We continued daily to gather muscles till the 5th, when several of the people being seized with fluxes, the surgeon desired that no more muscles might be brought into the ship.

The weather being still tempestuous and unsettled, we remained at anchor till 10 o’clock in the morning of Friday the 10th, and then, in company with the Swallow, we made sail. At noon, Cape Providence bore N.N.W. distant four or five miles; at four in the afternoon Cape Tamer bore N.W. by W. ½ W. distant three leagues, Cape Upright E.S.E. ½ S. distant three leagues, and Cape Pillar W. distant I0 leagues. We steered about W. ½ N. all night, and at six o’clock in the morning, had run eight and thirty miles by the log. At this time Cape Pillar bore S.W. distant half a mile, and the Swallow was about three miles a-stern of us. At this time there being but little wind, we were obliged to make all the sail we could, to get without the Streight’s mouth. At 11 o’clock I would have shortened sail for the Swallow, but it was not in my power, for as a current set us strongly down upon the Isles of Direction, and the wind came to the west, it became absolutely necessary for me to carry sail, that I might clear them. Soon after we lost sight of the Swallow, and never saw her afterwards. At first I was inclined to have gone back into the Streight, but a fog coming on, and the sea rising very fast, we were all of opinion that it was indispensibly necessary to get an offing as soon as possible; for except we pressed the ship with sail, before the sea rose too high, it would be impracticable either to weather Terra del Fuego on one tack, or Cape Victory on

Voyaging Accounts