LOG OF MR. SIMPSON. 201 



was close to the beach all along*, and occasionally 

 fired a musket." 



Jackey appears confident that the men left have 

 been killed by the blacks. He said he had hopes 

 of findino- Dunn, he being- a man that " knew 

 blackfellow well, and used to g'o along- black- 

 fellow." 



3Iay Qth. — At daylight sent the boat on shore, 

 manned as before, ^^ ith instructions to land at the 

 place where I saw natives last nig'ht. At C'30 

 A.M., weig'hed and set the topsails to a lig'ht breeze 

 from the southward, steered N. by E. 5- E., hauhng- 

 out a little from the land. At seven hearing- a 

 rumblino- noise, looked over the vessel's side and 

 saw we were in shoal water, the vessel g-radually 

 losing- her wa}^, but still continued forging- ahead a 

 ^ittle j lowered the boat and sounded round, found 

 more water ahead, thirteen and fourteen feet ; in 

 shore, about half a cable's leng'th found five and six 

 fathoms \ to seaward, eleven and eleven and a half 

 feet. Set the foresail : having- a flowing- tide the 

 vessel went ahead and deepened our water ; after 

 g-oing- ahead about two or three ship's leng-thg 

 touched ag-ain slig'htly, and immediately after g'ot 

 into five and six fathoms. The sea being- smooth 

 at the time, and the after part of the keel being- the 

 onl}^ part of the vessel that touched, she cannot 

 have recei\'ed any material damag-e. This shoal 

 appeared to be of small extent, composed of sand 

 and coral ; it is not laid down in the chart, but is 



