6 A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY 
as completed our stock of that necessary article for 
some months, so that we are now perfectly ready to 
take our departure. 
Tuesday, 11th.— The anxious moment of the 
actual commencement of our voyage at length 
arrived ; for, at ten o’clock this forenoon we weighed 
and made sail with a fine breeze from the westward, 
which enabled us, before dark, to get clear of that 
intricate passage the Swir, and the different shoals 
with which this part of the coast abounds. 
We commenced our meteorological register to-day 
at noon: the temperature of the air in the shade was 
at that time 62° ; that of sea-water at the surface 57°, 
and the height of the barometer 30.19 inches. The 
specific gravity of the sea-water is intended to be 
taken also every day at noon; but it would be use- 
less to take it to-day, as it would undoubtedly be 
affected by the fresh water from the Thames, and 
the numerous smaller streams that discharge their 
contents into the sea about this place. The temper- 
ature of the air and water, as above stated, is to be 
taken every two hours, both day and night, and the 
height of the barometer four times a day ; viz. at six 
o’clock in the morning, noon, six in the afternoon, 
and midnight. ‘The direction of the wind, and state 
of the weather, are also to be noted at the time of 
registering the above observations, together with any 
other phenomena connected with meteorology that 
may occur. 
Wednesday, 12th. — We have been enabled within 
these two days to judge of the comparative merits, 
in point of sailing, of the two ships (before the 
wind), with a degree of certainty that puts the 
matter completely beyond doubt ; the disparity, in- 
