16 



Porter s Voyage 



And now we began to hope for better times, for the sky be- 

 came serene, and we were enabled to make sail ; the wind shifted 

 to the southwest, and brought with it the only pleasant weather 

 we had experienced since we passed the Falkland Islands. Here 

 again we were deceived, for, before niglit it began to blow in 

 heavy squalls, with cold rain, and reduced us to close-reefed fore 

 and main topsails, and reefed foresail. But,, as the wind was fair, 

 we consoled ourselves with the pleasing reflection that we were 

 every moment receding farther from the influence of the dreary 

 and inhospitable climate of Cape Horn. On the 5th of May, 

 having passed the parallel of Chili, our sufferings appeared at 

 an end, for we enjoyed pleasant and temperate weather, with 

 flne breezes from the southward : and, for the first time during 

 our passage, were enabled to knock out our dead-lights, and 

 open our gun-deck ports. The repairs of our damages went on 

 rapidly, and by night the ship was in every respect, excepting 

 wear and tear, as well prepared for active service as the day we 

 left St. Catharines. Our latitude at meridian was 39*^ 20' south ; 

 and we had a distant view of part of the Andes, which ap- 

 peared covered with snow. Albatrosses were as usual about the 

 ship; several fish, by sailors denominated sun-fish, were seen; 

 and we frequently passed a white and apparently gelatinous sub- 

 stance, which we had not an opportunity of examining. There 

 was every prospect of a speedy arrival in some port on the coast 

 of Chili ; and I directed the cables to be oent, using every 

 means in our power to guard them from the effects of rocky 

 bottom. 



But before I proceed farther, I shall take this opportunity 

 of offering some hints to those who may succeed me in attempting 

 the passage around Cape Horn. This I feel myself the more 

 authorized to do, as we have effected it in, perhaps, a shorter 

 time, with less damage, and labouring under more disadvantages, 

 than any others who ever attempted it; and that too at an 

 unfavourable season of the year, against a constant succession of 

 obstinate and violent gales of wind. And I am the more strongly 

 induced to offer these hints, conceiving it to be of the utmost 

 importance to give any information derived from experience, 

 which may tend to enable navigators to overcome the obstacles 

 which nature seems designedly to have placed, to deter mankind 

 from all attempts to penetrate from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 ocean. As various opinions have been given on the subject, my 

 advice may differ from that of others in several points : but as 

 my measures have proved successful in the end, and as my 

 opinion is not founded on mere conjecture and hypothesis, it 

 is to be presumed that it may deserve the attention of seamen, 

 for whom alone it is intended. 



