ſight of it, was about half an hour. In this gale, I loſt the greateſt part of my live ſtock, together with all the vegetables that hung at the ſtern of the ſhip.
April 8.On the eighth day of April, in Latitude 50°, we ſtruck ſoundings off the North Weſt end of Falkland's Iſlands. The whole way I ſaw plenty of black whales; and two days before ſtriking ſoundings, we perceived a ſhoal of ſpermaceti whales, apparently bound round Cape Horn; but our boats being all houſed and well ſecured for doubling the Cape, we did not purſue them. In this courſe I ran directly over the ſituations in which the Iſle of Grand is placed in all the charts, without diſcovering any appearance of land. 9.On the ninth, in the afternoon, we ſtruck ſoundings in ſixty-five fathoms off the Weſt end of Falkland's Iſlands; but the violence of the wind and the thick weather prevented me from making an accurate obſervation. The ſhallowneſs of the bottom induced me to believe that I was not ſo far to the Weſt as the watch gave me. When by my calculation I was to the South of Falkland's Iſles, I ſtood away for Cape Saint John, Staten Land. The winds were variable North Weſt, South, South Eaſt, Eaſt, and North Eaſt. The greateſt depth at which I found bottom was ninety fathoms; and then no bottom at one hundred and fifty fathoms.
