This Variation Had Never Been Observed Before, And Therefore
Astonished The Admiral Greatly; And Still More So, Three Days After, When
He Had Advanced 100 Leagues Farther To The Westwards, On Finding The
Needle To Vary Two Points In The Evening, And To Point Directly North Next
Morning.
On the night of Saturday the 15th September, being then near 300
leagues west from Ferro, they saw a
Flame of fire drop into the sea, four
or five leagues S.W. from the ships, the weather being then calm, the sea
smooth, and the current setting to the N.E. The people in the Ninna said
they had seen some water-wagtails on the day before, at which they much
admired, considering that these birds never go above fifteen or twenty
leagues from land. On the next day, they were still more surprised at
seeing some spots of green and yellow weeds on the surface of the sea,
which seemed newly broken off from some island or rock. On Monday the 17th,
they saw much more, and many concluded they were near land, more
especially as a live grasshopper was seen on the weeds. Others of the
companies alleged these weeds might come from banks or rocks under water,
and the people, beginning to be afraid, muttered against the prosecution
of the voyage. They now perceived that the water was not more than half as
salt as usual, and that night they saw many tunny fishes, which followed
so near the ships that a man belonging to the Ninna killed one with a
harpoon.
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