146 Transactions. 



doubtful. At last day broke, with better auspices, which seemed 

 to promise me a favourable wind. Not to neglect anv pre- 

 cautions in my power, I pulled to the S.E. point of the pass, 

 and climbed to the summit of the hill which overlooked it. 

 This was no easy matter, owing to its steepness and the dense 

 fern which clothed it. Arrived at the top, I took in the whole 

 position, and concluded that, taking even* precaution, I could 

 sail through the narrow channel. Still, my eyes were not blind 

 to its danger, and to the fact that failure meant catastrophe. 

 Involuntarily my gaze turned to the corvette, so beautiful, so 

 well equipped in all respects to perform her long and important 

 voyage, and so full of her living freight. And then I thought 

 that by a word from me her destruction might be accomplished 

 amongst the rocks at my feet, and that my whole crew of officers 

 and men, who so long had dwelt aboard as in a home, might 

 be cast on the inhospitable shores, perhaps to perish, never 

 again to see their relatives and friends. Thoughts such as these 

 shook my resolution, but only for a moment, and I then returned 

 on board determined to try my fortune. At 7 o'clock the anchor 

 was hove and dropped again 6 fathoms nearer the vessel. Soon 

 after, the breeze becoming steadier and more moderate, and the 

 sea quieter, I determined to get under sail, so as to better handle 

 the vessel. We had taken up the stream cable astern, and 

 faced the bows so as to catch the wind the moment the anchor 

 was raised. All this was quickly done. At the same moment 

 the storm trysails, foresail, and foretopsail were unfurled, and 

 for some minutes we steered well ; but the moment we entered 

 the pass, the impetuous current swept us to port. In vain I 

 put the helm hard down, and clewed the sails so as to stand 

 in for the land. The corvette refused to steer, and, mastered 

 by the current, she could not avoid being carried towards the 

 rocks which terminated the reef, and on which I knew there 

 were not more than 10 ft. or 12 ft. of water. Shortly after, 

 the ' Astrolabe ' touched twice ; the first shock was slight, but 

 with the second there was an appalling grinding noise, followed 

 by a prolonged shock. In a moment the corvette stood still. 

 and listed over to port, which gave me some hope that she was 

 neither on the rocks nor stove in. At this moment the crew 

 raised a terrified cry. With a bold voice I shouted out, ' It is 

 nothing ; we are clear.' And, indeed, the current, sweeping 

 the vessel along, forbade her from resting on the fatal rock, 

 and then the breeze springing up enabled us again to steer, and 

 thus, freed from our fears, we glided with filled sails into the 

 peaceful waters of Admiralty Bay, our sole, loss being a few frag- 

 ments of the keel, which floated in the eddy around us. My pre- 

 occupation in sailing the vessel prevented me from seeing anything 



