In latitude 45 deg. 30' south, and longitude 342 deg. 00' east, the variation of the compass, which had decreased very gradually, was only 00 deg. 4' east. We carried on strong westerly winds with us, which amply compensated for the northerly and easterly gales which detained us so long between Cape Horn and South Georgia; and it was exceedingly fortunate for us that we were so favoured by the winds, for the ship's company were falling down very fast with the scurvy; and as I have already observed, we had nothing on board with which we could hope to check its progress, much less to cure it. Nothing certainly can promise so fair to effect so desireable a purpose, as carrying a good stock of various vegetable acids in every ship, but particularly in ships employed upon such services as the Sirius was. The elexir of vitriol, hitherto allowed, and -formerly considered_, not only as a preventive, but as a cure, was found by no means to answer the purpose of the former, far less of the latter. The vegetable acids, which might be provided for the use of ships upon long voyages, I apprehend would be found to occasion a very small additional expence, if any; and I am convinced in the end would be found a considerable saving. Having on the 25th of December arrived upon the meridian of Greenwich, from which we had sailed in an easterly direction, and completed 360 deg. of east longitude, and consequently gained 24 hours, I dropt 360 deg. and repeated, Thursday, 25th December. On the 30th, John Shine, a seaman, died of the scurvy. On the 31st, I had a few sets of distances of the sun and moon, by which our longitude at noon was 17 deg. 16' east; by Mr. Bradley, it was 16 deg. 58' east; the mean of both gave 17 deg. 07' east, and by the time-keeper it was 18 deg. 10' east; and we had not yet made the land; the latitude was 33 deg. 48' south. This was a proof that the time-keeper must have altered its rate since we left Port Jackson; we had then determined it to be losing 4"-77. This change of its rate, since we left Port Jackson, I had some time suspected, and attributed it to the effects of the weather we had off, and near, Cape Horn. This evening we made a short trip off till midnight, when we tacked and stood for the land again: Joseph Caldwell, a seaman, died of the scurvy. At day-light we saw the land; the nearest, or that part which we were a-breast of, was distant about four leagues, and the Table Mountain bore south by east about nine or ten leagues; the wind, for the last twenty-four hours, had been strong from the southward, and we had, occasioned by there being too much of it, fallen to leeward. Nothing could have been more correct than our observations for the longitude. The wind coming from the sea, we stood along shore to the southward, and in the afternoon were a-breast of Robin's Island, but could not fetch round the reef, and into Table Bay.