On the morning of the 30th, the day when the eclipse was to happen, Mr. King, Mr. Bayly, and myself went ashore on the small island above-mentioned, to attend the observation. The sky was over-cast till past nine o’clock, when the clouds about the sun dispersed long enough to take its altitude, to rectify the time by the watch we made use of. After this it was again obscured, till about thirty minutes past nine, and then we found that the eclipse was begun. We now fixed the micrometers to the telescopes, and observed or measured the uneclipsed part of the sun’s disk. At these observations, I continued about three quarters of an hour before the end, when I left off, being, in fact, unable to continue them longer, on account of the great heat of the sun, increased by the reflection from the sand.

The sun was clouded at times, but was clear when the eclipse ended, the time of which was observed as follows:

H.M.S.
By Mr. Bayly at 0263 Apparent Time P. M.
Mr. King0261
Myself02537

Mr. Bayly and I observed with the large achromatic telescopes, and Mr. King with a reflector. As Mr. Bayly’s telescope and mine were of the same magnifying power, I ought not to have differed so much from him as I did. Perhaps it was in part, if not wholly, owing to a protuberance in the moon which escaped my notice, but was seen by both the other gentlemen.

In the afternoon the boats and turtling party at the south-east part of the island, all returned on board except a seaman belonging to the Discovery, who had been missing two days. There were two of them at first, who had lost their way; but disagreeing about the most probable track to bring them back to their companions, they had separated; and one of them joined the party, after having been absent twenty-four hours, and been in great distress. Not a drop of fresh water could be had, for there is none upon the whole island; nor was there a single cocoa-nut tree on that part of it. In order to allay his thirst, he had recourse to the singular expedient of killing turtle, and drinking their blood. His mode of refreshing himself when weary, of which he said he felt the good effects, was equally whimsical. He undressed himself and lay down for some time in the shallow water upon the beach.

It was a matter of surprise to every one, how these two men could contrive to lose themselves. The land over which they had to travel, from the sea-coast to the lagoon, where the boats lay, was not more than three miles across; nor was there any thing to obstruct their view; for the country was a flat, with a few shrubs scattered upon it; and from many parts of it, the masts of the ships could easily be seen. But this was a rule of direction they never once thought of; nor did they recollect in what quarter of the island the ships had anchored; and they were as much at a loss how to get back to them, or to the party they had straggled from, as if they had just dropped from the clouds. Considering how strange a set of beings the generality of seamen are, when on shore, instead of being surprised that these two men should thus lose their way, it is rather to be wondered at, that no more of the party were missing. Indeed, one of those who landed with me, was in a similar situation; but he had sagacity enough to know that the ships were to leeward, and got on board almost as soon as it was discovered that he had been left behind.

As soon as Captain Clerke knew that one of the stragglers was still in this awkward situation, he sent a party in search of him; but neither the man nor the party having come back, the next morning I ordered two boats into the lagoon, to go different ways in prosecution of the search. Not long after, Captain Clerke’s party returned with their lost companion; and my boats having now no object left, I called them back by signal. This poor fellow must have suffered far greater distress than the other straggler; not only as having been lost a longer time, but as we found that he was too squeamish to drink turtle’s blood.

Having some cocoa-nuts and yams on board, in a state of vegetation, I ordered them to be planted on the little island where we had observed the eclipse; and some melon seeds were sown in another place. I also left, on the little island, a bottle containing this inscription:

Georgius Tertius, Rex, 31 Decembris, 1777.

Naves