cxciv 
INTRODUCTION. 
[Prior Discoveries. 
Fundebs. volunteer crew as before : and I was accompanied by Mr. S. W. 
1799. . 
Flinders, a midshipman of the Reliance, and by Bongaree, a native, 
whose good disposition and manly conduct had attracted my esteem. 
Of the assistance of my able friend Bass I was, however, deprived, 
he having quitted the station soon after our last voyage, to return 
to England. The time of my absence was limited by the governor 
to six weeks, some arrivals being then expected which might call 
the Reliance into active service. 
(Atlas, We sailed out of Port Jackson on July 8 ; and next morning 
'late VIII.) . i ■ -i • l 
came in with a part of the coast, north of Port Stephens, which cap- 
tain Cook had passed in the night.* Off" a projection which I called 
Sugar-loaf Point, in latitude 32 0 29', lie two rocks to the south-east- 
ward, at the distances of two and four miles. We passed between 
these rocks and the point, and kept close in with the shore as far 
to the north as the hills called Three Brothers by captain Cook, of 
which the northernmost and highest lies in latitude 31 0 43' south. 
(Atlas, July 10, the observed latitude of 0.1* q8' shewed a set of qq' to the 
a e south ; whereas it had the day before been 8' the contrary way. 
Our distance from the shore had then become six leagues, owing to a 
foul wind ; but we got in with it again in the evening, and steered 
northward with a fair breeze. On the 11th we sailed amongst the 
Solitary Isles, of which five were added to the number before seen ; 
and the space from thence to twelve leagues northward having 
been passed by captain Cook in the night, I continued to keep close 
in with the coast. 
In latitude 29 0 43', we discovered a small opening like a river, 
with an islet lying in the entrance ; and at sunset, entered a larger, 
to which I gave the name of Shoal Bay, an appellation which 
* The journal of this expedition, delivered to governor Hunter on my return, having 
been published in great part by colonel Collins, the account here given will be brief, 
and almost wholly confined to nautical subjects. The reader who desires more informa- 
tion upon the lands visited, and upon their productions and inhabitants, is referred to the 
Account of the English Colony in Neiv South Wales, Vol II. page 225 to 263. 
