9th [March, 1777]: The greatest part of last night we have had a breeze from the southwest, this morning the sea is as smooth as a mill pond, not a breath of air to be felt on the deck, our course being all becalmed, but what is very remarkable, there is a considerable breeze aloft, all our upper sails being full and the vessel going three or two and a half knots thro the water, this is a phenomena that our Captain tells us he has never before met with; at 11 o'clock we saw land, this was a most pleasing sight to every soul on board and we congratulated each other on the occasion. we supposed it to be the southern cape of Virginia and if this should prove to be the case we are determined to go into Chesapeake Bay. At noon the weather being clear we had a good observation and ou[r] latitude was 37°38' minutes, so that the land we first saw must have been Smith's Island ² or near it; we therefore as the wind is fair and we have passed Virginia Bay mean to proceed for Cape Henlopen, we came nearer the land and kept in water between 8 and 10 fathoms deep; at one o'clock we saw a small sloop between us and the land. I asked the Captain permission to take a couple of the sailors and go in our yawl to her but he had suffered so much from his anxiety yesterday while our boat was gone on board the French brig that he was determined not to permit her to leave the ship again; we continued sailing along shore with a sweet gentle wind and a delightful smooth sea till evening when we saw a schooner which gave us chase; we however lost sight of her soon after dusk.