North Coast: Torres' Strait.] INTRODUCTION. 
xxxi 
also seen, and bore N. W. £ W. The ships got ground in 60 fathoms, Bampton 
and hauled the wind to the eastward, till midnight ; when, having ^793/ 
no bottom at 70 fathoms, they lay to, till morning. 
June si. The Hormuzeer's long boat was sent a-head; and, at 
ten o'clock, the ships bore away northward. At noon, the latitude 
was 9 0 30'. The course was altered, at three, to the north-west; 
and at dusk, they hove to, for the night : soundings from 70 to 56 
fathoms. The same course being resumed on the 22nd, the latitude, 
at noon, was 8° 48'; and the depth 30 fathoms, on a bottom of sand, 
mud, and shells. From noon to five p. m., when they anchored, 
the ships appear to have steered W. by S. The land had been seen 
at one o'clock ; and at two, the water had shoaled suddenly, from 
30 to 10 fathoms, and afterwards diminished to 5, which continued 
to the place of anchorage. The land was part of the coast of New 
Guinea; and the extremes were set at W. by N.|N. andN. W. ~N., 
six or seven leagues, (in the chart, miles.) The flood tide here, 
set two miles per hour, towards the land ; and the rise, by the lead 
line, was nine feet. 
June 23. The ships got under way with the weather, or ebb, 
tide, a little before noon : latitude 8° 52'. At four o'clock, the wind 
blew strong at south-east, with thick weather; and they anchored in 
g fathoms, blue mud ; having made a course of E. N. E. nearly 
parallel to the coast. They remained here till the next afternoon ; 
when the Hormuzeer having parted her cable, both ships stood 
to the north-eastward, along the land, until midnight; at which 
time they wore to the south-west, in 30 fathoms. At daylight of 
the 25th, the depth had decreased to 16 fathoms; and they stretched 
north-eastward again, with little variation in the soundings. The 
latitude, at noon, was 8° 10'; and the ships continued their course 
upon a wind, keeping as much to the east as possible ; and the 
soundings having increased to 30 fathoms, at dusk, they hove to ; 
but stretched off, at midnight, on coming into 10 fathoms. In the 
morning of June 26, they were standing to the eastward ; but the 
