voyage; for another week would probably see them in Port Philip; but that evening a contrary wind blew, and that very strongly. The vessel was hove to for the night, and the passengers were again in tribulation: not without reason; for, at the time we write, the navigation of Bass' Straits was but imperfectly known.
Wilson's promontory is a large tract of land on the south coast of New Holland, and the most southerly point of that large island; it runs upwards of sixty miles into the sea. The "Big Ann" had drifted far inside the point. In the morning the man at the look out reported high land ahead of the vessel. The wind was blowing directly ashore, and had she kept on the course she was then steering for half an hour longer, she must have been a wreck. She was put about, and every exertion used to beat her off the coast; but, in consequence of shoal water and sand banks, short tacks were obliged to be made, and by the afternoon the most inexperienced eye could perceive that nothing had been gained by the manœuvres. A consultation was held by the officers, and it was decided that nothing could be done but to spread all the sail she could carry, and so endeavour to clear the point. She was very light—much too light to sail well, and as a natural consequence made considerably more lee way than usual. Mean time the steerage passengers had come on deck in great numbers, and, impeding the work, they were ordered below. The hatches were battened down for the second time during the voyage. The ship struggled through the water, leaving a long line of foam to mark her track.
"Does her head lay well outside the point?" cried the captain. "No:" answered the steersman, only just clears it." "Set more sail," shouted the captain: although the masts were bending and straining as if every freshening breeze would
