The next day the wind came gradually round to the east, and increased to so strong a gale, as obliged us to strike our top-gallant yards, and brought us under the lower sails, and the main top-sail close-reefed. Unfortunately we were upon that tack, which was the most disadvantageous for our leak. But as we had always been able to keep it under with the hand-pumps, it gave us no great uneasiness till the 13th, about six in the afternoon, when we were greatly alarmed by a sudden inundation, that deluged the whole space between decks. The water, which had lodged in the coal-hole, not finding a sufficient vent into the well, had forced up the platforms over it, and in a moment set every thing afloat. Our situation was indeed exceedingly distressing; nor did we immediately see any means of relieving ourselves. A pump, through the upper decks into the coal-hole, could answer no end, as it would very soon have been choaked up by the small coals; and to bale the water out with buckets was become impracticable, from the number of bulky materials that were washed out of the gunner's store-room into it, and which, by the ship's motion, were tossed violently from side to side. No other method was therefore left, but to cut a hole through the bulk-head (or partition) that separated the coal-hole from the fore-hold, and by that means to make a passage for the body of water into the well. However, before that could be done, it was necessary to get the casks of dry provisions out of the forehold, which kept us employed the greatest part of the night; so that the carpenters could not get at the partition till the next morning. As soon as the passage was made, the greatest part of the water emptied itself into the well, and enabled us to get out the rest with buckets. But the leak was now so much increased, that we were obliged to keep one half of the people constantly pumping and baling, till the noon of the 15th. Our men bore with great cheerfulness this excessive fatigue, which was much increased by their having no dry place to sleep in; and on this account we began to serve their full allowance of grog.
The weather now becoming more moderate, and the swell less heavy, we were enabled to clear away the rest of the casks from the fore-hold, and to open a sufficient passage for the water to the pumps. This day we saw a greenish piece of drift-wood, and fancying the water coloured, we sounded, but got no bottom with a hundred and sixty fathoms of line. Our latitude at noon this day was 41° 52', longitude 161° 15', variation 6° 30' E.; and the wind soon after veering to the northward, we altered our course three points to the west.
On the 16th at noon, we were in the latitude of 42° 12', and in the longitude of 160° 5'; and as we were now approaching the place where a great extent of land is said to have been seen by De Gama, we were glad of the opportunity which the course we were steering gave, of contributing to remove the doubts, if any should be still entertained, respecting the falsehood of this pretended discovery. For it is to be observed, that no one has ever yet been able to find who John de Gama was, when he lived, or what year this pretended discovery was made.
According to Mr Muller, the first account of it given to the public was in a chart published by Texeira, a Portuguese geographer, in 1649, who places it ten or twelve degrees to the north-east of Japan, between the latitudes of 44° and 45°; and announces it to be land seen by John de Gama, the Indian, in a voyage from China to New Spain. On what grounds the French geographers have since removed it five degrees to the eastward, does not appear; except we suppose it to have been done in order to make room for another discovery made by the Dutch, called Company's Land; of which we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.
During the whole day the wind was exceedingly unsettled, being seldom steady to two or three points, and blowing in fresh gusts, which were succeeded by dead calms. These were not unpromising appearances; but after standing off and on the whole of this day, without seeing anything of the land, we again steered to the northward, not thinking it worth our while to lose time in search of an object, the opinion of whose existence had been already pretty generally exploded. Our people were employed the whole of the 16th, in getting their wet things dry, and in airing the ships below.
We now began to feel very sharply the increasing inclemency of the northern climate. In the morning of the 18th, our latitude being 45° 40', and our longitude 160° 25', we had snow and sleet, accompanied with strong gales from the S.W. This circumstance will appear very remarkable, if we consider the season of the year, and the quarter from which the wind blew. On the 19th, the thermometer in the day-time remained at the freezing point, and at four in the morning fell to 29°. If the reader will take the trouble to compare the degree of heat, during the hot sultry weather we had at the beginning of this month, with the extreme cold which we now endured, he will conceive how severely so rapid a change must have been felt by us.
In the gale of the 18th, we had split almost all the sails we had bent, which being our second best suit, we were now reduced to make use of our last and best set. To add to Captain Clerke's difficulties, the sea was in general so rough, and the ships so leaky, that the sail-makers had no place to repair the sails in, except his apartments, which in his declining state of health was a serious inconvenience to him.
On the 20th at noon, being in latitude 49° 45' N., and longitude 161° 15' E., and eagerly expecting to fall in with the coast of Asia, the wind shifted suddenly to the north, and continued in the same quarter the following day. However, although it retarded our progress, yet the fair weather it brought was no small refreshment to us. In the forenoon of the 21st we saw a whale and a land-bird; and in the afternoon the water looking muddy, we sounded, but got no ground with an hundred and forty fathoms of line. During the three preceding days, we saw large flocks of wild fowl, of a species resembling ducks. This is usually considered as a proof of the vicinity of land, but we had no other signs of it since the 16th, in which time we had run upwards of an hundred and fifty leagues.
On the 22d the wind shifted to the N.E., attended with misty weather. The cold was exceedingly severe, and the ropes were so frozen that it was with difficulty we could force them through the blocks. At noon, the latitude, by account, was 51° 38', longitude 160° 7'; and on comparing our present position with that given to the southern parts of Kamtschatka in the Russian charts, Captain Clerke did not think it prudent to run on toward the land all night. We therefore tacked at ten, and having found, had ground agreeably to our conjectures, with seventy fathoms of line.
On the 23d, at six in the morning, being in latitude 52° 09', and longitude 160° 07', on the fog clearing away, the land appeared in mountains covered with snow; and extending from N. 3/4 E., to S.W.; a high conical rock, bearing S.W., 3/4 W., at three or four leagues distance. We had no sooner taken this imperfect view, than we were again covered with a thick fog. Being now, according to our maps, only eight leagues from the entrance of Awatska Bay, as soon as the weather cleared up we stood in to take a nearer view of the land; and a more dismal and dreary prospect I never beheld. The coast appears strait and uniform, having no inlets or bays; the ground from the shore rises in hills of a moderate elevation, behind which are ranges of mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds. The whole scene was entirely covered with snow, except the sides of some of the cliffs which rose too abruptly from the sea for the snow to lie upon them.