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
From the same gentleman, we learnt, that the ship which had been at
Otaheite before our first arrival there this voyage, was from New Spain;
and that, in her return, she had discovered some islands in the latitude
of 32° S., and under the meridian of 130° W. Some other islands, said to
be discovered by the Spaniards, appeared on this chart; but Captain
Crozet seemed to think they were inserted from no good authorities.
We were likewise informed of a later voyage undertaken by the French,
under the command of Captain Kerguelen, which had ended much to the
disgrace of that commander.
While we lay in Table Bay, several foreign ships put in and out, bound
to and from India, viz. English, French, Danes, Swedes, and three
Spanish frigates, two of them going to, and one coming from Manilla. It
is but very lately that the Spanish ships have touched here; and these
were the first that were allowed the same privileges as other European
friendly nations.
On examining our rudder, the pintles were found to be loose, and we were
obliged to unhang it, and take it on shore to repair. We were also
delayed for want of caulkers to caulk the ship, which was absolutely
necessary to be done before we put to sea. At length I obtained two
workmen from one of the Dutch ships; and the Dutton English East
Indiaman coming in from Bengal, Captain Rice obliged me with two more;
so that by the 26th of April this work was finished: And having got on
board all necessary stores, and a fresh supply of provisions and water,
we took leave of the governor and other principal officers, and the next
morning repaired on board. Soon after the wind coming fair, we weighed
and put to sea; as did also the Spanish frigate Juno, from Manilla, a
Danish Indiaman, and the Dutton.
As soon as we were under sail, we saluted the garrison with thirteen
guns; which compliment was immediately returned with the same number.
The Spanish frigate and Danish Indiaman both saluted us as we passed
them, and I returned each salute with an equal number of guns. When we
were clear of the bay the Danish ship steered for the East Indies, the
Spanish frigate for Europe, and we and the Dutton for St Helena.
Depending on the goodness of Mr Kendall's watch, I resolved to try to
make the island by a direct course. For the first six days, that is,
till we got into the latitude of 27° S., longitude 11° 1/2 W. of the
cape, the winds were southerly and S.E. After this we had variable light
airs for two days; they were succeeded by a wind at S.E. which continued
to the island, except a part of one day, when it was at N.E. In general
the wind blew faint all the passage, which made it longer than common.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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