[* At the Cape of Good Hope, in 1810, His Excellency the Earl of Caledon favoured me with the following extract from the log book of the sloop Columbus--Long, master; returning to the Cape from the coast of Brazil.
"September 22, 1809, at five p.m., saw the island of Saxonburg, bearing E. S. E., first about 41 leagues distant: clear weather. Steered for the said island, and found it to be in the latitude of 30° 18' south, longitude 28° 20' west, or thereabout.
"The island of Saxonburg is about four leagues in length, N. W. and S. E., and about 2½ miles in breadth. The N. W. end is a high bluff of about 70 feet, perpendicular form, and runs along to the south-east about 8 miles. You will see trees at about a mile and a half distance, and a sandy beach."
The situation of Saxemberg in the common tables and charts, was 30° 45' south and 19° 40' west, almost 9° of longitude too little; and therefore it is not surprising that ships have missed it. At the time so many birds were seen, on the 28th, the Investigator was not more than eighty miles from the position of the island, as above given from Mr. Long.]
SUNDAY 4 OCTOBER 1801
The fresh western winds continued, with short intervals of calm, as far as the latitude 33° 23', and longitude 13° 0' west; when they died away, and a breeze sprung up from the eastward. With this wind we could do little more than look up for the isles of Tristan d'Acunha, whose bearing was then S. 16° E., and distance seventy-seven leagues. From the description given by sir Erasmus Gower* of the anchorage, and the convenience with which water may be obtained, and his account of the animals which resort there, I should not have considered it to be lost time, had the wind made it advisable to put in at Tristan d'Acunha, for a few days; but it veered round to the north-west, on the [TUESDAY] 6th. and we resumed our former course to the Cape of Good Hope.
[* Lord Macartney's Embassy to China, by sir G. Staunton, Vol. I. p. 198-201.]
WEDNESDAY 14 OCTOBER 1801
In the morning of the 14th, the variation by mean of amplitude and azimuth, was 25° 10' west; the ship's head being E. by S., and our latitude 35° 4' south, and longitude 12° 50' east. It is worthy of being mentioned, that in the year 1797, and near the same place, I observed the variation to be 19° 40' west, on board His Majesty's ship Reliance; and as the compass was upon the binnacle in both cases, the sole cause to which I can attribute this great difference is, that the ship's head was west, instead of E. by S. The true variation could not be far from the mean of the two observations, since it was 26° at the Cape of Good Hope. In the English Channel, the compass on the binnacle had shown nearly 4° too much west variation, when the ship's head was at west; but here, it gives at least 2° too much, with the head in an opposite direction! This difference in the two hemispheres merits particular notice; it is part of a series of apparent anomalies in the compass which have hitherto remained unaccounted for; but which seem reducible to one general cause, as I have attempted to show in the Appendix No. II. to the second volume.
FRIDAY 16 OCTOBER 1801
At daybreak of the 16th, we expected to see the high land of the Cape; but the weather being hazy, it could not be distinguished until eight o'clock, when it bore north-east, eight leagues; being three leagues more than Earnshaw's pocket time keeper, in which we had most confidence, led us to expect, and four miles less than was given by my uncorrected lunar observations of the 14th p.m., brought forward by the time keeper.
At this time we had not a single person in the sick list, both officers and men being fully in as good health, as when we sailed from Spithead. I had begun very early to put in execution the beneficial plan, first practised and made known by the great captain Cook. It was in the standing orders of the ship, that on every fine day the deck below and the cockpits should be cleared, washed, aired with stoves, and sprinkled with vinegar. On wet and dull days they were cleaned and aired, without washing. Care was taken to prevent the people from sleeping upon deck, or lying down in their wet clothes; and once in every fortnight or three weeks, as circumstances permitted, their beds, and the contents of their chests and bags, were opened out and exposed to the sun and air. On the Sunday and Thursday mornings, the ship's company was mustered, and every man appeared clean shaved and dressed; and when the evenings were fine, the drum and fife announced the fore castle to be the scene of dancing; nor did I discourage other playful amusements which might occasionally be more to the taste of the sailors, and were not unseasonable.
Within the tropics, lime juice and sugar were made to suffice as antiscorbutics; on reaching a higher latitude, sour krout and vinegar were substituted; the essence of malt was reserved for the passage to New Holland, and for future occasions. On consulting with the surgeon, I had thought it expedient to make some slight changes in the issuing of the provisions. Oatmeal was boiled for breakfast four days in the week, instead of three; and when rice was issued, after the expenditure of the cheese, it was boiled on the other three days. Pease soup was prepared for dinner four days in the week, as usual; and at other times, two ounces of portable broth, in cakes, to each man, with such additions of onions, pepper, etc. as the different messes possessed, made a comfortable addition to their salt meat. And neither in this passage, nor, I may add, in any subsequent part of the voyage, were the officers or people restricted to any allowance of fresh water. They drank freely at the scuttled cask, and took away, under the inspection of the officer of the watch, all that was requisite for culinary purposes; and very frequently two casks of water in the week were given for washing their clothes.