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January 1772.
Sir
Tho' I have not the pleasure of being known to you, yet your good character, & late voyage to the South sea are not unknown to me; & I hope will plead my excuse for troubling you with this, on the subject of your next voyage.
As I hear you design to sail to the Southward, you will undoubtedly discover the great Southern continent, the existence of which I think admits of no dispute: as the coldness of the South winds, whenever any ships get above 40 degrees South Latitude in their winter sufficiently prove. Nay Osbeck a Swede, in his account of his voyage to China says, that on May 6th being only in S.L. 34º, they were oblig'd to put on their winder cloaths, the cold being then as intense there, as it is in Sweden in their winter.
As you go to the South, permit me to recommend to you to try to discover the Isle of Saxenburg in S L 30º, & Grand Isle in S L 45º : which may be easily done by spreading your vessels so as to extend a great breadth, whereby no Island in those Latitudes can escape you. The first Island is said to have been discover'd by Magdeland about the year 1620, & to have been seen since by Leinderts & Linderman in 1670 : but the Dutch Admiral Roggevein could not discover it in 1721. The other Island