In the P.M. had a Gentle breeze at East, which in the night
veer'd to North-East and North. At 1/2 past 4 P.M., being about 5 Miles
from the Land, we Tack'd and stood off South-East and East until 4 A.M.,
at which time we Tack'd and stood in, being then about 9 or 10 Leagues
from the land. At 8, it fell little wind, and soon after Calm. At Noon we
were by Observation in the Latitude of 35 degrees 38 minutes and about 6
Leagues from the land, Mount Dromedary bearing South 37 degrees West,
distant 17 Leagues, and the Pidgeon house North 40 degrees West; in this
situation had 74 fathoms.
Joseph Banks Journal
Calm today, myself in small boat but saw few or no birds. Took with the dipping net Cancer Erythroptamus, Medusa radiata, pelagica, Dagysa gemma, strumosa, cornuta, Holothuria obtusata, Phyllodoce Velella and Mimus volutator. The ship was too far from the shore to see much of it; a larger fire was however seen than any we have seen before. The Master today in conversation made a remark on the Variation of the Needle which struck me much, as to me it was new and appeard to throw much light on the Theory of that Phaenomenon. The Variation is here very small, he says: he has three times crossd the line of no variation and that at all those times as well as at this he has observd the Needle to be very unsteady, moving very easily and scarce at all fixing: this he shewd me: he also told me that in several places he has been in the land had a very remarkable effect upon the variation, as in the place we were now in: at 1 or 2 Leagues distant from the shore the variation was 2 degrees less than at 8 Lgs distance.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment