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

longitude 166° 15' W.On the 20th, steered E. by S., with a moderate breeze at north, attended with thick hazy weather. At noon,latitude 54° 8', longitude 162° 18' W.On the 21st, winds mostly from the N.E., a fresh gale attended with thick, hazy, dirty weather. Course S.E.by S.; latitude, at noon, 55° 31', longitude 160° 29'; abundance of blue peterels and some penguins seen.Fresh gales at N.W. by N. and N. by W., and hazy till towards noon of the 22d, when the weather clearedup, and we observed in latitude 55° 48' S., longitude 156° 56' W. In the afternoon had a few hours calm;after that, the wind came at S.S.E. and S.E. by S. a light breeze, with which we steered east northerly. Inthe night the aurora australis was visible, but very faint, and no ways remarkable.On the 23d, in the latitude of 55° 46' S., longitude 156° 13' W., the variation was 9° 42' E. We had a calmfrom ten in the morning till six in the evening, when a breeze sprung up at west; at first it blew a gentlegale, but afterwards freshened. Our course was now E. 1/2 N.On the 24th, a fresh breeze at N.W. by W. and N. by W. At noon, in latitude 55° 38' S., longitude 153° 37'W., foggy in the night, but next day had a fine gale at N.W., attended with clear pleasant weather; coursesteered E. by N. In the evening, being in the latitude of 55° 8' S., longitude 148° 10' W., the variation, bythe mean of two compasses, was 6° 35' E.Having a steady fresh gale at N.N.W. on the 26th and 27th, we steered east; and at noon on the latter werein latitude 55° 6' S., longitude 138° 56' W.I now gave up all hopes of finding any more land in this ocean, and came to a resolution to steer directlyfor the west entrance of the Straits of Magalhaeus, with a view of coasting the out, or south side of Terradel Fuego round Cape Horn to the strait Le Maire. As the world has but a very imperfect knowledge of thisshore, I thought the coasting of it would be of more advantage, both to navigation and to geography, thanany thing I could expect to find in a higher latitude. In the afternoon of this day, the wind blew in squalls,and carried away the main top-gallant mast.A very strong gale northerly, with hazy rainy weather, on the 28th, obliged us to double-reef the fore andmain top-sail to hand the mizen top-sail, and get down the fore top-gallant yard. In the morning, the boltrope of the main top-sail broke, and occasioned the sail to be split. I have observed that the ropes to all oursails, the square sails especially, are not of a size and strength sufficient to wear out the canvass. At noon,latitude 55° 20' S., longitude 134° 16' W., a great swell from N.W.: Albatrosses and blue peterels seen.Next day towards noon, the wind abating, we loosed all the reefs out of the top-sails, rigged another topgallantmast, and got the yards across. P.M. little wind, and hazy weather; at midnight calm, that continuedtill noon the next day, when a breeze sprung up at east, with which we stretched to the northward. At thistime we were in the latitude 55° 32' S., longitude 128° 45' W.; some albatrosses and peterels seen. At eight,p.m., the wind veering to N.E., we tacked and stood to E.S.E.On the 1st of December, thick hazy weather, with drizzling rain, and a moderate breeze of wind, which, atthree o'clock p.m. fell to a calm; at this time in latitude 55° 41' S., longitude 127° 5' W. After four hours