On the 26th, in the morning, I ordered Captain Clerke to send a boat, with an officer, to the S.E. part of the lagoon, to look for turtles; and Mr King and I went each in a boat to the N.E. part. I intended to have gone to the most easterly extremity, but the wind blew too fresh to allow it, and obliged us to land more to leeward, on a sandy flat, where we caught one turtle, the only one that we saw in the lagoon. We walked, or rather waded, through the water to an island, where finding nothing but a few birds, I left it, and proceeded to the land that bounds the sea to the N.W., leaving Mr King to observe the sun's meridian altitude. I found this land to be even more barren than the island I had been upon; but walking over to the sea-coast, I saw five turtles close to the shore. One of these we caught, and the rest made their escape. Not seeing any more I returned on board, as did Mr King soon after, without having seen one turtle. We, however, did not despair of getting a supply; for some of Captain Clerke's officers, who had been ashore on the land to the southward of the channel leading into the lagoon, had been more fortunate, and caught several there.
In the morning of the 27th, the pinnace and cutter, under the command of Mr King, were sent to the S.E. part of the island, within the lagoon, and the small cutter to the northward, where I had been the day before, both parties being ordered upon the same service, to catch turtles. Captain Clerke having had some of his people on shore all night, they had been so fortunate as to turn between forty and fifty on the sand, which were brought on board with all expedition this day. And, in the afternoon, the party I had sent northward returned with six. They were sent back again, and remained there till we left the island, having in general pretty good success.
On the 28th, I landed in company with Mr Bayly, on the island which lies between the two channels into the lagoon, to prepare the telescopes for observing the approaching eclipse of the sun, which was one great inducement to my anchoring here. About noon, Mr King returned with one boat and eight turtles, leaving seven behind to be brought by the other boat, whose people were employed in catching more; and, in the evening, the same boat was sent with water and provisions for them. Mr Williamson now went to superintend this duty in the room of Mr King, who remained on board to attend the observation of the eclipse.
The next day, Mr Williamson dispatched the two boats back to the ship, laden with turtles. At the same time, he sent me a message, desiring that the boats might be ordered round by sea, as he had found a landing-place on the S.E. side of the island, where most of the turtles were caught; so that by sending the boats thither, the trouble would be saved of carrying them over the land to the inside of the lagoon, as had been hitherto done. The boats were accordingly dispatched to the place which he pointed out.
On the morning of the 30th, the day when the eclipse was to happen, Mr King, Mr Bayly, and myself, went ashore on the small island above-mentioned, to attend the observation. The sky was over-cast till past nine o'clock, when the clouds about the sun dispersed long enough to take its altitude, to rectify the time by the watch we made use of. After this, it was again obscured, till about thirty minutes past nine, and then we found that the eclipse was begun. We now fixed the micrometers to the telescopes, and observed or measured the uneclipsed part of the sun's disk. At these observations I continued about three-quarters of an hour before the end, when I left off, being, in fact, unable to continue them longer, on account of the great heat of the sun, increased by the reflection from the sand.
The sun was clouded at times; but it was clear when the eclipse ended, the time of which was observed as follows:
| Mr Bayly | 0 26 3 | |||
| By | Mr King | at | 0 26 1 | Apparent Time p.m. |
| Myself | 0 25 37 |
Mr Bayly and I observed with the large achromatic telescopes, and Mr King with a reflector. As Mr Bayly's telescope and mine were of the same magnifying power, I ought not to have differed so much from him as I did. Perhaps, it was, in part, if not wholly owing to a protuberance in the moon, which escaped my notice, but was seen by both the other gentlemen.
In the afternoon, the boats and turtling party, at the S.E. part of the island, all returned on board, except a seaman belonging to the Discovery, who had been missing two days. There were two of them at first who had lost their way, but disagreeing about the most probable track to bring them back to their companions, they had separated, and one of them joined the party, after having been absent twenty-four hours, and been in great distress. Not a drop of fresh water could be had, for there is none upon the whole island; nor was there a single cocoa-nut tree on that part of it. In order to allay his thirst, be had recourse to the singular expedient of killing turtles, and drinking their blood. His mode of refreshing himself, when weary, of which he said he felt the good effects, was equally whimsical. He undressed himself, and lay down for some time in the shallow water upon the beach.[2]
It was a matter of surprise to every one, how these two men could contrive to lose themselves. The land over which they had to travel, from the sea-coast to the lagoon, where the boats lay, was not more than three miles across, nor was there any thing to obstruct their view, for the country was a flat, with a few shrubs scattered upon it, and from many parts of it, the masts of the ships could easily be seen. But this was a rule of direction they never once thought of; nor did they recollect in what quarter of the island the ships had anchored, and they were as much at a loss how to get back to them, or to the party they had straggled from, as if they had but just dropped from the clouds. Considering how strange a set of beings the generality of seamen are, when on shore, instead of being surprised that these two men should thus lose their way, it is rather to be wondered at, that no more of the party were missing. Indeed, one of those who landed with me was in a similar situation; but he had sagacity enough to know that the ships were to leeward, and got on board almost as soon as it was discovered that he had been left behind.