We found, riding in this road, La Boussole, a French frigate, commanded by the Chevalier de Borda; two brigantines of the same nation; an English brigantine from London, bound to Senegal; and fourteen sail of Spanish vessels.
No sooner had we anchored, than we were visited by the master of the port, who satisfied himself with asking the ship’s name. Upon his leaving us, I sent an officer ashore to present my respects to the Governor; and to ask his leave to take in water, and to purchase such articles as we were in want of. All this he granted with the greatest politeness: and, soon after, sent an officer on board, to compliment me on my arrival. In the afternoon, I waited upon him in person, accompanied by some of my officers; and, before I returned to my ship, bespoke some corn and straw for the live stock; ordered a quantity of wine from Mr. M’Carrick, the contractor, and made an agreement with the master of a Spanish boat to supply us with water, as I found that we could not do it ourselves.
The road of Santa Cruz is situated before the town of the same name, on the south-east side of the island. It is, as I am told, the principal road of Teneriffe, for shelter, capacity, and the goodness of its bottom. It lies entirely open to the south-east and south winds. But these winds are never of long continuance; and, they say, there is not an instance[[80]] of a ship driving from her anchors on shore. This may, in part, be owing to the great care they take in mooring them: for I observed, that all the ships we met with there, had four anchors out; two to the north-east, and two to the south-west: and their cables buoyed up with casks. Ours suffered a little by not observing this last precaution.
At the south-west part of the road, a stone pier runs out into the sea from the town, for the convenience of loading and landing of goods. To this pier, the water that supplies the shipping is conveyed. This, as also what the inhabitants of Santa Cruz use, is derived from a rivulet that runs from the hills, the greatest part of which comes into the town in wooden spouts or troughs, that are supported by slender posts, and the remainder doth not reach the sea; though it is evident, from the size of the channel, that sometimes large torrents rush down. At this time these troughs were repairing, so that fresh water, which is very good here, was scarce.
Were we to judge from the appearance of the country in the neighbourhood of Santa Cruz, it might be concluded that Teneriffe is a barren spot, insufficient to maintain even its own inhabitants. The ample supplies, however, which we received, convinced us that they had enough to spare for visitors. Besides wine, which is the chief produce of the island, beef may be had at a moderate price. The oxen are small and boney, and weigh about ninety pounds a quarter. The meat is but lean, and was, at present, sold for half a bit (three-pence sterling) a pound. I, unadvisedly, bought the bullocks alive, and paid considerably more. Hogs, sheep, goats, and poultry, are likewise to be bought at the same moderate rate: and fruits are in great plenty. At this time we had grapes, figs, pears, mulberries, plantains, and musk-melons. There is a variety of other fruits produced here, though not in season at this time. Their pumpkins, onions, and potatoes, are exceedingly good of their kind, and keep better at sea than any I ever before met with.
The Indian corn, which is also their produce, cost me about three shillings and sixpence a bushel; and the fruits and roots were, in general, very cheap. They have not any plentiful supply of fish from the adjoining sea; but a very considerable fishery is carried on by their vessels upon the coast of Barbary; and the produce of it sells at a reasonable price. Upon the whole, I found Teneriffe to be a more eligible place than Madeira for ships bound on long voyages to touch at; though the wine of the latter, according to my taste, is as much superior to that of the former, as strong beer is to small. To compensate for this, the difference of prices is considerable; for the best Teneriffe wine was now sold for twelve pounds a pipe; whereas a pipe of the best Madeira would have cost considerably more than double that sum.[[81]]
The Chevalier de Borda, commander of the French frigate now lying in Santa Cruz road, was employed, in conjunction with Mr. Varila, a Spanish gentleman, in making astronomical observations for ascertaining the going of two time-keepers which they had on board their ship. For this purpose, they had a tent pitched on the pier head, where they made their observations, and compared their watches, every day at noon, with the clock on shore, by signals. These signals the Chevalier very obligingly communicated to us; so that we could compare our watch at the same time. But our stay was too short to profit much by his kindness.
The three days’ comparisons which we made, assured us that the watch had not materially, if at all, altered her rate of going; and gave us the same longitude, within a very few seconds, that was obtained by finding the time from observations of the sun’s altitude from the horizon of the sea. The watch, from a mean of these observations, on the 1st, 2d, and 3d of August, made the longitude 16° 31ʹ west; and, in like manner, the latitude was found to be 28° 30ʹ 11ʺ north.
Mr. Varila informed us, that the true longitude was 18° 35ʹ 30ʺ, from Paris, which is only 16° 16ʹ 30ʺ from Greenwich; less than what our watch gave by 14ʹ 30ʺ. But, far from looking upon this as an error in the watch, I rather think it a confirmation of its having gone well; and that the longitude by it may be nearer the truth than any other. It is farther confirmed by the lunar observations that we made in the road, which gave 16° 37ʹ 10ʺ. Those made before we arrived, and reduced to the road by the watch, gave 16° 33ʹ 30ʺ. And those made after we left it, and reduced back in the same manner, gave 16° 28ʹ. The mean of the three is 16° 30ʹ 40ʺ.
To reduce these several longitudes, and the latitude, to the Pic of Teneriffe, one of the most noted points of land with geographers (to obtain the true situation of which, I have entered into this particular discussion), I had recourse to the bearing, and a few hours of the ship’s run after leaving Santa Cruz road; and found it to be 12ʹ 11ʺ south of the road, and 29ʹ 30ʺ of longitude west of it. As the base, which helped to determine this, was partly estimated, it is liable to some error; but I think I cannot be much mistaken. Dr. Maskelyne, in his British Mariner’s Guide, places the Pic in the latitude of 28° 12ʹ 54ʺ. This, with the bearing from the road, will give the difference of longitude 43ʹ, which considerably exceeds the distance they reckon the Pic to be from Santa Cruz. I made the latitude of the Pic to be 28° 18ʹ north. Upon that supposition, its longitude will be as follows: