Tales of an Old Sea Port / A General Sketch of the History of Bristol, Rhode Island, Including, Incidentally, an Account of the Voyages of the Norsemen, So Far as They May Have Been Connected with Narragansett Bay: and Personal Narratives of Some Notable Voyages Accomplished by Sailors from the Mount Hope Lands

by Wilfred Harold Munro

.... James Angell, Cyrus Simmons, John Briggs, Samuel Boynton, Joseph Lewis, John Koster and James Crawford on the Surgeon’s list with various complaints—none dangerous. Lat. 20°4′. A singular circumstance occurred to day. On opening a dolphin which one of the Prize-Masters caught we found a pistol ball in him which had been discharged about an hour before.

24th Day Tuesday 10th Nov.

.... Nothing remarkable. Lat. Obs. 20°19′.

25th Day Wednesday 11th Nov.

.... At 10 a. m. all hands were exercised in firing with the musket at a target. Found most of the crew to be excellent marksmen.... Observed the water to be considerably colored. Sounded with 100 fathoms. No bottom. Lat. Obs. 19°11′. Same persons on Surgeon’s list; none incapable of duty.

26th Day Thursday 12th Nov.

.... At 4 p. m. the Marines trained to the Manual Exercise; also to several new manouvres a la mode de Francais. The Boarders amuse themselves with fencing and the rest of the crew act as spectators.... Lat. Obs. 18°19′. Long. per Lunar Obs. at 2 p. m. 28°53′30″. Crawford and Koster struck off the Surgeon’s list. The rest recovering fast.

27th Day Friday 13th Nov.

.... At 4 p. m. the Commander exercised the Officers,—and the Captain of Marines his men and the Boarders,—to the use of the musket according to the French system of loading and firing without using the ramrod.... At ½ past 11 a. m. Captain Wilson called out “Land ho! right ahead!!” ... At meridian found the land to be, by an observation of the sun, the Island of St. Anthony, one of the Cape de Verds, situated in Lat. N. 17°20′ and 24°59′ W. Long. Lat. Obs. 17°15′. The island bore when first we made it S. E. b E.—distant about 5 miles. Cyrus Simmons, James Angell, James Thomas, Watson Morris, Aaron Mason, Samuel Boynton and Ned Ingraham on the Surgeon’s list; none incapable of duty. On examination the Commander finds Master Snow’s lunar observations to be very correct, and that the dead reckoning could not be depended on. THUS in 27 days we have run a distance of 3,500 miles, notwithstanding occasional head winds and a great deal of light calm weather. Nothing very remarkable occurred during our passage.

28th Day Saturday 14th Nov.