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 the 21st, in the evening, we saw several men of war birds; and at
midnight, heard many birds about the ship. At five o'clock in the
morning of the 23d, we saw the Island of Ascension; and at eight,
discovered a ship to the eastward, who brought-to, and hoisted a jack at
her main-topmast-head, upon which we shewed our colours, and she then
stood in for the land again. We ran down close along the north-east side
of the island, and looked into the bay, but seeing no ship there, and it
blowing a stiff gale, I made the best of my way.
On Monday the 28th, we crossed the equator, and got again into north
latitude.
On Wednesday, the 13th of April, we passed a great quantity of gulph
weed; and on the 17th, we passed a great deal more. On the 19th, we saw
two flocks of birds, and observing the water to be discoloured, we
thought the ground might be reached, but, upon sounding, could find no
bottom.
At five o'clock in the morning of Sunday the 24th, we saw the peak of
the island of Pico bearing N.N.E. at the distance of about eighteen
leagues. We found, by observation, that Fyal lies in latitude 38° 20'
N., longitude 28° 30' W. from London.
No incident worth recording happened till about noon on the 11th of May,
when, being in latitude 48° 44' N., longitude 7° 16' W. we saw a ship in
chace of a sloop, at which she fired several guns. We bore away, and at
three, fired a gun at the chace, and brought her to; the ship to
windward, being near the chace, immediately sent a boat on board her,
and soon after, Captain Hammond, of his majesty's sloop the Savage, came
on board of me, and told me, that the vessel he had chaced, when he
first saw her, was in company with an Irish wherry, and that as soon as
they discovered him to be a man of war, they took different ways; the
wherry hauled the wind, and the other vessel bore away. That he at first
hauled the wind, and stood after the wherry, but finding that he gained
no ground, he bore away after the other vessel, which probably would
also have escaped, if I had not stopped her, for that he gained very
little ground in the chace. She appeared to be laden with tea, brandy,
and other goods, from Roscoe in France; and though she was steering a
south-west course, pretended to be bound to Bergen in Norway. She
belonged to Liverpool, was called the Jenny, and commanded by one Robert
Christian. Her brandy and tea were in small kegs and bags; and all
appearances being strongly against her, I detained her, in order to be
sent to England.
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