We Also Saw Another Isle Sending Forth A Great Smoke At Once, But It Soon Vanished, And We Saw It No More; We Saw Also Among These Islands Three Small Vessels With Sails, Which The People Of Nova Britannia Seem Wholly Ignorant Of.

The 11th, at noon, having a very good observation, I found myself to the northward of my reckoning, and thence concluded that we had a current setting north-west, or rather more westerly, as the land lies.

From that time to the next morning we had fair clear weather, and a fine moderate gale from south-east to east-by-north: but at daybreak the clouds began to fly, and it lightened very much in the east, south-east, and north-east. At sun-rising, the sky looked very red in the east near the horizon, and there were many black clouds both to the south and north of it. About a quarter of an hour after the sun was up, there was a squall to the windward of us; when on sudden one of our men on the forecastle called out that he saw something astern, but could not tell what: I looked out for it, and immediately saw a spout beginning to work within a quarter of a mile of us, exactly in the wind: we presently put right before it. It came very swiftly, whirling the water up in a pillar about six or seven yards high. As yet I could not see any pendulous cloud, from whence it might come, and was in hopes it would soon lose its force. In four or five minutes' time it came within a cable's length of us, and passed away to leeward, and then I saw a long pale stream coming down to the whirling water. This stream was about the bigness of a rainbow: the upper end seemed vastly high, not descending from any dark cloud, and therefore the more strange to me, I never having seen the like before. It passed about a mile to leeward of us, and then broke. This was but a small spout, not strong nor lasting; yet I perceived much wind in it as it passed by us. The current still continued at north-west a little westerly, which I allowed to run a mile per hour.

By an observation the 13th, at noon, I found myself 25 minutes to the northward of my reckoning; whether occasioned by bad steerage, a bad account, or a current, I could not determine; but was apt to judge it might be a complication of all; for I could not think it was wholly the current, the land here lying east-by-south, and west- by-north, or a little more northerly and southerly. We had kept so nigh as to see it, and at farthest had not been above twenty leagues from it, but sometimes much nearer; and it is not probable that any current should set directly off from a land.

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