1846.] ISLAND OF BANGUEY. 115 



was obtained for the ' Samarang ' in sixteen fathoms, 

 about one mile south of our Observing station, but from 

 our elevated position on the rocky islet, the reefs, off 

 which our cutters were anchored, appeared to extend fully 

 that distance from the western shore, and exhibited several 

 rocks, dry at low water. 



At daylight on the llth of March, we sighted the lofty 

 peak of the Island of Banguey, and trusting to the Charts, 

 shaped our course to enter the channel by the southern 

 side of the Mangsi Islands ; shoal water was reported seen 

 from the mast head, but before the requisite information 

 to enable us to clear it was given, the rumbling of broken 

 coral under our keel informed us that we had been tres- 

 passing, but as it did not impede our motion, we were 

 soon on the alert to escape similar patches. This, how- 

 ever, appeared no easy task, as on tacking and standing 

 to the eastward, similar dangers appeared to intimate that 

 we were entrapped. As the channel within appeared to 

 be sufficiently wide for working, we made the best of our 

 dilemma, and by dint of close watching from the mast 

 head and bowsprit end, gained a fair channel about 

 4, P.M., not, however, without occasional nervous mo- 

 ments, and going through patches barely kissing our 

 keel, but as these are affairs of frequent occurrence to 

 vessels engaged in exploring new channels, they did not 

 excite us beyond the first discovery of our being en- 

 trapped. The S.W. angle of Balambangan had been the 

 rendezvous appointed for the 'Royalist', and to that 

 point our course was now directed. 



The shores of Banguey, with its imposing and very 

 picturesque peak, engaged our attention more than the 



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