1787. During the afternoon feveral pilots -came onboard. One of-
November, ,thern who fpeak Englifh informed us, , that we muft come
' ' ’ to anchor at Macao, and get a choppe or permit from the Cuftomhoufe
there, before we could proceed to Canton. Our breeze
grew light and variable, yet we kept handing on, "and near mid-
• night came to anchor in Macao Roads,- in fix< fathom water,
over afo ft muddy bottom.’ Our foundings among«: the Lema
Iflands were, from fifteen to five fathom, over .a foft bottom.
In my next I hope to give thee an account of our arrival at
Canton, and our proceedings there. Adieu. -
Thine ever,
W. B.
M acao, 1
^November 9th. j
l e t t e r x l iii.
fituation of our anchoring birth in Macao Road, was
22 deg. 9 min. North latitude, Macao bearing Weft one-
half South, about-eight miles diftant, the grand Ladrone South
by Eaft, and the peak of Lintin nearly Eaft.
At day-light in the morning of the 9th, we faw a large fhip at
anchor, about three miles off our lee-quarter. On hoifting our
colours, fhe Ihewed Englifh ones in return, fo that we took her
for
for an Eaft Indiaman juft arrived. At eight o’clock our Captain 0vemb
went in the whale-boat to Macao; in order to procure a choppe 1___j
for our paffage to Canton, and to learn the beft method of expediting
our bufinefs. Towards afternoon the wind blew very
frefh from North North Eaft and North Eaft, and m the evening
increafed to a gale, on which we let go the beft bower.
During the night, and former part of the 10th, the wind continued
to blow very frefh from the fame quarter, which caufed
the veffel to pitch very much, blit growing moderate towards the
afternoon, we took up the beft bower.
A t ten o’clock in the evening a Chinefe boat came along-fide,
bringing a Mr. Folger on board; he was Chief Mate of the veffel
we had feen in the Roads, and which proved to be the Imperial
Eagle, Captain Berkley, who, thou mayeft remember, was feen by
Captain Colinett in King George’s Sound. In confequence of a
quarrel with Captain Berkley, he had left him and been at Macao,
where, meeting with Captain Dixon, he had procured a paffage
with us to Canton.
We learnt from Mr. Folger, that the Imperial Eagle left Oftend
the 23d of November, 1786, and -that King George’s Sound was
the fartheft they had been to the Northward on the coaft. They
procured a good many valuable fkins a degree or two' to the Southward
o f King George’s Sound; and their, cargo confifted of
nearly feven hundred prime fkins, and many of inferior value. In
the courfe of their trade they met with a moft melancholy accident.
Captain Berkley frequently fent his long boat with his Second
Mate, Mr. Mackie, and ten or twelve of his people, to trade
with the Indians in places on the coaft where the fhip had not
O o accefs.