Travels In The United States Of America; Commencing In The Year 1793, And Ending In 1797. With The Author's Journals Of His Two Voyages Across The Atlantic By William Priest
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We Sailed About Midnight, With A Good Breeze
At S.W., And Were In A Few Hours Clear Of The Land.
On the evening of the 13th, we met with a hard gale at N. E. by N. - The
degree of cold was intolerable.
We shipped some heavy seas, and our
rigging being intirely incrusted with ice, our captain was resolved to
stand to the south, in search of better weather. The next morning being on
the edge of the gulf stream, we were witness to a strange struggle between
the warmth of the current, and the coldness of the surrounding ocean and
atmosphere: the stream actually smoaked like a caldron! We ran as far to
the south as latitude 38, when the wind shifting to the S. W., in a few
hours we found a wonderful change of climate: the degree of heat was, at
least, equal to that of a usual summer day in England, without the
disagreeable pressure experienced from a thick atmosphere. The air was
perfectly clear, elastic, and animating, nothing could be more charming;
but this was of short continuance; the next morning the wind shifted to
the N. E., and blew a _gale_, which lasted eighteen hours. We had
then a calm, which was succeeded by westerly winds,
On the 27th, we had run down half our longitude, four degrees of which we
sailed in the last twenty four hours.
On the 29th, we met with another very severe gale at E.N.E., which soon
obliged us to strike our top-gallant-yards, and lie too, under our mizen
and mizen stay sail.
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