43 
Strong-tide Passage .] TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
it came up broken near the crown, having in all probability hooked ^02. 
a rock. The Lady Nelson went one mile a-head, a boat was kept Friday 27. 
sounding close to the ship, and in this manner we drifted up with 
the flood tide, till half past eight ; when another kedge anchor was 
dropped in 7 fathoms, a short mile from the land on each side, and 
two from the inner end of the opening. Lieutenant Fowler was 
immediately sent away in the whale boat, to search for the lost 
cutter ; and in the mean time we weighed with the afternoon's flood, 
to get through the passage. On approaching a low, triangular island 
on the eastern shore, the depth diminished quick, and an anchor was 
let go ; but in swinging to it, the ship caught upon a bank of sand 
and shells where there was no more than twelve feet water. In half 
an hour the tide floated her oft' ; and the whale boat having returned, 
but without any information of the cutter, it was kept a-head ; and 
before dark we anchored in 5 fathoms, at the entrance of Shoal- 
water Bay. 
The opening through which we had come was named Strong- 
tide Passage. It is six miles long, and from one to two broad ; but 
half the width is taken up by shoals and rocks, which extend out 
from each shore and sometimes lie near the mid-channel ; and the 
rapid tides scarcely leave to a ship the choice of her course. The 
bottom is rocky in the outer entrance, but in the upper part seems 
more generally to consist of sand and shells. By the swinging of 
the ship, it was high water ten hours after the moon's passage, and 
the rise was thirteen feet by the lead ; but at the top of the springs 
it is probably two or three feet greater ; and the rate at which the 
tides then run, will not be less than five miles an hour. It will be 
perceived, that I do not recommend any ship to enter Shoal- water 
Bay by this passage. 
In the morning, I went in the whale boat to the westward, Saturday 28. 
both to search for the lost cutter and to advance the survey. In 
crossing the inner end of Strong-tide Passage, my soundings were 
5> 4> 3, 2, 3 fathoms, to a rock near the south end of lownshend 
