132 PASSAGE DOWN 



1824. long line of rocks. This, as we were quite 

 Sept. ignorant as to where the wild eddy was carry- 

 ing us, gave me great anxiety^ although we 

 had no bottom with one hundred and fifty fa- 

 thoms, until day-Hght of the 26th, by which 

 time the sea had become smooth, and not an 

 eddy was to be seen. We now, by a distant 

 bearing of Cape Wolstenholm, ascertained 

 that we had been swept considerably to the 

 south-eastward of Sahsbury Island, although 

 it was hidden from us by a fog. The eddy 

 must therefore have come from the north-west- 

 ward, between the islands, and have carried us 

 until it joined that which branched round the 

 east end of Salisbury ; and it must have been 

 the junction of these two impetuous currents 

 which caused the noise and turbulent sea I 

 have spoken of. 



The forenoon of the 26th was foggy, but 

 when the sky cleared, we obtained observa- 

 tions for the magnetic errors of the compasses. 

 In the evening a light breeze, from the south- 

 ward, enabled us to steer a course for Charles 

 Island ; but a short sea in which we were quite 

 helpless, allowed of our making but little pro- 

 gress in the night. 



The morning of the 27th was fine, dry, and 

 clear, with the wind from the southward. No 



