As the course for leaving Batavia is interesting, I hope I shall be allowed to mention the particulars of that which I have taken. On the 17th we were under sail, by five o’clock in the morning, and we steered N. by E. in order to pass to the eastward of the isle of Rotterdam, about half a league; then N. W. by N. in order to pass to the southward of Horn and Harlem; then W. by N. and W. by S. to range to the northward of the isles of Amsterdam and Middelburg[Middelburg], upon the last of which there is a flag; then west, leaving on the starboard side a beacon, placed south of the Small Cambuis. At noon we observed in 5° 55′ of south latitude, and we were then north and south with the S. E. point of the Great Cambuis, about one mile. From thence I steered between two beacons, placed, the one to the southward of the N. W. point of the Great Cambuis, the other east and west of the isle of Anthropophagi, or Canibals, otherwise called Pulo Laki. Then you range the coast at what distance you will or can. At half past five o’clock, the currents setting us towards the shore, I let go a stream-anchor in eleven fathoms, oozy bottom, the N. W. point of the bay of Bantam bearing W. 9° N. about five leagues, and the middle of Pulo Baby, N. W. ½ W. three leagues.
In order to sail out of Batavia, there is another passage besides that which I have taken. When you leave the road, range the coast of Java, leaving on the larboard side a buoy, which serves as a beacon, about two leagues and a half from the town; then you range the isle of Kepert to the southward; you follow the direction of the coast, and pass between two beacons, situated, the one to the southward of Middelburg island, the other opposite this, on a bank which joins to the point of the main land; you then find the beacon, which lies to the southward of the small Cambuis, and then the two routes unite. The particular chart which I give of the run from Batavia, exactly points out both tracks.
Clearing the straits of Sonda.
The 18th, at two o’clock in the morning we were under sail; but we were forced to anchor again in the evening: it was not till the 19th in the afternoon that we cleared the straits of Sonda, passing to the northward of Prince’s island. At noon we observed in 6° 30′ south latitude, and at four o’clock in the afternoon, being about four leagues off the N. W. point of Prince’s island, I took my departure upon the chart of M. d’Après, in 6° 21′ south lat. and 102° east longitude, from the meridian of Paris. In general, you can anchor every where along the coast of Java. The Dutch keep some small stations on it, at short distances from each other, and every station has orders to send a soldier on board the ships which pass, with a register, on which he begs that the ship’s name, from whence she come, and whither she is bound, may be inscribed. You put into this register what you please; but I am far from blaming the custom of keeping it, as it may be the means of getting news of a ship, concerning which, one is often in great anxiety, and as the soldier who carries it on board always brings along with him fowls, turtle, and other refreshments, which he turns to good account. There was now no longer any scorbutic complaint, at least, no apparent one on board my ships; but several of the crew were ill of a bloody-flux. I therefore resolved to shape my course for the Isle of France, without waiting for the Etoile, and on the 20th I made her the signal for that purpose.
Run to the isle of France.
In this run we found nothing remarkable, except the fine weather, which has much shortened the voyage. We had constantly a very fresh wind at S. E. Indeed we stood in need of it, for the number of the diseased encreased daily, they recovered but slowly, and besides the bloody-flux, some were likewise afflicted with hot fevers, of which one of my carpenters died in the night between the 30th and the 31st. My masts likewise gave me much concern; I had reason to fear that the main-mast would break five or six feet below the cat-harpings; we fished it, and to ease it, we got down the main-top-gallant-mast, and always kept two reefs in the main-top-sail. |1768. November.| |Sight of the isle of Rodrigue.|These precautions considerably retarded our run; yet notwithstanding this, on the 18th day after leaving Batavia, we got sight of the Isle of Rodrigue[[133]], and the second day after that, of the Isle of France.
The 5th of November, at four o’clock in the evening, we were north and south of the north east point of the Isle of Rodrigue, whence I concluded the following difference in, our reckoning from Prince’s island to Rodrigue. M. Pingré has there observed 60° 52′ east longitude from Paris, and at four o’clock, I was, by my reckoning, in 61° 26′. These supposing, that the observation made upon the isle at the habitation, had been taken two minutes to the westward of the point with which I bore north and south at four o’clock, my difference in a run of twelve hundred leagues, was thirty-four minutes a-stern of the ship; the difference of the observations made on the 3d, by M. Verron, gave for the same time 1° 12′ a-head of the ship.
Land-fall at the Isle of France.
We had sight of Round Island the 7th at noon; at five o’clock in the evening we bore north and south with its middle. We fired some guns at the beginning of night, hoping that the fire on the Cannoniers Point would be lighted; but this fire, which M. d’Aprés mentions in his instructions, is now never lighted; so that, after doubling the Coin de Mire, which you may range as close as you please, I was much embarrassed in order to avoid a dangerous shoal, which runs above half a league out into the sea off the Cannoniers Point. I kept plying, in order to keep to windward of the port, firing a gun from time to time; at last, between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, one of the pilots of the harbour, who are paid by the king, came on board. I then thought I was out of danger, and had given him the charge of the ship, when at half past three o’clock he run us a-ground, near the Bay of Tombs. |Danger which the frigate runs.| Luckily there was no swell; and the manœuvre which we quickly made, in order to endeavour to cast the ship off shore, succeeded; but it may easily be conceived, how great our grief would have been, if after happily avoiding so many dangers, we had been cast away close to our port, through the fault of an ignorant fellow, to whom we were obliged to leave the management of the ship, by the regulation of the service. We got off with the loss of only forty-five feet of our false keel, which was carried away.
Nautical advice.