74 
PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
have seen the danger one hundred yards from the ship* 
should we have been apprehensive, and on the look-out for it, 
which would not have been the case. 
As I before remarked, the soundings between Cape San Dieg© 
and Terra del Fuego, were regular, as to depth, but the bottom 
differed in a slight degree. The first cast of the lead near San 
Diego, we had small pieces of rock, and red and white coral; 
when at the distance of two or three miles, we had small red and 
white coral, in its appearance as if it had been some time detach¬ 
ed from the rocks; but, when mid-channel, small round pieces 
of clear red and white coral, bearing the appearance of pebbles* 
and evidently owing their form to the violent friction occasioned by 
the rapid current of the streights; there was not the slightest 
mixture of sand or any other matter with them; every piece was 
about the size of a small pea, and, with the exception of colour, 
as uniform in their appearance ; they were different from any 
soundings I had heretofore met with, and I doubt if such are to 
be found in any other part of the world. 
But to return to my narrative. At 9 o’clock we were clear of 
the Streights of Le Maire, and in that part of the ocean so cele¬ 
brated and dreaded for the violent gales and tremendous and ir¬ 
regular seas which prevail. At this moment, I could not resist 
those lively sensations of anxiety that rushed on my mind, when 
I drew the comparison between the state of my ship, and those 
who preceded me, in attempting the passage round Cape Horn. 
I sailed from America on a very short notice, as may be seen 
by the preceding part of this Journal, and immediately after my 
return from a cruize in a tempestuous climate, off Newfound¬ 
land. I had not time to repair the damages the ship there sus¬ 
tained ; her bowsprit and sprit-sail yard were sprung; her fore-top- 
sail yard gone in the slings and fished ; one of the pintles of her 
rudder loose; her water-ways open and leaky, from violent strain¬ 
ing, and could not be caulked, from the peculiar manner her guns 
were mounted; her ballast so shifted, as to give her two streaks 
heel; a leak in the bows, which we have not yet been able to find ; 
only one good suit of sails in the ship ; and chief of the running, 
and some of the standing rigging worn out and not trust-worthy ; 
