porter's journai.. 



however, escaped any injury of importance, except the 

 loss of our spritsail-yard, which was carried away by a 

 heavy sea, that filled the fore-topmast staysail, and carried 

 away the bees of the bowsprit. On the 18th, as I before 

 observed, we were in the latitude of 60° 7' south, and lon- 

 gitude of 76° 20' west ; and this I considered sufficiently to 

 the westward, to enable us, on a change of wind, which we 

 anxiously looked for, to weather the coast of Terra del 

 Fuego. The movement of every passing cloud was anx- 

 iously watched, every appearance of the heavens carefully 

 noted, and our chief employment was comparing the wea- 

 ther we had experienced, and present appearances, with 

 the accounts of those who had preceded us. 



The eclipse of the moon, on the 14th, had prepared us 

 to meet with bad weather ; and we felt much gratified to 

 believe it all over, the weather having now become some- 

 what moderate. As we were as far to the west as Cook 

 on his first voyage, and nearly as far as La Perouse, when 

 they stood to the northward ; and as we had run this dis- 

 tance from the Streights of Le Maire, in as short a time as 

 it had ever been done by any ship, we were willing to be- 

 lieve ourselves the favourite children of fortune ; for the 

 weather we had yet met had not been so severe as some 

 we had encountered on the coast of North America, during 

 our last cruise, and fell far short of the descriptions given 

 by the author of lord Anson's voyage. On the afternoon 

 of the 1 8th, a gale came on from the westward, which, for 

 its violence, equalled any described by that historian. 

 But, as my experience had already taught me, that mode- 

 rate weather was not to be expected in this part of the 

 world, at this season of the year, I determined to carry ail 

 the sail in my power, to endeavour to get to the northward 

 as fast as possible ; and with much difficulty, and great 

 risk of splitting the sail, succeeded in getting the close- 

 reefed main-topsail set. With this, and the fore, main, 

 and mizzen storm-staysails we were enabled to force the 

 ship about two knots, through a tremendous head sea, which 

 threatened every moment destruction to our bowsprit and 

 masts. The gale, however, increasing, we were soon re- 

 duced to the main storm-staysail, and from that to bare 

 poles. About 12 o'clock, the wind hauled around to the 

 southwest, and blew in dreadful squalls, accompanied with 



