1770. ROUND THE WORLD. 101 



to end in a point, from which we discovered a reef 

 running out to the northward as far as we could see. 

 We had hauled our wind to the westward before it 

 was light, and continued the course till we saw the 

 breakers upon our lee-bow. We now edged away 

 N. W. and N. N. W. along the eastside of the shoal, 

 from two to one mile distant, having regular sound- 

 ings from thirteen to seven fathom, with a fine sandy 

 bottom. At noon our latitude, by observation, was 

 20 2b v , which was thirteen miles to the northward of 

 the log : we judged the extreme point of the shoal 

 to bear from us about N. W., and the point from 

 which it seemed to run out bore S. f W., distant 

 twenty miles. This point I named Sandy Cape, 

 from two very large patches of white sand which lay 

 upon it. It is sufficiently high to be seen at the dis- 

 tance of twelve leagues, in clear weather, and lies in 

 latitude 24 45', longitude <206 51' : the land trends 

 from it S. W. as far as can be seen. We kept along the 

 east side of the shoal till two in the afternoon, when, 

 judging that their was a sufficient depth of water 

 upon it to allow passage for the ship, I sent the boat 

 a-head to sound, and upon her making the signal for 

 more than five fathom, we hauled our wind, and stood 

 over the tail of it in six fathom. At this time we 

 were in latitude 24 22', and Sandy Cape bore S. - E., 

 distant eight leagues ; but the direction of the shoal 

 is nearest N. N. W. and S. S. E. It is remarkable 

 that when on board the ship we had six fathom, the 

 boat, which was scarcely a quarter of a mile to the 

 southward, had little more than five, and that imme- 

 diately after six fathom we had thirteen, and then 

 twenty, as fast as the man could cast the lead : from 

 these circumstances, I conjectured that the west side 

 of the shoal was steep. This shoal I called the Break 

 Sea Spit, because we had now smooth water, and to 

 the southward of it we had always a high sea from 

 the S. E. At six in the evening, the land of Sandy 

 Cape extended from S. 17 E. to S. 27 E., at the dis- 



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