When we bore away I steered west by south, with a fine breeze easterly. I proposed to proceed first to Middleburgh, or Eooa, thinking, if the wind continued favourable, that we had food enough on board for the cattle, to last till we should reach that island. But about noon next day, those faint breezes, that had attended and retarded us so long, again returned, and I found it necessary to haul more to the north, to get into the latitude of Palmerston’s and Savage Islands, discovered in 1774, during my last voyage[173], that if necessity required it, we might have recourse to them. This day, in order to save our water, I ordered the still to be kept at work, from six o’clock in the morning to four in the afternoon, during which time, we procured from thirteen to sixteen gallons of fresh water. There has been lately made some improvement, as they are pleased to call it, of this machine, which, in my opinion, is much for the worse. These light breezes continued till the 10th, when we had for some hours the wind blowing fresh from the north, and north north-west, being then in the latitude of 18° 38ʹ, and longitude 198° 24ʹ E. In the afternoon, we had some thunder squalls from the south, attended with heavy rain, of which water, we collected enough to fill five puncheons. After these squalls had blown over the wind came round to the north-east and north-west; being very unsettled both in strength and in position, till about noon the next day, when it fixed at north-west and north north-west, and blew a fresh breeze with fair weather. Thus were we persecuted with a wind in our teeth whichever way we directed our course, and we had the additional mortification to find here those very winds, which we had reason to expect 8° or 10° farther south. They came too late; for I durst not trust their continuance, and the event proved that I judged right. At length, at day-break, in the morning of the 13th, we saw Palmerston Island, bearing west by south, distant about five leagues. However, we did not get up with it till eight o’clock the next morning. I then sent four boats, three from the Resolution, and one from the Discovery, with an officer in each, to search the coast for the most convenient landing-place. For now we were under an absolute necessity of procuring from this island some food for the cattle, otherwise we must have lost them.