The plan will likewise point out the shoal that is to be avoided, lying off the eastern harbour, as well as the spit within the entrance, stretching from the south-west shore, and over which there is only three fathoms’ water. In order to steer clear of the latter, a small island, or perhaps it may rather be called a large detached rock, lying on the west shore of the entrance, is to be shut in with the land to the south of it; and, to steer clear of the former, the Three Needle Rocks, which lie on the east shore of the entrance near the light-house head, are to be kept open with the head-lands (or bluff heads) that rise to the northward of the first small bay, or bending, observable on the east side of the entrance. When arrived to the north of the north head-land of the eastern harbour, the shoal is past.
In sailing into the harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and approaching the village, it is necessary to keep in close to the eastern shore, in order to avoid a spit, which runs from the head-land to the south-west of the town.
Before I proceed to give a table of the result of our astronomical observations at this place, it may be proper to acquaint the reader, that the time-keeper we had on board the Resolution, which was an exact copy of that invented by Mr. Harrison, and executed by Mr. Kendal, stopped on the 27th of April, a few days before we first came into Awatska Bay. It had been always kept with the most scrupulous care during the voyage, having never been trusted for a moment into any other hands than those of Captain Cook and mine. No accident could, therefore, have happened to it, to which we could attribute its stopping; nor could it have arisen from the effects of intense cold, as the thermometer was very little below the freezing point. As soon as the discovery was made, I consulted with Captain Clerke what course it was best to pursue; whether to let it remain as it was, entirely useless to us, for the purpose of satisfying the curious at home, where it was sure of being examined by proper judges, or suffer it to be inspected by a seaman on board, who had served a regular apprenticeship to a watchmaker in London; and appeared sufficiently knowing in the business, from his success in cleaning and repairing several watches since we had been out. The advantages we had derived from its accuracy made us extremely unwilling to be deprived of its use during the remaining part of the voyage; and that object appeared to us of much greater importance than the small degree of probability, which we understood was all that could be expected, of obtaining any material knowledge respecting its mechanism, by deferring the inspection of it. At the same time, it should be remembered, that the watch had already had a sufficient trial, both in the former voyage, and during the three years we had now had it on board, to ascertain its utility. On these considerations, we took the opportunity of the first clear day, after our arrival in Awatska Bay, of opening the watch, which was done in the captain’s cabin, and in our presence. The watchmaker found no part of the work broken; but not being able to set it agoing, he proceeded to take off the cock and balance, and cleaned both the pivot-holes, which he found very foul, and the rest of the work rather dirty; he also took off the dial-plate; and, between two teeth of the wheel that carries the second-hand, found a piece of dirt, which he imagined to be the principal cause of its stopping. Having afterward put the work together, and oiled it as sparingly as possible, the watch appeared to go free and well.
Having received orders the next day to go to Bolcheretsk, the time-keeper was left in the care of Mr. Bayly, to compare it with his watch and clock, in order to get its rate. On my return, I was told it had gone for some days with tolerable regularity, losing only from fifteen to seventeen seconds a-day, when it stopped a second time. It was again opened, and the cause of its stopping appeared to be owing to the man having put some part of the work badly together when he first opened it. Being again adjusted, it was found to gain above a minute a-day; and, in the attempt to alter the regulator and balance-spring, he broke the latter. He afterward made a new spring; but the watch now went so irregularly, that we made no farther use of it. The poor fellow was not less chagrined than we were, at our bad success; which, however, I am convinced was more owing to the miserable tools he was obliged to work with, and the stiffness his hands had contracted from his ordinary occupation, than to his want of skill.
For the satisfaction of those who may wish to have a general view of its rate of going, I have added the following table.
The first and second columns contain the dates when, and the names of the places where, its rate was observed. The third column contains the daily error of its rate, so found from mean time. The fourth column has the longitude of each place, according to the Greenwich rate; that is, calculated on a supposition that the time-keeper had not varied its rate from the time it left Greenwich. But as we had frequent opportunities of ascertaining the variation of its daily error, or finding its new rate, the fifth column has the longitude, according to its last rate, calculated from the true longitude of the place last departed from. The sixth is the true longitude of the place, deduced from astronomical observations made by ourselves, and compared with those made by others, whenever such could be obtained. The seventh column shows the difference between the fourth column and the sixth in space; and the eighth the same difference in time. The ninth shows the number of months and days in which the error, thus determined, had been accumulating. The difference between the fifth and sixth columns is found in the tenth, and shows the error of the time-keeper, according to its rate last found in space; and the eleventh, the same error in time. The twelfth contains the time elapsed in sailing from the place where the rate was last taken, to the place whose longitude is last determined. The thirteenth and fourteenth contain the state of the air at the time of each observation.
As persons, unaccustomed to calculations of this sort, may find some difficulty in comprehending the nature of the table, the two following instances will more clearly explain it.
Thus, on the 24th October, 1776 (first column), at the Cape of Good Hope (second column), we found the daily error in the rate of its going, to be 2ʺ,26 (third column). The longitude of that place calculated on a supposition, that the rate of the time-keeper had continued the same from the time of our leaving Greenwich, that is, had a regular daily error of 1ʺ,21, is found to be 18° 26ʹ 30ʺ E. (fourth column). And as its rate at Greenwich is, in this instance, its latest rate, the longitude thus found is the same (fifth column). The true longitude of the place is 18° 23ʹ 15ʺ (sixth column). From whence it appears, that, in our run from Greenwich to the Cape, the watch would have led us into an error only of 3ʹ 15ʺ (seventh column), or three miles one quarter; or had varied 13ʺ of time (eighth column), in four months twenty-three days (ninth column), the period between our leaving Greenwich and our arrival at the Cape. As the Greenwich is the latest error, the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth columns will be the same with the seventh and ninth.
But, on the 22d of February, 1777 (first column), at Queen Charlotte’s Sound, New Zealand (second column), the daily error of its rate was found to be 2ʺ,91 (third column). The longitude of this place, according to the Greenwich rate, is 175° 25ʹ (fourth column). But having found, at the Cape, that it had altered its rate from a daily error of 1ʹ,21 to 2ʹ,26, the longitude corrected by this new rate is found to be 174° 54ʹ 23ʺ (fifth column). The true longitude of the place being 174° 23ʹ 31ʺ (sixth column); it appears, that, in our run from Greenwich to New Zealand, the error would have been only 1° 1ʹ 29ʺ (seventh column), or sixty-one miles and a half, even if we had not had an opportunity of correcting its daily error; or, in other words, that the watch had varied 4ʹ 6ʺ (eighth column), in eight months eleven days (ninth column). But the longitude, as given by its new rate, leaves an error of only 30ʹ 54ʺ (tenth column), near thirty-one miles, or, in time, 2ʹ 3ʺ,6 (eleventh column), which has been accumulating during our run from the Cape to New Zealand, or in three months, 28° (twelfth column). The thirteenth and fourteenth columns require no explanation.
TABLE of the Rate and Error of Mr. Kendal’s Watch, on board the Resolution.