Streight of Magellan to Cape Monday
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on the north shore, but he found no anchorage in it. On the 20th, at six o’clock in the morning, a hard squall coming on, the ship drove, and brought the anchor off the bank into forty fathom, but by heaving up the bower, and carrying out the kedge anchor, we got the ship on the bank again. At eight, the day following, though the wind was from W.N.W. to S.W. we weighed, and once more stood out of the bay; the current still set very strongly to the eastward, but at noon, we found that we had gained about a mile and a half in a contrary direction. The wind now became variable, from S.W. to N.W. and at five in the afternoon, the ship had gained about four miles to the westward; but not being able to find an anchoring-place, and the wind dying away, we drove again very fast to the eastward with the current. At six, however, we anchored in forty fathom, with very good ground, in a bay about two miles to the westward of that from which we sailed in the morning. A swell rolled in here all night, so that our situation was by no means desirable, and therefore, although the wind was still at W.S.W. we weighed and made sail about eight o’clock the next day: we had still incessant rain, so that the people were continually wet, which was a great aggravation of their fatigue; yet they were still cheerful, and, what was yet less to be expected, still healthy. This day, to our great joy, we found the current setting to the westward, and we gained ground very fast. At six in the evening, we anchored in the bay on the east side of Cape Monday, where the Tamar lay in eighteen fathom, the pitch of the Cape bearing W. by N. distant half a mile. We found this place very safe, the ground being excellent, and there being room enough for two or three ships of the line to moor.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 74, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/110.html