302 
A VOYAGE TO 
[ East Coast 
1803. mined to remain under the lee of the breakers until she should 
August. < 
Wednes. 17. approach, and to lie near the Porpoise ; that in case of hc?r going to 
pieces before morning, we might save some of the people. In rowing 
back we met the cutter, which the men in her, having got the leak 
partly stopped, had pushed off' without an officer, and were going 
they scarcely knew whither ; they furnished us with a third oar, and 
I desired them to keep close to the gig, near the wreck, until morn- 
ing. We found the bottom here to be coral rock, and the water so 
shallow, that a man might stand up in many places without being 
over head. 
I wished to have got on board the ship, to let them know of 
the boats being safe and what we had discovered of the reef ; but 
the breakers between us, and the darkness of the night cut off all 
hope of communication before morning. They burned blue lights 
every half hour, as a guide to the Bridgewater ; but her light was 
lost to us in the boats at eleven o’clock, and after two in the morn- 
Thursdayis. ing it was no longer seen from the Porpoise. At that time it appeared 
to be low water, and the ship lay so much more quiet than before, 
that the apprehension of her going to pieces before daylight had 
much subsided ; to be prepared, however, for the next flood, Mr. 
Fowler employed his people during the night in making a raft of the 
spare top masts, yards, &c,, with short ropes all round it, by which 
the people might bold on ; and a cask of water, with a chest con- 
taining some provisions, a sextant, and the Investigator’s log books, 
' were secured upon the raft. 
In the small gig we were quite drenched, the south-east wind 
blew fresh and cold, and the reflexions excited by the great change 
. so suddenly made in our situation, with the uncertainty of -what had 
befallen the Cato and even the Bridgewater, did not tend to make 
this long night pass more agreeably. My thoughts were principally 
occupied in devising plans for saving ourselves, under the appre- 
hension that we might see no more of the Bridgewater ; but not to 
discourage the people, I spoke of every body getting on board that 
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