The weather now becoming more moderate, and the swell less heavy, we were enabled to clear away the rest of the casks from the fore-hold, and to open a sufficient passage for the water to the pumps. This day we saw a greenish piece of drift-wood, and fancying the water coloured, we sounded, but got no bottom with a hundred and sixty fathoms of line. Our latitude, at noon this day, was 41° 52ʹ, longitude 161° 15ʹ; variation 6° 30ʹ east; and the wind soon after veering to the northward, we altered our course three points to the west.
On the 16th, at noon, we were in the latitude of 42° 12ʹ, and in the longitude of 160° 5ʹ; and as we were now approaching the place where a great extent of land is said to have been seen by De Gama, we were glad of the opportunity which the course we were steering gave, of contributing to remove the doubts, if any should be still entertained, respecting the falsehood of this pretended discovery. For it is to be observed, that no one has ever yet been able to find who John de Gama was, when he lived, or what year this pretended discovery was made.
According to Mr. Muller, the first account of it given to the public was in a chart published by Texeira, a Portuguese geographer, in 1649, who places it in ten or twelve degrees to the north-east of Japan, between the latitudes of 44° and 45°; and announces it to be land seen by John de Gama, the Indian, in a voyage from China to New Spain. On what grounds the French geographers have since removed it five degrees to the eastward, does not appear; except we suppose it to have been in order to make room for another discovery of the same kind made by the Dutch, called Company’s Land; of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
During the whole day, the wind was exceedingly unsettled, being seldom steady to two or three points; and blowing in fresh gusts, which were succeeded by dead calms. These were not unpromising appearances; but, after standing off and on, the whole of this day, without seeing any thing of the land, we again steered to the northward, not thinking it worth our while to lose time in search of an object, the opinion of whose existence had been already pretty generally exploded. Our people were employed the whole of the 16th, in getting their wet things to dry, and in airing the ship below.
We now began to feel very sharply the increasing inclemency of the northern climate. In the morning of the 18th, our latitude being 45° 40ʹ, and our longitude 160° 25ʹ, we had snow and sleet, accompanied with strong gales from the south-west. This circumstance will appear very remarkable, if we consider the season of the year, and the quarter from which the wind blew. On the 19th, the thermometer, in the day-time, remained at the freezing point, and at four in the morning fell to 29°. If the reader will take the trouble to compare the degree of heat, during the hot sultry weather we had at the beginning of this month, with the extreme cold which we now endured, he will conceive how severely so rapid a change must have been felt by us.
In the gale of the 18th, we had split almost all the sails we had bent, which being our second best suit, we were now reduced to make use of our last and best set. To add to Captain Clerke’s difficulties, the sea was in general so rough, and the ships so leaky, that the sail-makers had no place to repair the sails in, except his apartments, which, in his declining state of health, was a serious inconvenience to him.
On the 20th, at noon, being in latitude 49° 45ʹ N. and longitude 161° 15ʹ E.; and eagerly expecting to fall in with the coast of Asia, the wind shifted suddenly to the north, and continued in the same quarter the following day. However, although it retarded our progress, yet the fair weather it brought was no small refreshment to us. In the forenoon of the 21st, we saw a whale, and a land-bird; and, in the afternoon, the water looking muddy, we sounded, but got no ground with an hundred and forty fathoms of line. During the three preceding days, we saw large flocks of wild-fowl, of a species resembling ducks. This is usually considered as a proof of the vicinity of land; but we had no other signs of it, since the 16th; in which time we had run upward of an hundred and fifty leagues.
On the 22d, the wind shifted to the north-east, attended with misty weather. The cold was exceedingly severe, and the ropes were so frozen, that it was with difficulty we could force them through the blocks. At noon, the latitude, by account, was 51° 38ʹ, longitude 160° 7ʹ; and on comparing our present position with that given to the southern parts of Kamtschatka, in the Russian charts, Captain Clerke did not think it prudent to run on toward the land all night. We therefore tacked at ten; and, having sounded, had ground agreeably to our conjectures, with seventy fathoms of line.
On the 23d, at six in the morning, being in latitude 52° 09ʹ, and longitude 160° 07ʹ, on the fog clearing away, the land appeared in mountains covered with snow; and extending from north three quarters east, to south-west, a high conical rock, bearing south-west, three quarters west, at three or four leagues distance. We had no sooner taken this imperfect view, than we were again covered with a thick fog. Being now, according to our maps, only eight leagues from the entrance of Awatska Bay, as soon as the weather cleared up, we stood in to take a nearer view of the land; and a more dismal and dreary prospect I never beheld. The coast appears straight and uniform, having no inlets or bays; the ground, from the shore, rises in hills of a moderate elevation, behind which are ranges of mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds. The whole scene was entirely covered with snow, except the sides of some of the cliffs, which rose too abruptly from the sea for the snow to lie upon them.
The wind continued blowing very strong from the north-east, with thick hazy weather and sleet, from the 24th till the 28th. During the whole time, the thermometer was never higher than 301⁄2°. The ship appeared to be a complete mass of ice; the shrowds were so incrusted with it, as to measure in circumference more than double their usual size; and, in short, the experience of the oldest seaman among us, had never met with any thing like the continued showers of sleet, and the extreme cold, which we now encountered. Indeed, the severity of the weather, added to the great difficulty of working the ships, and the labour of keeping the pumps constantly going, rendered the service too hard for many of the crew, some of whom were frost-bitten, and others laid up with bad colds. We continued all this time standing four hours on each tack, having generally soundings of sixty fathoms, when about three leagues from the land; but none at twice that distance. On the 25th, we had a transient view of the entrance of Awatska Bay; but, in the present state of the weather, we were afraid of venturing into it. Upon our standing off again, we lost sight of the Discovery; but, as we were now so near the place of rendezvous, this gave us no great uneasiness.