On the passage homewards from Gibraltar
we met strong northerly winds on the coast of Portugal, and a
north-east gale off Cape Finisterre.
The navigation has presented few difficulties. All the coasts that we
have visited have been surveyed. Lighthouses are now as numerous and
efficient on the coasts of China and Japan as on the shores of Europe.
Such is the perfection of the modern chronometer, that lunar
observations, the only difficult work in ocean navigation, are no
longer necessary; and the wind charts published by the Admiralty
supply to the amateur navigator accumulated information and valuable
hints for every stage of his voyage.
How infinitely easy is the task of the modern circumnavigator compared
with the hazardous explorations of Magelhaens and Captain Cook, when
the chronometer was an instrument of rude and untrustworthy quality,
when there were no charts, and the roaring of the breakers in the dead
of night was the mariner's first warning that a coral reef was near!
Our comprehensive and varied cruise has strengthened my former
convictions that the disasters due to negligence bear a large
proportion to the number of inevitable losses. Every coast is
dangerous to the careless commander; but there are no frequented seas
where, with the exercise of caution and reasonable skill, the dangers
cannot be avoided.
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