 9,