Apr. 2, 1788
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Logbook Remarks GM
Apr. 4, 1788
Revised Jun 7 2021
1:00 pm A very hard Gale, with Severe Squalls. Lying too under Main & Mizen Staysail.
3:00 pm Sleet & Hail. At ½ past One I wore Ship & brought too again.
4:00 pm Put everything in Order for the Night.
8:00 pm Set the Main Topsail the ship falling heavy to windward, the Sea become so very high, and the Weather side of it like a Wall.
10:00 pm Wore Ship, set the reefed Foresail a prodigious head Sea.
8:00 am The Gale now very much encreased and the Squalls of Sleet & Snow very cold and severe Gusts of Wind in them.
10:00 am Many beautiful Blue Peterels and Pintada Birds about the Wake of the Ship.
12:00 pm A Very Severe Gale and Snow Squals and a Mountainous Sea. I shall now continue to give my People Portable Soup for Dinner and a hot Breakfast of boiled Wheat and Sugar.
The Gales we begin to experience are very heavy and distressing. At Midnight I had hopes of a fair Wind, but an hour had scarce elapsed before I found, what would have done very well in Moderate Weather and little Sea to have enabled me to clear the Whole coast of Patagonia, I could do no more with than make a Course directly for the Land, however to make the most of it I carried a Main Topsail with four Reefs in, and a Reefed Foresail; but this was but little other than lying too as before. I had now got nearly upon a Meridian with Cape Deseada, and it is not a litle distressing after the exertions we have made thus far to see ourselves loosing what we had got with some difficulty. All I have to do now is to Nurse my people with care and attention, and like Seamen look forward to a New Moon for a Change of Wind and Weather.
Our Companions in this inhospitable Region are principally two beautiful kind of Birds, the small Blue Peterel and the Pintada.
The Snow does not lie on the Decks but comes in large flakes and covers us for a while, and the Hail is very sharp and Severe. The Sea from the frequent shifting of the wind is very irregular and breaking.
At Noon from Longitudes I got of the Time Keeper in the Morning I suppose myself 9°50′ West of Cape St John and 0 50′ East of Cape Deseada. My Dead Reckoning makes me 9°25′ West of Cape St. John.
Apr. 2, 1788
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Logbook Remarks GM
Apr. 4, 1788