3<:24 LARGE SHARK. 



N.N.W. 10 miles, i't is a dark cliffy point ; but there 

 is another more remarkable in the shape of a quoin, 

 three or four miles to the northward. At 8, p.m., we 

 were in the same depth, Sandy Cape, so named by 

 Cook for its being a low point streaked with patches 

 of w^hite sand, bearing W.S.W. eight miles. As it 

 was now blowing very hard from E.S.E., with con- 

 stant squalls and thick rainy weather, the ship was 

 brouMit to the wind under snug" sail, for the nioht. 

 June 20. — At daylight we were in 18 fathoms, the 

 outer elbow of Breaksea Spit, bearing S. E. by S. 

 three miles. It was when anchored under this Spit 

 that in H.M.S. Britomart, a monstrous shark was 

 caught, about twenty feet long, in which were found 

 the bones of some very large animal, possibly those 

 of a bullock, that had been carried out to sea by 

 some current. Steering N.N.W. we deepened the 

 water in eight miles to 32 fathoms, and after round- 

 ing the northern extremity of Breaksea Spit, which 

 appeared to be formed of a few detached breakers, 

 steered W. by North for Bustard Bay. In 28 

 fathoms, with fine sand, we passed three miles south of 

 Lady Elliott's Island, a small level spot about seventy 

 feet high, fringed with a coral reef, particularly to the 

 S.E., and forming the south eastern isle of Bunker's 

 Group. It was first seen at the distance of seven 

 miles from the Beagle's poop, the height of the eye 

 being fifteen feet, and at that number of miles east of 

 it we had thirty fathoms. The weather was still very 

 hazy, but the wind had subsided to a light breeze 



