545 JULY 1776.] CREWS OF RESOLUTION AND DISCOVERY. officer on board. This arrangement | ment as I had reason to be satisfied was to be finally completed at Plymouth; and, on the 9th, we received the party of marines allotted for our voyage. Colonel Bell, who commanded the division at this port, gave me such men for the detach-sented in the following table: with. And the supernumerary seamen, occasioned by this reinforcement, being turned over into the Ocean man-of-war, our several complements remained fixed, as repre 1 Afterwards captain of the Bounty, famous for his voyage of nearly 4000 miles in an open boat, into which he and twenty of his crew had been forced after the mutiny on board that vessel. On the 10th, the commissioner and pay-clerks came on board, and paid the officers and crew up to the 30th of last month. The petty officers and seamen had, besides, two months' wages in advance. Such indulgence to the latter, is no more than what is customary in the navy. But the payment of what was due to the superior officers was humanely ordered by the Admiralty, in consideration of our peculiar situation, that we might be better able to defray the very great expense of furnishing ourselves with a stock of necessaries for a voyage which, probably, would be of unusual duration, and to regions where no supply could be expected. Nothing now obstructing my departure but a contrary wind, which blew strong at SW., in the morning of the 11th, I delivered into the hands of Mr Burney, first lieutenant of the Discovery, Captain Clerke's sailing orders, a copy of which I also left with the officer commanding his Majesty's ships at Plymouth, to be delivered to the captain immediately on his arrival. In the afternoon, the wind moderating, we weighed with ebb, and got farther out, beyond all the shipping in the Sound, where, after making an unsuccessful attempt to get to sea, we were detained most of the following day, which was employed in receiving on board a supply of water; and, by the same vessel that brought it, all the empty casks were returned. We weighed again at eight in the evening, and stood out of the Sound, with a gentle breeze at NW. by W. CHAPTER II. 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, 'To "ply," in nautical terminology, is to boat to windward, or sail against the direction of the wind by alternate tacks. At 10 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 NW. by W., distant seven or eight miles. On the 17th 2 and 18th we were off Ushant. With a strong gale at S. on the 19th, we stood to the westward till 8 o'clock in the morning, when, the wind shifting to the W. and NW., we tacked and stretched to the southward. At this time we saw nine sail of large ships, which we judged to be French menof-war. They took no particularnotice of us, nor we of them. o'clock in the morning of the 22d, we saw Cape Ortegal. After two days of calm weather we passed Cape Finisterre, on the afternoon of the 24th, with a fine gale at NNE. On the 30th, at six minutes and thirty-eight seconds past 10 o'clock at night, apparent time, I observed with a night telescope the moon totally eclipsed. By the ephemeris,3 the same happened at Greenwich at nine minutes past 11 o'clock, the difference being one hour, two minutes, and twenty-two seconds, or 15° 35′ 30′′ of Longitude. No other observation could be made on this eclipse, as the moon was hid behind the clouds the greater part of the time; and, in particular, when the beginning and end of total darkness and the end of the eclipse happened. Finding that we had not hay and corn sufficient for the subsistence of the stock of animals on board till our arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, I determined to touch at Teneriffe to get a supply of these and of the usual refreshments for ourselves, thinking that island, for such purposes, better adapted than Madeira. At four in the afternoon of the 31st we saw Teneriffe, and steered for the eastern part. At It appears from Captain Cook's log-book that he began his judicious operations for preserving the health of his crew very early in the voyage. On the 17th the ship was smoked between decks with gunpowder. The spare sails also were then well aired. — Note in Original Edition. 3 Nautical almanac. AUG. 1776.] IN THE ROAD OF SANTA CRUZ. nine, being near it, we hauled up, and stood off and on during the night. At daylight on the morning of the 1st of August we sailed round the east point of the island, and about 8 o'clock anchored on the SE. side of it, in the road of Santa Cruz, in twenty-three fathoms water, the bottom sand and ooze. 547 ceedingly good of their kind, and keep better at sea than any I ever before met with. The Indian corn, which is also their produce, cost me about three shillings and sixpence a bushel; and the fruits and roots were, in general, very cheap. They have not any plentiful supply of fish from the adjoining sea, but a very considerable fishery is carried on by their vessels upon the it sells at a reasonable price. Upon the whole, I found Teneriffe to be a more eligible place than Madeira for ships bound on long voyages to touch at, though the wine of the latter, according to my taste, is as much superior to that of the former as strong beer is to small. To compensate for this, the difference of prices is considerable, for the best Teneriffe wine was now sold for twelve pounds a pipe, whereas a pipe of the best Madeira would have cost considerably more than double that sum.1 No sooner had we anchored than we were visited by the master of the port, who satisfied himself with ask-coast of Barbary, and the produce of ing the ship's name. Upon his leaving us, I sent an officer ashore to present my respects to the Governor, and to ask his leave to take in water, and to purchase such articles as we were in want of. All this he granted with the greatest politeness, and soon after sent an officer on board to compliment me on my arrival. In the afternoon I waited upon him in person, accompanied by some of my officers; and, before I returned to my ship, bespoke some corn and straw for the live stock; ordered a quantity of wine from Mr M'Carrick, the contractor; and made an agreement with the master of a Spanish boat to supply us with water, as I found that we could not do it ourselves. Were we to judge from the appearance of the country in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz, it might be concluded that Teneriffe is a barren spot, insufficient to maintain even its own inhabitants. The ample supplies, however, which we received, convinced us that they had enough to spare for visitors. Besides wine, which is the chief produce of the island, beef may be had at a moderate price. The oxen are small and bony, and weigh about ninety pounds a quarter. The meat is but lean, and was, at present, sold for half a bit (threepence sterling) a pound. I, unadvisedly, bought the bullocks alive, and paid considerably more. Hogs, sheep, goats, and poultry, are likewise to be bought at the same moderate rate; and fruits are in great plenty. At this time we had grapes, figs, pears, mulberries, plantains, and musk melons. There is a variety of other fruits produced here, though not in season at this time. Their pumpkins, onions, and potatoes, are ex CHAPTER III. 1 The remainder of this Chapter, which is omitted, is occupied with a technical account of observations for fixing the longitude of Teneriffe, and with a description, from the pen of Mr Anderson, the surgeon, of the natural features and products of the island. As a proof of Captain Cook's attention, both to the discipline and to the health of his ship's company, it may be worth while to observe here, that it appears from his log-book he exercised them at great guns and small arms, and cleared and smoked the ship below decks, twice in the interval between the 4th and the 10th of August.-Note in Original Edition. Bonavista bearing S., distant little | more than a league; though, at this time, we thought ourselves much farther off; but this proved a mistake. For, after hauling to the eastward till 12 o'clock, to clear the sunken rocks that lie about a league from the SE. point of the island, we found ourselves, at that time, close upon them, and did but just weather the breakers. Our situation, for a few minutes, was very alarming. I did not choose to sound, as that might have heightened the danger without any possibility of lessening it. As soon as we were clear of the rocks, we steered SSW. till daybreak next morning, and then hauled to the westward, to go between Bonavista and the Isle of Mayo; intending to look into Port Praya for the Discovery, as I had told Captain Clerke that I should touch there, and did not know how soon he might sail after me. At one in the afternoon, we saw the rocks that lie on the SW. side of Bonavista, bearing SE., distant three or four leagues. Next morning at 6 o'clock the Isle of Mayo bore SSE., distant about five leagues. In this situation we sounded, and found ground at sixty fathoms. At 9 o'clock in the morning of the 13th, we arrived before Port Praya, in the Island of St Jago, where we saw two Dutch East India ships and a small brigantine at anchor. As the Discovery was not there, and we had expended but little water in our passage from Teneriffe, I did not think proper to go in, but stood to the southward. The day after we left the Cape de Verd Islands, we lost the NE. tradewind; but did not get that which blows from the SE. till the 30th, when we were in the Latitude of 2° N., and in the 25th degree of W. Longitude. During this interval, the wind was mostly in the SW. quarter. Sometimes it blew fresh, and in squalls; but for the most part a gentle breeze. The calms were few, and of short duration. Between the Latitude of 12° and of 7° N., the weather was generally dark and gloomy, with frequent rains, which enabled us to save as much water as filled most of our empty casks. These rains, and the close sultry weather accompanying them, too often bring on sickness in this passage. Every bad consequence, at least, is to be apprehended from them ; and commanders of ships cannot be too much upon their guard, by purifying the air between decks with fires and smoke, and by obliging the people to dry their clothes at every opportunity. These precautions were constantly observed on board the Resolution1 and Discov ery; and we certainly profited by them, for we had now fewer sick than on either of my former voyages. We had, however, the mortification to find our ship exceedingly leaky in all her upper works. The hot and sultry weather we had just passed through had opened her seams, which had been badly calked at first, so wide, that they admitted the rain water through as it fell. There was hardly a man that could lie dry in his bed; and the officers in the gunroom were all driven out of their cabins, by the water that came through the sides. The sails in the sail-room got wet; and before we had weather to dry them, many of them were much damaged, and a great expense of canvas and of time became necessary to make them in some degree serviceable. Having experienced the same defect in our sail-rooms on my late voyage, it had been represented to the yard officers, who undertook to remove it. But it did not appear to me that anything had been done to remedy the complaint. To repair these defects the calkers were set to work, as soon as we got into fair settled weather, to calk the decks and inside weather works of the 1The particulars are mentioned in his log-book. On the 14th of August, a fire was made in the well, to air the ship below. On the 15th, the spare sails were aired upon deck, and a fire made to air the sail-room. On the 17th, cleaned and smoked betwixt decks, and the bread-room aired with fires. On the 21st, cleaned and smoked betwixt decks; and on the 22d, the men's bedding was spread on deck to air.-Note in Original Edition. OCT. 1776.] ARRIVAL AT THE CAPE. 549 ship; for I would not trust them over | birds; one of which was a black the sides while we were at sea. On the 1st of September1 we crossed the Equator in the Longitude of 27° 38′ W., with a fine gale at SE. by S.; and notwithstanding my apprehensions of falling in with the coast of Brazil in stretching to the SW., I kept the ship a full point from the wind. However, I found my fears were ill grounded; for on drawing near that coast, we met with the wind more and more easterly; so that, by the time we were in the Latitude of 10° S., we could make a south-easterly course good. On the 8th, we were in the Latitude of 8° 57′ | S.; which is a little to the southward of Cape St Augustine, on the coast of Brazil. Our longitude, deduced from a very great number of lunar observations, was 34° 16′ W.; and by the watch 34° 47'. The former is 1° 43', and the latter 2° 14' more westerly than the Island of Fernando de Noronha, the situation of which was pretty well determined during my late voyage. Hence I concluded that we could not now be farther from the continent than twenty or thirty leagues at most; and perhaps not much less, as we neither had soundings, nor any other signs of land. We proceeded on our voyage, without meeting with anything of note, till the 6th of October. Being then in the Latitude of 35° 15' S., Longitude 7° 45′ W., we met with light airs and calms by turns, for three days successively. We had, for some days before, seen albatrosses, pintadoes, and other petrels; and here we saw three penguins, which occasioned us to sound, but we found no ground with a line of 150 fathoms. We put a boat in the water, and shot a few The afternoon, as appears from Mr Anderson's Journal, was spent in performing the old and ridiculous ceremony of ducking those who had not crossed the Equator before. Though Captain Cook did not suppress the custom, he thought it too trifling to deserve the least mention of it in his journal, or even in his log-book. petrel, about the size of a crow, and, except as to the bill and feet, very like one. It had a few white feathers under the throat; and the under-side of the quill-feathers was of an ashcolour. All the other feathers were jet black, as also the bill and legs. On the 8th, in the evening, one of those birds which sailors call noddies settled on our rigging and was caught. It was something larger than an English blackbird, and nearly as black, except the upper part of the head, which was white, looking as if it were powdered; the whitest feathers growing out from the base of the upper bill, from which they gradually assumed a darker colour, to about the middle of the upper part of the neck, where the white shade was lost in the black, without being divided by any line. It was web-footed; had black legs and a black bill, which was long, and not unlike that of a curlew. It is said these birds never fly far from land. We knew of none nearer the station we were in, than Gough's or Richmond Island, from which our distance could not be less than 100 leagues. But it must be observed that the Atlantic Ocean, to the southward of this latitude, has been but little frequented; so that there may be more islands there than we are acquainted with. This calm weather was succeeded by a fresh gale from the NW., which lasted two days. Then we had again variable light airs for about twentyfour hours; when the NW. wind returned, and blew with such strength that on the 17th we had sight of the Cape of Good Hope, and the next day anchored in Table Bay. As soon as we had received the usual visit from the master attendant and the surgeon, I sent an officer to wait on Baron Plettenberg, the gov ernor; and, on his return, saluted the garrison with thirteen guns, which compliment was returned with the same number. As soon as we had saluted, I went on shore, accompanied by some of my officers, and waited on the Governor, the lieutenant-gover |
