862 



APOSTLES — JUDGES CURRENT. DeC. 1829. 



night. Contrary to my expectation, the wind did not much 

 increase ; but the thick weather, and a heavy swell, induced 

 me to stand farther out than I had at first intended. At eleven, 

 P.M., we wore and stood in until daylight on the 4th, when we 

 found ourselves so much to the southward, that the land about 

 Cape Pillar bore N. b. W., the Cape itself being shut in. We 

 steered for the land, hoping to turn the day to some account ; 

 but those hopes soon ceased, for before we had run sufficient 

 distance to make a serviceable base line, the weather became so 

 thick as to oblige us to haul our wind. We saw just enough 

 to make out a number of rocks and breakers, lying at a consi- 

 derable distance off shore. After noon it was clearer, and we 

 again stood in-shore ; but found that the current was setting 

 us so fast to the southward, that it was necessary to carry all 

 sail and keep on a wind, to avoid losing ground ; yet, with a 

 fresh, double-reefed topsail breeze and a deeply laden weatherly 

 vessel, we could not hold our own, and at seven in the evening 

 were close to an islet which lies off Cape Sunday. We had seen 

 very little of the coast thus far : the current had rendered the 

 patent log useless for measuring bases, and the weather was 

 very unfavourable for astronomical observations. The land 

 appeared to be high and mountainous, as far as Cape Deseado, 

 whence it seemed lower and more broken, forming a large bay 

 between that cape and Cape Sunday. Many rocks on which 

 the sea breaks violently lie at a distance from the shore, besides 

 those two clusters called the ' Apostles' and the ' Judges: ' the 

 latter off Cape Deseado, and the former off Apostle Point, a 

 little south of Cape Pillar. 



" 5th. To our mortification, we found ourselves a great way 

 off shore ; and Landfall Island, which was eight miles to lee- 

 ward the last evening, was now in the wind's eye, at a distance 

 of about six leagues. A strong wind, with much swell, pre- 

 vented our regaining lost ground in a northerly direction, I 

 therefore preferred standing to the S.E. by the wind, intending 

 to seek for a harbour, as it seemed hopeless to try to survey 

 this coast while under sail, with such obstacles to contend 

 against as a current setting about a mile an hour, and a sky 



