Description op the Rocks and Shoals. 117 
In the morning I waited till half ebb before I weighed, be- 
caufe at that time the fhoals begin to appear, but the wind then 
blew lb hard that I was obliged to remain at anchor : in the 
afternoon, however, the gale becoming more moderate, we 
got under fail, and flood out upon a wind N. E. by E. leaving 
the turtle reef to windward, and having the pinnace founding 
ahead : we had not kept this courie long, before we difcovered 
ihoals before us, and upon both the bows ; and at half an hour 
after four, having run about eight miles, the pinnace made 
the flgnal for lhoal water, where we little expedited it : upon 
this we tacked, and flood on and off, while the pinnace 
flretched farther to the eaflward, and night approaching, I 
came to an anchor in twenty fathom water, with a muddy 
bottom. Endeavour river then bore S. 52 W. Cape Bedford 
W. by N. £ N. diftant five leagues, the northermoft land in 
fight, which had the appearance of anilland, N. ; and a fhoal, 
a fmall fandy part of which appeared above water, boreN. E. 
diflant between 2 and 3 miles : in Handing off from turtle reef 
to this place, we had from fourteen to twenty fathom water, 
but when the pinnace was about a mile farther to the E. N. E. 
there' was no more than four or five feet water, with rocky 
ground ; and yet this did not appear to us in the fhip. In the 
morning of the 6th, we had a ftrong gale, fo that inftead of 
weighing, we were obliged lo veer away more cable, and ftrike 
our top-gallant yards. At low water, myfelf, with feveral of 
the officers, kept a look-out at the maft-head, to fee if any 
paffage could be difcovered between .the fhoals, but nothing 
was in view except breakers, extending from the S. round by 
the E. as far as N. W. and out to fea beyond the reach of our 
fight ; thefe breakers, however, did not appear to be caufed 
by one continual fhoal, but by feveral, which lay detached 
from each other : on that which lay fartheft to the eaflward, 
the fea broke very high, which made me think it was the out- 
ermoft, for upon many of thefe within, the breakers were in- 
confiderable, and from about half ebb to half flood, they 
were not to be feen at all, which makes failing among them 
ftill more dangerous, efpecially as the fhoals here conflft prin- 
cipally of coral recks, which are as fteep as a wall ; upon fome 
of them however, and generally at the north end, there are 
patches of fand, which are covered only at high water, and 
which are to be difeerned at fome diflance. Being now con- 
vinced that there was no paffage to fea, but through the laby- 
rinth formed by thefe fhoals, I was altogether at a lofs which 
way to fleer, when the weather fhould permit us to get under 
fail. It was the Mafter’s opinion, that we fhould beat back 
the way we came, but this would have been an endlefs labour, 
as the wind blew ftrongly from that quarter, almoft without 
iatermiflion ; on the other hand, if no paflage could be found 
to 
