APPENDIX. 135 



tain that a different variation will be found on 

 every point of the compass the ship's head is put 

 on. The greatest will be found when the ship's 

 head is at West, gradually declining till it comes 

 to East. 



" The Princess Carolina, as well as Sybyll, ex- 

 perienced the same currents as the masters of the 

 Greenland ships supposed to exist ; for when we 

 made Shetland, by Arnold's chronometer, No. 1981, 

 to a mile, our dead reckonings were nearly 6° to the 

 westward in both ships ; and when we made the 

 North Cape by the same chronometer, (which was 

 under my own care,) the longitude in both ships r by 

 account, was 4° to the westward also. The one er- 

 ror was occasioned by not allowing a sufficient quan- 

 tity of variation in running to the south-west, and 

 the other by allowing too much in running to the 

 north-east. 



" I do not know whether the same observations 

 may hold good when applied to ships coming from 

 the Baltic ; but should they do so, they must ef- 

 fectually account for ships getting down on the 

 coast of Holland, when they suppose themselves 

 well over in Mid-channel. Perhaps this may, in 

 some measure, serve to account for the loss of so 

 many of our brave tars when coming from that 

 sea. 



