1777*
July.
Friday 18.
Saturday 19.
Sunday zo.
Monday zi.
at Eaft, and blew a freih gale. With it I itbod to the Souths
till h a lf an hour paft fix o’clock the next morning, when,
a fudden fquall, from the fame direction, took o u r ihip
aback ; and, before the ihips could be trimmed, on th ç
idther tack, the m a in - fa ir and the top-gallant fails were
•much torn..
T h e wind kept between the South Weft, and South Eaft,
o n the 19th and io th ; afterward, it veered to the Eaft,
North Eaft, and North. T h e n ight between the 20th and
21ft, an eclipfe o f the moon was obferved as fo llow s ; bein
g then in the latitude o f 220 S7i South,
Apparent time, A . M.
H. M. S.
/ Beginning, b y Mr. K in g, at o 32 50) _ .
M r .B lig h ,a t o 33 25 >Mean long. 186 57^.
Myfelf, at o 33 3.5 J
End, b y M r .K in g , at 1 44 ^ ] M e an lo n g . 186; 28*'.
M r.Bligh , at 1 44 6 |T ime keep. 186° 581'. '
My felf, at 1 44 56 J
T h e latitude and longitude â fç thofe o f the ihip, at 8h 56?
A. M. b e in g the time w hen the fun ’s altitude was taken for
finding the apparent time. At the beginn in g o f the eclipfe,
the moon was in the zenith ; fo that it was found moft convenient
to make ufe o f the fextants ; and to make the ob-
fervations by the reflected image, w h ich was brought down
to à convenient altitude. T h e fame was done at the end ;
except by Mr. K in g, w ho obferved with a night telefcope.
A lth ou gh the greateft difference between our feveral ob-
fervatibhs, is no more than fifty féconds, it, neverthelefs,
appeared to me, that two obfervers might differ more than
double that time, in both the beginn in g and end. And,
g though
though the times are noted, to feconds, no fuch accuracy
was pretended to. T h e odd feconds, fet down above, arofe
b y reducing the time, as g iven b y the watch, to apparent time.
I continued to ftretch to the Eaft South Eaft, w ith the wind
at North Eaft and North, without meeting with any thin g
w orthy o f note, till feven o’clo ck in the evening o f the 29th;
w h en we had a fudden and very heavy fquall o f wind from
the North. At this time, we were under fingle reefed top-
fails, courfes, and ftay-fails. T w o o f the latter were blown
to pieces ; and it was with difficulty that we faved the other
fails. A fte r this fquall, we obferved feveral lights moving
about oft board the D ifco v e ry ; b y w h ich we concluded,
that fomething had giv en w a y ; and, the next morning, we
faw that her main-top-maft had been loft. Both wind and
weather continued very unfettled till noon, this day, when
the latter cleared up, and the former fettled in the North Weft
quarter. At this time, we were in the latitude o f 28° 6'
S ou th , and our longitude was 198° 2 3 'Eaft. Here we faw
fome pintado birds, being the firft fince we le ft the land.
On the 31ft, at noon, Captain Clerke made a fignal to
fpe ak with me. By the return o f the boat, w hich I fent on
board his ihip, he informed me, that the head o f the main-
maft had been juft difcovered to be fprung, in 'fu ch a manner,
as to render the rig g in g o f another top maft very dang
e ro u s ; and that, therefore, he muft r ig fomething lighter
in its place. He alfo informed me, that he had loft his
main-top-gallant-yard ; and that he neither had another,
nor a fpar to make one, on board. T h e Refolution’ s fprit-
fail top-fail-yard, Which I fent him, fupplied this want. The
next day, he got up a ju r y top-maft, on which he fet a mizen-
top-fail; and this enabled him to keep w a y with the Refolu-
tion.
B 2 , The
Monday z j,.
Tuefday 29.
Wednef. 30.
Thurfday3i.
Auguft.
Friday 1.