1802.
February.
Thurs. 4.
At half past one we left Petrel Bay; and having passed between the small isles to the north-east, steered for Evans' Island, and toward the Isles of St. Peter, which were expected to lie beyond it. At five o'clock, we passed between Evans' Island and some rocks above water, with breakers round them, lying three miles to the eastward. An island, equally high with that of St. Francis, was then seen to the north, and low land extended from it to N. 45° E., which had some appearance of being part of the main. We steered for these lands; and seeing an opening between them at sunset, I attempted it in the hope of getting anchorage for the night; but the water shoaled suddenly, from 4 fathoms to sixteen feet upon rocks, and obliged me to veer on the instant. We then stood back to the southward, till eight o'clock, and nothing being perceived in the way of the ship's drift, hove to for the night.
Friday 5.The wind was north-east in the morning; and at half past four o'clock we filled the sails and steered eastward until eight, when the central island of St. Francis bore N. 71° W., and Franklin's Isles, for there are two, besides rocks, were distant four leagues, the small opening between them bearing N. 28° W. To the south-eastward of these islands, at the distance of eleven miles, is a low projection of the main land, to which the name of Point Brown was given, in compliment to the naturalist; and four leagues further, in the same line, was a cliffy head, called Cape Bauer after the painter of natural history. Between these projections there was a wide space where no land was visible, and for which we accordingly steered on the wind veering more to the northward. The atmosphere was still hazy, more especially about the horizon, and no observations worthy of confidence could be taken for either latitude or longitude. At noon,
Franklin's Isles bore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
N. 48½° | to | 56½° W. |
Point Brown, distant four miles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
N. | 34 W. | |
Cape Bauer, south extremity, dist. 3 leagues, | S. | 50 E. |