A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13Kerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
Having brought-to for the night, we made sail along the shore at four in
the morning, in the direction of N.E. 1/2 N. with a moderate breeze at
S.S.E. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 45° 18' S. At this
time, being about a league and a half from the shore, we sounded, but
had no ground with seventy fathom: We had just passed a small narrow
opening in land, where there seemed to be a very safe and convenient
harbour, formed by an island, which lay in the middle of the opening at
east. The opening lies in latitude 45° 16' S., and on the land behind it
are mountains, the summits of which were covered with snow, that
appeared to have been recently fallen; and indeed for two days past we
had found the weather very cold. On each side the entrance of the
opening, the land rises almost perpendicularly from the sea to a
stupendous height, and this indeed was the reason why I did not carry
the ship into it, for no wind could blow there but right in, or right
out, in the direction of either east or west, and I thought it by no
means advisable to put into a place whence I could not have got out but
with a wind which experience had taught me did not blow more than one
day in a month. In this, however, I acted contrary to the opinion of
some persons on board, who in very strong terms expressed their desire
to harbour for present convenience, without any regard to future
disadvantages.
In the evening, being about two leagues from the shore, we sounded, and
had no ground with 108 fathom: The variation of the needle, by azimuth,
was 14° E. and by amplitude 15° 2'. We made the best of our way along
the shore with what wind we had, keeping at the distance of between two
and three leagues. At noon, we were in latitude 44° 47', having run only
twelve leagues upon a N.E. 1/4 N. course, during the last
four-and-twenty hours.
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