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
Towards noon I fell in with six other keys, most of which produced some
small trees and brushwood. These formed a pleasing contrast with the
mainland we had passed which was full of sandhills. The country continued
hilly and the northernmost land, the same we had seen from the lagoon
island, appeared like downs, sloping towards the sea. Nearly abreast of
us was a flat-topped hill which on account of its shape I called
Pudding-pan hill; and a little to the northward were two other hills
which we called the Paps; and here was a small tract of country without
sand, the eastern part of which forms a cape whence the coast inclines to
the north-west by north.
At noon I observed in the latitude of 11 degrees 18 minutes south the
cape bearing west distant ten miles. Five small keys bore from north-east
to south-east, the nearest of them about two miles distant, and a low
sandy key between us and the cape bore west distant four miles. My course
from the lagoon island had been north half west distant 30 miles.
I am sorry it was not in my power to obtain a sufficient knowledge of the
depth of water but in our situation nothing could be undertaken that
might have occasioned delay. It may however be understood that to the
best of my judgment from appearances a ship may pass wherever I have
omitted to represent danger.
I divided six birds and issued one 25th of a pound of bread with half a
pint of water to each person for dinner, and I gave half a glass of wine
to Nelson, who was now so far recovered as to require no other
indulgence.
The gunner when he left the ship brought his watch with him, by which we
had regulated out time till today, when unfortunately it stopped; so that
noon, sunrise, and sunset, are the only parts of the 24 hours of which
from henceforward I can speak with certainty as to time.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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