but poſſeſſes ſeveral excellent harbours. I firſt viſited this place with Captain Cook, in the year 1774; and, on my outward-bound paſſage to the North Weſt coaſt of America, in the year 1786, as commander of the merchant ſhip, Prince of Wales[1]. I wooded and watered there, and left a party to kill ſeals. For my own part, I do not perceive the neceſſity, according to the opinion of different navigators, of going to 60° South. I never would myſelf exceed 57° 30′, to give the Iſle of Diego Ramieres a good birth, or, if winds and weather would permit, make it, for a freſh departure, had I not taken one at Cape Saint John, Staten Land, or the Eaſt end of Falkland Iſles. Staten Land is well ſituated as a place of rendezvous both for men of war and merchant ſhips; while the harbours on the North and South ſides, which are divided by a ſmall neck, would anſwer the purpoſe of ſhips bound out, or home. But the North ſide offers the beſt place for an eſtabliſhment, if it ſhould ever be in the view of our government to form one there[2].
- ↑ To the owner of this ſhip I was firſt introduced by one of the moſt eminent merchants of the City of London.
- ↑ If the navigation round Cape Horn ſhould ever become common, ſuch a place we muſt poſſeſs; and agreeable to the laſt convention with Spain, we are entitled to keep poſſeſſion of it, and apply it to any purpoſe of peace or war. Great advantages might ariſe from ſuch a ſettlement, from whence the black whale fiſheries might be carried on to the South Pole, in the opinion of all the North Greenland fiſhermen, with whom, I have converſed on the ſubject. Beſides, it is one of the eaſieſt land-falls a ſailor can make. In order to render this place a defenſible, and protecting ſettlement, many experienced men, lieutenants, in his Majeſty's navy, might be found, at very little extra expenſe to government, to live in a ſituation, which would be far preferable to many ſtations in Norway, that I have ſeen. The officer placed there, ſhould be inveſted with full powers to regulate all fiſhers, fiſhing in thoſe parts, or navigating round Cape Horn, that ſtop at the port.
