40 
PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
My dear Mediterranean Friend, 
Probably you may stop here; don’t attempt to water ; it is at¬ 
tended with too much difficulty. I learnt before I left England s 
that you were bound to the Brazil coast; if so, perhaps we may 
meet at St. Salvadore or Rio Janeiro : I should be happy to meet; 
and converse on our old affairs of captivity ; recollect our secret 
in those times. 
Your friend, of H. M.’s ship Acasta, 
KERR 
Sir James Yeo , of H. B. M.’s ship. Southampton . 
(The following was written in sympathetic ink:) 
I am bound off St. Salvadore, thence off Cape Frio, where I 
intend to cruize until the 1st of January. Go off Cape Frio, to 
the northward of Rio Janeiro, and keep a look out for me. 
Your friend. 
Sir James Yeo , of H. B. Mds ship Southampton . 
As this was the second rendezvous fixed on by com. Bainbridge, 
I was not at loss to divine whence the letter was from, nor for 
whom it was intended. 
We immediately hoisted up our boat and made sail to the 
southward. 
The Portuguese island of Fernando de Noronha, is in lat. 3® 
54' 28" south, and long. 32° 36' 38" west from London, It is well 
fortified in every part, and its population consists of a few miser- 
able, naked, exiled Portuguese, and as miserable a guard. The 
governor is changed every three years, and during his term of 
service in the island, has the privilege of disposing of its produce 
to his own emolument. Cattle in abundance, hogs, goats, fowls, 
See. may be had there, as well as corn, melons, cocoa-nuts, &c. 
See. Ships, formerly, frequently touched there for refreshments, 
wood, and water, but for seven months prior to the arrival of the 
Acasta , none had been there. There are no females on the island, 
and none are permitted to be there, from what motives I cannot 
conceive, except it be to render the place of exile the more 
horrible. The watering-place is near the beach, at the foot of 
