Friday zz.
Saturday z3.
ferved a larger allowance of rum. Towards noon, the rain
abated and the fun fhone, but we were miferably cold and
-wet, the fea breaking conftantly over u s; fa that, notwith-
ftaiiding the heavy rain, we had not been able to add to our
.flock of frefti water. Latitude, by obferyation, 140 29' S,
and longitude made, by account, from 'Tofoa, 270 25' W ;
eourfe, iince yefter.day noon, N 78’ W, 99 miles. I now
confidered myfelf nearly on-a meridian with the eaft part
o f New Guinea* [
. ' Friday, May the 22d. -Strong gales from E SE to S S-E, a
high fea, and dark difmal night.
. Our fituation this day was extremely calamitous. We
were obliged to take the eourfe o f the fea, ^running right
before .it, and- watching with the utmoftcare, as': the- leaft
error in the helm would in a moment have been our de-
flrudkion.
At noon it blew very hard, and the-foam of the fea kept
tunrung over piirflern and iqwarters;; Thwfreydrigdt prop-'
;ped inp, and made an obfervation of the latitude', in 140 i f
S ; eourfe ,N 85° W, diffiance-130 miles; longitude made
290 38' W.
The mifery we fuffered this night-exceeded the preceding.
The fea flewcpver us with great force, and kept us
haling with horror and anxiety. At. dawn o f ’ dhy I-found-
every one in a moft diftrefled condition, and I began, to fear
that another fuch night would put an end to the lives of
Several, who feemed.no- longer able to fupport their fuffer-
ings. I ferved an allowance o f two: tea-fpoonfuls of rum.;
after drinking which, having wrung our clothes, .and
taken our breakfaft of bread and water, we became a little
refrefhed.
Towards
Towards-noon,, the weather became fair, but with very ^789-
little, abatement of the gale, and the, fea remained equally
high. With, fome difficulty I obferved the latitude to be
13° 44' S :. epurfe fince yefterday, noon N 740 W, diftance
xi6 miles; longitude made 31° 32' W .from, Tofoa.
The wind moderated in the evening, and the, weather
looked much better, which, rejoiced all hands, fo that they
eat their fcanty allowance with more fatisfadtion than for
fome time paft. The night alfo was fair ; but being always
wet with the fea, we fuffered much from the cold. A_
fine morning, I had the pieafure to fee, produce fome Sunday 24.
chearful coupten&nces; and, the(firft time for 15 days^paft,
we experienced comfort frona tijje warmth of .the fun. We
ftripped, and,hung our clothes up tofiry, which were by
this time become fp thread-bare, that they wpfildpot keep
cut either wet, or cold.
Atnopn, I obferved in latitude 130 33' s ||longit,u,de,b3y ac-
count, fremTefoa 330 28' W ; q^nrfe 84° W, diftance
114 miles. . With the ufual .allowance o f l>read and water
for dinner, I ferved an ounce of pork to each perfpn. This
afternoon we had many birds about us, which are heyef-
feen far from, land, fuph asbpohies,,^qd nod(jje|.. ,
. As, the-fealbegan torun fair, and .we fhipped f>ut little
water, ito o k the opportunity tp examine intp the jigtAof our
bread, and found, that aceording.to the prefent mode of iffu- »
ing, there was. a fufficient quantity remaining for 29 days allowance;
by which time I hoped we fhould be^ble to reach
Timor. But- as this was very uncertain, and ft was poffible
that, after all, we might be obliged to go to Java, I determined
to proportion the allowance fo as -to make our flock hold Allowance
pht fix weeks. I was apprehenfive that this would be ill
received, and. that it would require my utmoft refojution <
C c ) to