At four o’clock the next morning, the gale had a little abated; and the wind had backed to W. by S. We again stood to the northward, under courses and double-reefed top-sails, having a very high sea from the N. N. W., which gave us but little hopes of finding the land we were in search of. At noon, we were in the latitude of 50° 50ʹ S. longitude 56° 48ʹ east, and presently after we saw two islands of ice. One of these we passed very near, and found that it was breaking or falling to pieces, by the cracking noise it made; which was equal to the report of a four-pounder. There was a good deal of loose ice about it; and had the weather been favourable, I should have brought to, and taken some up. After passing this, we saw no more, till we returned again to the south.
Hazy, gloomy weather continued, and the wind remained invariably fixed at N. W., so that we could make our course no better than N. E. by N., and this course we held till four o’clock in the afternoon of the 1st of February. Being then in the latitude of 48° 30ʹ, and longitude 58° 7ʹ east, nearly in the meridian of the island of Mauritius, and where we were to expect to find the land said to be discovered by the French, of which at this time we saw not the least signs, we bore away east.
I now made the signal to the Adventure to keep at the distance of four miles on my starboard beam. At half an hour past six Captain Furneaux made the signal to speak with me; and upon his coming under my stern, he informed me that he had just seen a large float of sea or rock-weed, and about it several birds (divers). These were certainly signs of the vicinity of land; but whether it lay to the east or west was not possible for us to know. My intention was to have got into this latitude four or five degrees of longitude to the west of the meridian we were now in, and then to have carried on my researches to the east. But the W. and N. W. winds we had had the five preceding days prevented me from putting this in execution.
The continual high sea we had lately had from the N. E., N. N. W. and west, left me no reason to believe that land of any extent lay to the west. We therefore continued to steer to the E., only lying to a few hours in the night, and in the morning resumed our course again, four miles north and south from each other; the hazy weather not permitting us to spread farther. We passed two or three small pieces of rock-weed, and saw two or three birds known by the name of egg-birds; but saw no other signs of land. At noon we observed, in latitude 48° 36ʹ south, longitude 59° 35ʹ east. As we could only see a few miles farther to the south, and as it was not impossible that there might be land not far off in that direction, I gave orders to steer S. 1⁄2 E., and made the signal for the Adventure to follow, she being, by this movement, thrown a-stern. The weather continuing hazy till half an hour past six o’clock in the evening, when it cleared up so as to enable us to see about five leagues round us.
Being now in the latitude of 49° 13ʹ south, without having the least signs of land, I wore and stood again to the eastward, and soon after spoke with Captain Furneaux. He told me that he thought the land was to the N. W. of us; as he had, at one time, observed the sea to be smooth when the wind blew in that direction. Although this was not conformable to the remarks we had made on the sea, I resolved to clear up the point, if the wind would admit of my getting to the west in any reasonable time.
At eight o’clock in the morning of the 3d, being in the latitude of 48° 56ʹ South, longitude 6° 47ʹ East, and upwards of 3° to the east of the meridian of Mauritius, I began to despair of finding land to the east; and as the wind had now veered to the northward, resolved to search for it to the west. I accordingly tacked and stood to the west with a fresh gale. This increased in such a manner, that before night we were reduced to our two courses; and at last, obliged to lie to under the fore-sails, having a prodigious high sea from W. N. W., notwithstanding the height of the gale was from N. by W. At three o’clock the next morning, the gale abating, we made sail, and continued to ply to the west till ten o’clock in the morning of the sixth.
At this time being in the latitude of 48° 6ʹ South, longitude 58° 22ʹ East, the wind seemingly fixed at W. N. W., and seeing no signs of meeting with land, I gave over plying, and bore away east a little southerly: being satisfied, that if there is any land hereabout, it can only be an isle of no great extent. And it was just as probable I might have found it to the east as west.
While we were plying about here, we took every opportunity to observe the variation of the compass, and found it to be from 27° 50ʹ, to 30° 26ʹ West. Probably the mean of the two extremes, viz. 29° 4ʹ is the nearest the truth, as it nearly agrees with the variation observed on board the Adventure. In making these observations, we found that, when the sun was on the starboard side of the ship, the variation was the least; and when on the larboard side, the greatest. This was not the first time we had made this observation, without being able to account for it. At four o’clock in the morning of the 7th, I made the Adventure’s signal to keep at the distance of four miles on my starboard beam; and continued to steer E. S. E. This being a fine day, I had all our men’s bedding and cloaths spread on deck to air, and the ship cleaned and smoked betwixt decks. At noon I steered a point more to the south, being then in the latitude of 48° 49ʹ south, longitude 61° 48ʹ east. At six o’clock in the evening, I called in the Adventure; and at the same time took several azimuths, which gave the variation 31° 28ʹ west. These observations could not be taken with the greatest accuracy, on account of the rolling of the ship, occasioned by a very high westerly swell.
The preceding evening, three Port Egmont hens were seen; this morning another appeared. In the evening, and several times in the night, penguins were heard; and at day-light, in the morning of the 8th, several of these were seen; and divers of two sorts, seemingly such as are usually met with on the coast of England. This occasioned us to sound; but we found no ground with a line of 210 fathoms. Our latitude now was 49° 53ʹ South, and longitude 63° 39ʹ east. This was at eight o’clock. By this time the wind had veered round by the N. E. to E., blew a brisk gale, and was attended with hazy weather, which soon after turned to a thick fog; and at the same time, the wind shifted to N. E.
I continued to keep the wind on the larboard tack, and to fire a gun every hour till noon; when I made the signal to tack, and tacked accordingly. But as neither this signal, nor any of the former, was answered by the Adventure, we had but too much reason to think that a separation had taken place; though we were at a loss to tell how it had been effected. I had directed Captain Furneaux, in case he was separated from me, to cruise three days in the place where he last saw me. I therefore continued making short boards, and firing half-hour guns, till the 9th in the afternoon, when the weather having cleared up, we could see several leagues round us, and found that the Adventure was not within the limits of our horizon. At this time, we were about two or three leagues to the eastward of the situation we were in when we last saw her, and were standing to the westward with a very strong gale at N. N. W., accompanied with a great sea from the same direction. This, together with an increase of wind, obliged us to lie to, till eight o’clock the next morning; during which time we saw nothing of the Adventure, notwithstanding the weather was pretty clear, and we had kept firing guns, and burning false fires, all night. I therefore gave over looking for her, made sail, and steered S. E. with a very fresh gale at W. by N., accompanied with a high sea from the same direction.