On the 6th, at day-light, we altered our course to the south-south-west; but at eight in the evening we were taken back, and obliged to steer to the south-east. On the 7th, at noon, we saw a small land bird, our latitude, by observation at this time, being 33° 52ʹ and longitude 148° 42ʹ. On the 9th, we were in latitude 31° 46ʹ, longitude 146° 20ʹ, when we again saw a small land bird, a tropic bird, porpusses, flying-fishes, and had a great swell from the east-south-east. We continued our course to the south-west, having the winds from the northward, without any remarkable occurrence, till the 12th, when we had a most violent gale of wind from the same quarter, which reduced us to the fore-sail, and mizen-stay-sail; and, as the weather was so hazy that we were not able to see a cable’s length before us, and many shoals and small islands are laid down in our charts, in this part of the ocean, we brought-to, with our heads to the south-west. At noon, the latitude, by account, was 27° 36ʹ, longitude 144° 25ʹ. In the morning of the 13th, the wind shifting round to the north-west, brought with it fair weather; but though we were at this time nearly in the situation given to the island of St. Juan, we saw no appearance of land. We now bore away to the south-west, and set the top-sails, the gale still continuing with great violence. At noon, the latitude, by observation, was 26° 0ʹ, longitude 143° 40ʹ, and variation 3° 50ʹ E. In the afternoon, we saw flying-fish and dolphins, also tropic birds and albatrosses. We still continued to pass much pumice-stone; indeed, the prodigious quantities of this substance which float in the sea, between Japan and the Bashee Islands, seem to indicate, that some great volcanic convulsion must have happened in this part of the Pacific Ocean; and, consequently, give some degree of probability to the opinion of Mr. Muller, which I have already had occasion to mention, respecting the separation of the continent of Jeso, and the disappearance of Company’s Land, and Staten Island.
At six in the afternoon we altered our course to the west-south-west, Captain Gore judging it useless to steer any longer to the south-south-west, as we were near the meridian of the Ladrones, or Marianne Islands, and at no great distance from the track of the Manilla ships. In the morning of the 14th, the weather became fine, and the wind, which was moderate, gradually shifted to the north-east, and proved to be the trade-wind. At ten, Mr. Trevenen, one of the young gentlemen who came along with me into the Discovery, saw land, appearing like a peaked mountain, and bearing south-west. At noon, the latitude, by observation, was 24° 37ʹ, longitude 142° 2ʹ. The land, which we now discovered to be an island, bore south-west half west, distant eight or ten leagues; and at two in the afternoon, we saw another to the west-north-west. This second island, when seen at a distance, has the appearance of two; the south point consisting of a high conical hill, joined by a narrow neck to the northern land, which is of a moderate height. As this was evidently of greater extent than the island to the south, we altered our course toward it. At four, it bore north-west by west; but, not having day-light sufficient to examine the coast, we stood upon our tacks during the night.
On the 15th, at six in the morning, we bore away for the south point of the larger island, at which time we discovered another high island, bearing north three-quarters west, the south island being on the same rhomb line, and the south point of the island ahead, west by north. At nine, we were abreast, and within a mile of the middle island, but Captain Gore, finding that a boat could not land without some danger from the great surf that broke on the shore, kept on his course to the westward. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 24° 50ʹ, longitude 140° 56ʹ E.
This island is about five miles long, in a north-north-east and south-south-west direction. The south point is a high barren hill, flattish at the top, and when seen from the west-south-west, presents an evident volcanic crater. The earth, rock, or sand, for it was not easy to distinguish of which its surface is composed, exhibited various colours, and a considerable part we conjectured to be sulphur, both from its appearance to the eye, and the strong sulphureous smell which we perceived, as we approached the point. Some of the officers on board the Resolution, which passed nearer the land, thought they saw steams rising from the top of the hill. From these circumstances, Captain Gore gave it the name of Sulphur Island. A low, narrow, neck of land connects this hill with the south end of the island, which spreads out into a circumference of three or four leagues, and is of a moderate height. The part near the isthmus has some bushes on it, and has a green appearance; but those to the north-east are very barren, and full of large detached rocks, many of which were exceedingly white. Very dangerous breakers extend two miles and a half to the east, and two miles to the west, off the middle part of the island, on which the sea broke with great violence.
The north and south islands appeared to us as single mountains, of a considerable height; the former peaked, and of a conical shape; the latter more square, and flat at the top. Sulphur Island we place in latitude 24° 48ʹ, longitude 141° 12ʹ. The north island in latitude 25° 14ʹ, longitude 141° 10ʹ. The south island in latitude 24° 22ʹ, and longitude 141° 20ʹ. The variation observed was 3° 30ʹ E.
Captain Gore now directed his course to the west-south-west, for the Bashee Islands, hoping to procure at them such a supply of refreshments as would help to shorten his stay in Macao. These islands were visited by Dampier, who gives a very favourable account, both of the civility of the inhabitants, and of the plenty of hogs and vegetables, with which the country abounds; they were afterward seen by Byron and Wallis, who passed them without landing.
In order to extend our view in the day-time, the ships spread between two and three leagues from each other, and during the night we went under an easy sail; so that it was scarcely possible to pass any land that lay in the neighbourhood of our course. In this manner we proceeded, without any occurrence worth remarking, with a fresh breeze from the north-east, till the 22d, when it increased to a strong gale, with violent squalls of wind and rain, which brought us under close-reefed top-sails.
At noon of the 23d, the latitude, by account, was 21° 5ʹ, and longitude 123° 20ʹ; at six in the evening, being now only twenty-one leagues from the Bashee islands, according to the situation in Mr. Dalrymple’s map, and the weather squally, attended with a thick haze, we hauled our wind to the north north-west, and handed the fore top-sail.
During the whole of the 24th it rained incessantly, and the wind still blew a storm; a heavy sea rolled down on us from the north, and in the afternoon we had violent flashes of lightning from the same quarter. We continued upon a wind to the north north-west till nine o’clock, when we tacked and stood to the south south-east till four in the morning of the 25th, and then wore. During the night there was an eclipse of the moon, but the rain prevented our making any observation; unfortunately, at the time of the greatest darkness, a seaman, in stowing the main top-mast stay-sail, fell over board, but laying hold of a rope which providentially was hanging out of the fore-chains into the water, and the ship being quickly brought in the wind, he was got on board without any other hurt than a slight bruise on his shoulder. At eight, the weather clearing, we bore away, but the wind blew still so strong, that we carried no other sail than the fore-sail, and the main top-sail close reefed. About this time we saw a land bird resembling a thrush, and a sugar cane; at noon the latitude, by observation, was 21° 35ʹ, and longitude 121° 35ʹ.
As our situation in longitude was now to the west of the Bashee, according to Mr. Dalrymple’s maps, I perceived that Captain Gore was governed, in the course he was steering, by the opinions of Commodore Byron and Captain Wallis, with whom he sailed when they passed these islands. The former placing it near four degrees to the westward, or in longitude 118° 14ʹ. In consequence of this opinion, at two we stood to the southward, with a view of getting into the same parallel of latitude with the islands before we ran down our longitude. At six we were nearly in that situation, and consequently ought to have been in sight of land, according to Mr. Wallis’s account, who places the Bashees near three degrees more to the eastward than Mr. Byron. The gale at this time had not in the least abated; and Captain Gore, still conceiving that the islands must undoubtedly lie to the westward, brought the ships to, with their heads to the north-west, under the fore-sail and balanced mizen.