Having sailed four thousand miles in three weeks, since we left Chili, we reached the neighbourhood of the dangerous Archipelago. By degrees we now lost, contrary to all rule in this climate, the south-east trade-wind, which had hitherto been so favourable to us, and contrary winds from the West and North brought us very bad weather. An opinion has been hitherto entertained, that the coral islands, from lying so low and in small masses, could produce no change in the atmosphere, and that the trade-winds, to which they offered no obstruction, would continue to blow uninterruptedly in their neighbourhood. Repeated experience has, however, convinced me that this is an error, and that these little islands, at certain seasons, often cause variations from the ordinary tropical weather.
On the 26th of February, we entered 16° of latitude, and 129° of longitude. The wind blew from the West: black clouds labouring upwards, covered the sky; violent and sudden gusts expended their fury on us, and lightnings flashed from every corner of the horizon. The night was really dreadful, and the tempest continued to rage, through a darkness which, but for the lightning, would have been total, while torrents of rain swept our decks. Nor did the return of light bring us much relief; when about noon the heavens cleared for a short time, and allowed us a little respite; the storm set in again with renewed violence, and for four days and nights we were condemned to struggle with this tremendous weather. It is surprising how such tempests can arise at so great a distance from land. In the ship Rurik, in this same region, at the same season of year, I have before met with similar though scarcely such furious storms. On the 2nd of March the tropical wind returned, and brought with it clearer weather. It was indeed very hot, (Reaumur's thermometer did not fall even in the night below 24,) but the whole crew continued in good health. On this evening we calculated that we were in 15° 15' latitude, and 139° 40' longitude; and just as the sun was sinking, the man at the mast-head called out that land was in sight. The pleasure of making a new discovery set all our telescopes in motion, and before night set in we plainly distinguished a very low, thickly wooded island. Since no navigator, to my knowledge, had ever been here before, and the newest charts described nothing but empty space, we conceived we had a right to consider ourselves the first discoverers, and named the island, after our ship, Predpriatie: we now tacked to stand out to sea for the night, and at break of day again made towards the island, under feelings of strong excitement. The many telescopes which our eager curiosity pointed towards its object, seemed each endued with the magical power of conveying different images to the sight. Some of us saw what others saw not, till these delusions of the imagination vanished before the conviction produced by rising columns of smoke visible to all, that the island was inhabited. We could soon afterwards, from the mast-head, perceive its entire extent. The dazzling whiteness of the coral shore fringed a bright green ground upon which rose a forest of palms; and we distinguished canoes moving upon a large lake in the centre of the island. By rapid degrees, we approached so near that every object became perceptible with the naked eye. A tall, strong, dark-coloured race of naked savages were assembling on the shore, gazing on the ship in great agitation, with gestures of astonishment. Some were arming with long spears and clubs, others kindling piles of wood, probably, that the smoke might be a signal to neighbouring islands of their requiring assistance against the unknown sea-monster. From pretty huts of plaited reeds, under the shade of bread-fruit trees, the women, some of them with children in their arms, were flying to conceal themselves in the forest. Such was the commotion our appearance occasioned in this little community. A few heroes summoned courage enough to advance, with threatening attitudes, to the margin of the shore; but no single canoe, though many lay on the coast, ventured to approach us. Judging from their size and the good arrangement of their sails, these canoes seem intended for visits to other and even distant islands. We sailed quite round our new discovery without finding any haven by which we could effect a landing; and the sea being tempestuous, with a high and boisterous surf, we were compelled to renounce our desire of becoming more intimately acquainted with the Predpriatians. The unclouded sky enabled us, nevertheless, to determine by observation the exact latitude and longitude of this little island, whose greatest extent is only four miles from E.N.E. to W.S.W. The latitude of its central point is 15° 58' 18" South, and its longitude, 140° 11' 30". The variation of the needle was 4° East.
When we had finished our observations, I steered a westerly course for the island of Araktschief, discovered in the year 1819 by the Russian Captain Bellingshausen, in order to convince myself that it was actually not the one we had just quitted.
At four o'clock in the afternoon we could already see this island from the mast-head, and we reached it before sunset. It bears, with respect to size and circumstances, so close a resemblance to that of Predpriatie, that they might easily be mistaken, if their relative situations were not exactly known.
From our observation, we found the latitude of the centre of the island of Araktschief 15° 51' 20" South; and the longitude 140° 50' 50". According to Captain Bellingshausen's chart, the latitude is 15° 51', the longitude 140° 52'. Unable to discover any traces of inhabitants on this island, we should have supposed there were none, had not Captain Bellingshausen ascertained the contrary.
At night we retired to some distance from the island and lay-to, that we might not, in the darkness, strike on any unknown land. At break of day I steered a north-west course, to see the island of Romanzow, (which I had formerly discovered when with the ship Rurik,) and convince myself of the accuracy of the astronomical observations then made. At eight o'clock in the morning we could see the north point of the group of Wolchonsky Islands, recently discovered by Captain Bellingshausen. When they lay seven miles off us, to the South, we found the longitude, according to our chronometers, 142° 2' 38". Bellingshausen considered it to be 142° 7' 42".
From failure of wind, we could not make the island of Romanzow till the morning of the 8th of March. We then took advantage of the clearness of the heavens to ascertain, by the distance between the sun and moon, its exact longitude, which is 144° 28'. According to the observations we had made in the ship Rurik, it was 144° 24', consequently there was a difference of only four minutes.
We now steered due West, in order to learn whether the island which, on my voyage in the Rurik, I had named after Admiral Spiridow, was really a new discovery, or, as has been said, only the most southerly of the King George's Islands. A fresh wind favoured our course, and at six o'clock in the afternoon we could see this island, my discovery of which has been denied, lying before us at a distance of six miles westward.
At the same time, we could distinguish from the mast-head the southern part of another island, lying due North, with open water between the two. We were in 14° 41' 36" South latitude, and 144° 55' longitude. During the night we were becalmed, but in the morning a fresh breeze sprang up directly in our teeth, and the current carried us so far to the South, that, even from the mast, we could no longer see land. Under these circumstances, to attempt to regain the Spiridow Island would have been attended by too great loss of time; so that we remained uncertain whether this and the other, which we saw in the North, were the two King George's Islands or not. I can only say, that if they really are so, their discoverer has given their geographical position very inaccurately.