270 
A VOYAGE TO 
[South Coast. 
M^y ' ^e sout h end of King’s Island was in sight ; and at 4 h 40', when it 
Monday so. bore N. 5 0 to 35 0 E., a small island was seen from the mast head, 
bearing E. by S., which I at first judged must be Albatross Island ; 
but as no other could be seen more southward, it was probably the 
Bl^ck Pyramid of Hunter’s Isles, discovered in the Norfolk sloop. I 
much wished to fix its relative situation to King’s Island ; but night 
coming on, the bearing of S. 5 0 W., in which this pyramidal lump was 
set at ten o’clock with the assistance of a night glass, was the best 
point of connexion to be obtained. The southern extremity of King’s 
Island lies nearly in 40° 7' south and 143 0 53' east ; and by our run 
from 4 h 40' to ten o’clock, corrected for a tide setting to the south- 
westward, this lump of land, which I believe to have been the Black 
Pyramid, will be 29' or 30' of longitude more east : its latitude made 
in the Norfolk was 40* 32' south. 
The wind blew fresh at north, and the ship could barely lie a 
course to clear Albatross Island, yet we passed without seeing it, 
though there was moonlight ; so that supposing it was the Black 
Pyramid we had set at ten o’clock, the tide, which I calculated to 
turn about that time, must have run strong to the N. E. Our least 
sounding between King’s Island and Hunter’s Isles was 28 fathoms, 
on red coral sand, nine or ten miles to the south, as I judge, of 
Reid’s Rocks ; but they were not seen, nor have I any certain know- 
ledge of their position. They are laid down in the chart partly from 
the journal of lieutenant Murray, who saw them in going from the 
Bay of Seals to Three-hummock Island ; but principally from a 
rough sketch of Mr. Bass, then commander of the brig Venus, who 
appears to have seen King’s Island, Reid’s Rocks, and the Black 
Pyramid, all at the same time. 
It was a great mortification to be thus obliged to pass Hunter’s 
Isles and the north coast of Van Diemen’s Land, without correcting 
their positions in longitude from the errors which the want of a time 
keeper in the Norfolk had made unavoidable ; but when I contem- 
plated eighteen of my men below, several of whom were stretched 
in their hammocks almost without hope, and reflected that the lives 
