A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
On Wednesday the 20th, we found our longitude, by observation, to be
106°47'W. and our latitude 20°52'S. The next day we saw several flying
fish, which were the first we had seen in these seas.
On the 22d, our longitude, by observation, was 111°W. and our latitude
20°18'S. and this day we saw some bonettoes, dolphins, and tropic birds.
The people, who had been recovering from colds and fevers, now began to
fall down in the scurvy, upon which, at the surgeon's representation,
wine was served to them; wort was also made for them of malt, and each
man had half a pint of pickled cabbage every day. The variation from 4
to 5 E.
On the 26th we saw two grampuses; on the 28th we saw another, and the
next day several birds, among which was one about the size of a swallow,
which some of us thought was a land bird.
Our men now began to look very pale and sickly, and to fall down very
fast in the scurvy, notwithstanding all our care and attention to
prevent it. They had vinegar and mustard without limitation, wine
instead of spirits, sweet wort and salop. Portable soup was still
constantly boiled in their peas and oatmeal; their birth and clothes
were kept perfectly clean; the hammocks were constantly brought upon the
deck at eight o'clock in the morning, and carried down at four in the
afternoon. Some of the beds and hammocks were washed every day; the
water was rendered wholesome by ventilation, and every part between
decks frequently washed with vinegar.
On Sunday the 31st of May, our longitude, by observation, was 127°45'W.
our latitude 29°38'S. and the variation, by azimuth and amplitude,
5°9'E.
The next day, at three in the afternoon, our longitude, by observation,
was 129°15'W. and our latitude 19°34'S. We had squally weather, with
much lightning and rain, and saw several man-of-war birds.
On the 3d we saw several gannets, which, with the uncertainty of the
weather, inclined us to hope that land was not very far distant. The
next day a turtle swam close by the ship; on the 5th we saw many birds,
which confirmed our hope that some place of refreshment was near, and at
eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the 6th, Jonathan Puller, a seaman,
called out from the mast-head, "Land in the W.N.W." At noon it was seen
plainly from the deck, and found to be a low island, at about five or
six leagues distance. The joy which everyone on board felt at this
discovery, can be conceived by those only who have experienced the
danger, sickness, and fatigue of such a voyage as we had performed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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