384 APPENDIX. 



NAUTICAL REMARKS. 



PASSAGE FROM TENERIFFE TO RIO JANEIRO. 



June 5 to July 11. 



In June, 1825, His Majesty's ships Wellesley and Bramble 

 sailed from Santa Cruz for Rio Janeiro, and three days after- 

 wards the Blossom departed for the same place. About the 

 same time the packet, the Hellespont, and another merchant 

 vessel made the passage from England. The Bramble crossed 

 the equator in 18o W., the Wellesley in 25^ W., the packet 

 in 29io W., the Blossom in 30o W., the Hellespont in 32o 

 W., and the merchant brig, of which I shall speak presently, 

 in 390 W. The Hellespont, which sailed indifferently, was 

 forty-six days, the packet forty-six days, the Blossom thirty- 

 six, the Wellesley forty-five, and the Bramble forty-eight 

 days. Thus, making a reasonable allowance for the difference 

 between England and TeneriflPe, the Hellespont made the 

 best passage, the packet and Blossom next, the Wellesley next, 

 and the Bramble the worst; by which it appears that in pro- 

 portion as the vessels were to the westward the passages were 

 shortened. The merchant brig, however, was too far to the 

 westward, as she could not weather Cape St. Roque, and, like 

 the King George, Indiaman, she was obliged to stand back to 

 the variable winds to regain her easting, so that her passage 

 occupied a hundred and ten days ! 



This passage is so frequently made, that remarks upon it 

 might be thought almost superfluous ; but I am not disposed 

 to undervalue this sort of information, which is in general too 

 much neglected. There is no doubt that the route from Eng- 

 land to Rio Janeiro ought to be varied according to the time 

 of the year; for even in the Atlantic the trade-winds are 

 affected by monsoons, and it is only by a long series of obser- 

 vations that we can ascertain at what time of the j'ear it is ad- 

 visable to cross the equator in any particular longitude. The 



