514 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, ninety miles N. W. from Port Lloyd, a place which I shall presently 
notice. 
June, The next evening we reached the situation of the Bonin Islands 
in Arrowsmith’s chart, and the following morning made sail as usual, 
without seeing any land. We were almost on the point of declaring 
them invisible also, when, after having stood to the eastward a few 
hours, we had the satisfaction to descry several islands, extending in 
a north and south direction as far as the eye could discern. They all 
appeared to be small, yet they were high and very remarkable ; par- 
ticularly one near the centre, which I named after Captain Ivater, 
V. P. K. S., &c. 
As the islands to the southward appeared to be the largest, I pro- 
posed to examine them first ; and finding they were fertile, and likely 
to afford good anchorage. Lieutenant Belcher was sent in shore with 
a boat to search for a harbour. In the evening he returned with a 
favourable report, and with a supply of fourteen large green turtle. 
We stood off and on for the night with very thick weather; and at 
daylight, when by our reckoning the ship should have been seven miles 
from the land, we unexpectedly saw the rocks beneath the fog, about a 
fifth of a mile distant, and had but just room to clear them by going 
about. The depth of water at the time was sixty fathoms ; so that had 
it been blowing strong and necessary to anchor, there would have been 
but an indifferent prospect of holding on any length of time. The great 
depth of water, and the strong currents which set between the islands, 
must make the navigation near them hazardous during thick weather. 
On the evening preceding this unexpected event, we found so strong 
a current setting to the south-west, to windward, that though the ship 
was lying to, it was necessary frequently to bear away, to prevent being 
drifted upon the land. 
When the fog cleared away on the 9th, we discovered a distant 
cluster of islands bearing S. 5° E. true: 1 therefore deferred anchoring in 
the bay which Lieutenant Belcher had examined the preceding evening, 
in the hope of being able to examine the newly discovered islands ; but 
finding both current and wind against us, and that the ship could 
scarcely gain ground in that direction — as there was no time to be lost, 
