Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/279

1801.
December.
Tuesday 8.

(Vol. I. p. 32) "lies from Cape Howe S. 68° E., three leagues," could not be seen; though it should have lain nearly in our track.^[1]

The wind blew fresh at this time, and a current of more than one mile an hour ran with us, so that, by carrying all sail, I hoped to get sight of King George's Sound before dark. At seven, we passed close on the south side of the Eclipse Isles;(Atlas
Plate XVII.
View 3.) but Bald Head at the entrance of the sound had so different an appearance from what I had been led to expect, being a slope in this point of view, that the steep east end of Break-sea Island was at first taken for it. The error was fortunately perceived in time; and at eight o'clock we hauled up round the head, with the wind at west, and made a stretch into the sound. It was then dark; but the night being fine, I did not hesitate to work up by the guidance of captain Vaucouver's chart; and having reached nearly into a line between Seal Island and the first beach round Bald Head, we anchored at eleven o'clock, in 8 fathoms, sandy bottom.

Wednes. 9.King George's Sound had been chosen as the proper place in which to prepare ourselves for the examination of the south coast of Terra Australis, and I sought to make the best use of the advantages it might furnish. The first essential requisite was a place of secure shelter, where the masts could be stripped, the rigging and sails put into order, and communication had with the shore, without interruption from the elements; but this, from captain Vancouver's chart and description, I did not expect the outer sound to afford. The facility of quitting Princess-Royal Harbour, with such a wind as would be favourable for prosecuting the investigation of the coast, induced me so far to prefer it to Oyster Harbour as to make it the first object of examination; and in the morning, after

1. This islet, seen by captain Vancouver in the evening, must have been the highest of the Eclipse Isles; but from the apparent difference of its situation, was thought not to be the same on the following morning. The change in the variation of the compass, which had taken place on altering the direction of the ship's head, seems to have been the cause of this apparent difference.