PORTER^S JOURNAL 



JHAPTER XL 



PASSAGE TO WASHINGTON ISLANDS. 



After leaving the Gailapagoes, it was my intentiou to 

 have run to the westward, keeping on or in the neighbour- 

 hood of the equator, to endeavour to fall in with a group 

 of islands said to have been discovered by the Spaniards, 

 and laid down in some charts. But, on reflection, 1 deter- 

 mined to make the best of my way for the Washington 

 Islands, as this pursuit would have cost some expense of 

 time, an expense I had no right to enter into, as the object 

 of government in sending me to sea, was to annoy the 

 enemy, and not to make discoveries ; and should any acci- 

 dent happen to the ship in consequence of taking that 

 route, I knew not how I should be able to justify my con- 

 duct in wandering from the direct course to the place of 

 our destination. I had no doubt of the existence of the 

 islands in question, having been informed by some of my 

 prisoners that they had conversed with persons who had 

 seen them ; but their correct situation, or resources, were 

 unknown to them. 1 determined, however, to keep well 

 to the northward, before I fell in with the latitude of the 

 Marquesas, with the hope of making some new disco- 

 veries, and therefore shaped my course on the most direct 

 line for them. But finding the weather unpleasant, ac- 

 companied by a heavy and disagreeable cross sea, I in a 

 few days kept more to the southward, until I reached the 

 latitude of 9° south, then shaped my course due w^est, 

 allowing for the variation of the compass. 



On the 6th October, finding that some of my prizes ocr 

 casioned considerable delay, I determined to despatch the 

 Essex Junior for the Marquesas. My reasons far so doing 



VOL. II, 1 



