Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

360 DEATH or ur. rowlktt. June When the day at last broke on the 11th, we saw the Adven- ture coming out to us from the cove where she had passed the night, and then both vessels sailed out of the Channel, past Mount Skyring and all the Furies, as fast as sails could urge them. At sunset we were near the Tower Rocks,* and with a fresh north-west Avind stood out into the Pacific, with every inch of canvas set which we could carry. On the 26th we were still together, in latitude 43° and lon- gitude 75°, although gales had occasionally separated us for a few hours. After passing the latitude of 45° we had a succes- sion of bad weather, and adverse (N.W.) winds. Trusting too much to our usual good fortune I had steered in too direct a line towards Childe, and in consequence all these north-west winds were against us. Had I shaped a course which would have taken us farther from the land, while we had the wind south- ward of west, we might have made a fair wind of these pro- vokins north-westers, and arrived at Chiloe at least a week sooner. A few remarks upon the wind and weather, between the parallels of forty and forty-seven, off Childe and the Chonos Archipelago, will be found in the Appendix (No. 19). On the 27th we witnessed the last moments of Mr. Row- lett's existence in this world. He had long been sinking under an internal complaint of which it was impossible to cure him, except by a vigorous and uniform mode of treatment to which he was not willing- to conform until too late : but his illness had no relation whatever to the service in which he had been em- ployed. He was much" regretted by all of us, having been a kind, honourable friend. The following day we committed the body of our deceased companion to the seaman's grave, that " ever-changing and mysterious main." In the evening we were near the north-west end of Childe, and at midnight an anchor was let go in our former berth, off Point Arena. The Adventure arrived two days afterwards, her main-boom having broken in a heavy squall on the 27th, in consequence of which she got to leeward, and was prevented from sooner weathering the north end of the island. A supply of fresh provisions * Not far from Cape Noir, on Noir Island. 4