A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

SECTION I.Passage from Ulietea to the Friendly Islands, with an Account of the Discovery of Hervey's Island, and theIncidents that happened at Middleburg.After leaving Ulietea, as before mentioned, I steered to the west, inclining to the south, to get clear of thetracts of former navigators, and to get into the latitude of the islands of Middleburgh and Amsterdam; for Iintended to run as far west as these islands, and to touch there if I found it convenient, before I hauled upfor New Zealand. I generally lay-to every night, lest we might pass any land in the dark. Part of the 21stand 22d the wind blew from N.W., attended with thunder, lightning, and rain, having a large swell from S.S.E. and S., which kept up for several days,-- an indication that no land was near us in that direction.On the 23d, at ten o'clock in the morning, land was seen from the top-mast head, and at noon from thedeck, extending from S. by W. to S.W. by S. We hauled up for it with the wind at S.E., and found it toconsist of two or three small islets, connected together by breakers like most of the low isles in the sea,lying in a triangular form, and about six leagues in circuit. They were clothed with wood, among whichwere many cocoa-nut trees. We saw no people, or signs of inhabitants; and had reason to think there werenone. The situation of this isle, which is in the latitude of 19° 18' S., longitude 158° 54' W., is not verydifferent from that assigned by Mr Dalrymple to La Dezena. But as this is a point not easily determined, Inamed it Hervey's Island, in honour of the Honourable Captain Hervey of the navy, one of the lords of theAdmiralty, and afterwards Earl of Bristol.As the landing on this isle, if practicable, would have caused a delay which I could ill spare at this time, weresumed our course to the west; and on the 25th we again began to use our sea-biscuits, the fruit which hadserved as a succedaneum being all consumed; but our stock of fresh pork still continued, each man havingas much every day as was needful. In our route to the west we now and then saw men-of-war and tropicbirds, and a small sea-bird, which is seldom seen but near the shores of the isles; we, therefore, conjecturedthat we had passed some land at no great distance. As we advanced to the west, the variation of thecompass gradually increased, so that on the 29th, being in the latitude of 21° 26' S., longitude 170° 40' W.,it was 10° 45' E.At two o'clock p.m. on the 1st of October, we made the island of Middleburg, bearing W.S.W.; at sixo'clock it extended from S.W, by W. to N.W., distant four leagues, at which time another land was seen inthe direction of N.N.W. The wind being at S.S.E., I hauled to the south, in order to get round the south endof the island before the morning; but at eight o'clock a small island was seen lying off it, and not knowingbut they might be connected by a reef, the extent of which we must be ignorant of, I resolved to spend thenight where we were. At day-break the next morning, we bore up for the S.W. side of Middleburg, passingbetween it and the little isle above mentioned, where we found a clear channel two miles broad.[1][1] "There appeared to be some low land at the bottom of the hills, which contained plantations offine young bananas, whose vivid green leaves contrasted admirably with the different tints ofvarious shrubberies, and with the brown colour of the cocoa-palms, which seemed to be the effect ofwinter. The light was still so faint, that we distinguished several fires glimmering in the bushes, butby degrees we likewise discerned people running along the shore. The hills which were low, and notso high above the level of the sea as the Isle of Wight, were agreeably adorned with small clumps oftrees scattered at some distance, and the intermediate ground appeared covered with herbage, like