1793.ninth inſtant, had the weather not been ſo dark and clouded, we ought, by our obſervations, to have ſeen ſome of them. At four in the afternoon we got ſight of the Iſland Ferro, diſtant about five or ſix leagues. From hence I was perſuaded to get in the Longitude of 21° Weſt, in the Latitude of the Iſle of Sal one of the Cape de Verds, and run down in that parallel for the Iſle with an expectation of catching whale. This was not merely a curious inclination, but a ſenſe of duty, which inſpired the wiſh to begin my acquaintance with that buſineſs, at as early a period of the voyage as poſſible. Dark, hazy and cloudy weather accompanied us all the way from the Canaries, and our rigging was covered with duſt of the colour of brown ſand, as if it had been laying on ſhore. We ran the diſtance by watch and reckoning to a few miles, but the continuance of hazy weather prevented our ſeeing it: and as it blew ſtrong with a heavy ſea, it was the whaling maſter's opinion, with ſuch weather we could do nothing with fiſh, if we fell in with them: I accordingly bore up, and run down the lee-ſide of Bonaviſta. Light winds prevented our croſſingFeb. 10. the Equator until the tenth of February, at midnight, in Longitude 24° 30′ Weſt of Greenwich, and all the fiſh we had as yet caught, were a ſhark and a porpoiſe.
In the Latitude of 19° South, and Longitude 55° Weſt, we loſt the South Eaſt trade wind, which had accompanied us