square-rigged vessels and a cutter at anchor to the eastward. I endeavoured to work to windward, but we were obliged to take to our oars again, having lost ground on each tack. We kept close to the shore, and continued rowing till four o'clock, when I brought to a grapnel, and gave another allowance of bread and wine to all hands. As soon as we had rested a little, we weighed again, and rowed till near day-light, when I came to a grapnel, off a small fort and town, which the pilot told me was Coupang.

'Among the things which the boatswain had thrown into the boat before we left the ship, was a bundle of signal flags that had been made for the boats to show the depth of water in sounding; with these I had, in the course of the passage, made a small jack, which I now hoisted in the main shrouds, for I did not choose to land without leave.

'Soon after day-break a soldier hailed me to land, which I instantly did, among a crowd of Indians, and was agreeably surprised to meet with an English sailor, who belonged to one of the vessels in the road. His captain, he told me, was the second person in the town; I therefore desired to be conducted to him, as I was informed the governor was ill, and could not then be spoken with.

'Captain Spikerman received me with great humanity. I informed him of our miserable situation; and requested that care might be taken of those who were with me, without delay. On which he gave directions for their immediate reception at his own house, and went himself to the governor, to know at what time I could be permitted to see him; which was fixed to be at eleven o clock.

'I now desired every one to come on shore, which was as much as some of them could do, being scarce able to walk: they, however, got at last to the house, and found tea with bread and butter provided for their breakfast.

"The abilities of a painter, perhaps, could never have been displayed to more advantage than in the delineation of the two groups of figures, which at this time presented themselves. An indifferent spectator would have been at a loss which most to admire; the eyes of famine sparkling at immediate relief,

or the horror of their preservers at the sight of so many spectres, whose ghastly countenances, if the cause had been unknown, would rather have excited terror than pity. Our bodies were nothing but skin and bones, our limbs were full of sores, and we were clothed in rags; in this condition, with the tears of joy and gratitude flowing down our cheeks, the people of Timor beheld us with a mixture of horror, surprise, and pity.'

The governor, Mr. William Adrian Van Este, though extremely ill, directed that every assistance should be given to the distressed strangers; who were all lodged in one house. The surgeon also dressed their sores, and the cleansing of their persons was not neglected. Thus, with only five days' provision, and exposed to sixteen days' heavy rain; did this handful of British seamen sail above 3600 miles, in an open boat, without the loss of one single individual by disease.

After resting above two weeks, evident signs of returning health appeared, and Mr. Bligh purchased a small schooner, with which he sailed for Batavia on the 20th of August, and which he reached on the 26th of September. On the 16th of the following month, he embarked in the Vlydt packet, and on the 14th of March, 1790, was landed at Portsmouth.

A

VOYAGE

TOWARDS

THE NORTH POLE,

BY

CAPTAIN PHIPPS,

IN 1773.

GOVERNMENT having determined to send an expedition towards the North Pole, to examine whether any passage existed into the South Seas, the Racehorse bomb with a complement of ninety men, under captain Phipps, and the Carcass, with eighty men, under captain Lutwidge, were equipped for this service. They sailed on the 2d of June, and keeping as nearly as possible on a meridional line, reached latitude 78 on the 29th. Here,' says captain Phipps, the coast appeared to be neither habitable nor accessible; it was formed by high, barren, black rocks, without the least marks of vegetation; in many places bare and pointed, in other parts covered with snow, appearing even above the clouds: the vallies between the high. cliffs were filled with snow or ice. This prospect would have suggested the idea of perpetual winter, had not the mildness. of the weather, the smooth water, bright sunshine, and constant daylight, given a cheerfulness and novelty to the whole of this striking and romantic scene.'

On the 6th of July, they were nearly in latitude 80 deg. N., and 9 deg. 43 min. E., and were impeded by great quantities of ice. Here most of the old discoverers had been stopped. The service now became very fatiguing. But on the

13th, they anchored in one of the harbours formed by a knot of islands, called the Fair haven, in latitude 79 deg. 50 min. N., and longitude 10 deg. 2 min. E. On the 18th they weighed, and skirted the ice, seeking an opening, but in latitude 80 deg. 48 min. N., they found the main body of the ice quite solid. On the 29th, they approached a low island opposite to Waygat's straits. Having little wind,' says captain Phipps, and the weather very clear, two of the officers went with a boat in pursuit of some sea-horses, and afterwards to the low island. At midnight we found by observation the latitude 80 deg. 27 min. 3 sec., and the dip 82 deg. 2 min. 1. At four in the morning I found, by Bouguers log, that the current set* two fathom to the eastward. At six in the morning the officers returned from the island; in their way back they had fired at, and wounded a sea-horse, which dived immediately, and brought up with it immediately a number of others. They all joined in an attack upon the boat, wrested an oar from one of the men, and were with difficulty prevented from staving or oversetting her; but a boat from the Carcass joining ours, they dispersed.

30th. Little winds, and calm all day; we got something to the northward and eastward. At noon we were by observation in latitude 80 deg. 31 min. At three in the afternoon we were in longitude 18 deg. 48 min. E., being amongst the islands, and in the ice, with no appearance of an opening for the ship. Between eleven and twelve at night I sent the master, Mr. Crane, in the four-oared boat, amongst the ice, to try whether he could get the boat through, and find any opening for the ship which might give us a prospect of getting farther; with directions if he could reach the shore to go up one of the mountains, in order to discover the state of the ice to the eastward and northward. At five in the morning, the ice being all around us, we got out our ice-anchors, and moored along-side a field. The master returned between seven and eight, and with him captain Lutwidge, who had joined him on shore. They had ascended an high mountain, from whence they commanded a prospect extending to the east and north-east ten or twelve leagues, over one continued VOL. IV.--(78)

3 G

plain of smooth unbroken ice, bounded only by the horizon: they also saw land stretching to the S. E., laid down in the Dutch charts as islands. The main body of ice, which we had traced from west to east, they now perceived to join to these islands, and from them to what is called the North-east land. In returning, the ice having closed much since they went, they were frequently forced to haul the boat over it to other openings. The weather exceedingly fine and mild, and unusually clear. The scene was beautiful and picturesque; the two ships becalmed in a large bay, with three apparent openings between the islands which formed it, but every where surrounded with ice as far as we could see, with some streams of water? not a breath of air; the water perfectly smooth; the ice covered with snow, low, and even, except a few broken pieces near the edges: the pools of water in the middle of the pieces were frozen over with the young ice.

At nine in the morning, having a light breeze to the eastward, we cast off, and endeavoured to force through the ice. At noon the ice was so close, that being unable to proceed, we moored again to a field. In the afternoon we filled our cask with fresh water from the ice, which we found very pure and soft. The Carcass moved, and made fast to the same field with us. The ice measured eight yards ten inches in thickness at one end, and seven yards eleven inches at the other. At four in the afternoon the variation was 12 deg. 24 min. W.: at the same time the longitude 19 deg. 0 min. 15 sec. E.; by which we found that we had hardly moved to the eastward since the day before. Calm most part of the day; the weather very fine; the ice closed fast, and was all round the ships; no opening to be seen any where, except an hole of about a mile and a half, where the ships lay fast to the ice with ice-anchors. We completed the water. The ship's company were playing on the ice all day. The pilots being much farther than they had ever been, and the season advancing, seemed alarmed at being beset.

'August 1st. The ice pressed in fast; there was not now the smallest opening; the two ships were within less than two lengths of each other, separated by ice, and neither, having