52 



CAPE HORN. 



from south, and blew with violence all that day. 

 This gale was followed by fresh south-west by west 

 winds, which came round to N. W., and then to 

 S. S. W. again, as far as latitude 46° south, and Ion- 

 gitude 90° west, when the wind hung for three days 

 from the southward. From ^OJ"" south, and 

 west, to 55"^ south, and 78° west, we had fresh 

 N. N. E., N. N. W., and N. W. winds. Just as we 

 were about to haul up to round the Cape on the 

 12th of August, the wind came from N. E. (by com- 

 pass, or about E, N. E. true,) which obliged us to go 

 as far as 57^° south, before the wind shifted to west 

 and north-west. We passed out of sight of Cape 

 Horn on the night of the I4jth of August, just two 

 months from San Bias, strictly 60J days, the navi- 

 gable distance being six thousand miles. From the 

 meridian of Cape Horn, to that of the Falkland 

 Islands, we retained the N. W., and latterly the S. W. 

 winds. It then fell calm, after which we had S. E. 

 and S. S. E. breezes, with snow showers, (the first 

 we had seen,) nearly as far as latitude 40° south. 

 In the Pacific, between 50° and 55°, we had hard 

 breezes, with rain, and a considerable sea, but not 

 such as to prevent our scudding with ease. During 

 all the passage off the Cape, we had fine weather. 



