S. Otherwise Called The Island Of Martin Vaz, Where The Compass Was Observed To Vary 12 Deg.

To the east of north.

The 21st, in lat. 38 deg. S. the compass varied 17 deg. in the same eastern direction. The 6th December, they got sight of the mainland of South America, appearing rather flat, and of a white colour, and quickly after fell in with the north head-land of Port Desire, anchoring that night in ten fathoms water with the ebb-tide, within a league and a half of the shore. Next day, resuming their course southwards, they came into Port Desire at noon, in lat. 47 deg. 40' S. They had very deep water at the entrance, where they did not observe any of the cliffs which were described by Van Noort, as left by him to the northward on sailing into this haven, all the cliffs they saw being on the south side of the entrance, which therefore might be those mentioned by Van Noort, and misplaced in his narrative by mistake.

In consequence of this error, they overpassed Port Desire to the south, so as to miss the right channel, and came into a crooked channel, where they had four and a half fathoms water at full sea, and only fourteen feet at low water. By this means the Unity got fast aground by the stern, and had infallibly been lost, if a brisk gale had blown from the N.E. But as the wind blew west from the land, she got off again without damage. Here they found vast quantities of eggs upon the cliffs; and the bay afforded them great abundance of muscles, and smelts sixteen inches long, for which reason they called it Smelt Bay. From this place they sent a pinnace to the Penguin Islands, which brought back 150 of these birds, and two sea lions.

Leaving Smelt Bay on the 8th December, they made sail for Port Desire, a boat going before to sound the depth of the channel, which was twelve and thirteen fathoms, so that they sailed in boldly, having a fair wind at N.E. After going in little more than a league, the wind began to veer about, and they cast anchor in twenty fathoms; but the ground, consisting entirely of slippery stones, and the wind now blowing strong at N.W. they drifted to the south shore, where both ships had nearly been wrecked. The Unity lay with her side to the cliffs, yet still kept afloat, and gradually slid down towards the deep water as the tide fell. But the Horn stuck fast aground, so that at last her keel was above a fathom out of the water, and a man might have walked under it at low water. For some time, the N.W. wind blowing hard on one side, kept her from falling over; but, that dying away, she at length fell over on her bends, when she was given over for lost; but next flood, coming on with calm weather, righted her again.

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