A Voyage to the South Sea (Autobiography). William Bligh
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of Cape St. John I observed the separation of the mountains that Captain Cook has taken notice of, which has the appearance of Staten Land being there divided into two islands.
At sunset Cape St. John bore south-south-east five or six leagues. The land hereabouts is of less height and not so rugged as near New Year's Harbour. The night coming on I could get no good view of the coast near the Cape; and at daylight next morning we were at too great a distance.
Monday 24.
We had stood to the southward all night with the wind at west-south-west and south-west. At eight in the morning Cape St. John bore north-west ten leagues distant. Soon after we lost sight of the land.
From the result of my lunar observations, assisted by the timekeeper, I make the longitude of the west side of Straits le Maire 64 degrees 48 minutes west; the easternmost of the New Year's isles 63 degrees 52 minutes west; and the longitude of Cape St. John 63 degrees 19 minutes west.
In our run from the latitude of 12 degrees south to 48 degrees south the ship was set 2 degrees 30 minutes to the eastward by currents; and from the latitude of 48 degrees south to Staten Land the currents set us to the westward 2 degrees 43 minutes; which I imagine to have been occasioned by an indraught into the Straits of Magellan.
From the time we lost sight of the land to the end of the month we were struggling with bad weather and contrary winds.
Monday 31.
But on the morning of the 31st the wind came to the north-north-east and made us entertain great hopes that we should be able to accomplish our passage round the Cape without much difficulty. At noon we were in latitude 60 degrees 1 minute south and in 71 degrees 45 minutes west longitude, which is 8 degrees 26 minutes west of the meridian of Cape St. John. This flattering appearance was not of long continuance: in the night the wind became variable and next day settled again in the west and north-west with very bad weather.
April. Wednesday 2.
On the 2nd in the morning the wind, which had blown fresh all night from the north-west, came round to the south-west and increased to a heavy gale. At six in the morning the storm exceeded what I had ever met with before; and the sea, from the frequent shifting of the wind, running in contrary directions, broke exceeding high. Our ship however lay to very well under a main and fore-stay sail. The gale continued with severe squalls of hail and sleet the remainder of this and all the next day.
Friday 4.
On the 4th the wind was less violent but far from moderate. With so much bad weather I found it necessary to keep a constant fire night and day; and one of the watch always attended to dry the people's wet clothes: and this I have no doubt contributed as much to their health as to their comfort.
Our companions in this in hospitable region were albatrosses and two beautiful kinds of birds, the small blue petrel and pintada. A great many of these were frequently about the wake of the ship, which induced the people to float a line with hooks baited to endeavour to catch them and their attempts were successful. The method they used was to fasten the bait a foot or two before the hook and, by giving the line a sudden jerk when the bird was at the bait, it was hooked in the feet or body.
Sunday 6.
On the 6th the weather was moderate and continued so till the 9th with the wind veering between the north-west and south-west; of which we were able to take advantage.
Monday 7.
On the 7th observed the variation 27 degrees 9 minutes east; our latitude 60 degrees 24 minutes south and longitude 75 degrees 54 minutes west.
Wednesday 9.
On the 9th at noon we were in latitude 59 degrees 31 minutes south and our longitude 76 degrees 58 minutes west, which is farther to the west than we had yet been. The weather was now unfavourable again, blowing strong from the westward with a high sea.
On the 10th we saw some fish which appeared spotted and about the size of bonetos: these were the only fish we had seen in this high latitude.
Saturday 12.
The stormy weather continued with a great sea. The ship now began to complain and required to be pumped every hour; which was no more than we had reason to expect from such a continuance of gales of wind and high seas. The decks also became so leaky that it was obliged to allot the great cabin, of which I made little use except in fine weather, to those people who had wet berths to hang their hammocks in, and by this means the between decks was less crowded.
Every morning all the hammocks were taken down from where they hung, and when the weather was too bad to keep them upon deck they were put in the cabin; so that the between decks were cleaned daily and aired with fires if the hatchways could not be opened. With all this bad weather we had the additional mortification to find at the end of every day that we were losing ground; for notwithstanding our utmost exertions and keeping on the most advantageous tacks (which if the weather had been at all moderate would have sufficiently answered our purpose) yet the greater part of the time we were doing little better than drifting before the wind.
Sunday 13.
Birds as usual were about the ship and some of them caught; and for the first time since we left Staten Land we saw some whales. This morning, owing to the violent motion of the ship, the cook fell and broke one of his ribs, and another man, by a fall, dislocated his shoulder. The gunner who had the charge of a watch was laid up with the rheumatism: and this was the first sicklist that appeared on board the ship. The time of full moon which was approaching made me entertain hopes that after that period we should experience some change of wind or weather in our favour; but the event did not at all answer our expectations. The latitude at noon this day was 58 degrees 9 minutes south and longitude 76 degrees 1 minute west.
As we caught a good many birds but which were all lean and tasted fishy we tried an experiment upon them which succeeded admirably. By keeping them cooped up and cramming them with ground corn they improved wonderfully in a short time; so that the pintada birds became as fine as ducks, and the albatrosses were as fat, and not inferior in taste to, fine geese. Some of the latter birds were caught that measured seven feet between the extremities of the wings when spread. This unexpected supply came very opportunely; for none of our livestock remained except hogs, the sheep and poultry not being hardy enough to stand the severity of the weather.
Sunday 20.
This morning the wind died away and we had a calm for a few hours which gave us hopes that the next would be a more favourable wind. A hog was killed for the ship's company which gave them an excellent meal. Towards noon, to our great disappointment, the wind sprang up again from the westward and in the afternoon blew strong with snow and hailstorms.
Monday 21.
This was the second day after the full moon but, as I have remarked before, it had no influence on the weather. At noon our latitude was 58 degrees 31 minutes south and longitude 70 degrees 7 minutes west, which is near seven degrees to the eastward of our situation on the morning of the 9th instant, when we had advanced the farthest in our power to the westward, being then in 76 degrees 58 minutes west, three degrees to the west of Cape Deseada, the west part of the Straits of Magellan; and at this time we were 3 degrees 52 minutes to the east of it and hourly losing ground.
It was with much concern I saw how hopeless and even unjustifiable it was to persist any longer in attempting a passage this way to the Society Islands. We had been thirty days in this tempestuous ocean. At one time we had advanced so far to the westward as to have a fair prospect of making our passage round; but from that period hard gales of westerly wind had continued without intermission, a few hours excepted, which, to borrow an expression in Lord Anson's voyage, were "like the elements drawing breath to return upon us with redoubled violence." The season was now too far advanced for us to expect more favourable winds or weather, and we had sufficiently experienced the impossibility of beating round against the wind, or of advancing at all without the help of a fair wind for which there was little reason to hope. Another consideration which had great weight with me was that, if I persisted in my attempt this way and should after all fail to get round, it would occasion such a loss of time that our arrival at Otaheite