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

south, which soon after freshened, fixed at W.S.W., and was attended with snow and sleet.I now came to the resolution to proceed to the north, and to spend the ensuing winter within the tropic, if Imet with no employment before I came there. I was now well satisfied no continent was to be found in thisocean, but what must lie so far to the south, as to be wholly inaccessible on account of ice; and that if oneshould be found in the southern Atlantic Ocean, it would be necessary to have the whole summer before usto explore it. On the other hand, upon a supposition that there is no land there, we undoubtedly might havereached the Cape of Good Hope by April, and so have put an end to the expedition, so far as it related tothe finding a continent; which indeed was the first object of the voyage. But for me at this time to havequitted the southern Pacific Ocean, with a good ship expressly sent out on discoveries, a healthy crew, andnot in want either of stores or of provisions, would have been betraying not only a want of perseverance,but of judgment, in supposing the south Pacific Ocean to have been so well explored, that nothingremained to be done in it. This, however, was not my opinion; for though I had proved that there was nocontinent but what must lie far to the south, there remained nevertheless room for very large islands inplaces wholly unexamined; and many of those which were formerly discovered, are but imperfectlyexplored, and their situations as imperfectly known. I was besides of opinion, that my remaining in this seasome time longer, would be productive of improvements in navigation and geography, as well as in othersciences. I had several times communicated my thoughts on this subject to Captain Furneaux; but as it thenwholly depended on what we might meet with to the south, I could not give it in orders, without running arisk of drawing us from the main object. Since now nothing had happened to prevent me from, carryingthese views into execution, my intention was first to go in search of the land said to have been discoveredby Juan Fernandez, above a century ago, in about the latitude of 38°; if I should fail in finding this land,then to go in search of Easter Island or Davis's Land, whose situation was known with so little certainty,that the attempts lately made to find it had miscarried. I next intended to get within the tropic, and thenproceed to the west, touching at, and settling the situations of such islands as we might meet with till wearrived at Otaheite, where it was necessary I should stop to look for the Adventure. I had also thoughts ofrunning as far west as the Tierra Austral del Espiritu Santo, discovered by Quiros, and which M. deBougainville calls the Great Cyclades. Quiros speaks of this land as being large, or lying in theneighbourhood of large lands; and as this was a point which M. de Bougainville had neither confirmed norrefuted, I thought it was worth clearing up. From this land my design was to steer to the south, and so backto the east, between the latitudes of 50° and 60°; intending, if possible, to be the length of Cape Horn inNovember next, when we should have the best part of the summer before us to explore the southern part ofthe Atlantic Ocean. Great as this design appeared to be, I however thought it possible to be executed; andwhen I came to communicate it to the officers, I had the satisfaction to find, that they all heartily concurredin it. I should not do these gentlemen justice, if I did not take some opportunity to declare, that they alwaysshewed the utmost readiness to carry into execution, in the most effectual manner, every measure I thoughtproper to take. Under such circumstances, it is hardly necessary to say, that the seamen were alwaysobedient and alert; and, on this occasion, they were so far from wishing the voyage at an end, that they,rejoiced at the prospect of its being prolonged another year, and of soon enjoying the benefits of a milderclimate.I now steered north, inclining to the east, and in the evening we were overtaken with a furious storm at W.S.W., attended with snow and sleet. It came so suddenly upon us, that before we could take in our sails,two old top-sails, which we had bent to the yards, were blown to pieces, and the other sails much damaged.The gale lasted, without the least intermission, till the next morning, when it began to abate; it continued,however, to blow very fresh till noon on the 12th, when it ended in a calm.At this time we were in the latitude of 50° 14' S., longitude 95° 18' W. Some birds being about the ship, we