APPENDIX, No. I. 



71 



of wind from North. This lasted with little inter- 

 mission till six in the morning of the 26th, or 

 about thirty hours. There was during all the time 

 an uncommonly high short sea, which made the 

 ship extremely uneasy. The barometer fell from 

 29,94 to 29,81, between noon and four p.m., but 

 rose again as the gale freshened — the sympieso- 

 meter fell twelve hundredths. This gale drove us 

 to the South-west by South about one hundred and 

 forty miles. A fine fresh breeze succeeded from 

 N.N.E., which carried us on one hundred and 

 twenty miles towards Acapulco, and left us in 

 longitude 97|° West, and latitude 15° North, on 

 the 27th. This was the last fair wind we had on 

 the coast ; all the rest of our passage, as far as 

 San Bias, being made by dead beating. The dis- 

 tance from Acapulco was now less than one hun- 

 dred and eighty miles, but it cost us eight days' 

 hard work to reach it, principally owing to a steady 

 drain of lee-current running East by South at the 

 following daily rates, viz. thirteen, sixteen, twenty- 

 seven, thirty-seven, twenty-five, ten, nine, seven, 

 and nine miles. The winds were, meanwhile, 

 from N.W. to N.N.W., with an occasional spurt 

 from South-East and South, and several calms. 

 We had not yet learned the most effectual method 

 of taking advantage of the small variation between 

 the day and night winds. 



NO. XIV. 



ACAPULCO TO SAN BLAS. 



12th to 28th of March 1822. 



(16 Bays.) 



This passage was considered good for the month 

 of March ; but in the latter days of December, 

 and first of January, an English merchant-ship 

 made it in ten days, having a fair wind off shore 

 nearly all the day. A merchant-brig, which 

 passed Acapulco on the fith of February, at the 

 distance of 150 miles, was a fortnight in reach- 

 ing Cape Corrientes, and nearly three weeks 

 afterwards getting from thence to San Bias, a 

 distance of only seventy miles. There is, how- 

 ever, reason to believe that this vessel was badly 

 handled . 



It would be useless to give any more detailed 

 account of this passage than will be seen in the 

 preceding remarks, (No. XII.) We generally 

 got the sea-breeze about noon, with which we laid 

 up for a short time W.N.W., and then broke off 

 to N.W. ; and so to the northward, towards the 

 end of the breeze, as we approached the coast. 

 We generally stood in within a couple of miles, 

 and sometimes nearer, and sounded in from fifteen 

 to twenty-five fathoms. If the breeze continued 

 after sunset, we made short tacks, in order to 

 preserve our vicinity to the land, to be ready for 

 the night-wind. With this we generally lay off 

 S.W., sometimes W.S.W. and West, but only for 

 a short time. After passing latitude 18°, the coast 

 trended more to the northward, and a much longer 

 leg was made on the larboard-tack, before we 

 were obliged to go about. As we approached 

 Cape Corrientes, in latitude 20°, the land-winds 

 became more northerly, and the sea-breezes more 

 westerly ; so that, as the coast also trended off 



to the northward, a more rapid advance was 

 made. 



On passing Cape Corrientes, the Tres Marias 

 Islands came in sight ; and if they be passed to 

 the south-eastward, at the distance of eight or ten 

 leagues, and a N.N.E. course steered, Piedra 

 Blanca de Mar, off San Bias, will be readily got 

 sight of. This is a round, bold, white rock, in 

 latitude 21° 34f North, and longitude 10.5° 32^ 

 West, and being one hundred and thirty feet high, 

 forms an excellent land-mark. It lies exactly 

 eleven and three-quarters of a mile nearly due 

 west from the harbour of San Bias, which is 

 pointed out by another white rock, bearing south, 

 82° East from the former. Close round this last 

 rock, called Piedra de Tierra, on the eastern side, 

 lies the anchorage. The coast between Cape 

 Corrientes and San Bias is full of deep and dan- 

 gerous rocky bights. It is little known, and ought 

 not to be approached. Care should also be taken, 

 in the night-time, to keep clear of a small cluster 

 of low rocks, which lie twenty-two miles to the 

 N.N.W. of Cape Corrientes. We made them in 

 latitude 20° 43' North, and longitude 105° 51' 4" 

 West. Vancouver places them in latitude 20° 45' 

 North ; longitude 105° 46' 55" West ; an agree- 

 ment sufficiently near. Our difference of longi- 

 tude was ascertained by chronometers next day 

 from San Bias, where the longitude was after- 

 wards determined by an occultation of a fixed 

 star. 



Cape Corrientes lies in latitude 20° 24^ North ; 

 longitude 105° 42' 26" West, or 22' 59" West from 

 San Bias. 



During our stay at San Bias, from the 28th of 

 March to the loth of June, we had light land- 

 winds every night, and a moderately fresh breeze 

 from West every day, with the thermometer always 

 above 80°. 



Towards the end of the period, the sky, which 

 had been heretofore clear, became overcast ; the 

 weather lost its former serene character, becoming 

 dark and unsettled ; and on the 1st of June, the 

 periodical rains set in with great violence, accom- 

 panied by thunder and lightning, and fresh winds 

 from due south. This was nearly a fortnight 

 earlier than the average period. The heat and 

 closeness of the weather increased greatly after 

 the rains set in ; but although our men were 

 much exposed, no sickness ensued, excepting a 

 few cases of highly inflammatory fever. The 

 town was almost completely deserted when we 

 came away ; the inhabitants having, as usual, fled 

 to Tepic, and other inland towns, to avoid the 

 discomfort and sickness which accompany the 

 rains. 



As soon as the rains subside, in the latter end 

 of October, or beginning of November, the people 

 return, although that is the period described as 

 being most unhealthy, when the ground is still 

 moist, and the heat of the sun not materially 

 abated. 



