Tareinska harbour is about three miles in breadth, and twelve in length; it stretches to the E.S.E., and is separated from the sea, at the bottom, by a narrow neck of land. The road into this harbour is perfectly free from rocks or shoals. We had never less than seven fathoms water, as far as our survey extended; for we were not able to get to the bottom of the harbour on account of the ice.
The harbour of Rakoweena would deserve the preference over the other two, if its entrance were not impeded by a shoal lying in the middle of the channel; which, in general, will make it necessary to warp in, unless there be a leading wind. It is from one mile to half a mile in width, and three miles long, running at first in a S.E., and afterward in an easterly direction. Its depth is from thirteen to three fathoms.
Saint Peter and Saint Paul's is one of the most convenient little harbours I ever saw. It will hold conveniently half a dozen ships, moored head and stern; and is fit for giving them any kind of repairs. The south side is formed by a low sandy neck, exceedingly narrow, on which the ostrog is built; and whose point may almost be touched by ships going in, having three fathoms water close in with it. In the mid channel, which is no more than two hundred and seventy-eight feet across, there are six fathoms and a half; the deepest water within is seven fathoms; and in every part over a muddy bottom. We found some inconvenience from the toughness of the ground, which constantly broke the messenger, and gave us a great deal of trouble in getting up the anchors. There is a watering-place at the head of the harbour.
The plan we drew points out the shoal to be avoided, lying off the eastern harbour, as well as the spit within the entrance, stretching from the S.W. shore, and over which there are only three fathoms water. In order to steer clear of the latter, a small island, or perhaps it may rather be called a large detached rock, lying on the west shore of the entrance, is to be shut in with the land to the south of it; and to steer clear of the former, the Three Needle Rocks, which lie on the east shore of the entrance near the light-house head, are to be kept open with the head-lands (or bluff-heads) that rise to the northward of the first small bay, or bending, observable on the east side of the entrance. When arrived to the north of the north head-land of the eastern harbour, the shoal is past.
In sailing into the harbour of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and approaching the village, it is necessary to keep in close to the eastern shore, in order to avoid a spit which runs from the head-land to the S.W. of the town.[41]
[41] Every reader will be pleased to learn, that Krusenstern bears ample testimony to the general accuracy of Captain King's drawings and descriptions of the bay, &c. This intimation is probably sufficient for most persons, without any special exemplification of the coincidences betwixt these two writers.--F.
Before I proceed to give a table of the result of our astronomical observations at this place, it may be proper to acquaint the reader, that the time-keeper we had on board the Resolution, which was an exact copy of that invented by Mr Harrison, and executed by Mr Kendal, stopped on the 27th of April, a few days before we first came into Awatska Bay. It had been always kept with the most scrupulous care during the voyage, having never been trusted for a moment into any other hands than those of Captain Cook and mine. No accident could therefore have happened to it, to which we could attribute its stopping; nor could it have arisen from the effects of intense cold, as the thermometer was very little below the freezing point. As soon as the discovery was made, I consulted with Captain Clerke what course it was best to pursue; whether to let it remain as it was, entirely useless to us, for the purpose of satisfying the curious at home, where it was sure of being examined by proper judges, or suffer it to be inspected by a seaman on board, who had served a regular apprenticeship to a watchmaker in London, and appeared sufficiently knowing in the business, from his success in cleaning and repairing several watches since we had been out. The advantages we had derived from its accuracy, made us extremely unwilling to be deprived of its use during the remaining part of the voyage; and that object appeared to us to be of much greater importance than the small degree of probability, which we understood was all that could be expected, of obtaining any material knowledge respecting its mechanism, by deferring the inspection of it. At the same time, it should be remembered, that the watch had already a sufficient trial, both in the former voyage and during the three years we had now had it on board to ascertain its utility. On these considerations, we took the opportunity of the first clear day, after our arrival in Awatska Bay, of opening the watch, which was done in the captain's cabin, and in our presence. The watchmaker found no part of the work broken; but not being able to set it a-going, he proceeded to take off the cock and balance, and cleaned both the pivot-holes, which he found very foul, and the rest of the work rather dirty; he also took off the dial-plate; and, between two teeth of the wheel that carries the second-hand, found a piece of dirt, which he imagined to be the principal cause of its stopping. Having afterward put the work together, and oiled it as sparingly as possible, the watch appeared to go free and well.
Having received orders the next day to go to Bolcheretsk, the time-keeper was left in the care of Mr Bayley, to compare it with his watch and clock, in order to get its rate. On my return, I was told it had gone for some days with tolerable regularity, losing only from fifteen to seventeen seconds a-day, when it stopped a second time. It was again opened, and the cause of its stopping appeared to be owing to the man having put some part of the work badly together when he first opened it. Being again adjusted, it was found to gain above a minute a-day; and, in the attempt to alter the regulator and balance-spring, he broke the latter. He afterward made a new spring; but the watch now went so irregularly, that we made no farther use of it. The poor fellow was not less chagrined than we were at our bad success; which, however, I am convinced, was more owing to the miserable tools he was obliged to work with, and the stiffness his hands had contracted from his ordinary occupation, than to his want of skill.
For the satisfaction of those who may wish to have a general view of its rate of going, I have added the following table.
The first and second columns contain the dates when, and the names of the places where its rate was observed. The third column contains the daily error of its rate, so found from mean time. The fourth column has the longitude of each place, according to the Greenwich rate; that is, calculated on a supposition that the time-keeper had not varied its rate from the time it left Greenwich. But as we had frequent opportunities of ascertaining the variation of its daily error, or finding its new rate, the fifth column has the longitude according to its last rate, calculated from the true longitude of the place last departed from. The sixth is the true longitude of the place deduced from astronomical observations made by ourselves, and compared with those made by others, whenever such could be obtained. The seventh column shews the difference between the fourth column and the sixth in space; and the eighth the same difference in time. The ninth shews the number of months and days in which the error, thus determined, had been accumulating. The difference between the fifth and sixth columns is found in the tenth, and shews the error of the time- keeper, according to its rate last found, in space; and the eleventh the same error in time. The twelfth contains the time elapsed in sailing from the place where the rate was last taken, to the place whose longitude is last determined. The thirteenth and fourteenth contain the state of the air at the time of each observation.