On the ninth, at noon, our latitude was 32° 16ʹ; our longitude 166° 40ʹ; and the variation 8° 30ʹ E. And on the tenth, having crossed the track of the Spanish galleons from the Manillas to Acapulco, we expected to have fallen in with the Island of Rica de Plata, which, according to De Lisle’s chart, in which the route of those ships is laid down, ought to have been in sight; its latitude, as there given, being 33° 30ʹ N., and its longitude 166° E. Notwithstanding we were so far advanced to the northward, we saw this day a tropic bird, and also several other kinds of sea-birds; such as puffins, sea-parrots, sheerwaters, and albatrosses. On the eleventh, at noon, we were in latitude 35° 30ʹ, longitude 165° 45ʹ; and during the course of the day, had sea-birds, as before, and passed several bunches of sea-weed. About the same time, the Discovery passed a log of wood; but no other signs of land were seen. The next day the wind came gradually round to the east, and increased to so strong a gale, as obliged us to strike our top-gallant yards, and brought us under the lower sails, and the main top-sail close reefed. Unfortunately we were upon that tack, which was the most disadvantageous for our leak. But, as we had always been able to keep it under with the hand-pumps, it gave us no great uneasiness, till the 13th, about six in the afternoon, when we were greatly alarmed by a sudden inundation, that deluged the whole space between decks. The water, which had lodged in the coal-hole, not finding a sufficient vent into the well, had forced up the platforms over it, and in a moment set every thing afloat. Our situation was indeed exceedingly distressing; nor did we immediately see any means of relieving ourselves. A pump, through the upper decks into the coal-hole, could answer no end, as it would very soon have been choked up by the small coals; and, to bale the water out with buckets, was become impracticable, from the number of bulky materials that were washed out of the gunner’s store-room into it, and which, by the ship’s motion, were tossed violently from side to side. No other method was therefore left, but to cut a hole through the bulk-head (or partition) that separated the coal hole from the fore-hold, and by that means to make a passage for the body of water into the well. However, before that it could be done, it was necessary to get the casks of dry provisions out of the fore-hold, which kept us employed the greatest part of the night; so that the carpenters could not get at the partition till the next morning. As soon as a passage was made, the greatest part of the water emptied itself into the well, and enabled us to get out the rest with buckets. But the leak was now so much increased, that we were obliged to keep one half of the people constantly pumping and baleing, till the noon of the 15th. Our men bore, with great cheerfulness, this excessive fatigue, which was much increased by their having no dry place