and issued the signals and other necessary orders to Lieutenant John Shortland, the agent for transports, to be delivered to the masters of the different ships.

On Sunday the 13th, we sailed from the Mother-Bank in company with the Supply armed tender, six transports, having on board 600 male, and 200 female convicts, and three store-ships, carrying provisions and various other stores: on board the ships carrying convicts, were embarked 160 marines, with their proper officers; Major Robert Ross was commandant of the battalion, and appointed lieutenant-governor of the new settlement; a surgeon and three assistants were also embarked in the transports, with medicines and necessaries for the people under their care. The wind being easterly, we ran out at the Needles, and were accompanied by his Majesty's ship Hyena, Captain De Coursey, who had received orders from the Admiralty to see us 100 leagues to the westward.

We had light breezes with fair and pleasant weather down the channel, but had the mortification to find that two of our transports sailed exceedingly bad; one of which, the Hyena towed two or three days. On the 15th, at sun-set, the Start Point bore north-east half east by compass, distant seven or eight leagues: at noon on this day (which finishes the nautical and begins the astronomical day) the longitude, by account, was 5°. 01'. west of the meridian of Greenwich, and by a timepiece made by Mr. Kendal, with which the Board of Longitude had supplied us, it was 4°. 59'. west; we had a variety of weather from this time till the 21st. when being in latitude 47°. 52'. north, and longitude 12°. 14'. west, Captain Phillip put his dispatches on board the Hyena; she saluted us with three cheers, and we parted company; the wind was now, and had been for some days before, in the south-west quarter, with hazy weather, our progress to the southward was therefore but slow; much attention was required on our part to the rate of sailing of the different transports, in order to prevent separation.

At this time a report was made from one of the transports, both by the commanding marine officer on board, and the master of the ship, that a discovery had been made of an intended insurrection amongst the convicts in that ship; in which, if they had succeeded, they were to have quitted the fleet in the night, and afterwards to have made such use of the ship, as they should, upon farther consideration of the matter, determine amongst themselves. Captain Phillip had very humanely, a few days previous to this scheme, directed that the irons with which most of the male convicts had hitherto been confined, should be taken off them generally, that they might have it more in their power to strip their cloaths off at night when they went to rest, be also more at their ease during the day, and have the farther advantage of being able to wash and keep themselves clean; this indulgence had no doubt left it more in the power of those who might be disposed to exert their ingenuity, in so daring an attempt, to carry their plan into execution with a greater probability of success; but I am thoroughly convinced, that so strict an attention to duty was paid by the whole of the marines employed on this service, that such an attempt would have terminated in the destruction of those who appeared most active and forward in it. Two of the principals were brought on board the Sirius, severely punished, and sent on board another transport, properly secured in heavy irons.

On the 23d, the wind inclined to the north-west, and, after heavy rain, settled in that quarter; by the favour of this change we proceeded to the southward, at the rate of between 70 and 100 miles in 24 hours. On the 26th, the wind shifted to the northward, and from that to the north-east; our latitude at this time was 42°. 10'. north, and the longitude 11°. 36'. west; variation of the compass, 20°. 19'. west.

On the 29th in the evening, (as we intended making the islands of Porto Sancto and Madeira) being but a little distance from the former, and the weather being hazy, we shortened sail, to prevent the convoy from falling suddenly in with the land in the night: at day-light the next morning, we saw the Deserters off Madeira, bearing west-south-west, five leagues distant; we had passed the island of Porto Sancto in the night, having steered to pass eight or nine leagues to the eastward of it; we found the ship set this last 24 hours 12 miles to the southward of the log. At noon the south-easternmost Deserter bore by compass north 17°. west, by which we made its latitude 32°. 29'. north, and its longitude by the time-keeper 16°. 38'. west of Greenwich; the variation of the compass was here 17°. 00' west: from hence, with a light breeze from the northward, we steered south half west, by compass, and at five P.M. on the 1st of June, we made the Salvages; which was rather sooner than we expected, by the distance we had run from the Deserters off Madeira, and the latitude observed the preceding noon, by which we judged ourselves not less than 17 leagues from them. At midnight we were exactly in their parallel, and saw them very distinctly by the light of the moon, which was very clear; their latitude, deduced from the preceding, as well as following meridian observations, is 30°. 12'. north, which is 12 miles to the northward of what they are generally placed, either in tables or charts; their longitude, by our time-keeper, is 15°. 53'. west. I had never seen these rocks before, and always understood them to be small inconsiderable spots, but the largest is so high as to be seen at the distance of seven or eight leagues, and appears to be about a mile and a half in length, from north-west to south-east; there are a few scattered rocks appear above water, to the westward; and I have been told, that a reef of considerable extent stretches out from them to the westward.

From the time of our passing these rocks until the evening of the 3d, we had very light airs and variable, but mostly from the south-west quarter, and every day found we were affected by a southerly current of 10 or 12 miles in 24 hours. The wind now sprung up from the northward, and we steered for the island of Teneriffe, directing our course by the longitude determined from the time-keeper, the account being 1°. 04'. to the westward of it, and our lunar observations within three miles of it: at day-light in the morning we saw the island of Teneriffe, and at noon Point de Nagara, or north-east point, bore south-west by south, distant five leagues; some of the convoy being considerably astern we brought to, and in the afternoon, there being a fresh of wind from the north-east, we bore away and made the signal for the convoy to make all the sail possible, in order, as we were strangers to Sancta Cruz road, that we might save day-light to the anchorage, which we effected, and had the whole convoy in before dark; at half past six in the evening we anchored in 15 fathoms water, soft ground, being a mixture of sand and black mud: we moored with the bower anchors, and had the church of St. Francisco south 73°. 00'. west, the easternmost point in sight, called Point Roquet, (from a small rock which lies a little detached from it) north 78°. 00'. east, and a fort to the south-west of the town, south 45°. 00'. west, distant from the nearest shore about two and a half cables length. The ground all over this bay is said to be foul; we therefore buoyed up our cables, but had no reason, upon examining them afterwards, to believe there was any foul ground where we lay.

The next morning, Captain Phillip sent an officer to wait on the governor with the usual information of whom we were, and our business at that island; but, previous to our anchoring, the master attendant, and some other officers, were on board the Sirius for this very purpose; a ceremony which I believe is seldom neglected. When the officer returned, he brought a very polite reply from the governor, signifying his sincere wishes that the island might be capable of supplying us with such articles as we were in want of, and his