32 
A VOYAGE TO 
[From Madeira. 
i soi. therefore judged it advisable to alter the plan of keeping within 
September. . & 
Friday n. seven points of the wind, and to go with it upon the beam ; and also 
to put in practice every means of lightening the upper works, for they 
seemed to be very inadequate to support the weight with which they 
had been unavoidably loaded. Two eighteen-pound carronades, 
stern chacers, were taken off the upper deck and struck into the hold ; 
the spare rudder, and a variety of other things which a want of 
room had obliged us to stow in the main and mizen channels, were 
taken within board ; and every exterior weight concentrated as much 
as possible. After this was done, the tremulous motion caused by 
every blow of the sea, exciting a sensation as if the timbers of the 
ship were elastic, was considerably diminished ; and the quantity of 
water admitted by the leaks was also somewhat reduced. 
Sunday 13. On the 13th, in latitude 4 0 44' south and longitude 23 0 17' west, 
a swallow, a gannet, and two sheerwaters were seen ; and from six 
to eight in the evening, the officer of the watch and myself thought 
the water to be much smoother than before, or than it was after- 
ward. Had it been in an unknown sea, I should have been per- 
suaded that some island, or shoal, lay at no great distance to the 
south-eastward of our situation at that time. 
The trade wind continued, with some little variety in its di- 
Sunday 20. rection, to blow fresh until the 20th, when it became light, and some- 
times calm. We were then approaching the small island Trinidad. 
Many gannets were seen at twenty-four leagues off, but none at a 
Wednes, 23. greater distance. On the 23rd, the island was in sight ; and at noon, 
when our latitude was 20 0 l' south, and longitude 29 0 13' west, a 
peaked hummock near the eastern extremity bore S. 25 0 W., nine 
or ten leagues. The western extremity bore S. 29 0 W., and at first 
appeared to be a bluff head ; but it afterwards assumed the form of a 
conical rock, and was, in all probability, the Nine Pin of captain 
D'Auvergne's chart. One of the rocks called Martin Vas, was 
visible from the main top, and angled 49° 43' to the left of the 
peaked hummock ; its bearing was consequently very near S. 25 0 E. 
Mons. de la Perouse, who sent a boat on shore to Trinidad, lays 
