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APPENDIX. 
NAUTICAL REMARKS. 
PASSAGE FROM TENEUIFFE TO RIO JANEIRO, 
June 5 to July 11. 
In June, 1825, His Majesty’s ships Wellesley and Bramble sailed from Santa Cruz for 
Rio Janeiro, and three days afterwards the Blossom departed for the same place. About the 
same time the packet, the Hellespont, and another merchant vessel made the passage from Eng- 
land. The Bramble crossed the equator in 18'' W., theWellesley in 25° W., the packet in 29^° 
W., the Blossom in 30" W., the Hellespont in 32" W., and the merchant brig, of which I shall 
speak presently, in 39" W. The Hellespont, which sailed indifferently, was forty-six days, 
the packet forty-six days, the Blossom thirty-six, the Wellesley forty-five, and the Bramble 
forty-eight days. Thus, making a reasonable allowance for the distance between England 
and Teneriffe, the Hellespont made the best passage, the packet and Blossom next, the 
Wellesley next, and the Bramble the worst ; by which it appears that in proportion as the 
vessels were to the westward the passages were shortened. The merchant brig, however, 
was too far to the westward, as she could not weather Cape St. Roque, and, like the King 
George, Indiaman, she was obliged to stand back to the variable winds to regain her easting, 
so that her passage occupied a hundred and ten days ! 
This passage is so frequently made, that remarks upon it might be thought almost super- 
fluous ; but I am not disposed to undervalue this sort of information, which is in general too 
much neglected. There is no doubt that the route from England to Rio Janeiro ought to be 
varied according to the time of the year; for even in the Atlantic the trade-winds are affected 
by monsoons, and it is only by a long series of observations that we can ascertain at what 
time of the year it is advisable to cross the equator in any particular longitude. The 
journals of the packets for one year wmuld afford valuable information on this subject. In 
the passage of the Blossom we carried the N. E. trade from Teneriffe to 8° N., and met the 
S. E. wind in 5“ 30' N. and 25" 50' W., which carried us to Cape Frio. The trades were 
steady, and in the northern hemisphere fresh. 
From the time of leaving Teneriffe until we lost the N. E. trade, the current set S. 54° 
W. 115 miles in ten days, or at the rate of 11^ miles per day. With the change of wind 
occurred an immediate alteration in the direction of the current, and the next twenty-four 
hours we were set N. 86" E. twenty-three miles. The meeting of the currents was marked 
by a rippling of the water, which could be seen at a considerable distance. The four suc- 
ceeding days the current ran between S. 45" E. and S. 89° E. at the average rate of thirteen 
miles per day. During this time we changed our position from 7° 2V N. latitude, and 
longitude 26" 58' W. to 3" 56' N., and 26" 44' W., and had had the S. E. trade one day. 
We now got into a strong N. W. current, which ran between N. 58" W. and N. 72° W. at 
an average rate of twenty-two and a half miles per day, until we made Fernando Noronha. 
From Fernando Noronha the current changed its direction, and ran between S. 78" W. 
and S. 21° W. at an average of twenty-seven miles per day, until a hundred miles due 
E. of CapeLedo. We stood on to the southward; and as we neared the land about Cape 
