of day, a conſiderable quantity of tar was ſeen floating on the ſurface of the water; a circumſtance, which ſtrengthened our hope, that we ſhould find a veſſel refitting there.
I had ſome intention of anchoring here myſelf, and having hove to, off the South Weſt part of the iſle, I ſent the chief mate to ſound for a dangerous rock under water, over which, the ſeas ſeldom or never breaks. It lays ſomewhere, in the middle of the roads, and ſeveral whalers had ſtruck on it; but I had not been able to procure the bearings of it. There was but little wind throughout the day, and the ſhip ſet conſiderably to the Northward and Weſtward, which opened the bay to us, when we were greatly diſappointed, at not perceiving any ſhip at anchor in it. However, before the boat returned in the evening, we ſaw a ſail ſtanding down on us, and it being hazy, as it generally is on this coaſt, the boat had at one time miſtaken her for the Rattler.
The chief mate returned on board by ſeven in the evening, and informed me, that he had not been able to diſcover the rock, or to catch any thing but one turtle; but from the freſh carcaſſes of ſeals which he had ſeen, he very reaſonably ſuppoſed, that a veſſel could not have left the iſland more than four or five days.
