The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World, Vol. III. Being the First of the Second VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World, Vol. III. Being the First of the Second Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
On the 30th, at noon, being in the latitude of 2° 35ʹ north, longitude
7° 30ʹ west, and the wind having veered to the east of south, we tacked
and stretched to the S. W. In the latitude of 0° 52ʹ north, longitude 9°
25ʹ west, we had one calm day, which gave us an opportunity of trying
the current in a boat. We found it set to the north one-third of a mile
an hour. We had reason to expect this from the difference we frequently
found between the observed latitude, and that given by the log: and Mr.
Kendal’s watch showed us, that it set to the East also. This was fully
confirmed by the lunar observations; when it appeared, that we were 3°
more to the east than the common reckoning. At the time of trying the
current, the mercury in the thermometer in the open air stood at 75-1/2;
and when immerged in the surface of the sea, at 74; but when immerged
eighty fathoms deep (where it remained fifteen minutes) when it came up,
the mercury stood at 66. At the same time we sounded, without finding
bottom with a line of two hundred and fifty fathoms.
The calm was succeeded by a light breeze at S. W. which kept veering by
little and little to the south, and at last to the eastward of south,
attended with clear serene weather. At length, on the 8th of September,
we crossed the line in the longitude of 8° west; after which the
ceremony of ducking, &c. generally practised on this occasion, was not
omitted.
The wind now veering more and more to the east, and blowing a gentle
top-gallant gale, in eight days it carried us into the latitude of 9°
30ʹ south, longitude 18° west. The weather was pleasant; and we daily
saw some of those birds which are looked upon as signs of the vicinity
of land; such as boobies, men of war, tropic birds, and gannets. We
supposed they came from the isle of St. Matthew, or Ascension; which
isles we must have passed at no great distance.
On the 27th, in the latitude of 25° 29ʹ, longitude 24° 54ʹ, we
discovered a sail to the west, standing after us. She was a snow; and
the colours she showed either a Portuguese or St. George’s Ensign, the
distance being too great to distinguish the one from the other; and I
did not choose to wait to get nearer, or to speak with her.
The wind now began to be variable. It first veered to the north, where
it remained two days with fair weather. Afterwards it came round by the
west to the south, where it remained two days longer, and after a few
hours’ calm sprang up at S. W. But here it remained not long before it
veered to S. E. E., and to the north of east; blew fresh, and by
squalls, with showers of rain.
With these winds we advanced but slowly, and without meeting with any
thing remarkable till the 11th of October, when at 6^h 24^m 12^s, by Mr.
Kendal’s watch, the moon rose about four digits eclipsed; and soon after
we prepared to observe the end of the eclipse, as follows, viz.
h. m. s.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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