Contrary Winds and Currents. 47 



terrancan, which did not seem disposed to part with us. There 

 was no improvement next day, and at sunset we were exactly 

 twenty-five miles east from the point we had occupied the 

 preceding day. The clouds passed from West to East across 

 the moon, and in the night from the 31st of May to the 

 1st of June the westerly wind became so fresh that w^e had 

 even to reef the sails. 



Current, wind, sea, everything was against us ; even tacking 

 was of no service, as we lost ground visibly with each tack. 

 When at last all hope of making the West had disappeared, 

 we anchored, like many others of our companions in sorrow, 

 on the 1st June, at 6 p.m., in the Bay of Frangerola, fifteen 

 miles north of Malaga. 



Here were anchored nearly sixty merchantmen, all wind- 

 bound. Behind the Punta Molinos, near Malaga, there must 

 have been quite as many more. Fresh additions were con- 

 stantly being mnde to the already considerable fleet, which had 

 involuntarily collected together, whilst those merchantmen 

 which with fruitless obstinacy kept on tacking about us, 

 were getting more and more out of their course, as with every 

 successive hour their position was changed for the worse. 



In the hope of a favourable wind we were all a-taunto on the 

 2nd June, perfectly prepared for a start. Under these circum- 

 stances no one could go on shore, but an ofiicer was de- 

 spatched in a boat to make inquiries as to whether there 

 were any sanitary board in the neighbouring village. A 

 relative of the President of the Junta de la Sanidad came 



