1803.
August.
quainted with the six or eight following distinct banks of coral in the sea between them, exclusive of Wreck Reef and the Cato's Bank.
- Two reefs discovered by Bougainville.
- Bâture de Diane, by the same.
- Two reefs further westward, by the Investigator.
- Booby Shoal, towards New Caledonia, by captain H.L. Ball.
- Bellona's Shoal, by the ship of that name.
- Bampton's Shoal, an extensive reef with two small islands.
There are also the islets and shoals seen by the ship Sovereign, which are probably a part of those that extend so far from the north-west end of New Caledonia; and all these, with some others further northward, lie in the space comprehended between Louisiade and New Guinea on the north,—New Caledonia to the east,—New South Wales to the west—and a line drawn from Sandy Cape to the Isle of Pines on the south. Few ships have passed through this sea without making the discovery of some new bank of coral; and it is probable that several other patches of reef, yet unknown, will be found in it, especially on the Caledonian side. This space might be very appropriately called the Corallian Sea.
