' A V O Y A G E T O
r’ 779- On the 17th, at noon, we were in latitude 4V 7', by ob-
O a o b e r , f-t ; s # '
«— » lervation, longitude i5 4 °o . The wind now again coming
Siind.iy 17. t o ( ]l e \veftward, obliged us to-fteer a more Southerly courfe;
and, at midnight, it blew from that quarter a frelh gale,
accompanied with heavy rain. In the morning, we faw
another land-bird, and many flocks o f gu lls and peterels
bending their courfe to the South Weft. The heavy North
Eaft fwell, with w hich we had conftancly laboured fince
our departure from Lopatka, now ceafed, and changed
Monday 18. fuddenly to the South Eaft. In the forenoon o f the 18th, we
paifed great* quantities o f rock-weed, from which, and the
flights o f birds above mentioned, we conjectured we were
at n& great diftance from the Southernmoft o f the Kuriles ;
and, at the fame time, the wind coming round to the South,
enabled us to ftand in for it. At two, we fet ftudding-fails,
and fleered Weft; but the wind increafing to a gale, foon
obliged us to double re ef the topfails; and, at midnight, we
judged it neceflary to try for foundings. Accordingly we
hove to; but, finding no bottom at feventy-five fathoms,
w e were encouraged to perfevere, and again bore away
Weft, with the wind at South Eaft. T h is courfe we kept
Toefday 19. till two in the morning, when the weather becoming thick,
we hauled our wind, and fleered to the South Weft till five,
when a violent ftorm reduced us to our courfes.
Notwitliftanding the unfavourable ftate o f the weather
left us little profpeCt o f making the land, we ftill kept this
objeCt anxioufly in view ; and, at day-light, ventured to
fteer Weft by South, and continued to ftand on in this dir
reCtion till ten in the forenoon, when the wind, fuddenly
Ihifting to the South Weft, brought with, it clear weather.
O f this we had fcarcely taken advantage, by fetting the topfails,
and letting out the reefs, when it began to blow .fo
ftrong
ftrong from this quarter, that we were forced to clofe-reeve
a g a in ; and, at noon, the wind ihifting two points to the ' >
Weft, rendered it vain to keep any longer on this tack. We
therefore put about, and fteered to the Southward. At this
time, our latitude, by obfervation, was 44’ 12', and lo n g itude
150° 40'; fo that, after all our efforts, we had the mortification
to find ourfelves, according to the Ruffian charts,
upon a meridian with Nadeegfda, which they make the
Southernmoft o f the Kurile iflands, and about twenty
leagues to the Southward.
But, though the violent and contrary winds we had met
w ith during the laft fix days, prevented our ge tting in with
thefe iflands, yet the courfe we had been obliged to hold, is
not without its geographical advantages. For the group o f
iflands, confifting o f the Three Sifters, Kunaihir and Zel-
lany, which, in D’Anville’s maps, are placed in the track
we h ad ju ft crofted; being, by this means, demonftratively
removed from that fituation, an additional proof is obtained
o f their ly in g to the Weftward, where Spanberg actually
places them, between the longitude 142’ and 147°. But as this
fpace is occupied, in the French charts by part o f the fup-
pofed land o f Jefo and Staten Ifland, Mr. Muller’s opinion becomes
extremely probable, that they are all the fame lands ;
and as no reafons appear for doubting Spanberg’s accuracy,
w e have ventured, in our general map, to reinftate the
Three Sifters, Zellany, and Kunaihir, in their proper fituation,
and have entirely omitted the reft. When the Reader
recolleCts the m anner in which the Ruffians have multiplied
the iflands o f the Northern Archipelago, from the want o f
accuracy in determining their real fituation, and the defire
men naturally feel o f propagating new difcoveries, he will
not be furprized, that the fame caufes ftiould produce the
V o l . III. 3 E fame