SIR JOSEPH BANKS. 357 



they were all decayed and unfit for service, so that their 

 only trust was in the strength of the vessel's timbers. 

 Fortunately she made no more than an inch of water in 

 the hour. A gale, which soon assailed them, and lasted 

 for some days, did no material damage. The navigation 

 was, however, beset by reefs of rocks and shoals, through 

 the narrow openings of which they escaped almost mir- 

 aculously. At length, after three months of constant 

 peril, they burst as it were into a wide and deep sea, the 

 swell of which showed that no land was near. The leak, 

 however, had now increased to nine inches an hour, and 

 in two days more they were surrounded by breakers, and 

 in a more dangerous position than ever: nor did they 

 escape except by the sudden springing up of a light breeze 

 at the moment when they were helplessly and hopelessly 

 drifting on the rocks. 



Then, after repairing the vessel, Captain Cook pro- 

 ceeded on his cruise through the most intricate navigation 

 in the world; then, too, first explored the track of reefs 

 and islands on the northern part of the east coast; and 

 having now explored and laid down above two thousand 

 miles of coast, he formally took possession of the country 

 for the British crown, giving it the name of New South 

 Wales. From thence he proceeded to New Guinea, 

 which he proved to be an island separate from New Hol- 

 land; and, on the 9th of October he arrived at Batavia, 

 where it was necessary to give the ship a thorough repair. 

 Upon examining her bottom it was found in many places 

 worn to the thinness of the sole of a shoe, and in other 

 places it appeared that there had, since the accident, been 

 nothing between them and the water but a lock of wool 

 jammed between the planks; so small was the distance, 



