542 
THE VOYAGE OE H.M.S. CHALLENGED. 
for rock (a), and passing eastward of it, the regular track was followed to the Prince of 
Wales Channel. It was intended to search for Edward’s Rock, hut the water was too 
muddy, and the weather too misty, to afford any reasonable hope of finding it. At 
2.45 p.m. several rich hauls of the dredg-e were obtained at the entrance to the Prince of 
Wales Channel (Station 186, 8 fathoms), and then the ship anchored between Wednesday 
and Hammond Islands, where the Expedition was rejoined by the steam pinnace, which 
had sailed from Albany Pass over to Flinders Pass on a dredging excursion. A rock 
specimen obtained at Hammond Island is a quartz porphyry. 
Rock (a) is about 40 feet high ; Horned Hill on Horn Island is a prominent saddle ; 
Strait Rock is bushy, and some 60 to 70 feet high ; Tuesday Islets are about 100 feet 
high, and Wednesday Island 200 feet. The whole of the reefs in the vicinity of the 
anchorage were dry at 3 p.m., and but little tidal stream was felt until 4 p.m., when a 
strong southeast set was experienced, which lasted till 8.15 p.m., after which the tide 
turned to the northwestward. The time of low water appears, therefore, to be nearly 
the same as at Port Albany, but there the northwest stream would begin at 5 p.m., while 
at this anchorage it did not commence until 8.15 p.m. The ship remained swung to the 
northwest tide until 3.45 a.m., when slack water ensued, and at 4 a.m. the southeast 
stream commenced to flow. At Port Albany the northwest stream finished at 1 a.m. 
On the 9th, at 5.45 a.m., the anchor was weighed and the vessel proceeded under sail 
through the Prince of Wales Channel. The mail steamer, from Singapore to Brisbane, 
being met with at the west end of this channel, was communicated with, and through the 
kindness of the captain some newspapers were received from her. At 8 a.m. Ipili Reef 
was passed and a course shaped as necessary towards Booby Island, off which sail was 
shortened, and at 10 a.m. a party of naturalists landed, the ship obtaining some hauls 
of the dredge (Station 187). The dredgings were very successful, amongst other things 
a remarkably large Starfish ( Orecister ), two feet in diameter, being obtained. At 
1.30 p.m. the party returned from Booby Island, and the ship bore up for the passage 
between Proudfoot Shoal and Cook’s Reef, carrying a line of soundings of from 8 to 10 
fathoms until 5.50 p.m., when the patent log showed the vessel had passed Cook’s Reef, 
and 16 fathoms were obtained, after which the course was altered to W. by N. 
The Ipili Reef is marked on the chart as though the rocks were always above high 
water, and the sailing directions also lead one to suppose so by calling them a cluster 
of high rocks, 1 whereas they must certainly all be covered at high water, as when they 
were passed at dead low water, they were but a foot or two uncovered, and looked like the 
elevated part of a reef which dries at low water, or perhaps half-tide. 
On Booby Island there were a few cases of biscuits, but the cases were fast decaying, 
and shipwrecked people should not trust to this island for supplies, but push on at once 
for the settlement at Cape York. 
1 See Australian Directory, vol. ii. p. 240, 2nd Ed. 
