56' E. The Same Day, At Noon, We Were In
The Latitude Of 43 Deg.
44', longitude 141 deg.
56' W.
At nine o'clock in the morning of the 12th, the longitude was observed as
follows, viz.
Self 1st set 139 deg. 47' 15"
Ditto, 2d set 140 7 30
Mr Wales 1st set 141 22 15
Mr Wales 2d set 140 10 0
Mr Clerke 140 56 45
Mr Gilbert 140 2 0
- - - - - - -
Mean 140 24 17-1/2 West.
This differed from my reckoning only 2 deg. 1/2. The next morning, in the
latitude of 43 deg. 3', longitude 139 deg. 20' W., we had several lunar
observations, which were consonant to those made the day before, allowing
for the ship's run in the time. In the afternoon we had, for a few hours,
variable light airs next to a calm; after which we got a wind from the
N.E., blowing fresh and in squalls, attended with dark gloomy weather, and
some rain.
We stretched to the S.E. till five o'clock in the afternoon on the 14th, at
which time, being in the latitude of 43 deg. 15', longitude 137 deg. 39' W., we
tacked and stood to the north under our courses, having a very hard gale
with heavy squalls, attended with rain, till near noon the next day, when
it ended in a calm. At this time we were in the latitude of 42 deg. 39',
longitude 137 deg. 58' W. In the evening, the calm was succeeded by a breeze
from S.W., which soon after increased to a fresh gale; and fixing at S.S.W,
with it we steered N.E. 1/2 E. in the latitude of 41 deg. 25', longitude 135 deg.
58' W., we saw floating in the sea a billet of wood, which seemed to be
covered with barnacles; so that there was no judging how long it might have
been there, or from whence or how far it had come.
We continued to steer N.E. 1/2 E., before a very strong gale which blew in
squalls, attended with showers of rain and hail, and a very high sea from
the same quarter, till noon, on the 17th. Being then in the latitude of 39 deg.
44', longitude 133 deg. 32' W., which was a degree and a half farther east than
I intended to run; nearly in the middle between my track to the north in
1769, and the return to the south in the same year, and seeing no signs of
land, I steered north-easterly, with a view of exploring that part of the
sea lying between the two tracks just mentioned, down as low as the
latitude of 27 deg., a space that had not been visited by any preceding
navigator that I knew of.[4]
On the 19th, being in the latitude of 36 deg. 34', longitude 133 deg. 7' W., we
steered N. 1/2 W., having still the advantage of a hard gale at south,
which the next day veered to S.E. and E., blew hard and by squalls,
attended with rain and thick hazy weather.
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