Smith. — Exploration of Tasmau Bay. 437 



able to withdraw from this perilous position. That pass was 

 distant a league and a half from our anchorage. In returning, 

 the current had caused great trouble to these two officers, whilst 

 the crews were extremely fatigued. 



I expected to see the wind fall at night as usual. It did not 

 do so ; on the contrary, it freshened rapidly from the N.W. 

 At 9 p.m., when the boats returned, it was already so strong, 

 and had raised such a sea, that they had great trouble in hoisting 

 in the boats without breaking them. From 10 to 11 p.m. the 

 wind blew very hard, and the sea had become very heavy. The 

 corvette pitched with great violence, causing a great strain on 

 the cable, and in the strongest gusts the waves came right over 

 the ship, covering entirely the forecastle. We ran the risk of 

 foundering. At 11 p.m. I paid out 70 fathoms of cable, and 

 some minutes after, having drifted sensibly, we let go the port 

 anchor with the heavy chain, purchased at Port Jackson, giving 

 20 fathoms more on the other cable. Our position was extremely 

 critical, for if the chain and the cable did not hold the corvette 

 would have smashed up on an iron coast, from which we were 

 only distant three or four cable-lengths. The sea was breaking 

 with such fury that to reduce the " Astrolabe " into fragments 

 would have been an affair of some minutes only. It was very 

 certain not one of the crew would have escaped from such a 

 catastrophe ; it is even doubtful if any vestige would have been 

 preserved on the coast, so complete would have been the de- 

 struction of the ship. 



Great as our anxiety already was, it became much more so 

 when, at 2.45 a.m., we found ourselves again dragging, and ascer- 

 tained that the starboard cable had parted. We immediately paid 

 out 60 fathoms of chain, which had now become our only re- 

 source, and made fast another cable to an old anchor on the 

 port side ready for use in case of want. But the single chain 

 held us, and at the same time the wind decreased suddenly, 

 the sea went down, and the sky cleared as by enchantment. 

 Whoever has found themselves in a similar situation will 

 understand what a burden had been removed. 



Hardly had the day broken when we commenced to haul in 

 the end of the broken cable ; it had been cut at 12 fathoms from 

 the hawse-hole, and was much frayed in other parts. This 

 proved that the bottom was covered with sharp rocks, and we 

 felicitated ourselves that the accident had not taken place at 

 the worst of the weather. 



The large boat carried out small cables, and attached them 

 to the buoy-rope of the anchor, in order to save the latter. At 

 8 a.m. we hauled on the chain, and when the anchor came to the 

 surface of the water we recognised, with as much surprise as 



