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The English Channel

First mate’s logbook

In the morning there was a gentle, western breeze and good weather. At the start of the morning watch we hoisted our anchors and set sail, as well as 5 Dutch ships, a hooker from Zierikzee and captain Coenraat de Wolf, commanding the snow ship The Petronella Cecilia from Middelburg. In the forenoon we had an increasing breeze to a weak top sail WSW breeze and a misty sky. In the afternoon the hook of Start PointEngland, United KingdomGoudtstaardt was situated east, at approximately 2 ½ sea miles from us. Later in the afternoon the wind still came from the WSW; we had a weak top sail breeze to a reefed top sail breeze and thick foggy air. We to reefTo reduce the surface area exposed to the wind.reefed the topsails, and at sunset we estimated Goudtstaardt to the N by W½W at 3 sea miles; we steered east. Later in the night there was a weak reefed topsail breeze and heavy skies until the morning.

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beached on 23 March
the final settlement