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

Myself, being the mean of six distances ofthe sun and moon 40° 1' 45"E.Mr Wales, ditto 39 29 45Ditto, ditto 39 56 45Lieutenant Clerke, ditto 39 38 0Mr Gilbert, ditto 39 48 45Mr Smith, ditto 39 18 15----------Mean 39 42 12Mr Kendal's watch made 38 41 30which is nearly the same difference as the day before. But Mr Wales and I took each of us sixdistances of the sun and moon, with the telescopes fixed to our sextants, which brought out thelongitude nearly the same as the watch.The results were as follows:--By Mr Wales, 38° 35' 30", and by me, 38° 36' 45".It is impossible for me to say whether these or the former are the nearest to the truth; nor can I assignany probable reason for so great a disagreement. We certainly can observe with greater accuracythrough the telescope, than with the common sight, when the ship is sufficiently steady. The use ofthe telescope is found difficult at first, but a little practice will make it familiar. By the assistance ofthe watch, we shall be able to discover the greatest error this method of observing the longitude atsea is liable to; which at the greatest does not exceed a degree and a half, and in general will befound to be much less. Such is the improvement navigation has received by the astronomers andmathematical instrument- makers of this age; by the former from the valuable tables they havecommunicated to the public, under the direction of the Board of Longitude, and contained in theastronomical ephemeris; and by the latter, from the great accuracy they observe in makinginstruments, without which the tables would, in a great measure, lose their effect. The precedingobservations were made by four different sextants, of different workmen. Mine was by Mr Bird; oneof Mr Wales's by Mr Dollond; the other and Mr Clerke's by Mr Ramsden; as also Mr Gilbert's andSmith's, who observed with the same instrument.Five tolerably fine days had now succeeded one another. This, besides giving us an opportunity tomake the preceding observations, was very serviceable to us on many other accounts, and came at avery seasonable time. For, having on board a good quantity of fresh water, or ice, which was thesame thing, the people were enabled to wash and dry their clothes and linen; a care that can never beenough attended to in all long voyages. The winds during this time blew in gentle gales, and theweather was mild. Yet the mercury in the thermometer never rose above 36; and was frequently aslow as the freezing point.In the afternoon having but little wind, I brought-to under an island of ice, and sent a boat to take upsome. In the evening the wind freshened at east, and was attended with snow showers and thick hazyweather, which continued great part of the 16th. As we met with little ice, I stood to the south, closehauled; and at six o'clock in the evening, being in the latitude of 64° 56' S., longitude 39° 35' E. Ifound the variation by Gregory's compass to be 26° 41' W. At this time the motion of the ship was so