The wind having come round to the north-east, the Pizarro set sail on the afternoon of the 5th of June 1799, and after working out of the narrow passage passed the Tower of Hercules, or lighthouse of Corunna, at half-past six. Towards evening the wind increased, and the sea ran high. They directed their course to the north-west, for the purpose of avoiding the English frigates which were cruising off the coast, and about nine spied the fire of a fishing-hut at Lisarga, which was the last object they beheld in the west of Europe. As they advanced, the light mingled itself with the stars which rose on the horizon. “Our eyes,” says Humboldt, “remained involuntarily fixed upon it. Such impressions do not fade from the memory of those who have undertaken long voyages at an age when the emotions of the heart are in full force. How many recollections are awakened in the imagination by a luminous point, which in the middle of a dark night, appearing at intervals above the agitated waves, marks the shore of one's native land!”

They were obliged to run under courses, and proceeded at the rate of ten knots, although the vessel was not a fast sailer. At six in the morning she rolled so much that the fore topgallant-mast was carried away. On the 7th they were in the latitude of Cape Finisterre, the group of granitic rocks on which, named the Sierra de Torinona, is visible at sea to the distance of 59 miles.