474 DIRECTIONS FOR THE NAVIGATION 



On December 19th both vessels left the Tamar ; 

 the Vansittart for Flinders Island, to land the un- 



according to report, only 9 feet on one spot at low water, 

 spring tides; but the least depth found on it by the (Beagle's) 

 boats was 12 feet. The north extreme of Low Head, in one with 

 the first black cliffy projection to the eastward of it, or the flag- 

 staff on Low Head, open northward of the lighthouse, clears the 

 northern edge of it. The leading marks for entering eastward of 

 the Middle Ground, generally called the Eastern Channel, are the 

 Shear and West Beacons. The latter stands in front of Dr. 

 Browne's house, which is the first inside Point Friend, the west- 

 ern entrance point. The Shear Beacon must be kept a little 

 open to the left or eastward of the West Beacon, until you get 

 abreast of the lighthouse; after which, both beacons should be 

 kept in one. When within two cables and a half of. the Shear 

 Beacon, the course should be changed in the direction of the Red 

 Beacon on the Barrel Rock, the first on the eastern side, to 

 avoid a patch of kelp, extending one cable and a half in an easterly 

 direction from the Shear Beacon; the depth, there, at low water 

 is 9 fathoms, and the least in the channel is 4 fathoms, 

 on a ledge, apparently extending from Low Head to the Middle 

 Ground. 



The Western Channel is two cables wide, with a depth, in the 

 shoalest part, of 10 fathoms ; it is formed by the Middle Ground 

 on the eastern side, and the Yellow Rock Reef on the western; 

 the latter is an extensive patch of kelp, with a double light- 

 coloured rock near its extremity. The least water on it at low 

 water is 6 feet ; from the Shear Beacon, it bears N. 50" W. five- 

 tenths of a mile, and from the lighthouse, S. 52° W. eight-tenths 

 of a mile. The Shear Beacou and the flag-staff at George Town 

 in a line lead over the outer extreme. There is generally a 

 whitf buoy in its vicinity, and a black one on the western edge of 

 the Middle Ground. The Barrel Rock red beacon, and the high 

 and low white beacons, erected by the Beagle's ci'ew on the shore 

 over Lagoon Bay, kept in one, lead through the Western Channel. 



