510 PASSAGES OVER THE ATLANTIC. 



miles to the Northward of it, until I crossed the meridian of 12° W. Id 

 the above runs I have occasionally, but rarely, found slight differences tc 

 the Southward. When to the Southward of the Equator, abreast of the 

 Bight of Benin, I have always found a current running at least three- 

 quarters of a mile an hour to the Northward. 



Bv Commander W. B. Oliver, R.N. 



Conceiving that a shorter passage by a sailing ship from the Bights, oi 

 Prince's Island, to Sierra Leone, than that made by proceeding to the 

 Southward of the Line, might be made by keeping to the Northward, I 

 determined to ascertain the fact ; and though each time accompanied and 

 retarded by a prize, made three unusually short passages, viz. — one from 

 the River Bonny, anchoring at Prince's, and landing prisoners at St. 

 Thomas's in eighteen days, the other two 13 days each from Prince's 

 Island to Sierra Leone ; and, on returning to England in H.M. schooner, 

 unaccompanied by a prize ; 39 days having been the shortest of three 

 prizes I sent up under the old directions from Benin and the Gaboon. I 

 issued different directions to prize-masters ; and, although not acted on, 

 in absence from myself, I feel assured they would have proved, as they did 

 in my company, an improvement on the old one ; a copy of which direc- 

 tions is as follows : — 



Your first object will be to get to the Southward, unless you can make 

 a West course {true) without any Northing ; nor should you go to the port 

 tack unless you can do so, or to avoid the land. Should the wind hang so 

 much to the Westward as to prevent making a good course on the port 

 tack, pass to the Eastward of Prince's or St. Thomas, or both, as you will 

 sooner get out of the strong Easterly current, but do not approach the land 

 within 20 fathoms, day or night, and get frequent casts of the lead. 



When to the Westward of St. Thomas, and on or near the Line, steer 

 W. h N., or W. by N.; according as your noon sights give you a Northerly 

 set or not, until in the longitude of Cape Palmas, 7° 45' W. ; when steer, 

 in the rainy season (May to September), about N.W. by N.; in the other 

 months, N.W. ; until in 13f° W., the longitude of the Western limit of 

 St. Anne Shoals ; you may then make a true North course, sounding every 

 5 miles by night, or in thick weather, and every 10 miles by day, from 

 6° N. to 8' N. If you reach the latter without striking soundings, it will 

 prove that you have passed to the Westward of St. Anne Shoals ; when 

 keep away E. by N., and you will make the high land of Sierra Leone ; if 

 by night, anchor on reaching 12 fathoms. 



These instructions can only be acted on in a general way, as of course 

 much depends on winds and currents ; but I wish them to have full 

 weight with any ofl&cer detached in a prize ; and remember, the land about 

 Sierra Leone should always be made to the Southward of the cape. 



