DEPARTURE FROM PULO CONDORE.—PASS THE STRAITS OF BANCA.—VIEW OF THE ISLAND OF SUMATRA.—STRAITS OF SUNDA.—OCCURRENCES THERE.—DESCRIPTION OF THE ISLAND OF CRACATOA.—PRINCE’S ISLAND.—EFFECTS OF THE CLIMATE OF JAVA.—RUN TO THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.—TRANSACTIONS THERE.—DESCRIPTION OF FALSE BAY.—PASSAGE TO THE ORKNEYS.—GENERAL REFLECTIONS.

On the 28th day of January 1780, we unmoored; and, as soon as we were clear of the harbour, steered south south-west for Pulo Timoan. On the 30th, at noon, the latitude, by observation, being 5° 0' N., and longitude 104° 45' E. we altered our course to south three quarters west, having a moderate breeze from the north-east, accompanied by fair weather. At two in the morning of the 31st, we had soundings of forty-five fathoms, over a bottom of fine white sand; at which time our latitude was 4° 4' N., longitude 104° 29' E., and the variation of the compass 0° 31' E.

At one in the afternoon, we saw Pulo Timoan; and, at three, it bore south south-west, three quarters west, distant ten miles. This island is high and woody, and has several small ones lying off to the westward. At five, Pulo Puisang was seen bearing south by east three quarters east; and, at nine, the weather being thick and hazy, and having out-run our reckoning from the effect of some current, we were close upon Pulo Aor, in latitude 2° 46' N., longitude 104° 37' E., before we were well aware of it, which obliged us to haul the wind to the east south-east. We kept this course till midnight, and then bore away south south-east for the Straits of Banca.

On the 1st of February, at noon, our latitude, by observation, was 1° 20' N., and the longitude, deduced from a great number of lunar observations taken in the course of the preceding twelve hours, 105° E. At the same time, the longitude, by Mr. Bayly’s time-keeper, corrected, was 105° 15' E. We now steered south by east; and, at sun-set, having fine clear weather, saw Pulo Panjang; the body of the island bearing west north-west, and the small islands, lying on the south-east of it, west half south, seven leagues distant. Our latitude, at this time, was 0° 53' N.

On the 2d, at eight in the morning, we tried for soundings, continuing to do the same every hour, till we had passed the Straits of Sunda, and found the bottom with twenty-three fathoms of line. At noon, being in latitude, by observation, 0° 22' S., longitude 105° 14' E., and our soundings twenty fathoms, we came in sight of the little islands called Dominis, which lie off the eastern part of Lingen; and which bore from north 62° W., to north 80° W., five leagues distant. At this time we passed a great deal of wood, drifting on the sea; and, at one o’clock, we saw Pulo Taya, bearing south-west by west, distant seven leagues. It is a small high island, with two round peaks, and two detached rocks lying off it to the northward. When abreast of this island, we had soundings of fifteen fathoms. During this and the preceding day, we saw great quantities of a reddish coloured scum or spawn, floating on the water, in a southerly direction.

At day-light, on the 3d, we came in sight of the Three Islands; and, soon after, of Monopin Hill, on the island of Banca. At noon, this hill, which forms the north-east point of the entrance of the Straits, bore south-east half south, distant six leagues; our latitude, by observation, being 1° 48' S., and longitude 105° 3' E., the soundings seventeen fathoms, and no perceivable variation in the compass.

Having got to the westward of the shoal, called Frederick Endric, at half past two we entered the Straits, and bore away to the southward; and, in the afternoon, Monopin Hill bearing due east, we determined its latitude to be 2° 3' S., the same as in Mons. D’AprÈs’ map, and its longitude 105° 18' E. At nine, a boat came off from the Banca shore, and having rowed round the ships, went away again. We hailed her in the Malay tongue to come on board, but received no answer. At midnight, finding a strong tide against us, we anchored in twelve fathoms, Monopin Hill bearing north 29° W.

On the 4th, in the morning, after experiencing some difficulty in weighing our anchors, owing to the stiff tenacious quality of the ground, we proceeded with the tide down the Straits; the little wind we had from the northward dying away as the day advanced. At noon, there being a perfect calm, and the tide making against us, we dropt our anchor in thirteen fathoms’ water, about three miles from what is called the Third Point, on the Sumatra, shore; Monopin Hill bearing N. 54° W. The latitude, by observation, was 2° 22' S., longitude 105° 38' E. At three, in the afternoon, we weighed and stood on through the Straits with a light breeze; and, at eight, were abreast of the second point, and passed it within two miles, in seventeen fathoms’ water, a sufficient proof, that this point may be bordered upon with safety. At midnight, we again came to anchor, on account of the tide, in thirteen fathoms, Mount Permissang, on the island of Banca, bearing N. 7° E., and the First Point S. 54° E., distant about three leagues.

In the morning of the 5th, we weighed, and kept on to the south-east; and, at ten, passed a small shoal, lying in a line with Lusepara and the First Point, at the distance of five miles from the latter. At noon, the island of Lusepara, bearing S. 57¹/₂° E., four miles distant, we determined its latitude to be 3° 10¹/₂' S., and longitude 106° 15' E. The difference of longitude between the island Lusepara, which lies in the south entrance of the Straits of Banca, and Monopin Hill, which forms one side of the entrance from the north, we found to be 55', which is only two miles less than what is given in D’AprÈs’ chart.

In passing these Straits, the coast of Sumatra may be approached somewhat closer than that of Banca. At the distance of two or three miles from the shore, there are ten, eleven, twelve, or thirteen fathoms, free from rocks or shoals; however, the lead is the surest guide. The country is covered with wood down to the water’s edge, and the shores are so low, that the sea overflows the land, and washes the trunks of the trees. To this flat and marshy situation of the shore, we may attribute those thick fogs and vapours, which we perceived every morning, not without dread and horror, hanging over the island, till they were dispersed by the rays of the sun. The shores of Banca are much bolder, and the country inland rises to a moderate height, and appears to be well wooded throughout. We often saw fires on this island during the night time; but none on the opposite shore. The tide runs through the Straits at the rate of between two and three knots an hour.

In the morning of the 6th, we passed to the westward of Lusepara, at the distance of four or five miles; generally carrying soundings of five and six fathoms’ water, and never less than four. We afterward steered south by east; and having brought Lusepara to bear due north, and deepened our water to seven fathoms, we altered our course to south by west, keeping the lead going, and hauling out a little, whenever we shoaled our water. The soundings on the Sumatra side we still found to be regular, and gradually shoaling, as we approached the shore. At five in the afternoon we saw the Three Sisters, bearing south by west half west; and, at seven, we came to an anchor in ten fathoms, about eight miles to the north of the islands. The weather was close and sultry, with light winds, generally from the north-west; but sometimes varying round as far as the north-east; and, during the night, we observed much lightning over Sumatra.

We weighed the next morning at five, and at eight were close in with the Sisters. These are two very small islands, well covered with wood, lying in latitude 5° 0¹/₂' S., longitude 106° 12' E., nearly north and south from each other, and surrounded by a reef of coral rocks; the whole circumference of which is about four or five miles. At noon we got sight of the island of Java to the southward; the north-west extremity of which (Cape St. Nicholas) bore south; North Island, on the Sumatra shore, S. 27° W., and the Sisters north, 27° E., distant four leagues; our latitude was 5° 21' S., longitude 105° 57' E.

At four in the afternoon, we saw two sail in the Straits of Sundy; one lying at anchor near the Mid-channel Island; the other nearer the Java shore. Not knowing to what nation they might belong, we cleared our ships for action; and at six came to an anchor in twenty-five fathoms, four miles east by south from North Island. Here we lay all night, and had very heavy thunder and lightning to the north-west; from which quarter the wind blew in light breezes, accompanied with hard rain.

At eight o’clock the next morning, we weighed, and proceeded through the Straits, the tide setting to the southward, as it had done all night; but about ten the breeze failing, we came to again in thirty-five fathoms; a high island, or rather rock, called the Grand Toque, bearing south by east. We were, at this time, not more than two miles from the ships, which now hoisting Dutch colours, Captain Gore sent a boat on board for intelligence. The rain still continued with thunder and lightning.

Early in the afternoon, the boat returned with an account that the large ship was a Dutch East-Indiaman, bound for Europe; and the other a packet from Batavia, with orders for the several ships lying in the Straits. It is the custom for the Dutch ships, as soon as their lading is nearly completed, to leave Batavia, on account of its extreme unwholesomeness, and proceed to some of the more healthy islands in the Straits, where they wait for the remainder of their cargo, and their dispatches. Notwithstanding this precaution, the Indiaman had lost, since her departure from Batavia, four men, and had as many more whose recovery was despaired of. She had lain here a fortnight, and was now about to proceed to water at Cracatoa, having just received final orders by the packet.

At seven in the morning of the 9th, we weighed, and stood on through the Straits to the south-west, keeping pretty close in with the islands on the Sumatra shore, in order to avoid a rock near Mid-channel Island, which lay on our left. At half after ten, I received orders from Captain Gore to make sail toward a Dutch ship which now hove in sight to the southward, and which we supposed to be from Europe; and, according to the nature of the intelligence we could procure from her, either to join him at Cracatoa, where he intended to stop, for the purpose of supplying the ships with arrack, or to proceed to the south-east end of Prince’s Island, and there take in our water, and wait for him.

I accordingly bore down toward the Dutch ship, which, soon after, came to an anchor to the eastward; when the wind slackening, and the current still setting very strong through the strait to the south-west, we found it impossible to fetch her, and having, therefore, got as near her as the tide would permit, we also dropped anchor. I immediately dispatched Mr. Williamson, in the cutter, with orders to get on board her if possible; but as she lay near a mile off, and the tide ran with great rapidity, we soon perceived, that the boat was dropping fast astern. We therefore made the signal to return, and immediately began to veer away the cable, and sent out a buoy astern, in order to assist him in getting on board again. Our poverty, in the article of cordage, was here very conspicuous; for we had not a single coil of rope, in the store-room, to fix to the buoy, but were obliged to set about unreeving the studding-sail gear, the top-sail-halliards, and tackle-falls, for that purpose; and the boat was at this time driving to the southward so fast, that it was not before we had veered away two cables, and almost all our running rigging, that she could fetch the buoy.

I was now under the necessity of waiting till the strength of the tide should abate, which did not happen till the next morning, when Mr. Williamson got on board the ship, and learnt, that she had been seven months from Europe, and three from the Cape of Good Hope; that before she sailed, France and Spain had declared war against Great Britain; and that she left Sir Edward Hughes, with a squadron of men-of-war, and a fleet of East-India ships, at the Cape. Mr. Williamson having, at the same time, been informed, that the water at Cracatoa was very good, and always preferred, by the Dutch ships, to that of Prince’s Island, I resolved to rejoin the Resolution at the former place; and a fair breeze springing up, we weighed and stood over toward the island, where we soon after saw her at anchor; but the wind falling, and the tide setting strong against us, I was obliged to drop anchor, at the distance of about five miles from the Resolution, and immediately sent a boat on board, to acquaint Captain Gore with the intelligence we had received.

As soon as the Resolution saw us preparing to come to, she fired her guns, and hoisted an English jack at the ensign staff, the signal at sea to lead ahead. This we afterward understood was intended to prevent our anchoring, on account of the foul ground, which the maps she had on board placed here. However, as we found none, having a muddy bottom, and good holding ground, in sixty fathoms water, we kept fast till the return of the boat, which brought orders to proceed the next morning to Prince’s Island. We were at this time two miles distant from the shore; the peak of Cracatoa bore north-west by north; Bantam Point east north-east half east; Prince’s Island south-west by west.

The island of Cracatoa is the southernmost of a group situated in the entrance of the Straits of Sunda. It has a high-peaked hill on the south end^[84], which lies in latitude 6° 9' S., and longitude 105° 15' E.; the whole circuit of the island is not more than three leagues. Off the north-east end lies a small island, which forms the road where the Resolution anchored; and within a reef that runs off the south end of the latter, there is good shelter against all northerly winds, with eighteen fathoms water near the reef, and twenty-seven in the mid-channel. To the north-west, there is a narrow pass for boats between the two islands.

The shore, which forms the western side of the road, is in a north-west direction, and has a bank of coral stretching into the sea, about one third of a cable’s length, which makes the landing difficult for boats, except at high water; but the anchoring ground is very good, and free from rocks. The place where the Resolution watered is a small spring, situated abreast of the south end of the small island, at a short distance from the water-side. A little to the southward, there is a very hot spring, which is used by the natives as a bath. Whilst we were lying off the south end of this island, we sent a boat with the Master on shore, to look for water; but after having landed with some difficulty, he returned unsuccessful.

Cracatoa is esteemed very healthy, in comparison of the neighbouring countries. It consists of high land, rising gradually on all sides from the sea; and the whole is covered with trees, except a few spots which the natives have cleared for rice fields. The number of people on the island is very inconsiderable. Their chief, as are those of all the other islands in the Straits, is subject to the king of Bantam. The coral reefs afford plenty of small turtles; but other refreshments are very scarce, and sold at an enormous price.

On the full and change days, it is high-water at 7^h in the morning. The water rises three feet two inches perpendicular.

At eight o’clock in the evening, it began to blow fresh from the westward, with violent thunder, lightning, and rain; and at three the next morning, we weighed and stood over for Prince’s Island, but the westerly wind dying away, was succeeded by a breeze from the south-east, and, at the same time, a strong tide setting to the south-west prevented our fetching the island, and obliged us, at two in the afternoon, to drop anchor in sixty-five fathoms, over a muddy bottom, at three leagues distance from it; the high hill bearing south-west by south, and the peak on Cracatoa north by east. We had light airs and calms till six next morning, when we weighed and made sail, having, in our endeavours to heave the anchor out of the ground, twice broken the old messenger, and afterward a new one, cut out of our best hawser. This, however, was entirely owing to the wretched state of our cordage, as the strain was not very considerable, and we had besides assisted the cable in coming in, by clapping the cat-tackle on it. The wind continuing fair, at noon we came to an anchor off the south-east end of Prince’s Island, in twenty-six fathoms, over a sandy bottom; the east end of the island bearing north north-east, the southernmost point in sight south-west by south, the high peak north-west half west, distant from the nearest shore half a mile.

As soon as we had come to anchor, Lieutenant Lannyon, who had been here before with Captain Cook, in the year 1770 was sent along with the master, to look for the watering-place. The brook from which, according to the best of his recollection, the Endeavour had been supplied, was found quite salt. Further inland, they saw a dry bed, where the water seemed to have lodged in rainy seasons; and, about a cable’s length below, another run, supplied from an extensive pool, the bottom of which, as well as the surface, was covered with dead leaves. This, though a little brackish, being much preferable to the other, we began watering here early the next morning, and finished the same day.

The natives, who came to us soon after we anchored, brought a plentiful supply of large fowls, and some turtles; but the last were for the most part very small. In the course of the night we had heavy rain; and on the 14th, at day-light, we saw the Resolution to the northward, standing toward the island, and at two in the afternoon, she dropt anchor close to us. In the course of the day, we heeled the ship, and scrubbed and hogged her bottom, which was very foul; and got ready for sea.

The next day, Captain Gore not having completed his stock of water at Cracatoa, sent his men on shore, who now found the brook that was first mentioned, rendered perfectly sweet by the rain, and flowing in great abundance. This being too valuable a treasure to be neglected, I gave orders, that all the casks we had filled before should be started, and replenished with the fresh water, which was accordingly done before noon the next day; and in the evening, we cleared the decks, and both ships were ready for sea.

In the forenoon of the 18th, we had heavy rains, and variable winds, which prevented our getting under weigh till two in the afternoon, when a light wind sprung up from the northward; but this soon after leaving us, we were obliged to drop our anchor again at eight o’clock that night, in fifty fathoms’ water, and wait till the same hour the next morning. At that time, being favoured by a breeze from the north-west, we broke ground, to our inexpressible satisfaction, for the last time in the Straits of Sunda, and, the next day, had entirely lost sight of Prince’s Island.

This island having been already described by Captain Cook, in the history of a former voyage, I shall only add, that we were exceedingly struck with the great general resemblance of the natives, both in figure, colour, manners, and even language, to the nations we had been so much conversant with, in the South Seas. The effects of the Javanese climate, and I did not escape without my full share of it, made me incapable of pursuing the comparison so minutely as I could have wished.

The country abounds with wood to such a degree, that notwithstanding the quantity cut down every year by the ships which put into the road, there is no appearance of its diminution. We were well supplied with small turtle and fowls of a moderate size; the last were sold at the rate of ten for a Spanish dollar. The natives also brought us many hog-deer, and a prodigious number of monkeys, to our great annoyance, as most of our sailors provided themselves with one, if not two of these troublesome animals.

As we should have met with some difficulty in finding the watering-place, if Mr. Lannyon had not been with us, it may be worth while, for the use of future navigators, to describe its situation more particularly. The peaked hill on the island bears from it north-west by north; a remarkable tree growing upon a coral reef, and quite detached from the neighbouring shrubs, stands just to the northward; and, close by it, there is a small plot of reedy grass, the only piece of the kind that can be seen hereabout. These marks will show the place where the pool empties itself into the sea; but the water here is generally salt as well as that which is in the pool. The casks must, therefore, be filled about fifty yards higher up; where, in dry seasons, the fresh water that comes down from the hills is lost among the leaves, and must be searched for by clearing them away.

From the time of our entering the Straits of Banca, we began to experience the powerful effects of this pestilential climate. Two of our people fell dangerously ill of malignant putrid fevers; which, however, we prevented from spreading, by putting the patients apart from the rest, in the most airy births. Many were attacked with teazing coughs; others complained of violent pains in the head; and even the healthiest among us felt a sensation of suffocating heat, attended by an insufferable languor, and a total loss of appetite. But though our situation was, for a time, thus uneasy and alarming, we had, at last, the singular satisfaction of escaping from these fatal seas without the loss of a single life; a circumstance which was probably owing in part to the vigorous health of the crews when we first arrived here, as well as to the strict attention now become habitual in our men, to the salutary regulations introduced amongst us by Captain Cook.

On our leaving Prince’s Island, and during the whole time of our run from thence to the Cape of Good Hope, the crew of the Resolution was in a much more sickly state than that of the Discovery; for, though many of us continued for some time complaining of the effects of the noxious climate we had left, yet happily we all recovered from them. Of the two who had been ill of fevers, one, after being seized with violent convulsions on the 12th of February, which made us despair of his life, was relieved by the application of blisters, and was soon after out of danger. The other recovered, but more slowly. On board the Resolution, besides the obstinate coughs and fevers under which they very generally laboured, a great many were afflicted with fluxes, the number of whom, contrary to our expectations, continued increasing till our arrival at the Cape.

Captain Gore attributed this difference in part, and probably with some reason, to the Discovery having her fire-place between decks; the heat and smoke of which he conceived might help to mitigate the bad effects of the damp night air. But I am rather inclined to believe that we escaped the flux by the precautions that were taken to prevent our catching it from others. For if some kinds of fluxes be, as I apprehend there is no doubt they are, contagious, it is not improbable that the Resolution caught this disorder from the Dutch ships at Cracatoa. In order to avoid this danger, when Mr. Williamson was sent to the Indiaman in the entrance of the Straits of Sunda, he had the strictest orders not to suffer any of our people, on any account whatever, to go on board; and whenever we had afterward occasion to have any communication with the Resolution, the same caution was constantly observed.

We were no sooner clear of Prince’s Island, than we had a gentle breeze from the west north-west; but this did not last long; for the following day the wind became again variable, and continued so till the noon of the 25th, when it blew squally, and blew fresh from the north.

On the 22d at noon, being in latitude 10° 28' S., and longitude 104° 14', we saw great quantities of boobies and other fowls that seldom go far from land; from which, we conjectured that we were near some small unknown island.

In the evening of the 25th, the wind changed suddenly to the southward, accompanied with heavy rains, and began to blow with great violence. During the night, almost every sail we had bent gave way, and most of them were split to rags; our rigging also suffered materially, and we were, the next day, obliged to bend our last suit of sails, and to knot and splice the rigging, our cordage being all expended. This sudden storm we attributed to the change from the monsoon to the regular trade-wind; our latitude was about 13° 10' S. and we had made by our reckoning about 4¹/₂° of longitude west from Java head.

From the 26th of this month to the 28th of March, we had a regular trade-wind from the south-east to east by south, with fine weather; and, being in an old beaten track, met no occurrence that deserved the smallest notice.

In the morning of the 28th of March, being in latitude 31° 42' S., and longitude 35° 26' E., the trade-wind left us in a violent thunder-storm. From this time to the 3d of April, when our latitude was 35° 1' S., and longitude 26° 3' E. the winds were moderate, and generally from the south quarter. A fresh breeze then sprung up from the eastward, which continued till the afternoon of the 4th; after which, we had a calm that lasted the two following days.

It had hitherto been Captain Gore’s intention to proceed directly to St. Helena, without stopping at the Cape; but the rudder of the Resolution having been for some time complaining, and, on being examined, reported to be in a dangerous state, he resolved to steer immediately for the Cape, as the most eligible place, both for the recovery of his sick, and for procuring a new main-piece to the rudder.

From the 21st of March, when we were in latitude 27° 22' S., longitude 52° 25' E., to the 5th of April, when we had got into latitude 36° 12' S., longitude 22° 7' E., we were strongly affected by the currents, which set to the south south-west, and south-west by west, sometimes at the rate of eighty knots a day. On the 6th, having got under the lee of the African coast, we lost them entirely.

In the morning of the 6th, a sail was seen to the south-west standing toward us; and, as the wind soon after rose from the same quarter, we cleared our ships for action. We now discovered, from the mast-head, five sail more on our lee-bow, standing to the eastward; but the weather coming on hazy, we lost sight of them all in an hour’s time. Our latitude at noon was 35° 49' S., longitude 21° 32' E. At seven o’clock the next morning (the seventh), we made the land to the northward at a considerable distance.

On the 8th, the weather was squally, and blew fresh from the north-west; the following day it settled to the west, and we passed pretty close to the sail seen on the 6th, but did not hail her. She was clumsy in figure, and, to appearance, unskilfully managed; yet she out-sailed us exceedingly. The colours which she hoisted were different from any we had seen; some supposed them to be Portugueze, others Imperial.

At day-light the next morning, the land again appeared to the north north-west, and, in the forenoon, a snow was seen bearing down to us, which proved to be an English East-India packet, that had left Table Bay three days before, and was cruizing with orders for the China fleet, and other India ships. She told us, that about three weeks before, Mons. Trongoller’s squadron, consisting of six ships, had sailed from the Cape, and was gone to cruize off St. Helena, for our East-India fleet. This intelligence made us conjecture, that the five sail we had seen standing to the eastward must have been the French squadron, who, in that case, had given over their cruize, and were probably proceeding to the Mauritius. Having informed the packet of our conjectures, and also of the time we understood the China ships were to sail from Canton, we left them, and proceeded toward the Cape.

In the evening of the 10th, the Gunner’s Quoin bore north by east, and False Cape east north-east; but the wind being at south-west, and variable, prevented our getting into False Bay, till the evening of the 12th, when we dropt anchor abreast of Simon’s Bay. We found a strong current setting to the westward, round the Cape, which, for some time, we could but just stem, with a breeze that would have carried us four knots an hour. The next morning, we stood into Simon’s Bay; and at eight came to anchor, and moored a cable each way; the best bower to the east south-east, and small bower west north-west; the south-east point of the bay bearing south by east, Table Mountain north-east half north; distant from the nearest shore one-third of a mile. We found lying here, the Nassau and Southampton East-Indiamen, waiting for convoy for Europe. The Resolution saluted the fort with eleven guns, and the same number was returned.

Mr. Brandt, the governor of this place, came to visit us, as soon as we had anchored. This gentleman had conceived a great affection for Captain Cook, who had been his constant guest, the many times he had visited the Cape; and though he had received the news of his melancholy fate some time before, he was exceedingly affected at the sight of our ships returning without their old commander. He appeared much surprized to see our crew in so stout and healthy a condition, as the Dutch ship that had left Macao on our arrival there, and had touched at the Cape some time before, reported, that we were in a most wretched state, having only fourteen hands left on board the Resolution, and seven on board the Discovery. It is not easy to conceive the motive these people could have had for propagating so wanton and malicious a falsehood.

On the 15th, I accompanied Captain Gore to Cape Town; and the next morning, we waited on Baron Plettenberg, the governor, by whom we were received with every possible attention and civility. He had also conceived a great personal affection for Captain Cook, as well as the highest admiration of his character, and heard the recital of his misfortune, with many expressions of unaffected sorrow. In one of the principal apartments of the governor’s house, he shewed us two pictures, of Van Tromp and De Ruyter, with a vacant space left between them, which he said he meant to fill up with the portrait of Captain Cook; and for that purpose, he requested our assistance when we should arrive in England, in purchasing one for him, at any price.

We were afterward informed by the governor, that all the powers at this time at war with England had given orders to their cruizers to let us pass unmolested. This, as far as related to the French, we had sufficient reason to think true; as Mr. Brandt had already delivered to Captain Gore, a letter from Mr. Stephens, inclosing a copy of Mons. de Sartine’s orders, taken on board the Licorne. With respect to the Americans, the matter still rested on report; but Baron Plettenberg assured us, that he had been expressly told, by the commander of a Spanish ship, which had touched at the Cape, that he, and all the officers of his nation, had received orders to the same effect. These assurances confirmed Captain Gore in the resolution he had taken, of maintaining on his part, a neutral conduct; and accordingly, when, on the arrival of the Sybil, to convoy the India ships home, it was proposed to him to accompany them on their passage, he thought proper to decline an offer, the acceptance of which might, in case we had fallen in with any of the enemies’ ships, have brought him into a very difficult and embarrassing situation.

During our stay at the Cape, we met with every proof of the most friendly disposition toward us, both in the governor and principal persons of the place, as well Africans as Europeans. At our first arrival, Colonel Gordon, the commander of the Dutch forces, with whom, on our former visit here, I had the happiness of being on a footing of intimacy and friendship, was absent on a journey into the interior parts of Africa, but returned before our departure. He had, on this occasion, penetrated farther up the country than any other traveller had done before him, and made great additions to the valuable collection of natural curiosities with which he has enriched the Museum of the Prince of Orange. Indeed, a long residence at the Cape, and the powerful assistance he has derived from his rank and situation there, joined to an active and indefatigable spirit, and an eager thirst after knowledge, have enabled him to acquire a more intimate and perfect knowledge of this part of Africa than could have fallen to the lot of any other person; and it is with great pleasure I can congratulate the public on the information I have received of his intentions to give the world, from his own hand, a history of his travels.

False Bay, situated to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, is frequented by shipping during the prevalence of the north-west winds, which begin to blow in May, and make it dangerous to lie in Table Bay. It is terminated on the west by the Cape of Good Hope, and on the eastward by False Cape.

The entrance of the bay is six leagues wide, the two capes bearing from each other due east and west. About eleven miles from the Cape of Good Hope, on the west side, is situated Simon’s Bay, the only convenient station for ships to lie in; for although the road without it affords good anchorage, it is too open, and but ill circumstanced for procuring necessaries, the town being small, and supplied with provisions from Cape Town, which is about twenty-four miles distant. To the north north-east of Simon’s Bay there are several others, from which it may be easily distinguished, by a remarkable sandy way to the northward of the town, which makes a striking object. In steering for the harbour, along the west shore, there is a small flat rock, called Noah’s Ark; and, about a mile to the north-east of it, several others, called the Roman Rocks. These lie one mile and a half from the anchoring place; and either between them, or to the northward of the Roman Rocks, there is a safe passage into the bay. When the north-west gales are set in, the following bearings will direct the mariner to a safe and commodious birth; Noah’s Ark, S. 51° E., and the centre of the hospital S. 53° W. in seven fathoms. But if the south-east winds have not done blowing, it is better to stay further out in eight or nine fathoms. The bottom is sandy, and the anchors settle considerably before they get hold. All the north part of the bay is low sandy land, but the east side is very high. About six miles east of Noah’s Ark lies Seal Island, the south part of which is said to be dangerous, and not to be approached, with safety, nearer than in twenty-two fathoms. Off the Cape of Good Hope, are many sunk rocks, some of which appear at low water; and others have breakers constantly on them.

On the full and change days, it was high-water at 5^h 55^m apparent time; the tide rose and fell five feet five inches; at the neap tides, it rose four feet one inch.

From the observations taken by Mr. Bayly and myself, on the 11th of this month, when the Cape of Good Hope bore due west, we found its latitude to be 34° 23' S., which is 4' to the northward of its position, as determined by the AbbÉ de la Caille.

Having completed our victualling, and furnished ourselves with the necessary supply of naval stores, we sailed out of the bay on the 9th of May, and on the 14th we got into the south-east trade-wind, and steered to the westward of the islands of St. Helena and Ascension. On the 31st, being in latitude 12° 48' S., longitude 15° 40' W., the magnetic needle was found to have no dip.

On the 12th of June, we passed the equator for the fourth time during this voyage, in longitude 26° 16' W. We now began to perceive the effects of a current setting north by east, half a knot an hour. It continued in this direction till the middle of July, when it began to set a little to the southward of the west.

On the 12th of August, we made the western coast of Ireland, and, after a fruitless attempt to get into Port Galway, from whence it was Captain Gore’s intention to have sent the journals and maps of our voyage to London, we were obliged, by strong southerly winds, to steer to the northward. Our next object was to put into Lough Swilly; but the wind continuing in the same quarter, we stood on to the northward of Lewis Island; and on the 22d of August, at eleven in the morning, both ships came to an anchor at Stromness. From hence, I was dispatched by Captain Gore, to acquaint the Board of Admiralty with our arrival; and on the 4th day of October the ships arrived safe at the Nore, after an absence of four years, two months, and twenty-two days.

On quitting the Discovery at Stromness, I had the satisfaction of leaving the whole crew in perfect health; and at the same time, the number of convalescents on board the Resolution, did not exceed two or three, of whom only one was incapable of service. In the course of our voyage, the Resolution lost but five men by sickness, three of whom were in a precarious state of health at our departure from England; the Discovery did not lose a man. An unremitting attention to the regulations established by Captain Cook, with which the world is already acquainted, may be justly considered as the principal cause, under the blessing of Divine Providence, of this singular success. But the baneful effects of salt provisions might perhaps, in the end, have been felt, notwithstanding these salutary precautions, if we had not assisted them, by availing ourselves of every substitute, our situation at various times afforded. These frequently consisting of articles which our people had not been used to consider as food for men, and being sometimes exceedingly nauseous, it required the joint aid of persuasion, authority, and example to conquer their prejudices and disgusts.

The preventives we principally relied on were sour krout and portable soup. As to the anti-scorbutic remedies, with which we were amply supplied, we had no opportunity of trying their effects, as there did not appear the slightest symptoms of the scurvy, in either ship, during the whole voyage. Our malt and hops had also been kept as a resource, in case of actual sickness, and on examination at the Cape of Good Hope, were found entirely spoiled. About the same time, were opened some casks of biscuit, flour, malt, peas, oatmeal, and grots, which, by way of experiment, had been put up in small casks, lined with tinfrail, and found all, except the peas, in a much better state than could have been expected, in the usual manner of package.

I cannot neglect this opportunity of recommending to the consideration of government, the necessity of allowing a sufficient quantity of Peruvian bark, to such of his majesty’s ships as may be exposed to the influence of unwholesome climates. It happened very fortunately in the Discovery, that only one of the men that had fevers in the Straits of Sunda, stood in need of this medicine, as he alone consumed the whole quantity usually carried out by surgeons, in such vessels as ours. Had more been affected in the same manner, they would probably all have perished, from the want of the only remedy capable of affording them effectual relief.

Another circumstance attending this voyage, which, if we consider its duration, and the nature of the service in which we were engaged, will appear scarcely less singular than the extraordinary healthiness of the crews, was, that the two ships never lost sight of each other for a day together, except twice; which was owing, the first time, to an accident that happened to the Discovery off the coast of Owhyhee; and the second, to the fogs we met with at the entrance of Awatska Bay. A stronger proof cannot be given of the skill and vigilance of our subaltern officers, to whom this share of merit almost entirely belongs.