30'
W., and the wind having veered to the east of south, we tacked and
stretched to the S.W. In the latitude of 0 deg. 52' N., longitude 9 deg. 25' W., we
had one calm day, which gave us an opportunity of trying the current in a
boat. We found it set to the north one-third of a mile an hour. We had
reason to expect this from the difference we frequently found between the
observed latitude, and that given by the log; and Mr Kendal's watch shewed
us that it set to the east also. This was fully confirmed by the lunar
observations; when it appeared that we were 3 deg. 0' more to the east than the
common reckoning. At the time of trying the current, the mercury in the
thermometer in the open air stood at 75-1/2; and when immerged in the
surface of the sea, at 74; but when immerged eighty fathoms deep (where it
remained fifteen minutes) when it came up, the mercury stood at 66.[7] At
the same time we sounded, without out finding the bottom, with a line of
two hundred and fifty fathoms.
The calm was succeeded by a light breeze at S.W., which kept veering by
little and little to the south, and at last to the eastward of south,
attended with clear serene weather. At length, on the 8th of September, we
crossed the Line in the longitude of 8 deg. W.; after which, the ceremony of
ducking, &c., generally practised on this occasion, was not omitted.
The wind now veering more and more to the east, and blowing a gentle top-
gallant gale, in eight days it carried us into the latitude 9 deg. 30' S.,
longitude 18 deg. W. The weather was pleasant; and we daily saw some of those
birds which are looked upon as signs of the vicinity of land; such as
boobies, man of war, tropic birds, and gannets. We supposed they came from
the isle of St Matthew, or Ascension; which isles we must have passed at no
great distance.
On the 27th, in the latitude of 25 deg. 29', longitude 24 deg. 54', we discovered a
sail to the west standing after us. She was a snow; and the colours she
shewed, either a Portuguese or St George's ensign, the distance being too
great to distinguish the one from the other, and I did not choose to wait
to get nearer, or to speak with her.
The wind now began to be variable. It first veered to the north, where it
remained two days with fair weather. Afterwards it came round by the west
to the south, where it remained two days longer, and, after a few hours
calm, sprung up at S.W. But here it remained not long, before it veered to
S.E.E. and to the north of east; blew fresh, and by squalls, with showers
of rain.
With these winds we advanced but slowly; and, without meeting with anything
remarkable till the 11th of October, when, at 6h 24m 12s, by Mr Kendal's
watch, the moon rose about four digits eclipsed, and soon after we prepared
to observe the end of the eclipse, as follows, viz.
h. m. s.
By me at 6 53 51 with a common refractor.
By Mr Forster 6 55 23
By Mr Wales 6 54 57 quadrant telescope.
By Mr Pickersgill 6 55 30 three feet refractor.
By Mr Gilert 6 53 24 naked eye.
By Mr Hervey 6 55 34 quadrant telescope.
- - - - -
Mean 6 54 46-1/2 by the watch.
Watch slow of apparent time 0 3 59
- - - - -
Apparent time 6 58 45-1/2 end of the eclipse.
Ditto 7 25 0 at Greenwich.
- - - - -
Dif. of longitude 0 26 14-1/2 == 6 deg. 33' 30"
The longitude observed by Mr Wales, was
By the [Symbol: Moon] and Aquilae 5 deg. 51' |
By the [Symbol: Moon] and Adebaran 6 deg. 35 |Mean 6 deg. 13' 0"
By Mr Kendal's watch 6 deg. 53 7/8
The next morning, having but little wind, we hoisted a boat out, to try if
there was any current, but found none. From this time to the 16th, we had
the wind between the north and east, a gentle gale. We had for some time
ceased to see any of the birds before-mentioned; and were now accompanied
by albatrosses, pintadoes, sheerwaters, &c., and a small grey peterel, less
than a pigeon. It has a whitish belly, and grey back, with a black stroke
across from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. These birds
sometimes visited us in great flights. They are, as well as the pintadoes,
southern birds; and are, I believe, never seen within the tropics, or north
of the Line.
On the 17th, we saw a sail to the N.W., standing to the eastward, which
hoisted Dutch colours. She kept us company for two days, but the third we
outsailed her.[8]
On the 21st, at 7h. 30m. 20s. a, m., our longitude, by the mean of two
observed distances of the sun and moon, was 8 deg. 4' 30" E., Mr Kendal's watch
at the same time gave 7 deg. 22'. Our latitude was 35 deg. 20' N. The wind was now
easterly, and continued so till the 23d, when it veered to N. and N.W.
after some hours calm; in which we put a boat in the water, and Mr Forster
shot some albatrosses and other birds, on which we feasted the next day,
and found them exceedingly good. At the same time we saw a seal, or, as
some thought, a sea-lion, which probably might be an inhabitant of one of
the isles of Tristian de Cunhah, being now nearly in their latitude, and
about 5 deg.
