212 
A VOYAGE TO 
[South Coast, 
1802. great extent of the place, agreeing with that of Western Port, was 
in confirmation of it. This, however, was not Western Port, as we 
Tuesday 27. found next morning ; and I congratulated myself on having made 
a new and useful discovery ; but here again I was in error. This 
place, as I afterwards learned at Port Jackson, had been discovered 
ten weeks before by lieutenant John Murray, who had succeeded 
captain Grant in the command of the Lady Nelson. He had given 
it the name of Port Phillip, and to the rocky point on the east side 
of the entrance, that of Point Nepean. 
Our situation was found in the morning to be near two miles 
from the south shore, and the extreme towards Point Nepean bore 
N. 83 0 W., two leagues. About three miles to the north-by- west 
were some dry rocks, with bushes on them, surrounded with mud 
flats; and they appeared to form a part of the same shoal from 
which we had three times tacked in 9,- and 3 fathoms. The mud 
bank where the ship had grounded, is distinct from the middle 
shoal ; but I am not certain that it is so from the south shore, from 
which it is one mile distant. The Bluff Mount (named Arthur's Seat 
by Mr. Murray, from a supposed resemblance to the hill of that 
name near Edinburgh,) bore S. 76 0 E.; but from thence the shore 
trended nothward so far, that the land at the head of the port could 
not be seen, even from aloft. Before proceeding any higher with 
the ship, I wished to gain some knowledge of the form and extent 
of this great piece of water ; and Arthur's Seat being more than a 
thousand feet high and near the water side, presented a favourable 
station for that purpose. 
After breakfast I went away in a boat, accompanied by Mr. 
Brown and some other gentlemen, for the Seat. It was seven or 
eight miles from the ship ; and in steering nearly a straight course 
for it, we passed over the northern skirt of the shoal where the ship 
had touched ; but afterwards had from 7 to 5 fathoms nearly to the 
shore. Having observed the latitude there from an artificial horizon, 
I ascended the hill ; and to my surprise found the port so extensive, 
