Already we have begun to estimate precisely when we will reach port; if we do it in six days, or by next Saturday, it will mean only a hundred and fifty miles a day, or six and a half per hour, which we should do without trouble if we do not fall to leeward of the Farallones. Mr. Rarx is still very feeble, and will evidently have to be carried ashore. Latitude, 38° 10′ north; longitude, 139° 10′ west. +September 13+ A magnificent day, though not quite so much wind as we would like to have. Up to ten this morning we did passably well, but since then it has been pretty light, though there is a bank of wool-packs rising in the west, foretelling more wind from that desirable quarter. We made three degrees of departure, and to our chagrin, not to say consternation, fifty-eight miles of southing; this latter must be due, we think, to an error in our previous dead reckoning, as we hadn’t had the sun for two days, and the currents here are often strong. A line drawn from yesterday’s alleged noon position to that of to-day passes directly over the reputed Reed Rocks; but as we are by no means sure of yesterday’s work, we cannot on that account positively deny their existence. They were first reported about fifty years ago by one Reed, an American mariner; but as the British admiralty charts do not acknowledge the presence of the rocks, and as our own charts have D marked beneath them, meaning doubtful, it is probable that, if they ever did exist, they have now disappeared. It is worthy of mention that the total cost of running and maintaining a ship like the “Hosea Higgins” for one year amounts to an average of twenty-five thousand dollars. In New York alone the bills that Captain Scruggs had to pay before we went to sea amounted to almost fifteen thousand dollars, though this was a somewhat excessive amount, owing to the putting in of a new bowsprit and fore lower mast, which, with the rigger’s bill, footed up a total of two thousand dollars. Here is a list of the accounts rendered: Riggers, stores, stevedore, foremast, blacksmith, wharfage, advance to men, ship-chandler, sail-maker, tow-boat, pilot, shipwright, tonnage dues, butcher (fresh meat).