384 POPULAR LECTURES AND ADDRESSES. 



sailed, and the point of it which had been reached, 

 with only a verification by a noon latitude. At 

 6 o'clock next morning, by the soundings and 

 course, with proper allowance for the flood-tide, I 

 must have been about thirteen miles magnetic 

 south of the Start, but nothing of the land was to 

 be seen through the haze and rain ; and with the 

 assistance of about ten more casts of the lead (by 

 which I was saved from passing south of St. 

 Catherine's) I made the Needles Lighthouse right 

 ahead, at a distance of about three miles, at 2 P.M., 

 having had just a glimpse of the high cliffs east of 

 Portland, but no other sight of land since leaving 

 Madeira and Porto Santo. In the course of the 288 

 miles from the point where I struck the 100 fathom 

 line, to the Needles, I took about thirty casts in 

 depths of from 100 fathoms to 19 fathoms without 

 once rounding-to or reducing speed. During some 

 of the casts the speed was ten knots,, and the 

 average rate of the last 220 miles was a little over 

 nine knots. The accompanying chart is copied 

 with reduction of five to one from the working 

 chart (Admiralty chart of the English Channel, 

 1598) which I used for the last two days of the 

 voyage. It shows only two changes of direction 

 one made at 5 A.M. on August /th, to make sure of 

 not getting too close in by the Start as the weather 

 was very thick ; and the other at noon of August 

 7th, to get into 15 fathoms to make the Needles. 

 The places of all the casts are show r n, and the 



