The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
We had a moderate breeze at N. N. W. and N. till eight in the evening,
when it became unsettled; and at ten fixed at south: during the night,
it blew with such violence that it brought us under our close reefed
topsails. At eight the next morning, having run twenty-eight leagues
upon a W. by N. ½ N. course, and judging ourselves to be to the westward
of the land of Tovy Poenammoo, we bore away N. W. with a fresh gale at
south. At ten, having run eleven miles upon this course, we saw land
extending from the S. W. to the N. W. at the distance of about ten
leagues, which we hauled up for. At noon, our latitude by observation
was 44° 38ʹ, the south-east point of Banks’s Island bore N. 58° 30ʹ E.
distant thirty leagues, and the main body of the land in sight W. by N.
A head sea prevented us from making much way to the southward; at seven
in the evening the extremes of the land stretched from S. W. by S. to N.
by W.; and at six leagues from the shore we had thirty-two fathom water.
At four o’clock the next morning we stood in for the shore W. by S., and
during a course of four leagues our depth of water was from thirty-two
to thirteen fathom. When it was thirteen fathom we were but three miles
distant from the shore, and therefore stood off; its direction is here
nearly N. and S. The surface, to the distance of about five miles from
the sea, is low and flat; but it then rises into hills of a considerable
height. It appeared to be totally barren, and we saw no signs of its
being inhabited. Our latitude, at noon, was 44° 44ʹ; and the longitude
which we made from Banks’s Island to this place was 2° 22ʹ W. During the
last twenty-four hours, though we carried as much sail as the ship would
bear, we were driven three leagues to the leeward.
We continued to stand off and on all this day and the next, keeping at
the distance of between four and twelve leagues from the shore, and
having water from thirty-five to fifty-three fathom. On the 22d, at
noon, we had no observation, but by the land judged ourselves to be
about three leagues farther north than we had been the day before. At
sunset, the weather, which had been hazy, clearing up, we saw a mountain
which rose in a high peak, bearing N. W. by N.; and at the same time we
saw the land more distinctly than before, extending from N. to S. W. by
S. which, at some distance within the coast, had a lofty and mountainous
appearance. We soon found that the accounts which had been given us by
the Indians in Queen Charlotte’s Sound of the land to the southward were
not true; for they had told us that it might be circumnavigated in four
days.
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