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

took the advantage of the calm to put a boat in the water, and shot several birds, on which we feasted thenext day. One of these birds was of that sort which has been so often mentioned in this journal under thename of Port Egmont hens. They are of the gull kind, about the size of a raven, with a dark-brownplumage, except the under-side of each wing, where there are some white feathers. The rest of the birdswere albatrosses and sheer-waters.After a few hours calm, having got a breeze at N.W., we made a stretch to the S.W. for twenty-four hours;in which route we saw a piece of wood, a bunch of weed, and a diving peterel. The wind having veeredmore to the west, made us tack and stretch to the north till noon on the 14th, at which time we were in thelatitude of 49° 32' S., longitude 95° 11' W. We had now calms and light breezes, succeeding each other, tillthe next morning, when the wind freshened at W.N.W., and was attended with a thick fog and drizzlingrain the three following days, during which time we stretched to the north, inclining to the east, and crossedmy track to Otaheite in 1769. I did intend to have kept more to the west, but the strong winds from thatdirection put it out of my power.On the 18th, the wind veered to S.W., and blew very fresh, but was attended with clear weather, whichgave us an opportunity to ascertain our longitude by several lunar observations made by Messrs Wales,Clarke, Gilbert, and Smith. The mean result of all, was 94° 19' 30" W.; Mr Kendal's watch, at the sametime, gave 94° 46' W.; our latitude was 43° 53' S. The wind continued not long at S.W. before it veeredback to the west and W.N.W.As we advanced to the north, we felt a most sensible change in the weather. The 20th, at noon, we were inthe latitude of 39° 58' S., longitude 94° 37' W. The day was clear and pleasant, and I may say, the onlysummer's day we had had since we left New Zealand. The mercury in the thermometer rose to 66.We still continued to steer to the north, as the wind remained in the old quarter; and the next day, at noon,we were in the latitude 37° 54' S.; which was the same that Juan Fernandez's discovery is said to lie in. We,however, had not the least signs of any land lying in our neighbourhood.The next day at noon, we were in latitude 36° 10' S., longitude 94° 56' W. Soon after, the wind veered to S.S.E., and enabled us to steer W.S.W., which I thought the most probable direction to find the land of whichwe were in search; and yet I had no hopes of succeeding, as we had a large hollow swell from the samepoint. We however continued this course till the 25th, when the wind having veered again round to thewestward, I gave it up, and stood away to the north, in order to get into the latitude of Easter Island: ourlatitude, at this time, was 37° 52', longitude 101° 10' W.I was now well assured that the discovery of Juan Fernandez, if any such was ever made, can be nothingbut a small island; there being hardly room for a large land, as will fully appear by the tracks of CaptainWallis, Bougainville, of the Endeavour, and this of the Resolution. Whoever wants to see an account of thediscovery in question, will meet with it in Mr Dalrymple's collection of voyages to the south seas. Thisgentleman places it under the meridian of 90°, where I think it cannot be; for M. de Bougainville seems tohave run down under that meridian; and we had now examined the latitude in which it is said to lie, fromthe meridian of 94° to 101°. It is not probable it can lie to the east of 90°; because if it did, it must havebeen seen, at one time or other, by ships bound from the northern to the southern parts of America. MrPengré, in a little treatise concerning the transit of Venus, published in 1768, gives some account of landhaving been discovered by the Spaniards in 1714, in the latitude of 38°, and 550 leagues from the coast ofChili, which is in the longitude of 110° or 111° west, and within a degree or two of my track in the