A voyage to the South Sea : $b Undertaken by command of His Majesty for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies in His Majesty's ship the Bounty commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh; including an account of the mutiny on board the said ship and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew in the ship's boat from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East IndiesBligh, William
History
A voyage to the South Sea : $b Undertaken by command of His Majesty for the purpose of conveying the bread-fruit tree to the West Indies in His Majesty's ship the Bounty commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh; including an account of the mutiny on board the said ship and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew in the ship's boat from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies
Bligh, William
Bounty (Ship); Bounty Mutiny, 1789; Oceania -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; Voyages and travels
The next day at nine in the forenoon we saw the island of Tenerife
bearing west-south-west half west about twelve leagues distant. It was
covered with a thick haze except the north-westernmost part which is a
remarkable headland, resembling a horse's head, the ears very distinct.
To the eastward of this head* lie two round rocks, the northern boundary
of Tenerife. I had a good observation at noon by which I make the
latitude of the two rocks 28 degrees 44 minutes north and their longitude
by our timekeeper 16 degrees 5 minutes west. To the southward of these
and near the shore is a high needle rock: about four leagues farther to
the southward the coast inclines towards the west to the road of Santa
Cruz, where we anchored at half-past nine on Sunday morning in
twenty-five fathoms water, and moored along shore in the same depth, with
the cupola tower of the church of St. Francis bearing west half north one
mile, the east part of the road east by north, the castle on the south
point south-west, and the west part of the Grand Canary south-south-east.
A Spanish packet bound to Corunna, an American brig, and several other
vessels, were lying here.
(*Footnote. South 82 degrees east by the compass.)
As soon as the ship was anchored I sent an officer (Mr. Christian) to
wait on the governor and to acquaint him I had put in to obtain
refreshments and to repair the damages we had sustained in bad weather.
To this I had a very polite answer from the governor, * that I should be
supplied with whatever the island afforded. I had also directed the
officer to acquaint him that I would salute, provided an equal number of
guns were to be returned but, as I received an extraordinary answer to
this part of my message, purporting that his excellency did not return
the same number but to persons equal in rank to himself, this ceremony
was omitted.
(*Footnote. Marquis de Brancheforte.)
During this interval I was visited by the port-master (Captain Adams) and
shortly afterwards several officers came on board from his excellency to
compliment me on my arrival. As soon as the ship was moored I went on
shore and paid my respects to him.
Monday 7.
On Monday morning I began to forward the ship's business with the utmost
dispatch, and gave the necessary directions to Messrs. Collogan and sons,
the contractors, for the supplies I wanted. I also got leave of the
governor for Mr. Nelson to range the hills and examine the country in
search of plants and natural curiosities.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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