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424
ing early—but as the sun rose higher the weather improved,
and we tried to weigh,—yet were provokingly delayed, for the
diain was so fast round a rock, that for nearly an hour we could
not move it. At last we succeeded, without injury to anything—^
left the harbour, and stood away for the IldefonsoS
with a strong W.S.W. wind and a confused high swell.
“ March Harbour (so called from our having passed the
month of March in it) is not so good as I at first thought.
The bottom is certainly excellent in some parts ; it is well sheltered,
and easy of access, but there are many rocky places
which would injure a hemp cable. Besides, there is a dangerous
rock under water in the wide part of the harbour, hidden
by a large patch of kelp.
“ We passed along the S.AV. side of the Ildefonsos, at the
distance of half a mile. They appeared like the higher parts
of a mountain almost under water, lying N.AV. and S.E.,
nearly broken through by the sea in several places, so as to
form several islets, of which the highest and largest is about
two hundred feet above the sea, and one-third of a mile in
length ; another is about one-quarter of a mile long ; the rest
are mere rocks. The two larger are covered with tussac,*
among which we saw numerous seal which had scrambled
up to the very summits. Having seen enough of these islets,
we hauled our wind, and shortened sail, to prepare for the
night: for it blew a fresh gale, with every appearance of
its increasing and drawing to the southward. I wished to
make the Diego B.amirez Islands the next morning, and
thence run to the north-eastward; and, had the wind been
moderate, could have done so without difficulty; hut after carrying
a press of sail during the night, and making southing,
with as little easting as possible, I found myself, at daylight
next morning, five miles to leeward of the above-mentioned
islands, with the wind strong from the N.W., and too much
sea to allow me to hope to see more of them without remaining
under sail until the weather moderated. This would not have
• A rushy kind of coarse grass.
suited the chronometers, or our limited time; therefore we wore
round and steered (by AVeddell’s chart) for the western part
of the Hermite Islands, intending to run along the land from
AVest Cape. The wind became more moderate towards noon
but the weather got so thick that no part of the land could be
made out distinctly ; and supposing that a point of land which
I saw was Cape Spencer, we steered directly for it, as the day
was drawing to a close and obliged me to give up my intention
of coasting. Nearing the land, I found it resembled the point
I had seen from Henderson Island, and supposed to be the
S.AV. extreme of Nassau Bay, but did not correspond to any
part of the Hermite Islands, as shewn by Captain King’s plan.
Evening was approaching, thick misty clouds shut out other
land from our view, but being a weather shore, I trusted to
finding anchorage somewhere, and stood on.
“ The wind increased, and blew in very strong squalls pff
shore, obliging us to carry low sail until we had run seve-
ral miles along the land in smooth water, when we anchored
at the entrance of a bay, in thirteen fathoms water, over a
coarse sandy bottom. A low projecting point covered us from
the force of the wind as it then blew; and the land on each
side from all other westerly winds : but the squalls increased so
violently in the early part of the night, that although in smooth
water, with eighty fathoms of chain out, the top-gallant masts
down, and yards braced up, the vessel drove, and we were
obliged to let go another anchor, and veer a long scope of
cable ; after which she held on firmly through the night.
“ 2d. At daylight we hove up the best bower, but found
one fluke broken off. After getting the sheet anchor to the
bows, and the broken one in-board, we weighed and made sail
to windward, in search of a good anchorage. When the weather
cleared in the morning, I had discovered that we were in
Nassau Bay, near Orange Bay, and that the curiously-peaked
headland we had passed was ‘ False Cape Horn,’ the same
which I had seen from Henderson Island. Finding this the
case, I determined to turn the mistake to account, and at once
set to York m this quarter, postponing our visit to the Hermite
M