Port Famine to Falkland's Islands
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we had been embayed: when we had got about four miles to the eastward, it fell calm, and rained with great violence, during which there arose such a swell as I never remember to have seen: it came from the westward, and ran so quick and so high, that I expected every moment it would break: it set us very fast towards the shore, which is as dangerous as any in the world, and I could see the surge breaking at some distance from it, mountains high: happily for us a fresh gale sprung up at south east, with which, to our great joy, we were able to stand off; and it behoves whoever shall afterwards come this way, to give the north part of this island a good birth. After I had got to some distance, the weather being thick, and it raining very hard, I brought to. Our latitude was now 51° S. and longitude 63° 22’W.
On Monday the 14th, the weather having cleared up, and the wind shifted to the S.S.W. we steered along the shore S.E. by E. four miles, and saw a low flat island full of high tufts of grass, resembling bushes, bearing south, at the distance of two or three leagues, the northermost land at the same time bearing west, distant about six leagues: we had here thirty-eight fathom, with rocky ground. We continued our course along the shore six leagues farther, and then saw a low rocky island bearing S.E. by E. distant about five miles: here we brought to, and having sounded, we had forty fathom water, with a bottom of white sand. This island is about three leagues distant from the land we were coasting, which here forms a very deep bay, and bears E. by N. of the other island on which we had seen the long tufts of grass: we saw the sea break at a good distance from the shore, and during the night stood off and on. The next morning at three o’clock we made sail, and stood in for the land to look for a harbour. At six, the east end of the rocky island bore W.S.W. distant about three miles, and our soundings
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 46, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/082.html