As I did not imagine my stay at Plymouth would have been so long as it proved, we did not get our instruments on shore to make the necessary observations for ascertaining the longitude by the watch. For the same reason, Mr. Baily did not set about this, till he found that the Discovery would probably be detained some days after us. He then placed his quadrant upon Drake’s Island; and had time, before the Resolution sailed, to make observations sufficient for the purpose we had in view. Our watch made the island to lie 4° 14ʹ, and his, 4° 13-1/2ʹ west of Greenwich. Its latitude, as found by Messrs. Wales and Baily, on the last voyage, is 50° 21ʹ 30ʺ north. We weighed again at eight in the evening, and stood out of the Sound, with a gentle breeze at north-west by west. CHAP. II. PASSAGE OF THE RESOLUTION TO TENERIFFE.—RECEPTION THERE.—DESCRIPTION OF SANTA CRUZ ROAD.—REFRESHMENTS TO BE MET WITH.—OBSERVATIONS FOR FIXING THE LONGITUDE OF TENERIFFE.—SOME ACCOUNT OF THE ISLAND.—BOTANICAL OBSERVATIONS.—CITIES OF SANTA CRUZ AND LAGUNA.—AGRICULTURE.—AIR AND CLIMATE.—COMMERCE.—INHABITANTS. We had not been long out of Plymouth Sound, before the wind came more westerly, and blew fresh, so that we were obliged to ply down the Channel; and it was not till the 14th, at eight in the evening, that we were off the Lizard. On the 16th, at noon, St. Agnes’s lighthouse on the Isles of Scilly, bore north-west by west, distant seven or eight miles. Our latitude was now 49° 53ʹ 30ʺ north, and our longitude, by the watch, 6° 11ʹ west. Hence, I reckon that St. Agnes’s light-house is in 49° 57ʹ 30ʺ north latitude, and in 6° 20ʹ of west longitude. On the 17th[79] and 18th we were off Ushant, and found the longitude of the island to be, by the watch, 5° 18ʹ 37ʺ west. The variation was 23° 0ʹ 50ʺ, in the same direction. With a strong gale at south, on the 19th, we stood to the westward, till eight o’clock in the morning; when, the wind shifting to the west and north-west, we tacked and stretched to the southward. At this time, we saw nine sail of large ships, which we judged to be French men-of-war. They took no particular notice of us, nor we of them. At ten o’clock in the morning of the 22d, we saw Cape Ortegal; which at noon bore south-east, half south, about four leagues distant. At this time we were in the latitude of 44° 6ʹ north; and our longitude, by the watch, was 8° 23ʹ west. After two days of calm weather we passed Cape Finisterre, on the afternoon of the 24th, with a fine gale at north north-east. The longitude of this Cape, by the watch, is 9° 29ʹ west; and, by the mean of forty-one lunar observations, made before and after we passed it, and reduced to it by the watch, the result was 9° 19ʹ 12ʺ.