King George's Islands to Saypan, Tinian and Aguigan
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that this island was the same that in the Neptune François is called Maluita, and laid down about a degree to the eastward of the great island of Saint Elizabeth, which is the principal of the Solomon’s Islands; but being afterwards convinced of the contrary, I called it the DUKE of YORK’S ISLAND, in honour of his late Royal Highness, and I am of opinion that we were the first human beings who ever saw it. There is indeed great reason to believe that there is no good authority for laying down Solomon’s Islands in the situation that is assigned to them by the French: the only person who has pretended to have seen them is Quiros, and I doubt whether he left behind him any account of them by which they might be found by future navigators.
We continued our course till the 29th, in the track of these islands, and being then ten degrees to the westward of their situation in the chart, without having seen any thing of them, I hauled to the northward, in order to cross the equinoxial, and afterwards shape my course for the Ladrone Islands, which, though a long run, I hoped to accomplish before I should be distressed for water, notwithstanding it now began to fall short. Our latitude, this day, was 8° 13’S., longitude 176° 20’E. and the variation was 10° 10’E.
On Tuesday the 2d of July, we again saw many birds about the ship, and at four o’clock in the afternoon, discovered an island bearing north, and distant about six leagues: we stood for it till sun-set, when it was distant about four leagues, and then kept off and on for the night. In the morning, we found it a low flat island, of a most delightful appearance, and full of wood, among which the cocoa-nut tree was very conspicuous: we saw, however, to our great regret, much foul ground about it, upon which the sea broke with a dreadful surf. We steered along the
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Volume I of the London 1773 Edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, page 111, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv01/147.html