noon
Even the third mate did n't come forward as he had been accustomed to do ; and at night , what was very unusual , there were two officers on deck at a time . We had now contrary winds and thick weather , which greatly delayed us for several days . No observations were taken . One morning land was discovered on the weather bow , which , the captain said , was the coast of South America , and he carefully kept along shore in order to pass between the Falkland Islands and the main land ; but at noon , when a meridian observation had been obtained , he found that what he had at first supposed to be the main land was in reality the Falkland Islands . We had for many days been sailing entirely by dead reckoning , while the current had set us out of our course . As we had not taken a full supply of water on board at Rio , and , owing to the bursting of the butt , which had frightened me so much , we had less on board than usual , the captain steered for one of the islands , where he knew that it could be obtained . We came to an anchor about half a mile from the shore just at sunset .