very heavy rain rendered it expedient that the ship should next day be moved a cable’s length further offshore.  During the four last days in the month we had calms and light winds from the northward of east, as if the trade were about to cease, but it commenced afresh and continued until the 26th of November, generally very moderate, with fine weather.  During the last six days of our stay we had light airs from about North-West, succeeded in the evening by a slight puff of south-easterly wind followed by a calm lasting all night.  Last year, during the month of October, we experienced no northerly or westerly winds, but a moderate trade prevailed throughout, pretty steady at East-South-East, but varying much in strength.

TEMPERATURE.

In a place situated like Cape York, only about 640 miles distant from the equator, the atmospheric temperature may be expected to be very high; still the heat, although occasionally very oppressive for a time, caused very different sensations from those experienced during the almost stifling calms of Port Essington.  At Cape York, however, calms seldom lasted above a few hours, as from its peninsular position the land receives the full influence of nearly every breeze.  An abstract of the thermometrical observations made on board the Rattlesnake shows the following results: 

COLUMN 1:  DATE. 
COLUMN 2:  AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES AND MINUTES. 
COLUMN 3:  AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES AND MINUTES. 
COLUMN 4:  AVERAGE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE IN DEGREES AND MINUTES.

October 1848 :  81 :  85 :  77 5. 
October 1849 :  81 :  83 8 :  78 7. 
November 1849 :  81 9 :  84 8 :  79.

During the above period, the highest and lowest temperatures recorded by the self-registering maximum and minimum thermometer are, for October 1848, 88 and 73 degrees; for October 1849, 83.8 .and 77 degrees; and for November 1849, 88 and 76 degrees.

...

APPENDIX 1.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE TEMPERATURE OF THE SEA, MADE DURING THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S.  RATTLESNAKE, DECEMBER 1846 TO JULY 1847,

BY LIEUTENANT J. DAYMAN, R.N.  LIEUTENANT AND ASSISTANT SURVEYOR.

COLUMN 1:  DATE. 
COLUMN 2:  POSITION OF SHIP.  LATITUDE IN DEGREES AND MINUTES. 
COLUMN 3:  POSITION OF SHIP.  LONGITUDE IN DEGREES AND MINUTES. 
COLUMN 4:  TEMPERATURE OF AIR. 
COLUMN 5:  TEMPERATURE OF SEA.  SURFACE. 
COLUMN 6:  TEMPERATURE OF SEA.  DEPTH IN FATHOMS.
COLUMN 7:  TEMPERATURE OF SEA.  DEPTH IN FATHOMS.

1846
December 17 :  34 52 N :  16 24 W :  59 :  61 :  61 132. 
December 28 :  28 34 :  18 38 :  66 :  67 :  63 130. 
December 30 :  23 22 :  20 58 :  68 :  69 :  66 66 :  61 190. 
December 31 :  21 13 :  22 1 :  66 :  71 :  61 193.
1847
January 1 :  18 40 :  23 18 :  68 :  73 :  70 78 :  57 178. 
January 2 :  15 28 :  23 22 :  72 :  73 :  53 180.