Voyage in Search of La Pérouse/Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
A very high swell of the sea had prevented us almost two days from getting our provisions on board. We were not ready to set sail till the 23d of October.
We endeavoured at the first dawn to get under way. All our boats had been taken on board the preceding day as soon as we had unmoored; as we wished to take advantage of the land-wind, which blows here almost every morning. It was likewise necessary that we should put out to sea before the flood-tide, which was expected to set in about half an hour after five.
We held by a cable to the English corvette. I cannot omit this opportunity of commending the polite behaviour of the English captain, who gave us, in the most obliging manner, every assistance that we stood in need of to enable us to get under way. Our Commander on his part had likewise done him every service in his power, when he came to anchor in the roads a few days after our arrival. One of the anchors of the English sloop helped us to heave down, and having spread our sails, we steered off from the coast under a slight breeze, which did not continue long enough for the Esperance to take advantage of it, although she had unfurled her sails a few minutes after our vessel. Carried away by the flood, the force of which had not at first been perceived, she was obliged to cast a small anchor, by which she hauled, in order to keep off from the coast while she endeavoured to stand clear of the vessels about her.
At half after nine o'clock she stood towards us. We then directed our course S.S.E.
At noon we were in 28° 5′ 40″ N, lat. 18° 36′ 10″ E. long. At this spot we set the peak of Teneriffe E. 28° N. and the eastern point of the island of Canary E. 24° S.
We then steered, about one o'clock in the afternoon, S.E.S. with a view to pass between the Cape Verd islands and the main land. We had a pretty fresh east breeze.
About six in the evening the island Gomere bore N. 38° E.
On the 26th, the Esperance told us her longitude, after having enquired to know ours. The great difference between the longitude of our reckoning, and that taken by observation, threw us into some uncertainty, which induced us to bear down two rhomb-lines starboard from our former S.E.S. course; but subsequent observations determined us to resume our first direction. The weather was very fine, and we had nothing to fear from approaching the African coast: besides, we knew from our soundings that it was many leagues distant.
On the following morning we were out of sight of land, which convinced us that the observations taken on board the Esperance were erroneous.
We crossed the Tropic of Cancer about one o'clock in the afternoon, in 20° E. long. The barometer indicated 28 inches 2 4-5ths lines.
The first fish that would bite at the hook of our fishermen, was a very fine dorado (coryphæna hyppurus). This was sufficient to put the whole crew in motion; but the fisherman had the mortification of finding only a part of its gills upon his hook, as he had drawn the line too hastily.
Since our departure from Teneriffe the wind had blown pretty steadily from the N.E. point.
A swallow of the common species (hirundo rustica), undoubtedly lately come from Europe, followed us for some time, without lighting upon the vessel; but soon directed its flight right towards the African coast, where it was sure of finding the insects on which it feeds. We were now about 28° N. lat. 22° 30′ E. long.
As there was very little wind, we observed a great number of the medusa caravela floating upon the surface of the water. This plant should not be touched unguardedly, as, like many other kinds of sea-nettles, it raises blisters upon the hand, that afterwards become very painful.
The species of remora, known by the name of echineis remora, generally follows the shark, as it finds sufficient nourishment in the excrements of that voracious fish. It does not, however, attach itself so exclusively to the shark as not to follow other large fishes also, and even vessels, to which it fixes itself when it is fatigued with swimming.
In the night we observed that our vessel was followed by a large shoal of dorados. As they swam much faster than we sailed, they often moved in a circular course round our vessel with incredible swiftness. Although the night was very dark, it was easy to follow them with the eye; as they leave a luminous track behind them. This phosphoric light, produced in the agitated water of the sea, appears the more brilliant in proportion to the darkness of the night, and the velocity with which the fishes move; so that we were able to discern their track very distinctly, although they swam several feet below the surface of the water.
30th. We were now in those seas that abound with voracious fishes, such as the bonito, the tunny, and others of the same class, which find plenty of food amongst the different species of fish on which they prey; the principal of which is the flying-fish (exocætus volitans, Linn.). The bonitos that followed us were easily caught by our fishermen, though they used no other bait than a bunch of feathers, bound up so as to resemble a flying-fish, within which the hook was concealed.
We had been almost becalmed for some time, but the regular winds began to recover their force. They were again interrupted on the 3d of November by a storm, which continued during the whole night; the next morning they blew as on the preceding days. On the 6th they left us at 9° 6′ N. lat. 21° E. long.
The heat was now excessive, though the thermometer was only 23° above 0 of Reaumur's scale.
A bird, called by Buffon goeland noir (larus marinus, Linn.), having lighted upon one of the yards, escaped from a sailor, who had climbed up the mast, in the very instant when he was about to seize it.
A prodigious number of bonitos followed us day and night; and it was a matter of great astonishment to us, that they were able to keep up with us so long without taking any rest.
The motteux of Buffon (motacilla amanthe, Linn.), fatigued with its long flight over the sea, lighted upon our vessel, and suffered itself to be taken.
We were becalmed for seventeen days in lat. 5° N. We afterwards had storms, followed by squalls, that varied from E.N.E. to S.S.W. having veered round by south.
The tempest-bird (procellaria pelagica, Linn.) is not so sure an indication of a storm, but that its appearance is often followed by a calm of several days duration. It was a pleasing sight to observe these little birds flying close to the stern of our vessel, in quest of their food, which they find upon the surface of the ocean.
We were mortified to find that the vegetables and fruits, which we had bought at Teneriffe, did not keep, as their corruption was greatly accelerated by the heat and moisture that prevails during the calms of this zone. We had reason to believe that as they had been gathered in a very hot and dry climate, they would have kept much better than those of Europe.
A small shark (squalus carcharias, Linn.) fell a victim to his voraciousness. As soon as they had hauled him on deck, he was immediately cut in pieces, and every one had his share. The shark however is very poor food; for besides the natural abhorrence which the flesh of an animal that devours human bodies must excite, it is very difficult of digestion: but at sea we cannot choose our dishes, and fresh provisions are always preferable to salted.
I found attached to the higher orifice of his stomach a number of worms of the genus doris of Linnæus. They were about an inch and a half in length, and did not easily let go their hold, although the shark was dead. I observed them now and then shoot out the two tentacula that belong to the characteristics of this genus.
The situation of the mouth of the shark, under his long upper jaw, obliges him to turn himself almost round upon his back in order to seize any object above him; so that his white belly, which the transparency of the sea-water renders distinguishable even at a great depth below the surface, points out to the fisherman the exact moment when he ought to draw his line, in order to fasten this voracious fish to his hook.
Nature has amply provided it with the means of securing its prey; for besides several rows of teeth formed in the manner most adapted for penetrating the hardest bodies, the internal part of the mouth is likewise furnished with various asperities that serve to prevent the egress of any substance that it has laid hold of.
Had we been trading to India, we should not have failed to collect a quantity of the fins of this fish, as they are in great request amongst the Chinese, who believe them to be a very powerful aphrodisiac.
When the air was calm the heat was extremely oppressive: the thermometer however stood no higher than 23°; although we were not more than 9° north of the equator. Our longitude was 20° 50′ east. It appears that in these parts the thermometer affords a very inadequate standard of the sensible heat of the atmosphere; for though it indicated several degrees lower than what we frequently experience in the warm summer weather of Europe; the heat threw us into a most profuse perspiration, which gave rise to very troublesome effervescences of the blood.
Between the tropics, the mercury in the barometer stands at a very uniform height. We never observed it to vary more than an inch and a half, more or less. It generally stood at 28 inches 2 lines, although the atmosphere was often agitated by violent storms, which being generated in the interior of Africa, from the coast of which we were not more than about 360,000 toises distant, were brought over to us by winds from N.E. and E.N.E.
12th. We here caught the fish known among the ichthyologists by the name of ballistes verrucosus. A great number of a small species of whales (souffleurs) swam about our ships, followed in their tardy course by sharks which fed upon their excrements.
A squall from the S.E. gave us intimation of the gales from the same quarter, that prevailed in the distant regions under the equator; though they blow there generally from the N.E. during this season, when the sun remains almost two months within the Tropic of Capricorn.
14th. A shark that had been preceded by a number of the fishes called pilots (gasterosteus ductor, Linn.), was caught by our sailors. Some remoras, that thought themselves in safety as long as they remained fixed to the body of the shark, kept their hold still for a considerable time after the fish had been brought upon deck.
As the weather was excessively hot, and the sea very tranquil, Piron and Saint-Agnan, unable to resist their desire of cooling themselves by bathing, plunged themselves a few hours afterwards into the sea, at the hazard of becoming the prey of another shark.
It had remained calm almost the whole day; but about eight in the evening the skies were covered to the south-east with thick clouds, that portended a violent storm. The night was very dark; and soon a luminous column of immense height was seen to descend from these clouds, and illumine the surface of the water. The scintillation of the sea was for some time interrupted by several intervals, during which it was quite dark; when all of a sudden the whole surface of the sea appeared covered with a sheet of fire, extending in our direction. This sheet was pushed along by a very high gale, which raised the waves to a great pitch; and we saw ourselves surrounded with a sea of flames, which afforded one of the most brilliant spectacles in nature. This phenomenon very soon disappeared; but the sea appeared during the whole night much more luminous than usual wherever it was agitated, particularly at the wake of the ship and the top of the waves.
The force of the gale had obliged us to strike our top-sails, and even to bear down, for fear of being taken a-back.
The heat had been very oppressive during the whole day. We were now sailing off the immense gulph formed by the coasts of upper Guinea, the shores of which extend almost 1,500,000 toises to the eastward.
The sea is much more phosphoric in the vicinity of the coasts situated between the tropics, than any where else, because those animals, upon which its phosphorescence depends, abound there much more than in any other part of the ocean: a fact which I have had opportunity of remarking in parts of the ocean very distant from each other. I shall enter into some investigation of this phenomenon.
As we had this gulph under our lee, the currents had carried over to us many of the luminous substances with which it abounds; but it required the concurrence of another circumstance in order to produce so vivid a light as we witnessed. The clouds that hung over the quarter from whence the wind arose, had imparted to the atmosphere a superabundance of electricity, which was one of the principal agents in producing the luminosity of the water.
The electric state of the atmosphere was proved to me by the unusual repulsion between the two balls of my electrometer.
15th. A slight breeze from the south-east led us to hope that we should soon be delivered from the calms, that prevail to a greater extent in these situations than in any other part of the ocean. These differences are particularly observable upon a voyage to India, and appear to depend chiefly upon the vicinity of the African coast, to which ships, sailing from Europe to the Cape, approach much nearer, than those which sail from the Cape to Europe: thus the former voyages generally require a longer space of time to be accomplished than the latter.
Many able seamen think it advisable to cross the Line much further to the eastward than is commonly done.
The calms which prevail northward of the equator depend upon the configuration of the African coast, which projects, at the distance of a few degrees from the Line, nearly 1,500,000 toises eastward; whilst the great distance at which one sails from the coast, after having crossed the equator, prevents the winds, generally prevalent in this part of the ocean, from being modified by the land breezes.
I had kept some bottles of the sea-water, which I had collected the night before, during its phosphorescence, for the purpose of examining the small luminous substances which occasion this phenomenon. Having inclosed some of this water in a vial, I agitated it in the dark, and presently observed luminous globules arising within it, which appeared perfectly similar to those that are seen in the agitated water of the ocean. I tried the simple experiment of separating these particles from the water, in order to learn whether it would still retain its phosphorescent quality. Upon filtrating it, by means of a piece of blotting-paper, a number of minute transparent particles, gelatinous in their consistence, and of a globular form, were left upon the filtre. The water had now entirely lost its phosphorescent quality, which I again restored to it by mixing it with those particles. If these small animalcula be exposed for any considerable time to the air, they lose their phosphorescent properties.
I have frequently repeated the same experiment upon water collected in different parts of the ocean, and have uniformly found it to contain the same sort of animalcula, which I therefore consider to be the principal cause of the phosphorescence of the sea. Other substances, however, possess likewise the property of giving this appearance to the sea; for many species of the crab, and other marine insects of considerable bulk, sometimes ascend from its bottom, and give a luminous appearance to the surface. I have seen some of these phosphoric animals of more than half a foot in length, but they were always accompanied by the small animalcula above mentioned.
We were informed to-day that they had thrown into the sea, from on board the Esperance, four of the sheep they had brought with them from Teneriffe, because some persons had imagined that they had observed upon them symptoms of that disease which our nation is accused of having imported into Europe, from America. The monks of the island from whence they had brought the sheep, had to suffer many severe sarcasms upon this occasion; though I believe them to have been destitute of foundation; for I have little doubt, that if the animals had been subjected to a more accurate examination, the crew would not have been deprived of so considerable a part of their live stock.
Breezes from the S.S.E., which began to blow on the 21st of November, we being in lat. 4° 31′ long. 18° 36′ W. at length put an end to the calms, which at this period of the year are generally experienced several degrees further to the south, before one arrives at the track of the regular winds.
The bird known among ornithologists by the name of pelecanus aquilus excited our admiration. We observed two of them who, whilst they hovered at an immense height, espied their prey in the water, expecting the moment when it should appear near enough to the surface for them to dart down and seize it.
The reason why these birds hover at such a prodigious height above the ocean, is, undoubtedly, that they may take in a more extensive view of its surface; but it is astonishing that they are able at that distance to perceive the small fishes upon which they generally feed. It is a subject well worthy to be investigated by natural philosophers, whether this piercing vision depends more upon the sensibility of the retina, or (as I rather suppose it does), upon the disposition of the humours of their eye.
The pelican is known to be a great destroyer of the flying-fish. As soon as it espies one of these fishes, it descends from the more elevated regions of the atmosphere, and remains hovering about fifty toises above the surface of the water, in order to seize its prey whenever it quits the sea. All the motions of the pelican are conducted with admirable dexterity: it does not dart head foremost, like most other birds that seek their food in the water; but placing its feet and neck horizontally and level with each other, it strikes the air above it with its pinions, and then laying them crossways upon its back, so as to afford the least possible resistance to the atmosphere, darts down upon its prey, and seizes it almost the instant it has left the water.
We all of us pitied the poor flying-fish when we observed the astonishing skill of its enemy, which very seldom misses its aim. As the flying-fish raises itself but to a very small distance from the surface of the sea, the pelican would run the risk of falling into the water, did it not possess the art of breaking its fall by suddenly expanding its wings, so as to be immediately able to mount again in quest of another victim.
Though nature has given the flying-fish the power of living both in the water and in the air, it is very difficult for them to escape from their numerous enemies. If they evade the pursuit of the bonitos and dorados, by quitting the water, the pelican awaits them in the air. Some of them, reduced to this dilemma, were obliged to light upon our vessel.
I found in the stomachs of several bonitos a number of worms, that ought to be classed among the genus fasciola of Linnæus, though their inferior extremity, which is almost cylindrical, has a very distinguishable bulb. They are about four lines in length, and terminate in a tube which composes about half their dimensions.
The winds from the south and south-east continued to blow with such obstinacy, that we were not able to cross the Line till in the night of the 28th, about eleven o'clock, in 26° E. long. though our design had been to cross it about eight or ten degrees farther eastward.
These south and south-east winds are not common in these latitudes at this time of the year; for the sun being already considerably advanced in the Tropic of Capricorn, the regular winds generally veer round to the east. The calms, in consequence of which we had got every day 6 or 8′ further northward, and the gales from the south and south-east, were the causes of our being so long detained by these winds.
Near as we were to the Equator, the thermometer, as observed for the last eight days, had not stood higher than 21 or 22°. It was a matter of surprise to us, that being so near the Line, the thermometer did not indicate a higher degree of heat; but besides general causes, such as the absorption of the rays of the sun by the water of the ocean, and the comparatively inferior density of the water, together with the evaporation that takes place from it, which prevent an equal degree of heat being communicated to the atmosphere with what it acquires from the land, we had for several days had a slight breeze which contributed not a little to cool the air.
The sailors have a custom of ducking persons who cross the Line for the first time, with the sea-water. This operation is performed by pouring several pails of water over their heads; and is frequently conducted in such a manner, as to afford a great deal of merriment to those who know themselves exempted from being the subjects of it. One of the sailors, who calls himself the Good Man of the Line, lets himself down from the main-top, with a large beard of tow fastened to his chin, and presides at this nautical diversion.
Our Commander, apprehensive that this sort of cold bathing might not agree very well with some of us, forbade its being performed upon any of the passengers.
On the 29th of November, Beaumé's aërometer for salts gave me 3° 4-5ths. We were then half a degree south of the Line.
The currents carried us somewhat eastward of our former course. The principal cause of the different currents in the wide ocean is known to arise from the action of the winds. We had every reason to expect a long passage. The Esperance, however, kept her luff much better than our vessel. We were apprehensive lest our want of water might put us under the necessity of steering for the coast of Brazil. This circumstance would have been the more embarrassing to us, as it would have deranged the whole plan of our expedition; for the investigations we intended to make in several of the countries that we were about to visit, were to be determined by the season of the year.
On the 17th of December we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, in 28° W. long.
On board the Esperance they often caught more than a hundred bonitoes in the course of a day, whilst the most dexterous fishermen in our vessel never took more than ten in the same space of time, and very seldom as many. It was however a matter of great consequence to the health of the crew, that they should be supplied with fresh provisions.
On the 18th of December we were in lat. 25° 20′ S. and long. 28° 42′ W. when the thermometer observed at noon indicated only 19° above 0, although the sun was very near our zenith: before sun-rise it had been 17½°. In the nighttime the cold had been so considerable as to oblige our sailors to take to their woollen clothes.
We had thought ourselves sure of meeting with easterly gales as we approached the Brazilian coast: they, however, blew from the east; but having drawn aft, we were enabled to keep our sails pretty full for the space of a fortnight, till we were in 28° S, lat. and 24° W. long.
We might have expected in this latitude to meet with favourable winds for steering towards the Cape of Good Hope; but all the variation that took place was still more to our disadvantage.
On the 28th of December we had still S.E. winds, though we were already beyond 29½° S. lat. The heat of the sun having been for several months at its greatest height in this hemisphere, had changed the direction of the regular winds.
The length of our passage had reduced our allowance of water to one bottle a day.
As soon as the winds had veered from N.E. to N. the currents, which bore till then to the east, became scarcely perceptible.
Though we were at so great a distance from the Cape of Good Hope, we observed a great number of albatrosses (diomedea exulans.)
It is a remarkable circumstance, that the variation of the magnetic needle is much greater to the south of the Line, than it is to the north; for between 14° N. lat. and the Equator, in the space contained between 23° and 26° W. long. the difference had not been more than 3°, or from 14° to 11°; whilst in the same extent of south latitude, between 26° and 30° W. long. the compass varied eight degrees to the east, or from 11° to 3°. Might not the vicinity of the coast of Brazil be one of the principal causes of this difference?
The smallest variation observed was that of 1° 50′, in 25° S. lat. and 29° W. long. It cannot be doubted that the change of situation with respect to longitude has a much greater influence upon the variation of the needle, than change of latitude. The variation increased sensibly in proportion as we advanced farther eastward.
One of our officers who was taking the distances between the sun and moon, in a very incommodious situation, with a copper sextant made by Dollond, the radius of which was a foot in length, discovered a cause productive of error in the calculations, which one should hardly have suspected. The radii of this instrument, though very heavy, were still so slender as to bend when it was pressed with any degree of force against the breast, whereby the parallelism of the specula was deranged. The same effect does not take place with sextants made of wood, for their radii, being much stronger than those of copper, do not yield to that degree of pressure which bends the others.
This source of error affords an additional reason why mariners ought to give the preference to the circle of reflexion, invented by Citizen Borda. The facility with which any errors that may arise from the graduation, are rectified by cross observations, in the use of this instrument, gives it a very great superiority over all others.
I regret that this valuable instrument, though so easy in its application, is not more generally in use. Each of our officers possessed one of them, and during the course of the expedition every one learnt to use it with certainty.
With a little practice an observer may take the longitude within 10, or 15,000 toises; and there is reason to believe, that when the lunar tables shall have attained a greater degree of perfection, the observations will approximate still nearer to the truth.
Though the plants which I had collected at Teneriffe were very dry when we sailed from that island, they were become much damaged by the moisture which they had imbibed, during the time that we were between the Tropics, particularly at the lower part of the leaves, where the absorbent vessels of the plant are known to abound more than in any other of its parts.
The water held in a state of solution by the atmosphere, in consequence of the heat which it acquires from the perpendicular rays of the sun, is so much greater in quantity than what it can retain in situations not exposed to an equal degree of heat, that every thing that is not exposed to the direct rays of the sun, becomes covered with a great degree of moisture; so that it is very difficult to preserve instruments of iron, or even of the most highly polished steel, from the rust.
During the whole period of time that we were sailing round the Tropics, the barometer had not stood higher than 28 inches 4 lines, nor lower than 28 inches 1 1-10th lines.
We knew very well that our provision of water could not retain its freshness in the extreme heat of this climate; but one should hardly have imagined, that whilst we had means on board of restoring its purity, they should not have been put effectually in practice, before distributing to the crew their daily allowance.
Water that is kept for a long time on board, undergoes the same sort of decomposition which takes place in stagnant pools; and this process is considerably accelerated by the influence of a hot climate. A great quantity of inflammable air is then disengaged from it; so that a person who goes into the hold where it is stowed, runs the hazard of being suffocated. This, however, is an accident that very rarely happens, as a part of the noxious vapours are discharged by the passage leading into the hold. Nevertheless, these vapours frequently give rise to nervous fevers amongst the crew, the malignity of which, is in proportion to the heat by which the decomposition of the water is effected.
As this gas, the specific gravity of which was first determined by Priestley, is considerably lighter than atmospherical air, and has likewise very little attraction for the water; it is very easily separated, so as to restore water to its former purity; nothing more being necessary than to agitate the fluid for the space of a quarter of an hour.
We had a machine on board which was perfectly adapted to this purpose. It consisted of a large bucket, about five cubic feet in capacity, which being filled to about two-thirds with water, four large flat pieces of iron were turned round in the middle of the vessel, by means of a handle and balance-wheel. By this operation the water in the bucket was violently agitated, and whilst the inflammable air, with which it had been impregnated, was disengaged, it absorbed a quantity of pure air from the atmosphere, to supply the place of that which it had lost; so that, putrid as it had been before, it soon recovered its original freshness.
This process, so easy in its execution, affords a satisfactory answer to the many enquiries that have been made concerning the means employed by mariners to render water potable, after it has lost this quality by being kept long in the ship.
It will scarcely be credited, that though we were able to purify the water according to the simple method just described, that which was distributed in the vessel often stunk nearly as much as when it was first brought out of the hold. The cause of this neglect arose from the circumstance, that the officer, who had the charge of inspecting the operation, usually committed it to one of the sailors, who, soon tired with turning the handle, delivered it out before it had become potable. It was very justly observed on board, that it would have been much better had this charge been committed to the surgeon, as the health of the crew depended so much upon its being well performed. It was nevertheless left in the hands of the officer of the watch.
On the 29th of December, the sky being very clear, the thermometer indicated 17° 8-10ths, and the barometer 28 inches 39-10ths lines; when a breeze suddenly springing up from N.N.E. brought with it a thick fog, which concealed the sun from our view for the space of a quarter of an hour. It is very remarkable that the mercury in the barometer, instead of falling in consequence of this change of weather, stood a line and a half higher than before, during the whole time that the fog continued. I dare not hazard any conjecture of my own in order to account for this phenomenon, which will appear the more astonishing to persons conversant in natural philosophy, as this circumstance ought to have diminished the elasticity of the air instead of augmenting it: besides, there was no reason to believe that the fog was occasioned by the explosion of any volcano.
On the 3d of January we enjoyed the spectacle of a lunar rainbow. This planet was encompassed, at ten o'clock in the evening, with two concentric circles, that presented all the colours of the solar rainbow in reversed order. The largest of the circles did not occupy more than five degrees in the sky.
As this phenomenon, produced by the decomposition of the rays of the moon, appeared between the planet and us, the prismatical colours naturally presented themselves in an order the reverse of what takes place in the solar rainbow; because in the latter case the spectator is situated between the rainbow and the sun. Thus the smaller circle was terminated at its interior margin by the red colour, and at its exterior by the violet; whilst the largest exhibited the red at its exterior, and the violet at its interior.
We were then in lat. 32° 42′ S. long. 7° E.
On the 7th of January we passed under the meridian of Paris, in 33° S. lat.
Having plunged the aërometer of Beaumé in the sea-water, in order to determine its specific gravity, it indicated 3° 4-5ths. I had obtained the same result from a similar experiment which I made near the Equator. Hence it appears that the saltness of the sea does not perceptibly vary in different parts of the ocean, though very distant from each other, and heated to very different degrees of temperature by the rays of the sun.
On the 9th, we began to exercise the crews of both ships in shooting at a mark. A prize of small value was the reward of those who hit an object fixed to one of the fore-sail booms. We were pleased to observe that most of our men took very good aim, though they had never been accustomed to the use of fire-arms. It was a matter of consequence, in an expedition like ours, in the course of which we might sometimes be under the necessity of defending ourselves against the attempts of the savages, that every one of our company should understand the use of such arms as we had on board.
The captain of the Esperance having ordered an half of a very fine tunny to be tied to a buoy and thrown into the water, as a present to our Commander; it did not float near enough to our vessel to enable us to take it up, when one of the sailors plunged into the sea in order to swim after it, although it was known that a shark had been caught that very morning by the crew of the Esperance; and the calmness of the weather afforded an additional ground of apprehension, lest one of our best seamen might fall a prey to another of these animals.
Notwithstanding we had already reached the thirty-third degree of south lat., being in 5° F. long., the bonitos still continued to follow us in as numerous shoals as ever; though they are seldom known to abound at so high a degree of latitude. The north winds were probably the occasion of their leaving their usual haunts.
I must do the crew of our ships the justice to remark, that if they were less skilled in fishing than the crew of the Esperance, they also laboured under certain disadvantages which the others did not. It was the business of the boatswain to furnish the sailors with lines, which ours distributed throughout the whole expedition with so much parsimony, that the sailors lost all their inclination for this occupation. The inspecting officer ought to have apprised him of the pernicious consequences resulting from this mistaken piece of economy; but he neglected to do it.
The animal known by the name of medusa velella, was induced, by the tranquil state of the sea, to rise to the surface of the water, where we observed large numbers of this species. They were precisely similar to those which I have often met with in the Mediterranean, where the sailors consider them very delicious eating.
The success of our expedition depended very much upon the ships being such as did not water; we had, however, scarcely left the roads of Brest, when we were obliged to pump the vessels. As our ship made three-fourths of an inch water every hour, we were under the necessity of pumping it twice every day. This precaution was the more indispensable, as the water had already attacked our salt provisions, the preservation of which was an object of the greatest importance on a voyage like ours. Very fortunately, that which got into the hold did not penetrate far.
The space between decks was so much lumbered, that it lasted several months before we could find out the spot where it leaked, which at last was discovered to be behind one of the knees. Upon lightening the vessel, we found that one of the tree-nails had been forgotten, and the place where it ought to have been inserted smeared over with tar. Having bolted it properly, we were enabled to keep the ship dry.
The albatrosses of the Cape of Good Hope, which began to appear in large flocks, shewed us that we were approaching to the southern extremity of Africa. We descried the land about eight o'clock in the morning of the 10th of January. Table Bay was then about 20,000 toises distant from us.
The currents, which had made us fall off so much from our course whilst we were in the track of the regular winds, having fortunately taken an opposite direction where we met with the variable ones; what we had lost to the west was very nearly made up to us by what we gained to the east, as appeared when we made the land of the Cape of Good Hope. It is evident that the tendency of the seas to preserve the level, some few irregularities proceeding from the variable winds excepted, ought to induce mariners, in the parts where these winds prevail, to bear down to the east in proportion as the general winds determine the currents to the west.
We had another indication of our being near the land in the difference of colour of the water, arising from the shallowness of its bottom.
Some seals, of the species called by Linnæus phoca pusilla, approached very near to our vessel in quest of their food amongst the large masses of fucus pyriformis, which floated upon the water. These animals often escaped from our sailors by taking several successive leaps over the water. This they perform by placing their hinder paws together, so as to resemble the broad tail of a fish, and act with considerable resistance against the surface of the water, over which they bound like a nimble quadruped over a level plain.
We fell a little to leeward of the mouth of Table Bay, which gave us hopes of coming to anchor in the course of the day. It was not, however, the most favourable weather for making the land; for the day was very rainy, and the coast often concealed by a thick fog from our view.
About seven in the evening we were between 7 and 8,000 toises from the mountain of Hout Bay, which bore E. 3° 45′ N. The foreland of the Cape bore N.N.E. The Lion's-head E. 3° N. Our soundings gave us here the depth of water at seventy toises over a bottom of coral.
The sea appeared very phosphorescent throughout the whole night which we spent off the coast. A great number of luminous specks were observable wherever the water was agitated. This phosphorescence differed in no other respect from that usually observed at sea, than in its greater intensity, proceeding from the superabundance of phosphoric globules. Such phosphoric substances abound much more in the vicinity of the land, than in the open sea at the same latitude; as I have remarked upon a former occasion.
A slight S.E. breeze enabled us in the afternoon of the following day to direct our course towards the mouth of Table Bay. As soon as it blew a little fresher, we steered with full sails towards the Pointe des Pendus, ranging very near to the coast, our depth according to the soundings being pretty uniformly about five toises.
About half an hour after five we cast anchor in a bottom of muddy grey sand, at the depth of about twenty-four feet, and distant 5,130 toises from the shore. The principal steeple in the town bore E. 38° S. The flag upon the Croupe de Lion E. 3° N. The flag at the northernmost side of the fort E. 48° N. The Island Robben N. 1° W.
We had not a single sick man on board, although the length of our passage had reduced us to a very scanty daily allowance of water; but we had endeavoured to compensate for the want of it by a copious use of various antiscorbutic remedies. A very wholesome and pleasant kind of punch, made of brandy, vinegar, sugar and water, had been daily distributed amongst our crew towards the latter end of the passage. The ships were fumigated every day, and we were very careful that the sailors should change their clothes whenever they had got wet. It was a satisfaction to us to find that these precautions had not been taken in vain.
