22 
A VOYAGE TO [ East Coast. 
I802. The negligence with which this anchor had been made, might in some 
MondayV cases have caused the loss of the ship. 
In following the low and rather sandy shore, northward to 
Cape Capricorn, we passed within a rocky islet and another com- 
posed of rock and sand, four miles south-east of the cape, the sound- 
ings being there from 8 to g fathoms ; and at ten o’clock hauled 
round for Cape Keppel, which lies from Cape Capricorn N. 8o° W., 
ten miles. The shore is low, with some small inlets in it, and sand 
banks with shoal water run off more than two miles ; at six miles out 
there is a hummocky island and four rocks, one of which was at first, 
taken for a ship. We passed within these, as captain Cook had before 
done ; and at half past two in the afternoon anchored in Keppel 
Bay, in 6 fathoms soft bottom, three-quarters of a mile from a head 
on the east side of the entrance. 
My object in stopping at this bay was to explore two openings 
marked in it by captain Cook, which it was possible might be the 
entrances of rivers leading into the interior. So soon as the ship was 
secured, a boat was sent to haul the seine, and I landed with a party 
of the gentlemen to inspect the bay from an eminence called Sea 
Hill. There were four places where the water penetrated into the 
land, but none of these openings were large ; that on the west side, 
in which were two islands, was the most considerable, and the hills 
near it were sufficiently elevated to afford an extensive view ; 
whereas in most other parts, the shores were low and covered with 
mangroves. These considerations induced me to begin the proposed 
Tuesday io. examination by the western arm ; and early next morning I em- 
barked in the Lady Nelson, intending to employ her and my whale 
boat in exploring the bay and inlets, whilst the botanists made their 
excursions in the neighbourhood of the ship. 
The depth in steering for the western arm was from 6 
to g fathoms, for about one mile, when it diminished quickly to 2, 
upon a shoal which seemed to run up the bay ; the water after- 
wards deepened to 5 and 7 fathoms, but meeting with a second 
