At eight o’clock in the evening of the 6th, being then in the latitude of 58° 9ʹ S. longitude 53° 14ʹ W., we close-reefed our top-sails, and hauled to the north, with a very strong gale at W., attended with a thick haze and sleet. The situation just mentioned is nearly the same that Mr. Dalrymple assigns for the S. W. point of the Gulph of St. Sebastian. But as we saw neither land, nor signs of land, I was the more doubtful of its existence, and was fearful, that by keeping to the south I might miss the land said to be discovered by La Roche in 1675, and by the ship Lion in 1756, which Mr. Dalrymple places in 54° 30ʹ latitude, and 45° of longitude; but on looking over Danville’s Chart, I found it laid down 9° or 10° more to the west; this difference of situation being to me a sign of the uncertainty of both accounts, determined me to get into the parallel as soon as possible, and was the reason of my hauling to the north at this time. Towards the morning of the 7th, the gale abated, the weather cleared up, and the wind veered to the W. S. W. where it continued till midnight; after which it veered to N. W. Being at this time in the latitude of 56° 4ʹ S. longitude 53° 36ʹ W., we sounded, but found no bottom with a line of one hundred and thirty fathoms. I still kept the wind on the larboard-tack, having a gentle breeze and pleasant weather. On the 8th, at noon, a bed of sea-weed passed the ship. In the afternoon, in the latitude of 55° 4ʹ, longitude 51° 45ʹ W., the variation was 20° 4ʹ E. On the 9th, wind at N. E. attended with thick hazy weather; saw a seal, and a piece of sea-weed. At noon, latitude 55° 12ʹ S. longitude 50° 15ʹ W., the wind and weather continuing the same till towards midnight, when the latter cleared up, and the former veered to west, and blew a gentle gale. We continued to ply till two o’clock the next morning, when we bore away E., and at eight, E. N. E.; at noon, observed in latitude 54° 35ʹ S., longitude 47° 56ʹ W., a great many albatrosses and blue peterels about the ship. I now steered E., and the next morning, in the latitude of 54° 38ʹ, longitude 45° 10ʹ W., the variation was 19° 25ʹ E. In the afternoon saw several penguins, and some pieces of weed. Having spent the night lying to, on the 12th, at day-break, we bore away, and steered east northerly, with a fine fresh breeze at W. S. W.; at noon observed in latitude 54° 28ʹ S., longitude in 42° 8ʹ W.; that is, near 3° E. of the situation in which Mr. Dalrymple places the N. E. point of the Gulph of St. Sebastian; but we had no other signs of land than seeing a seal and a few penguins; on the contrary we had a swell from E. S. E. which would hardly have been, if any extensive track of land lay in that direction. In the evening the gale abated, and at midnight it fell calm.