of Alderney, only of a more majestic and wilder character.

In the afternoon a breeze sprang up from the N.E., changing towards evening to N. W., and blowing hard, so as to oblige us to reef and shorten sail.

Tuesday 17th. - Throughout the whole of this day and the following (Wednesday 18th) we had a steady breeze in our favour from the N. W., with alternately clear and cloudy weather. On Thursday 19th, a smack was observed to the northward of us, and standing the same way as ourselves, but evidently not sailing so well. The same evening (Friday 20th), it lightened from the S. W., accompanied with rain and squalls; but the wind continued steady from the westward, and consequently fair, until Saturday morning, when it changed to the N. E., and barely enabled us to lay our course.

Saturday 21st. This day brought us within 490 miles from the Butt of Lewis; and we began, all of us, to think of home. I was no doubt glad that we were likely to be soon there; but I should have been a great deal more pleased had it been our good fortune to have remained out in the way I had hoped for. But this was not to be, and therefore the quicker we got home the better.

Sunday 22d.

Throughout this day we had fine

clear weather, with light, north-easterly winds. Lat. 58° 12', long. 18° 4'. Butt of Lewis, 346 miles.

Monday 23d. In the evening it was calm, but next morning the wind sprang up from the southward, and continued so all day. A barque standing to the S. W. was passed; and our friends the Mollemokes, which had kept us company the last three months, now bade us adieu. All departed except a solitary couple, and they left us on the following day.

Tuesday 24th. The next forty-eight hours we had a foul wind from the S. E., with fine clear weather. Occasionally it blew in heavy squalls ; and, on Thursday 26th, it freshened up to a gale, and obliged us to shorten sail accordingly.

On Wednesday we had found ourselves too far towards the Faroe Islands, and at two P. M. tacked to the S. W. Thursday and Friday we kept on in the same direction, the weather alternating between fine and cloudy, and the sea rather high.

Saturday 28th. The past evening had indicated, by the barometer, a great and sudden change; and during the early part of the night, the wind was veering about in the S. W. quarter, first to the westward and then to the southward, accompanied by heavy torrents of rain. The heavens were as black as I had ever seen them; and the sea presented that

B B

grim look which is the sure attendant of a gale in such weather. At midnight a most furious squall suddenly came up from the W. N. W., blowing for the time fearfully heavy. It had been the second mate's watch, and he had well prepared for the occasion, evincing that good though rough seamanship for which he was always conspicuous. Every stitch of canvass but that which was necessary to lay her to, if needed, was taken in; and away she scudded under bare poles, when it was found that the wind kept aft. At daylight a topmast studding sail was hoisted as a temporary sort of foresail to run her under, and with that mere bit of canvass only we made five miles an hour. As the morning advanced, however, and the weather cleared, more sail was set, and we soon increased our speed to eight and nine miles an hour.

CHAP. XXVIII.

DIFFICULTY OF TAKING A LUNAR

OBSERVATION IN A

BLOWING

GALE. SIGHT RONA AND BARRA ISLANDS.

VERY HARD.- HIGH SEA.

MAKE CAPE WRATH LIGHT,

DANGER OF THE "NUN ROCK." HEAVE TO FOR
NEXT MORNING RUN THROUGH THE

THE NIGHT.

LOVELY DAY AND REFRESHING CHANGEABLE WEATHER. MORAY FIRTH.

PENTLAND FRITH.
SCENERY.

56

-ANOTHER HARD BLOW.-A LEE SHORE. ADMIRABLE QUALITIES OF THE PRINCE ALBERT." ARRIVAL AT ABERDEEN.

Ir was now necessary to determine our position as accurately as we possibly could; for, by our usual and daily reckoning, we made ourselves, at eight A. M., not above fifty or sixty miles from the nearest land, which would be the Island of Barra.

I had, on the previous day, taken a lunar under difficult circumstances, owing to the motion of the ship, and this motion was considerably increased now; but the sky was, though with occasional light clouds, sufficiently clear for the purpose, and the moon was within excellent distance. As I had done before, so now, I determined to take the entire set of ob

servations myself, and work up the altitudes in the usual way.

As this is all mere nautical detail, I will only observe, that it is mentioned to show what difficulties there are in the way of a seaman who has to navigate any ship on the ocean, and also to prove how highly essential and useful lunar observations are at sea.

Now we had been in great doubt about our chronometers for some time past, and had given them a different rate three times: the last was off Possession Bay. Still we were, from many causes, uncertain as to their accuracy; and consequently it was advisable, if possible, to test them by other means. The only means by which we could do this were those similar to my present attempt of finding the longitude from an observed distance between the sun and moon. On Friday, the result of the observation I then made tended to show that we were some twenty miles to the eastward of our reckoning, either by chronometer or daily log. Now this was most important, for, being to the eastward of our reckoning, necessarily made us nearer the land than we imagined; and in thick weather, or such a gale as now blowing, was far from safe. Accordingly, at seven A. M., I determined to make another trial; but I never took a lunar under such difficulties before. The sea was washing over our decks, the wind was blowing furiously, and the vessel rolled