At six in the morning of the 26th, the wind having considerably abated, we bore away west, set the topsails, and let out the reefs. At noon the latitude, by observation, was 21° 12ʹ, and longitude 120° 25ʹ. We saw, this day, a flock of ducks and many tropic birds, also dolphins and porpusses, and still continued to pass several pumice-stones. We spent the night upon our tacks; and at six in the morning of the 27th again bore away west in search of the Bashees.
I now began to be a little apprehensive, lest, in searching for those islands, we should get so much to the southward as to be obliged to pass to leeward of the Pratas. In this case it might have been exceedingly difficult for such bad sailing ships as ours to fetch Macao, particularly should the wind continue to blow as it now did, from the north north-east and north. As I had some doubts whether Mr. Dalrymple’s charts were on board the Resolution, I made sail and hailed her; and having acquainted Captain Gore with the position of these shoals, and my apprehensions of being driven to the southward, he informed me that he should continue on his course for the day, as he was still in hopes of finding Admiral Byron’s longitude right; and, therefore, ordered me to spread a few miles to the south.
At noon the weather became hazy; the latitude, by reckoning, was 21° 2ʹ, and longitude 118° 30ʹ; and at six, having got to the westward of the Bashees, by Mr. Byron’s account, Captain Gore hauled his wind to the north-west under an easy sail, the wind blowing very strong, and there being every appearance of a dirty boisterous night. At four in the morning of the 28th, we saw the Resolution, then half a mile ahead of us, wear, and immediately perceived breakers close under our lee. At day-light we saw the island of Prata; and at half past six we wore again, and stood toward the shoal, and finding we could not weather it, bore away and ran to leeward. As we passed the south side, within a mile of the reef, we observed two remarkable patches on the edges of the breakers that looked like wrecks. At noon, the latitude found by double altitudes was 20° 39ʹ, longitude 116° 45ʹ. The island bore north three quarters east, distant three or four leagues. On the south-west side of the reef, and near the south end of the island, we thought we saw from the mast-head openings in the reef, which promised safe anchorage.
The Prata shoal is of a considerable extent, being six leagues from north to south, and stretching three or four leagues to the eastward of the island; its limit to the westward we were not in a situation to determine. The north-east extremity we place in latitude 20° 58ʹ, and longitude 117°; and the south-west in latitude 20° 45ʹ, and longitude 116° 44ʹ.
For the remaining part of the day we carried a press of sail, and kept the wind, which was north-east by north, in order to secure our passage to Macao. It was fortunate that, toward evening, the wind favoured us by changing two points more to the east; for, had the wind and weather continued, the same as during the preceding week, I doubt whether we could have fetched that port, in which case we must have borne away for Batavia; a place we all dreaded exceedingly, from the sad havoc the unhealthiness of the climate had made in the crews of the former ships that had been out on discovery, and had touched there.
In the forenoon of the 29th, we passed several Chinese fishing-boats, who eyed us with great indifference. They fish with a large dredge-net, shaped like a hollow cone, having a flat iron rim fixed to the lower part of its mouth. The net is made fast with cords to the head and stern of the boat, which being left to drive with the wind, draws the net after it, with the iron part dragging along the bottom. We were sorry to find the sea covered with the wrecks of boats that had been lost, as we conjectured, in the late boisterous weather. At noon we were in latitude, by observation, 22° 1ʹ, having run one hundred and ten miles upon a north-west course since the preceding noon. Being now nearly in the latitude of the Lema Islands, we bore away west by north, and, after running twenty-two miles, saw one of them nine or ten leagues to the westward. At six, the extremes of the islands in sight bore north north-west half west, and west north-west half west; distant from the nearest four or five leagues; the depth of water twenty-two fathoms, over a soft muddy bottom. We now shortened sail, and kept upon our tacks for the night. By Mr. Bayly’s time-keeper, the Grand Lema bore from the Prata Island north 60° W. one hundred and fifty-three miles; and by our run, north 57° W. one hundred and forty-six miles.
In the morning of the 30th, we ran along the Lema Isles, which, like all the other islands on this coast, are without wood, and, as far as we could observe, without cultivation. At seven o’clock, we had precisely the same view of these islands, as is represented in a plate of Lord Anson’s voyage. At nine o’clock, a Chinese boat, which had been before with the Resolution, came alongside, and wanted to put on board us a pilot, which however we declined, as it was our business to follow our consort. We soon after passed the rock marked R, in Lord Anson’s plate; but, instead of hauling up to the northward of the grand Ladrone Island, as was done in the Centurion, we proceeded to leeward.
It is hardly necessary to caution the mariner not to take this course, as the danger is sufficiently obvious; for, should the wind blow strong, and the current set with it, it will be extremely difficult to fetch Macao. Indeed we might, with great safety, by the direction of Mr. Dalrymple’s map, have gone either entirely to the north of the Lema Isles, or between them, and made the wind fair for Macao. Our fears of missing this port, and being forced to Batavia, added to the strong and eager desires of hearing news from Europe, made us rejoice to see the Resolution soon after fire a gun, and hoist her colours as a signal for a pilot. On repeating the signal, we saw an excellent race between four Chinese boats; and Captain Gore having engaged with the man who arrived first, to carry the ship to the Typa for thirty dollars, sent me word, that, as we could easily follow, that expence might be saved to us. Soon after, a second pilot getting on board the Resolution, insisted on conducting the ship, and, without further ceremony, laid hold of the wheel, and began to order the sails to be trimmed. This occasioned a violent dispute, which at last was compromised, by their agreeing to go shares in the money. At noon, the latitude, by observation, was 21° 57ʹ N., and longitude 114° 2ʹ E.; the grand Ladrone Island extending from north-west half north, to north half west, distant four miles. The land of which the bearings are here given, we conceived to be one island; but afterward found the western part to be the island marked z in Mr. Dalrymple’s chart of part of the coast of China, &c. which, at that time, we unfortunately had not on board.
In obedience to the instructions given to Captain Cook by the Board of Admiralty, it now became necessary to demand of the officers and men their journals, and what other papers they might have in their possession, relating to the history of our voyage. The execution of these orders seemed to require some delicacy, as well as firmness. I could not be ignorant, that the greatest part of our officers, and several of the seaman, had amused themselves with writing accounts of our proceedings for their own private satisfaction, or that of their friends, which they might be unwilling, in their present form, to have submitted to the inspection of strangers. On the other hand, I could not, consistently with the instructions we had received, leave in their custody papers, which, either from carelessness or design, might fall into the hands of printers, and give rise to spurious and imperfect accounts of the voyage, to the discredit of our labours, and perhaps to the prejudice of officers, who, though innocent, might be suspected of having been the authors of such publications. As soon, therefore, as I had assembled the ship’s company on deck, I acquainted them with the orders we had received, and the reasons which I thought ought to induce them to yield a ready obedience. At the same time, I told them, that any papers which they were desirous not to have sent to the Admiralty, should be sealed up in their presence, and kept in my own custody, till the intentions of the Board, with regard to the publication of the history of the voyage, were fulfilled; after which, they should faithfully be restored back to them.
It is with the greatest satisfaction I can relate, that my proposals met with the approbation and the cheerful compliance both of the officers and men; and I am persuaded, that every scrap of paper, containing any transactions relating to the voyage, were given up. Indeed it is doing bare justice to the seaman of this ship to declare, that they were the most obedient, and the best disposed men I ever knew, though almost all of them were very young, and had never before served in a ship of war.