NAUTICAL REMARKS. 
631 
Having reached the meridian of82“ W., there appears to be no difficulty in making the 
remainder of the passage to Conception or Valparaiso. In high latitudes the prevailing winds 
are from W. N. W. to S. W., which are, at worst, leading winds. In latitude 44° 16' S. and 
longitude 78“ 36' W . we got S. E. winds which, with a few hours’ intermission of wind from 
N. E. by E., brought us to Conception on the tenth day from that on which we considered 
ourselves fairly round the Horn. Some officers are of opinion that near the coast of Chiloe 
moderate weather and southerly winds are more prevalent than in the offing, which I think 
highly probable ; and if, after reaching the 81 st meridian, the winds came from N. W., I should 
certainly prefer the in-shore track to stretching again to the S. W. 
With regard to the best time of the year for rounding Cape Horn, there is a great dif- 
ference of opinion, as in the same months both good and bad passages have been made ; 
but I should certainly not select the winter time if I had my choice. Independent of the 
cold, which, during gales of wind, is severely felt by a ship’s company necessarily wet and 
exposed, and the probability of meeting with floating islands of ice, surely the long nights, 
as Captain Hall has justly observed, must augment in a serious degree the difficulties of the 
navigation. 
From the passage of the Blossom, a preference might be given to the month of Septem- 
ber; but in the very same month Captain Falcon in the Tyne had a very long and boisterous 
passage. I concur in opinion with Cook, Perouse, Krusenstern, and others, in tliinking there 
is no necessity whatever for going far to the southward, and I should recommend always 
standing on that tack which gained most longitude, wdthout paying any regard to latitude, 
further than taking care to keep south (say a degree) of Cape Horn. With a N. W. wind I 
would stand S. W., and with a S. W. wind N. W., and so on. If there was a doubt, I should 
give the preference to the southern tack, unless far advanced in that direction. We did not 
find the strongest winds near the land, but on the contrary; and I am of opinion that here, as 
is the case in many other places, they do not blow home, and that within thirty miles of the 
land the sea is partly broken by the inequality of the bottom. There is, however, great ob- 
jection to nearing the land eastward of Cape Horn, in consequence of the velocity with which 
the current sets through Strait Le Maire, particularly with a southerly wind. This does not 
obtain to the westward of Diego Ramiren, in which direction I see no objection to approach- 
ing the coast within forty or sixty miles. Cook ranged this shore very close in December, 
and on more than one occasion found the current setting off shore, and at other times slowly 
along it to the S. E. 
In the first part of this passage the currents ran to the N. W., but after passing the 
latitude of 40° S. they set to the eastward ; and when we arrived off Cape Horn the ship was 
S. 40“ E. 116 miles of her reckoning. 
While we were in the neighbourhood of Diego Ramirez there was little or no current, 
but to the M^estward it ran to the W. N. W. It however soon after changed, and on our 
arrival off Conception the whole amount of current was N. 49“ E. 147 miles. In rounding 
Terra del Fuego with a southerly wind full four points must be allowed for variation and cur- 
rent. For in this high latitude there will, in most ships, be found ten or twelve degrees more 
variation with the head west than east ; and though the true variation be but 24“ E., at least 
29“ or 30“ must be allowed going westward. 
