Archip. of the Recherche .] TERRA AUSTRALIS. 267 
inscription upon copper placed over his grave ; William Hillier, one 
of my best men, also died of dysentery and fever before quitting the 
bay, and the surgeon had fourteen others in his list, unable to do any 
duty. At his well-judged suggestion, I ordered the cables, which 
the small size of the ship had made it necessary to coil between 
decks, to be put into the holds, our present light state permitting 
this to be done on clearing away the empty casks ; by this arrang- 
rnent more room was made for the messing and sleeping places ; 
and almost every morning they were washed with boiling water, aired 
with stoves, and sprinkled with vinegar, for the surgeon considered 
the dysentery on board to be approaching that state when it becomes 
contagious. 
At daylight of the 21 st, having a fresh breeze at N. W., we Saturday 21. 
prepared to depart, and hove short ; but the ship driving before the 
sails were loosed, and there being little room astern, a second bower 
was dropped and a kedge anchor carried out. This last not hold- 
ing after the bowers were weighed, a stream anchor was let go ; 
and before the ship brought up, it was again necessary to drop the 
best bower. At this time we were not more than a cable's length 
from the rocks of Middle Island ; and the ship being exposed to 
great danger with the least increase of wind, we got a spring on 
the stream cable and began to heave on the best bower. In the mean 
time the ship drove with both anchors a-head, which obliged me, on 
the instant, to cut both cables, heave upon the spring, and run up the 
jib and stay-sails ; and my orders being obeyed with an alacrity not 
to be exceeded, we happily cleared the rocks by a few fathoms, and 
at noon made sail to the eastward. 
This example proved the anchorage in the eastern part of 
Goose-Island Bay to be very bad, the sand being so loose as not to 
hold the ship with two anchors, though the water was smooth and 
the wind not more than a double-reefed-top-sail breeze; yet further 
westward, between Goose Island and the west beach, our anchor had 
held very well before. The most secure situation should seem to 
