PORTER S JOURNAL, 



165 



perceive no traces of its having been visited before, he 

 highly complimented me, by giving it the name of Porter's 

 Island. 



The southwest landing of this island is in latitude 0° 42' 

 ■14" south, longitude 90° 27' 9" west. 



The northwest landing is in latitude 0° 32' 40" south, lon- 

 gitude 90° 23' 54" west. 



The northeast landing is in latitude 0° 31' 12" south, lon- 

 gitude 90° 12' 45" west. 



Having now got on board as much wood as we stood in 

 need of, and all the water that could be procured, as well 

 as a stock of salt provisions from the prizes, and a supply 

 of tortoises, we had nothing to detain us longer at Charles' 

 Island. I therefore made the signal to prepare to weigh, 

 and at nine o'clock on the morning of the 21st weighed 

 our anchor, and, in company with our prizes, stood to the 

 southwest, with a view of getting an offing sufficient to en- 

 able us to weather Charles' Island on the other tack, which 

 I had reason to hope we could do without much difficulty, 

 as I perceived we had a current setting to the southward. 

 We found our stream-cable a little chafed by the rocks, but 

 less so than I had apprehended, from the quality of the bot- 

 tom we had anchored in. 



I should have mentioned before, that Mr. Adams, on the 

 night of his return from Porter's Island, fell in with a ship, 

 which he passed at the distance of gun-shot from her. 

 She bore much the appearance af an English vessel, had a 

 tier of guns, and was bound toward Albemarle ; in conse- 

 quence of which, I determined to run down for Banks' Bay 

 to look for her, should the current have proved against our 

 getting to the southward. I not only hoped, by so doing, 

 to secure a valuable prize, but expected to be enabled to 

 get a supply of water from her, which was what we now 

 stood more in need of than any other article whatever. 



On obtaining the above information from Mr. Adams, I 

 believed it probable that we should be enabled to see the 

 stranger from some one of the adjacent hills. Under this 

 expectation I landed on the western point of the bay, and, 

 in company with iieatenant Gamble of the marines, and 

 Mr. Shaw, purser, proceeded to ascend a high and rugged 

 mountain there situated, which did not appear to us a diffi- 

 cult task to attempt. But we were soon convinced of our 



