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Oct* 15 to 18* 
Urey Liei&nsky* 
Voyage Round the World 
In the ship Neva* 
London 1814* pp* 250*256* 
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1805 
Oot* 15* 
The light airs continued till the 15th* when they were succeeded by 
a moderate breeze* but still from the westward* At ten I took some 
lunar distances, and found the longitude at noon to be 173° 23' west* 
and the latitude 26° 43* north* 
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Oct, 16, 
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Though we had been for some time past visited by various birds and 
fish* wo have never witnessed so great a number as on this day* The 
ship was surrounded by porpoises* benit&s* pilot-fish* tropic birds* 
frigates* and ganets* One of the genets alighted on our jib-boom, 
and was so tame that a sailor by olimbing up had nearly caught it* 
From seeing so immense a quantity of birds and fish* my attention was 
roused* especially as Mr* de la Perouss had also observed near this 
place many sighs which he thought would lead to a discovery of land* 
I accordingly desired my people to b e on the watch* and remained on deck 
myself the whole of the day* We however, peroeived nothing! but at 
ten o*olook in the evening our courage was put to a most severe trial* 
1 had given to the lieutenant of the watoh my orders for the night* 
and was retiring to my oabin* when the vessel received a violent shock* 
I instantly put the helm a-lee and t> eked* but it was to no purpose) 
before the ship came round to the wi d* she grounded* All hands were 
summoned upon deck and set to work) * id upon sounding* we found that 
we had touched on a coral bank* 1 n sr ordered the guns and the 
heaviest articles that had been stow d on the booms* to be thrown 
overboard) but with suoh precaution* that they might be recovered* 
should circumstances admit* The shl] being thus lightened* we suc¬ 
ceeded by day-light in getting her into deep water) when w® preceived* 
at the distance of about a mile* a small low island to the west-north¬ 
west* and to south by west some high rooks that were beaten upon by a 
most tremendous surf* though the sea around was as smooth as, glass* 
Notwithstanding our perilous situation* this sight greatly pleased us* 
and the orew all exerted thsmaelves with alacrity* We were hardly how¬ 
ever afloat* waiting for the ship*a master* who had gone in a boat to 
sound* when a sudden squall came on* and drove us again on a more dan¬ 
gerous bank than the former one* The sea heaved greatly* and the ship 
struck continually against the ground with violence* This obliged me 
to throw overboard cables* anchors* and every heavy article however 
necessary* I had even determined to out away the masts* should we be 
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