A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 15: 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 15: 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 3d of March, being then in the latitude of 54° 4' S., longitude
13° E., which is the latitude of Bouvet's discovery, and half a degree
to the eastward of it, and not seeing the least sign of land, either now
or since we have been in this parallel, I gave over looking for it, and
hauled away to the northward. As our last track to the southward was
within a few degrees of Bouvet's discovery in the longitude assigned to
it, and about three or four degrees to the southward, should there be
any land thereabout, it must be a very inconsiderable island. But I
believe it was nothing but ice: As we, in our first setting out, thought
we had seen land several times, but it proved to be high islands of ice
at the back of the large fields; and as it was thick foggy weather when
Mr Bouvet fell in with it, he might very easily mistake them for land.
On the seventh, being in the latitude of 48° 30' S., longitude 14° 26'
E., saw two large islands of ice.
On the 17th, made the land of the Cape of Good Hope, and on the 19th
anchored in Table Bay, where we found Commodore Sir Edward Hughes, with
his majesty's ships Salisbury and Sea-horse. I saluted the commodore
with, thirteen guns; and, soon after, the garrison with the same number;
the former returned the salute, as usual, with two guns less, and the
latter with an equal number.
On the 24th, Sir Edward Hughes sailed with the Salisbury and Sea-horse,
for the East Indies; but I remained refitting the ship and refreshing
the people till the 16th of April, when I sailed for England, and on the
14th of July anchored at Spithead.
SECTION IX.
_Transactions at the Cape of Good Hope; with an Account of some
Discoveries made by the French; and the Arrival of the Ship at St
Helena._
I now resume my own Journal, which Captain Furneaux's interesting
narrative, in the preceding section, had obliged me to suspend.
The day after my arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, I went on shore, and
waited on the Governor, Baron Plettenberg, and other principal officers,
who received, and, treated us, with the greatest politeness,
contributing all in their power to make it agreeable. And, as there are
few people more obliging to strangers than the Dutch in general, at this
place, and refreshments of all kinds are no where to be got in such
abundance, we enjoyed some real repose, after the fatigues of a long
voyage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account