18(5 
A VOYAGE TO 
[North Coast. 
1S03. 
January. 
Sunday 9. 
Monday 10. 
(Atlas, 
Plate XV.) 
in a sandy bight of the great island ; but the bight being exposed to 
south-east winds, and containing much foul ground, the anchorage 
was far from being good. 
In the morning, we steered out on the north side of the islet, 
between it and a low point two miles off, with a boat a-head ; our 
soundings being g, 6, 4, 2^, 5, 8, and soon afterward 23 fathoms. 
The low point, which has several rocks near it, lies seven or eight 
miles northward from the south-east extremity of Groote Eylandt ; 
from thence the shore trends westward about four leagues, and forms 
a large bight, mostly bounded by a sandy beach ; but in the middle 
of it is a point with many rocks. On the west side of the bight, two 
or three miles back, are the same woody hills which seem to occupy 
all the middle of the island ; and on this side they terminate to the 
north-east in a bluff. The depth of water at noon was 1 g fathoms, 
and our situation and principal bearings were as under. 
Latitude, observed to the north and south, - 14 0 3' 31" 
Longitude by time keeper and survey, - 137 3 
Groote Eylandt, low eastern point, dist. 4 miles, S. 1 W. 
woody hills, the north-east bluff, N. 64 W. 
furthest visible extreme, - N. 6 W. 
We were then steering across the bight before a south-east 
wind ; but the depth of water becoming less, and the wind more 
dead on the shore, we hauled up N. by E. for the furthest land in 
sight. At three o’clock, a small opening was seen under the north-east 
bluff, but our distance of three leagues was too great to distinguish 
it accurately. Towards evening, when three miles from the shore, 
the sounding jumped from g to 4 fathoms, and we tacked to the 
south-east ; and the night promising to be fine, anchored at dusk in 
1 g fathoms, mud and sand, with the north-east point of Groote 
Eylandt bearing N. 33 0 W., about seven miles ; further out lay two 
small islands, and a hill upon the outermost was set at N. io°W. 
The latitude of this anchorage was ascertained, from altitudes of two 
stars and the moon, to be is°53j south; and an amplitude with the 
