At nine o’clock, the wind shifting to the southward, and the sky lowering, we tacked and stood off to the east, and soon after we saw a vessel close in with the land, standing along the shore to the northward, and another in the offing, coming down on us before the wind. Objects of any kind belonging to a country so famous, and yet so little known, it will be easily conceived, must have excited a general curiosity; and, accordingly, every soul on board was upon deck in an instant to gaze at them. As the vessel to windward approached us, she hauled farther off shore; upon which, fearing that we should alarm them by the appearance of a pursuit, we brought the ships to, and she passed ahead of us, at the distance of about half a mile. It would have been easy for us to have spoken with them; but perceiving, by their manœuvres, that they were much frightened, Captain Gore was not willing to augment their terrors; and, thinking that we should have many better opportunities of communication with this people, suffered them to go off without interruption. Our distance did not permit us to remark any particulars regarding the men on board, who seemed to be about six in number, especially as the haziness of the weather precluded the use of our glasses. According to the best conjectures we were able to form, the vessel was about forty tons burthen. She had but one mast, on which was hoisted a square sail, extended by a yard aloft, the braces of which worked forward. Half way down the sail came three pieces of black cloth at equal distances from each other. The vessel was higher at each end than in the midship; and we imagined, from her appearance and form, that it was impossible for her to sail any otherwise than large.
At noon the wind freshened, and brought with it a good deal of rain; by three it had increased so much, that we were reduced to our courses; at the same time, the sea ran as high as any one on board ever remembered to have seen it. If the Japanese vessels are, as Kæmpfer describes them, open in the stern, it would not have been possible for those we saw to have survived the fury of this storm; but as the appearance of the weather all the preceding part of the day, foretold its coming, and one of the sloops had, notwithstanding, stood far out to sea, we may safely conclude that they are perfectly capable of bearing a gale of wind. Spanberg indeed describes two kinds of Japanese vessels; one answering to the above description of Kæmpfer; the other, which he calls busses, and in which he says they make their voyages to the neighbouring islands, exactly corresponds with those we saw.[[73]]
At eight in the evening, the gale shifted to the west without abating the least in violence, and by raising a sudden swell in a contrary direction to that which prevailed before, occasioned the ships to strain and labour exceedingly. During the storm several of the sails were split on board the Resolution. Indeed they had been so long bent, and were worn so thin, that this accident had of late happened to us almost daily in both ships; especially, when being stiff and heavy with the rain, they became less able to bear the shocks of the violent and variable winds we at this time experienced. The gale at length growing moderate, and settling to the west, we kept upon a wind to the southward; and at nine in the morning of the 30th we saw the land at the distance of about fifteen leagues, bearing from west by north to north-west one quarter west. It appeared in detached parts; but whether they were small islands or parts of Japan, our distance did not enable us to determine. At noon it extended from north-west to west, the nearest land being about thirteen leagues distant, beyond which the coast seemed to run in a westerly direction. The latitude, by observation, was 36° 41ʹ, longitude 142° 6ʹ. The point to the northward, which was supposed to be near the southernmost land seen the day before, we conjectured to be Cape de Kennis, and the break to the southward of this point, to be the mouth of the river on which the town of Gissima is said to be situated. The next cape is probably that called in the Dutch charts Boomtje’s Point, and the southernmost, off which we were abreast at noon, we suppose to be near Low Point[[74]], and that we were at too great a distance to see the low land, in which it probably terminates, to the eastward.
In the afternoon, the wind veering round to the north-east, we stood to the southward, at the distance of about eighteen leagues from the shore, trying for soundings, as we went along, but finding none with one hundred and fifteen fathoms of line. At two the next morning it shifted to west, attended with rain and lightning, and blowing in heavy squalls. During the course of the day, we had several small birds of a brown plumage, resembling linnets, flying about us, which had been forced off the land by the strong westerly gales; but toward the evening, the wind coming to the north-west, we shaped our course, along with them, to west south-west, in order to regain the coast. In the morning of the 1st of November, the wind again shifted to south-east, and bringing with it fair weather, we got forty-two sets of distances of the moon from the sun and stars, with four different quadrants, each set consisting of six observations. These agreeing pretty nearly with each other, fix our situation at noon the same day, with great accuracy, in longitude 141° 32ʹ, the latitude, by observation, was 35° 17ʹ. We found an error of latitude in our reckonings of the preceding day, of eight miles, and in this day’s of seventeen, from whence, and from our being much more to the eastward than we expected, we concluded that there had been a strong current from the south-west.
At two in the afternoon, we again made the land to the westward, at the distant of about twelve leagues; the southernmost land in sight, which we supposed to be White Point[[75]], bore west south-west half west; a hummock to the northward, which had the appearance of being an island, bore north north-west half west, within which we saw from the mast-head low land, which we took to be Sand-down Point.[[76]] We stood in toward the land, till half past five, when we hauled our wind to the southward. At this time we saw a number of Japanese vessels, close in with the land, several seemingly engaged in fishing, and others standing along shore. We now discovered to the westward a remarkably high mountain, with a round top, rising far inland. There is no high ground near it, the coast being of a moderate elevation, and, as far as we could judge, from the haziness of the horizon, much broken by small inlets. But to the southward of the hummock island before mentioned, there appeared, at a great distance, within the country, a ridge of hills, stretching in a direction toward the mountain, and probably joining with it. As this is the most remarkable hill on the coast, we could have wished to have settled its situation exactly; but having only had this single view, were obliged to be contented with such accuracy as our circumstances would allow. Its latitude, therefore, we conceive to be 35° 20ʹ; its longitude, estimated by its distance from the ships, at this time fifteen leagues, 140° 26ʹ.
As the Dutch charts make the coast of Japan extend about ten leagues to the south-west of White Point, at eight we tacked, and stood off to the eastward, in order to weather the point. At midnight, we again tacked to the south-west, expecting to fall in with the coast to the southward, but were surprized, in the morning at eight to see the hummock, at the distance only of three leagues, bearing west north-west. We began at first to doubt the evidence of our senses, and afterward to suspect some deception from a similarity of land; but, at noon, we found ourselves, by observation, to be actually in latitude 35° 43ʹ, at a time when our reckonings gave us 34° 48ʹ. So that, during the eight hours in which we supposed we had made a course of nine leagues to the south-west, we had in reality been carried eight leagues from the position we left, in a direction diametrically opposite; which made, on the whole, in that short space of time, a difference, in our reckoning, of seventeen leagues. From this error, we calculated, that the current had set to the north-east by north, at the rate of at least five miles an hour. Our longitude at this time was 141° 16ʹ.
The weather having now the same threatening appearance as on the 29th of October, which was followed by so sudden and severe a gale, and the wind continuing at south south-east, it was thought prudent to leave the shore, and stand off to the eastward, to prevent our being entangled with the land. Nor were we wrong in our prognostications; for it soon afterward began, and continued till next day, to blow a heavy gale, accompanied with hazy and rainy weather. In the morning of the 3d, we found ourselves, by our reckoning, upward of fifty leagues from the land; which circumstance, together with the very extraordinary effect of currents we had before experienced, the late season of the year, the unsettled state of the weather, and the little likelihood of any change for the better, made Captain Gore resolve to leave Japan altogether, and prosecute our voyage to China; hoping, that as the track he meant to pursue had never yet been explored, he should be able to make amends, by some new discovery, for the disappointments we had met with on this coast.
If the reader should be of opinion that we quitted this object too hastily, in addition to the facts already stated, it ought to be remarked, Kæmpfer describes the coast of Japan as the most dangerous in the whole world[[77]]; that it would have been equally dangerous, in case of distress, to run into any of their harbours, where we know, from the best authorities, that the aversion of the inhabitants to any intercourse with strangers has led them to commit the most atrocious barbarities; that our ships were in a leaky condition; that our sails were worn out, and unable to withstand a gale of wind; and that the rigging was so rotten as to require constant and perpetual repairs.
As the strong currents which set along the eastern coast of Japan, may be of dangerous consequence to the navigator, who is not aware of their extraordinary rapidity, I shall take leave of this island, with a summary account of their force and direction, as observed by us from the 1st to the 8th of November. On the 1st, at which time we were about eighteen leagues to the eastward of White Point, the current set north-east and by north, at the rate of three miles an hour; on the 2d, as we approached the shore, we found it continuing in the same direction, but increased in its rapidity to five miles an hour; as we left the shore, it again became more moderate and inclined to the eastward; on the 3d, at the distance of sixty leagues, it set to the east north-east, three miles an hour; on the 4th and 5th, it turned to the southward, and at one hundred and twenty leagues from the land, its direction was south-east, and its rate not more than a mile and a half an hour: on the 6th and 7th, it again shifted round to the north-east, its force gradually diminishing till the 8th; when we could no longer perceive any at all.
During the 4th and 5th, we continued our course to the south-east, having very unsettled weather, attended with much lightning and rain. On both days we passed great quantities of pumice-stone, several pieces of which we took up, and found to weigh from one ounce to three pounds. We conjectured that these stones had been thrown into the sea, by eruptions of various dates, as many of them were covered with barnacles, and others quite bare. At the same time, we saw two wild ducks, and several small land birds, and had many porpusses playing round us.