wind continued, with some little variety in its direction, to
blow fresh until the 20th, when it became light, and sometimes calm. We
were then approaching the small island Trinidad. Many gannets were seen
at twenty-four leagues off, but none at a greater distance. On the 23rd
[WEDNESDAY], the island was in sight; and at noon, when our latitude was
20 deg. 1' south, and longitude 29 deg. 13' west, a peaked hummock near the
eastern extremity bore S. 25 deg. W., nine or ten leagues. The western
extremity bore S. 29 deg. W., and at first appeared to be a bluff head; but
it afterwards assumed the form of a conical rock, and was, in all
probability, the _Nine Pin_ of captain D'Auvergne's chart. One of the
rocks called Martin Vas, was visible from the main top, and angled 49 deg.
43' to the left of the peaked hummock; its bearing was consequently very
near S. 25 deg. E.

Mons. de la Perouse, who sent a boat on shore to Trinidad, lays down the
latitude of the south-east point at 20 deg. 31' south, and longitude from
lunar observations, 28 deg. 37' west of Greenwich. The latitude appeared to
agree with our observations; but in the longitude there is some
difference. According to Earnshaw's two time keepers, No. 465 and 543,
which kept better rates than the remaining four, the longitude of the
Nine Pin is 29 deg. 251/2' west; which being reduced to the south-east point,
will place it in 29 deg. 23', or 46' west of the French navigator.* The
longitude in captain D'Auvergne's plan of Trinidad, constructed 1782, is
29 deg. 55', or 32' still further west. From two sets of distances of the
star _Altair_ to the west, and two of _Aldebaran_ east of the moon, I
made the longitude of the south-east point to be 29 deg. 19' west; the
difference from the time keepers, which I consider to have given the best
longitude, being no more than 4'.

[* The error of No. 465 was found, at the Cape of Good Hope, to be 10'
57", 2 to the east, and of No. 543, to be 39' 21", 5 east, contracted in
96 days upon their English rates. To obtain the above longitude, a
proportional part of these errors according to the number of days, has
been applied to the keepers; and the difference between them is then no
more than 2".]

THURSDAY 24 SEPTEMBER 1801

Azimuths taken upon the binnacle in the morning, with three compasses,
and the ship's head at S. W. by S., gave variation 3 deg. 54'; and in the
evening, at S. W., 3 deg. 50'; but next morning, when Trinidad w