A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17: 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 17: 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
At noon, we were saluted by a Swedish ship, as she passed us, on her way to
Europe. At four, the Ladrone bore E., distant two leagues. We now steered
S. 1/2 E., with a fresh breeze from the E.N.E., without any occurrence
worth remarking, till noon of the 15th, when, being in latitude 18 deg. 57',
and longitude 114 deg. 13', the wind veering to the N., we directed our course
half a point more to the eastward, in order to strike soundings over the
Macclesfield Bank. This we effected at eight in the evening of the 16th,
and found the depth of water to be fifty fathoms, over a bottom of white
sand and shells. This part of the Macclesfield shoals we placed in latitude
15 deg. 51', and in longitude 114 deg. 20'; which agrees very exactly with the
position given in Mr Dalrymple's map, whose general accuracy, if it stood
in need of any support, was confirmed, in this instance, by a great number
of lunar observations, which we had an opportunity of making every day
since we left the Typa. The variation was found to be, in the forenoon, 0 deg.
39' W.
On the 17th, we had heavy gales from the E. by N., with a rough tumbling
sea, and the weather overcast and boisterous. On the 18th, the wind still
continuing to blow strong, and the sea to run high, we altered our course
to S.W. by S.; and at noon, being in latitude 12 deg. 34', longitude 112 deg., we
began to steer a point more to the westward for Pulo Sapata, which we saw
on the 19th, at four in the afternoon, bearing N.W. by W., about four
leagues distant. This small, high, barren island, is called _Sapata_, from
its resemblance of a shoe. Our observations, compared with Mr Bayley's
time-keeper, place it in latitude 10 deg. 4' N. longitude 109 deg. 10' E. The gale
had, at this time, increased with such violence, and the sea ran so high,
as to oblige us to close-reef the topsails. During the last three days, the
ships had outrun their reckoning at the rate of twenty miles a-day, and as
we could not attribute the whole of this to the effects of a following sea,
we imputed it in part to a current, which, according to my own
calculations, had set forty-two miles to the S.S.W., between the noon of
the 19th and the noon of the 20th; and is taken into the account in
determining the situation of the island.
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