VOYAGE OF THE "PANDORA" 109 



behind the boats, and on this assumption his CORNWALLIS LAND was probably PRINCE 

 OF WALES ISLAND. R. L. J.] 



" This afternoon, at 3 o'clock, being the ^th of September, our little squadron sailed 

 again, and in the evening saw a high-peaked island lying NW., which we called 

 HAWKESBURY'S ISLAND [It rises to 560 feet]. The passage through the north entrance 

 [i.e., between Flinders Passage and Prince of Wales Channel. R. L. J.] is about 2 

 miles wide. After passing through it, saw a reef. As we approached it, we shallowed 

 our water to 3 fathoms ; but on hauling up more to the SW. we deepened it again 

 to 6 fathoms. Saw several large turtle, but could not catch any. . . . After 

 clearing the reef, stood to the westward. Mountainous Island [BANKS ISLAND] bore 

 N.|E. ; Captain Bligh's WEST ISLAND, which appears in three hummocks, NNW. ; 

 a rock [RED WALLIS ISLAND] NW., at the SW. extreme of the mainland, S. and by E. ; 

 and the NORTHERNMOST CAPE OF NEW SOUTH WALES SSE. [Not really Cape York, but 

 the projecting hump of land west of the mouth of the Jardine River and south of 

 Cook's Possession Island. R. L. J.] ; and to the extreme of the land in sight, the 

 eastward E.JN., a small distance from the nearest of the Prince of Wales Islands, 

 we discovered another island, and which we called CHRISTIAN'S ISLAND. Saw two 

 hummocks [DUNCAN ISLANDS, or PHIPPS and SPENCER ISLANDS. R. L. J.] between 

 Hawkesbury's Island and Mountainous Island ; but could not be certain whether it 

 was one or two islands. 



" We now entered the great Indian Ocean, and had a voyage of 1,000 miles to 

 undertake in our open boats. As soon as we cleared the land, we found a very heavy 

 swell running, which threatened destruction to our little fleet ; for should we have 

 separated, we must inevitably perish for want of water, as we had not utensils to divide 

 our slender stock. For our mutual preservation, we took each other in tow again." 



CAPTAIN EDWARDS 



" On the \th September, at half-past 3 in the afternoon, we stood out of the north 

 entrance of the sound p.*., out of FLINDERS PASSAGE into PRINCE OF WALES CHANNEL. 

 R. L. J.]. Before 5, we saw a reef extending from the N. to the WNW., and which 

 appeared to run in the latter direction, or more to the westward [NORTH-WEST REEF], 

 On the edge of this reef, we had 3f- fathoms of water, and after hauling to the south- 

 west we soon deepened our water to 5 fathoms. Besides Mountainous and West 

 Islands, seen by Lieutenant Bligh, we saw several other islands between the north 

 and the west, one of which I called HAWKESBURY ISLAND. . . . 



" In the evening, we saw the NORTHERNMOST EXTREMITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES 

 [really the hump of land west of the mouth of the Jardine River. R. J. L.], which 

 forms the south side of Endeavour Straits. At night the boats took each other in 

 tow and we steered to the westward. 



" It is unnecessary to retail our particular sufferings in the boats during our run 

 to TIMOR, and it is sufficient to observe the company suffered more from heat and 

 thirst than from hunger, and that our strength was greatly decreased. We fortunately 

 had good weather." 



Surgeon Hamilton states that " we ascertained the latitudes 

 with the greatest accuracy and exactness," a claim which he would 

 hardly have made on his own account, and which, it may be con- 

 jectured, he simply copied from the Captain's log, of which the latter 

 evidently made only a short abstract for his reports to the Admiralty. 

 Nor, I imagine, would the Captain himself have made such a claim 

 unless he had been provided with a sextant. The Captain gives 

 the position of MURRAY ISLANDS as 9 57' S. and 216 43' W = 

 143 if E. ; and the WRECK REEF is also given in his table, but the 

 figures are left blank. The Surgeon gives the same position to the 



