PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
563 
US, but no land was distinguished. About noon the water shoaling CHAP, 
gradually to eleven fathoms, created a doubt whether we were not 
running upon the island ; but on altering the course to the eastward, it ^"ocT^ 
deepened again, and by the observations of the next day it appeared 
that the ship had passed over a shoal lying between St. Lawrence 
Island and the main. It is a curious fact, that this shoal is precisely 
in the situation assigned to a small island which Captain Cook named 
after his surgeon, Mr. Anderson ; and as that island has never been 
seen since, many persons, relying upon the general accuracy of that 
great navigator, might suppose the island to have been sunk by some 
such convulsion as raised the island of Amnuk in the same sea; 
while others might take occasion from this fact to impeach the judg- 
ment of Cook. I am happy to have an opportunity of reconciling 
opinions on this subject, having discovered a note by Captain Uligh, 
who was the master with Captain Cook, written in pencil on the margin 
of the Admiralty copy of Cook’s third voyage, by which it is evident 
that the compilers of the chart have overlooked certain data collected 
olf the eastern end of St, Lawrence Island, on the return of the ex- 
pedition from Norton Sound, and that the land, named Anderson’s 
Island, was the eastern end of the island of St. Lawrence ; and had 
Cook’s life been spared he would no doubt have made the necessary 
correction in his chart. 
Thick weather continued until the 10th, when, after some hard 
showers of snow, it dispersed, and afforded us an opportunity of deter- 
mining the position of the ship by observation, which agreed very nearly 
with the reckoning, and showed there had been no current of con- 
sequence. Two days afterwards we saw the island of St. Paul, and 
endeavoured to close it in order to examine its outline, and compare 
our observations with those of the preceding year ; but the wind 
obliged us to pass at the distance of eight miles to the eastward, and 
we could only accomplish the latter. The next morning we passed to the 
eastward of St. George’s Island, and fixed its position also. This was 
the island we were anxious to see the preceding year, as its situation 
upon our charts w^as very uncertain, and in some of the most approved 
charts it is omitted altogether. 
4 c 2 
