1770. ROUND THE WOULD. 137 



harbour, and by this time it began to blow. It was 

 happy for us that a place of refuge was at hand ; for 

 we soon found that the ship would not work, having 

 twice missed stays : our situation, however, though 

 it might have been much worse, was not without 

 danger; we were entangled among shoals, and I 

 had great reason to fear being driven to leeward, 

 before the boats could place themselves so as to 

 prescribe our course. J therefore anchored in four 

 fathom, about a mile from the shore, and then made 

 the signal for the boats to come on board. When 

 this was done, I went myself and buoyed the channel, 

 which I found very narrow 5 the harbour also I found 

 smaller than I expected, but most excellently adapt- 

 ed to our purpose ; and it is remarkable, that in the 

 whole course of our voyage we had seen no place 

 which, in our present circumstances, could have 

 afforded us the same relief. At noon, our latitude 

 was 15 26' S. During all the rest of this day, and 

 the whole night, it blew too fresh for us to venture 

 from our anchor and run into the harbour ; and for 

 our farther security, we got down the top-gallant 

 yards, unbent the mainsail and some of the small 

 sails ; got down the fore-top-gallant mast, and the 

 gib-boom, and sprit-sail, with a view to lighten the 

 ship forwards as much as possible, in order to come 

 at her leak, which we supposed to be somewhere in 

 that part ; for in all the joy of our unexpected de- 

 . liverance, we had not forgot that at this time there 

 was nothing but a lock of wool between us and de- 

 struction. The gale continuing, we kept our station 

 all the 15th. On the 16th, it was somewhat more 

 moderate ; and about six o'clock in the morning, 

 we hove the cable short, with a design to get under 

 sail, but were obliged to desist, and veer it out again. 

 It is remarkable that the sea-breeze, which blew fresh 

 when we anchored, continued to do so almost every 

 day while we stayed here ; it was calm only while 

 we were upon the rock, except once ; and even the 



