ABSTRACT
Instead of the usual hours of calm at the beginning of the morning being followed by a southerly wind, which customarily sets in at about noon, 1 a thick fog set in from the north and prevented us from seeing even the closest objects and as there was absolutely no wind until four o’clock in the afternoon we were almost obliged to abandon any hope of setting sail that day But when the fog was finally dispersed by some light breezes from the south, it seemed that the help of a tow, with the assistance of the current, together with the short distance we would have to run to consider ourselves out of danger, would allow us to get under way at the intended time without the risk that the light northerly breezes so common during April would keep us in port for several more days. I hailed the commanding officer of the Atrevida to inform him of my intention. So both ships hauled in their northern cables and recovered the hawsers secured ashore. At four-thirty we weighed anchor and, towed by the launch, we tried with our topsails, topgallants and staysails set to catch the favourable southerly winds, scarcely perceptible though they were. At first progress was slow and we were being driven towards the rocks at the entrance to the port, but later the situation began to improve. By nightfall we had made two miles to the north of Punta de la Batería, with the wind still giving us steerage way.
