TERRA AUSTRALIS. 
305 
Wreck Reef.~\ 
assiduously employed in getting upon it provisions and their clothes; 1803 - 
they were brought from thence by the boats, for the depth was Thursdayis. 
several feet at a distance round the bank. Before dark, five half 
hogsheads of water, some flour, salt meat, rice, and spirits were 
landed, with such of the pigs and sheep as had escaped drown- 
ing; and every man from both ships had got on shore. Some of the 
Cato’s sailors appeared in officers uniforms, given to them in the 
Porpoise ; and I was pleased to see that our situation was not thought 
so bad by the people, as to hinder all pleasantry upon these promo- 
tions. Those who had saved great coats or blankets shared with 
the less fortunate, and we laid down to sleep on the sand in tolerable 
tranquillity, being much oppressed with fatigue ; and except from 
those of the Cato’s men who had been bruised or cut by the rocks, 
there was not a complaining voice heard on the bank. 
The Porpoise's two cutters and the gig were hauled up to 
high-water mark ; but the latter not having been well secured, and 
the night tide rising higher than was expected, it was carried away, 
to our great loss. In the morning, we had the satisfaction to see Friday 19. 
the ship still entire, and thrown higher up the reef ; the Cato had 
gone to pieces, and all that remained was one of the quarters, which 
had floated over the front ledge of the reef, and lodged near our 
bank. Of the Bridgewater nothing could be seen ; and many fears 
were entertained for her safety. 
For the better preservation of discipline, and of that union 
between the crews of the Porpoise and Cato and passengers of the 
Investigator, so necessary in our circumstances, it was highly expe- 
dient that they should be put on the same footing and united under 
one head. The Porpoise was lost beyond a possibility of hope, and 
the situation of the commander and crew thereby rendered similar 
to that of their passengers; I therefore considered myself authorised 
and called upon, as the senior officer, to take the command of the 
whole; and my intention being communicated to lieutenant Fowler, 
he assented without hesitation to its expediency and propriety, and 
R r 
VOX,, II. 
