At this time being in the latitude of 48° 6ʹ South, longitude 58° 22ʹ East, the wind seemingly fixed at W. N. W., and seeing no signs of meeting with land, I gave over plying, and bore away east a little southerly: being satisfied, that if there is any land hereabout, it can only be an isle of no great extent. And it was just as probable I might have found it to the east as west. While we were plying about here, we took every opportunity to observe the variation of the compass, and found it to be from 27° 50ʹ, to 30° 26ʹ West. Probably the mean of the two extremes, viz. 29° 4ʹ is the nearest the truth, as it nearly agrees with the variation observed on board the Adventure. In making these observations, we found that, when the sun was on the starboard side of the ship, the variation was the least; and when on the larboard side, the greatest. This was not the first time we had made this observation, without being able to account for it. At four o’clock in the morning of the 7th, I made the Adventure’s signal to keep at the distance of four miles on my starboard beam; and continued to steer E. S. E. This being a fine day, I had all our men’s bedding and cloaths spread on deck to air, and the ship cleaned and smoked betwixt decks. At noon I steered a point more to the south, being then in the latitude of 48° 49ʹ south, longitude 61° 48ʹ east. At six o’clock in the evening, I called in the Adventure; and at the same time took several azimuths, which gave the variation 31° 28ʹ west. These observations could not be taken with the greatest accuracy, on account of the rolling of the ship, occasioned by a very high westerly swell. The preceding evening, three Port Egmont hens were seen; this morning another appeared. In the evening, and several times in the night, penguins were heard; and at day-light, in the morning of the 8th, several of these were seen; and divers of two sorts, seemingly such as are usually met with on the coast of England. This occasioned us to sound; but we found no ground with a line of 210 fathoms. Our latitude now was 49° 53ʹ South, and longitude 63° 39ʹ east. This was at eight o’clock. By this time the wind had veered round by the N. E. to E., blew a brisk gale, and was attended with hazy weather, which soon after turned to a thick fog; and at the same time, the wind shifted to N. E.