ABSTRACT
A peaceful night enabled us to complete almost all the operations of mooring according to the custom of this port, running out two long stays of cable from the bows, one to the SW and the other to the SE, securing the stern to the north with a hawser. In this position the summit of El Cerro 1 bore due west of us, its prominent headland and rocky ledges bore WSW 2 and the black stones of the anchorage N3°W 3 The depth was sixteen feet, soft clay, with southerly winds, reducing to thirteen with the ebb tide from the north. We were about one-and-a-half cables from the Sabina and she was two-and-a-half cables from the quay. The Atrevida was moored in the same way, a short distance from us. Launches from the Sabina and the Gil had helped us to manoeuvre into [our berth] with hawsers. The orderly officer, who came on board both vessels in the name of the senior naval officer, Don José Orozco, 4 took charge of the public correspondence and private mail that we had arranged to bring from Cádiz. Don Francisco Viana went on my behalf to present my compliments to the Governor of this place, Don Joaquin del Pino, 5 who was very soon to be succeeded by Brigadier Don Antonio Olaguer, inspector of troops in these provinces, since along with his promotion to brigadier he had been entrusted by His Majesty with the presidency of Charcas. On that same night of the 20th we had the opportunity to observe the occultation of Spica by the Moon from on board, although this was rendered useless by a mistake either in noting down the moment of the observation or in referring the times by the small watch 6 to the chronometers. Río de la Plata, September to November 1789 https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315555775/bb85703e-f10b-46bd-ab35-5029aea67599/content/fig2_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
