15 November 1809
Towards the middle of Novr.. the great object of interest was the Island of St. Pauls, which the Commodore intended to touch at, here we place'd scemes [sic] for catching fish, & collecting vegetables of which we were quite out, the only doubt was whether the potatoes would be good, being as we were told left to cultivate as they best could by some fisher Men who had lived on the Island a considerable time, but had now deserted it. Captain Cleveland said at all events they would surely get some grass for the cow, & he would shoot Birds; for my part I pleased myself with idea of having a walk on the shore, when no doubt I should have had an eye to business too, by looking out for potatoes. [B]ut all these plans were disappointed by the violence of the wind, which in addition to very thick weather obliged us to give the Island a good birth [sic] as Seamen term it; so on the 13th.. we passed it, at the distance of 88 Miles, -- and now as we drew near the place of our destination out impatience became greater than ever; calculations were made every day regarding the time we should still probably take to arrive; the Maps & Charts were on hard duty, & no sooner was the day run marked off than we all crowded with impatience to see what progress we had made, the most correct idea I can retain of our general progress is that we have run down fifteen degrees in 7 days generally; sometimes when the wind has been directly contrary we have bestow'd two or three days more on that distance.
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