98 
PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
view a mile beyond the ship, and rendered it unsafe to keep so 
close in shore as I wished ; for although the land is very high all 
along this coast, and in clear weather may be seen from a great 
distance, yet the state of the atmosphere was such, that before 
we could see it distinctly, the white foam of breakers among the 
rocks which skirt it, was evident to us. We were here sur¬ 
rounded by whales in great numbers, which gave us strong hopes 
of soon meeting some of the vessels engaged in catching them, 
as the whales generally go in schools along the coast, and the 
whalers keep in pursuit of them, following their track north and 
south. We also saw many seals, and birds in greater numbers 
than at any time during our passage, except while in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Mocha. 
From the 8th until the 11th, the weather continued foggy, 
and the winds light and baffling from the northward, which pre¬ 
vented us from making any head-way, and during their continua¬ 
tion deprived us of all hope of discovering vessels. Nothing 
could now exceed our impatience. We had come thus far with¬ 
out having seen a vessel of any description ; but as we had not 
expected to meet any, we had not been disappointed ; but now 
we had arrived at the theatre of our intended operations, and im¬ 
patiently waited for the curtain to rise, for we calculated on 
seeing a vessel of some kind, so soon as the fog should clear off; 
and even a Spaniard would have been a most welcome sight to 
us, as, by speaking him, we hoped that we should be enabled to 
get some information of the enemy that would be of service to 
us; for we were now groping in the dark, and entirely ignorant 
of what British ships were on the coast; and until we could ob¬ 
tain some intelligence, no plan could be adopted that would 
afford us hopes of success. 
On the latter part of the 12th, light airs sprang up from the 
S.W., and the weather began to clear off slowly, and every eye 
was engaged in searching for a sail, as the fog moved to leeward. 
Nothing, however, was to be seen but a wide expanse of ocean, 
bounded on the east by the dreary, barren, and iron-bound coast 
of Chili, at the back of which the eternally snow-capt mountains 
of the Andes reared their lofty heads, and altogether presented 
