270 



PORT ROYAL. 



the officers who came ashore. Soon after^ Cap- 

 tain Maxwell arrived in his gig^ and very kindly 

 offered me a passage and a berth in the Gannet 

 to Jamaica. 



We sailed in the evenings but were becalmed 

 soon after^ and remained until the following 

 day in sight of the coast near Portobello^ 

 which I could distinguish with a glass. The 

 trade-wind blows so constantly^ and the cur- 

 rent is in consequence so strong towards the 

 Gulf of Mexico, that we were forced almost to 

 make Carthagena before we stretched across. 

 It then blew fresh for five days, and our progress 

 was rapid and direct, having only to tack once 

 to avoid the Pedro shoals, which are exactly in 

 the very worst position for the navigation to 

 Jamaica, from Chagres and Carthagena. 



I had been so accustomed to quiet waters, 

 that I suffered as usual from sea-sickness 

 during this rough trip, but, on the sixth day we 

 laid to in the evening, under the high coast of 

 Jamaica. The mountains, which we had seen 

 the day before seventy miles distant, present, 

 on approaching the coast, a fine outline to the 



