November ' Frefll g?Ies at N- W. by N. and N. by W., and hazy till
>— 4— 1 towards noon of the 22d, when the weather cleared up, and
we oblerved in latitude 550 48 South, longitude 156° 56',
Weft. In the afternoon had a few hours calm; after that,
the wind came at S. S. E. and S. E. by S. a light breeze, with
which we fleered Eaft northerly. In the night the aurora
auftralis was vifible, but very faint, and no'ways remark'
able.
Wcdner. 2j.. ° n the z3d. in the latitude qf 550 46' South, longitude 156°
13' Weft, the variation was 90 42' Eaft. We had a calm from
ten in the morning till fix in the evening, when a breeze
fprung up at Weft; at firft it .blew a gentle gale, but afterwards
freshened. Our courfe was now E. ~ N,
Tbarflay 24. | On the 34th, a frelh breeze at N. W. by W, and N. by W*
At noon, in latitude 550 38' South, longitude 1^3° 3 7 'Weft,
Fliaay 25. foggy in the night, but next day had a fine gale at N. W.,
attended with clear pleafant weather ■ courfe fleered E. by
N. In the evening, being in the latitude of 55° 8' South,
longitude 148° 10'Weft, the-variation, by the mean of two
compafles, was 6° 35' 4 Eaft.
Saturday 26, Having a fteady frelh gale at N. N. W. on the 26th" and
Sunday 27. 27th, we fleered Eaft; and at noon on the latter were in
latitude 33° 6' South, longitude 138° 56' Weft.
I now gave up all hopes of finding any more land in this
ocean, and came to a refolution to fleer directly for the weft
entrance of the Straits of Magalhaens, with a view o f coafting
the out, or fouth fide of Terra del Fuego, round Cape Horn,
to the Strait Le Maire; As the world has but a very imperfect
knowledge of this Ihore, I thought the coafting of it
would be of more advantage, both to navigation and to geo-
LjfifejfH ’ " . graphy,
graphy, than any thing I could expert to find in a higher ^774^
latitude. In the afternoon of this day, the wind blew in v— v— »
fcpualls, and carried away the main top-gallant maft.
A very ftrong gale northerly, with hazy rainy weather, on
the 28th, obliged us to doublé reef the fore and main top- Monday tsi
fail, to hand the mizzen top-fail, and get down the fore topgallant
yard. In the morning, the bolt rope of the main
top-fail broke, and occafioned the fail to be fplit. I have
obferved that the ropes to all our fails, the, fqiiare fails efpe-
cially, are not of a fize and ftrength fufficient to wear out
the canvafs. At no.on, latitude 530 20' South, longitude 1340
16' Weft, a great fwellfrom N. W.) albatroffes and blue pe-
terels feen.
Next day towards noon, the wind abating, we loofed all Tueiday 29.
the reefs out of the top-fails, rigged another top-gallant maft,
and got the yards acrofs. P. M. little wind, and hazy weather;
at midnight calm, that continued till noon the next
day, when a breeze fprung up at Eaft, with which we Wednef. 30.
ftretched to the northward. At. this time we were in the
latitude 53° 32' South, longitude 128° 43' Weft; fome alba-
trofTes and peterels feen. At eight P. M. the wind veering
to N. E. we~ tacked and flood to E. S. E.
On the 1 ft of December, thick hazy weather, with driz- Decembe'r.
ling rain, and a moderate breeze of wind, which, at three Thu‘ftlay
o’clock P. M. fell to a calm,; at this time in latitude
55? 41' South, longitude 1270 5' Weft. After four hours
calm, the fog cleared away, and we got a wind at S. E. with
which we flood N. E.
Next day, a frelh breeze at S. E. and hazy foggy weather, Friday 2.
except a few hours in the morning, when we found the va-
q - riation,'