1/ 8-8. April.
Friday 4.
Sunday. 6.
■ Monday 7.
Wednefday.9.
and increafed to a heavy gale, f At fix in the m in in g Am
fiorm exceeded what I had ever met with before ; and the
fea, from the frequent drifting.ofthe wind, running in cqn*
trary directions, broke exceeding high.' Our fhip, however,
lay too very well, under a main and for©-ftay fail. The gale
continued, With fevere fqualls of hail andileet; therernain-
der of this, and all the next day.—r-Qnthe;4th, the .wind
Was lefs ■ violent, but - far from moderate . With fo much
bad weather, I found it neceflatry to keep a conftant fire,
night arid day; and one ofrthe watch always-• attended
to dry the -people’s wet clothes;’ and this, I have no
doubt, contributed as müch tp/tfeeir hÊahh as'th their comfort..
Our companions in this inhofpitable region, Were al-
batröffes, and twö beautiful-kinds of birds, the fmall-blue'
petterel, arid pintada. A.great many of thefe were frequently
about the wake of the ihip, which induced the'
■ people to float a line with hook s baited, to - endeavour to'
tcatöh them:; and' their attempts were fuccefsful. The
method they ufed, was to fatten the bait a foot or two
before the hook, and, by .giving the line a-fu'dden jerk
when the bird was at the bait, it Was hooked in the feet or
body.
On the 6fh the weather was moderate, and contmuedfo
töl the-qth, With, th eWihd veering between the fihfW and
SW; o f Which we were able to take advantage.-.
Onthe^th, obferved-theVariation'& f 9' Eipurlatitude
6o° 24' S ; and longitude 75" 54' V^. Önthe qth, at noon,
we were in latitude ^9° S, and our longitude 76* £8 ' W,
.which is farther to. the weft than we had yet been. The
weather Was now unfavourable again,, blowing dftrong from
vth-e weftward, With a high fea.
On
On the soth, we faw forne fiih, which appeared fpotted,
and about'the fize of bonetos : thefe wer-e the only fifti we ..---- -----j
bad feen in this high latitude. • , > -
The ftormy weather continued witha great fea. The ftup Saturday ».
now b e g an 'fo complain, arid 'required to be pumped-every
hour; which ysaipo more .than we had reafon to,expect
from’ fuch vo^w tian c e o f gaiesVpf wind and high feas.
The decks alfo became f®-leaky,, that I was obliged to allot
the .great cabin, of wfei<h,I made, little-uf6, except m
fine weather/to thofe p®®pfe who had syet births, to hang
their-hammocks ip?;, and by this ineahs the between decks
was lefs croqfied^ -■ , , , - , '
| Every m in in g all the, hammocks were taken down
from wfiere* they'Jiung, and, w hen .thnwfather fw^s too
' tad to keep them upon deck, they were put m the cabin;
-fo -that the -between depks,were- cleaned dafiy, ,and. aired
with fires, i f the hatchways cpuM not he opened.
With’ all this fiad weather, we haditlie additional m o r tification
to find, at -the eadpf everyday, -that we were lofing
ground; for notwithftandingourutmottexertions, andkeepr
ing on- ghe -moft advantageous tapka, (jwhich, i f »tfie
ther had been at all moderate, would have fufficiently an-
—fwered pur purpofe} yet the greater part of .the time, we
were-doing little better than drifting before the wind.
Birds -as* phial were about the ihip, and fopae of them M # *» .
caught; and, fop the firfotimefince we.kft.Statenhand, we
fawfomewhales; This morning,»owingto the violent motion
of the ihip, the qo©k fell and;br©ke one qf his ribs, and ano*>
ther man, by atfall, diflocated ,his feoulder. Thegpnner,
who had the charge of a watch* ^OS laid up with the rheumatism
and this.was the firft fick lift that appeared onboard
the ihip. The time of full moon, which was approaching^
SB r? 1 , - ' „ , made