Along the north coast of Terra Australis, the current seems to run as the wind blows. In March, before the south-east monsoon was regularly set in, I found no determinate current until the end of the month, when Timor was in sight, and if then set westward, three quarters of a mile an hour; but in the November following, I carried it all the way from Cape Arnhem, as captain Bligh had done from Torres' Strait in September 1792; the rate being from half a mile to one mile and a quarter in the hour.
The navigation along the tropical part of the East Coast, within the Barrier Reefs, is not likely to be soon followed, any more than that round the shores of the Gulph of Carpentaria; nor does much remain to be said upon them, beyond what will be found in this Book II, and in the charts; and in speaking of the outer navigation, my remarks will be more perspicuous and useful if I accompany a ship from Port Jackson, through Torres' Strait; pointing out the courses to be steered, and the precautions to be taken for avoiding the dangers. It is supposed that the ship has a time keeper, whose rate of going and error from mean Greenwich time have been found at Sydney Cove, taking its longitude at 151° 11′ 49″ east; and that the commander is not one who feels alarm at the mere sight of breakers; without a time keeper I scarcely dare recommend a ship to go through Torres' Strait; and from timidity in the commander, perhaps more danger is to be anticipated than from rashness. The best season for sailing is June or July; and it must not be earlier than March, nor later than the end of September.
On quitting Port Jackson, the course to be steered is N.E. by E. by compass, to longitude about 155½°, when the land will be fifty leagues off; then North, also by compass, as far as latitude 24°. Thus far no danger lies in the way; but there is then the Cato's Bank,(Atlas,Plate X.) a dry sand frequented by birds and surrounded with a reef, and further northward is Wreck Reef, both discovered in the future part of this voyage. Wreck Reef consists of six distinct patches of coral, extending twenty miles east and west; upon four of them
