About Nine O'clock We Espied Land, Bearing
N.E. About 8 Leagues Distant, Being A Round Hummock Of Middling Height.
By Noon We Were In Latitude 7 Deg.
56' N. having steered all day east,
sometimes half a point north or south, as our water deepened or
Shoaled,
for we would sometimes have ten fathoms or more one cast, and the next
seven fathoms, the ground being full of pits, believing that we were
upon the edge of the shoals of Santa Anna, otherwise called Madera
bomba. In the afternoon we had 9, 10, 11, and 12 fathoms. The
first-seen land proved to be Ilha Verde, a very round land, and a very
notable mark for any ship bound for Sierra Leona from the southwards.
About seven p.m. we anchored in 20 fathoms on hard sand, the south part
of Ilha Verde, bearing E. and the Cape of Sierra Leona, which is a low
point, N. by E. about eight leagues distant. But the land over the cape
is very high, and may be seen fifteen leagues off in clear weather.
About six next morning we made sail for the road, and had not less than
16, 15, 10, and 9 fathoms, till we ranged north and south with the rocks
which lie about 1-1/2 miles west of Cape Sierra Leona; and when one mile
from the nearest shore we had seven fathoms, good shoaling between us
and the rock. Immediately when past the rock we had 20 fathoms, and
shoaled to 18, 16, 12, and 10 fathoms all the way into the roads,
keeping very near the south shore; for a sand lies about two miles from
the north shore, or a league from the south shore, and upon it the sea
continually breaks. We came to anchor in ten fathoms on good ground, the
point of Sierra Leona bearing W. by N. the north point of the bay N. by
W. and the sand or breaker N.N.E.
In the afternoon we were waved by some men on shore, to whom I sent my
boat, which, leaving two hostages, brought off four negroes, who
promised us refreshments. My skiff sounded between our anchorage and the
breakers, finding fair shoaling, with two fathoms water within two boats
length of the breach, or sand on which the sea breaks. All the previous
observations of the variation, since our coming from 2 deg. N. latitude to
this place, proved erroneous; for to each distance, having reference to
any meridian eastwards, there must be added 30 leagues, and from such as
referred to western meridians, 30 leagues must be subtracted; for it
appeared, by our falling in with the land, that the ship was so much
more westerly than we supposed; myself, notwithstanding this error,
being as much, if not more westerly than any of the mariners. Yet every
man must trust to his own experience; for instruments may deceive, even
in the hands of the most skilful.
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