April 11.On the eleventh at midnight, when I ſuppoſed myſelf off Cape Saint John, we ſounded and ſtruck ground at ninety fathoms, ſmall dark ſtones. In this depth of water I did not conſider myſelf as far to the Eaſtward of the Cape as I wiſhed, for which reaſon, I hauled on a wind, and beat to windward, with the wind at North Eaſt and Eaſt North Eaſt, till ſeven o'clock in the morning, when having no ſoundings at one hundred and fifty fathoms, I bore up for Cape Horn. 12.On the twelfth at noon, the wind drew round to the South, South Eaſt, as the preceding night indicated, by the cold being ſo ſevere, that ſome of the crew were froſt bitten for ſeveral hours, and the ſhip and rigging covered with ſnow and ice. After this, the wind inclined to the Weſt of South, which was ſoon ſucceeded by moderate weather and ſmooth water; this was alſo of ſhort duration, for it changed gradually round, until it got to the Eaſt, and 13.at midnight on the thirteenth, it ſhifted ſuddenly in a ſquall of rain to the South, and brought me on a lee-ſhore.
At day-light we ſaw the Iſles of Diego Ramieres, bearing North by Eaſt, three or four leagues; and I make them by obſervations corrected, in Longitude 68° 58′ Weſt; and in Latitude 56° 30′ South. They appeared to lay in an Eaſt and Weſt direction. The Weſtern Iſle, which is the higheſt, is ſurrounded with ſmall iſlets; and the circumference of the