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of the 9th, 10th, and 11th, were cloudy. On the former we had much 

 lightning, thunder, and rain, with squalls from the southwest. 



On the 12th, Corporal Alexander Ogle, of the marines, died of 

 inflammation of the brain. He was a valuable man, and had been 

 promoted for his good conduct. He possessed the confidence of his 

 officers, and the esteem of his corps. In the afternoon all hands were 

 called to bury the dead, and his body was committed to the deep, the 

 usual ceremonies being performed by the chaplain, and the vessels of 

 the squadron having their colours at half-mast. 



On the 13th of August, at five o'clock, p. m., we made Clermont de 

 Tonnerre, or Minerva Island, and by careful observations the next day, 

 found its southeast point to be in longitude 136° 21' 12" W., latitude 

 18° 32' 49" S. Clermont de Tonnerre, being the first low coral island 

 we had met, naturally excited a great deal of interest. We had 

 pictured them to ourselves as being a kind of fairy-land, and therefore 

 looked for them with some anxiety. At first sight the island appeared 

 much like a fleet of vessels at anchor, nothing but the trees being seen 

 in the distance, and as the ship rises and sinks with the swell of the 

 ocean, these are alternately seen and lost sight of. On a nearer 

 approach, the whole white beach was distinctly seen, constituting a 

 narrow belt of land, of a light clay colour, rising up out of the deep 

 ocean, the surf breaking on its coral reefs, surrounding a lagoon of a 



beautiful blue tint, and perfectly smooth. This island was twelve feet 

 above the level of the sea, and six hundred feet wide to its lagoon, and 

 is composed of coral debris and vegetable matter. The shrubs are 

 few, and not more than from twelve to fifteen feet high ; the Cocoa- 

 nut palms and Pandanus, showing conspicuously above them. We 

 found it, by our survey, to be ten miles long, by one and a half wide, 

 lying in a west-northwest and east-southeast direction. The first 

 sounding, on the east side of the island, at three hundred feet from the 

 reef, was obtained in ninety fathoms (coral sand) ; at one hundred and 

 eighty feet, eighty-five fathoms (coral sand) ; at one hundred and 



