five 
r '-'\' r {£j 
leagues 
vrrocKT3f'“aiiLr X' rencrf Frigates orxoal -2-j 
bo taken 
distance. 
-t 
iMevortneless I had ordered all the studding sails to 
-Ui, and. tits rate ol‘ the two frigates to be reduced to three or four 
knots an hour. The wind was from the oast, and our course to the west. Since 
our departure from konterey wo had never experienced a finer night, or a more 
pleasant sea; but this tranquillity of the water was among the circumstances 
which had nearly proved fatal to us. Towards half past one in the morning we 
saw breakers at the distance of two cables length a- he ad of my ship. From the 
smoothness of the sea they nu de sc; rcely any noise, and some foam only, at 
distant intervals, was perceptible. The Astrolabe was a little farther off, but 
she q?sw them at the same instant with myself, both vessels immediately hauled 
on the larboard, and stood with their head south-south-east; and as they made 
way during the manieyfver, our nearest distance from the breakers could not, 1 
conceive, be more than a cable’s length. I sounded, and we had nine fathoms, 
rocky bottom; soon afterwards ten and twelve fathoms, and in a quarter of an 
hour no ground, with sixty fathoms. Vie had thus escaped tne most imminent danger 
to which navigators could be exposed; and it was but justice to my people to 
observe, that there never appeared less disorder and confusion in such circum¬ 
stances The least negligence in the execution of the requisite manoeuvers to 
carry us from the breakers would infallibly have produced our destruction. For 
nearly an hour, we preceived the continuation of the breakers; but they trended 
to the westward, and in three hours we had lost sight of them. I continued, 
however, standing -to the south-south-east till day-break. The weather was still 
fine and clear, and no breaker^ wtssa visible, though we had me.de only five 
leagues from the time of changing our coarse. I am persuaded, if we hud not 
afterwards examined this sunker rock with particular attention, considerable 
doubts would have remained respecting its existence. But it was not sufficient 
to possess certainty upon the subject, and to have escaped from danger ourselves; 
I was also desirour that future navigators should not be exposed to it; and 
accordingly, at day-break, I gave orders to put about ship, and stand back again. 
At eight in the morning it was again in sight, bearing north-north-west. I made 
sail to come up with it, and we soon perceived a small island, or cleft rock, 
fifty toises at most in diameter, and about twenty or five and twenty in height. 
It was situated at the northwest extremity of this reef, of which the southeast . 
point, where we had so nearly been lost, extended to that, point of the compass 
for more than four leagues. Between the island add the breakers to the southeast, 
we saw three sand-banks, rising not more than four feet above the sea. They were 
separated from eachother by a greenish water, which did not appear to be a 
fathom in depth. Some rocks at the surface, upon which the sea Droke with 
violence, surrounded this shoal, as a circle of diamonds surrounds a medallion, 
and defended it from the fury of the sea. We sailed along the east, the south, 
and the western parts of it, at less than a league distance, ho uncertainty 
remained but with regard to the northern part, of which we could only obtain a 
bird* s eye view from the mast-head. It is possible, therefore, that it may be 
much more extensive than we have supposed: but its length from southeast to 
northwest, or from the extremity of the breakers, near which we were in such 
imminent danger, to the islet, is four leagues. The geographical position of 
this islet, estimated from the only visible part, was fixed by Mr. Bagelet in 
23° 45’ of north latitude, and 168° 10 of west longitude, and it was distant 
twenty-three leagues west-north-west from Keeker island* It must not be forgotten 
that the eastern point is four leagues nearer® I named it Basse des Pregates 
Franeaises , shoal of the French Frigates, because it had nearly proved the final 
termination of our voyage® 
Having determined the geographical position of this shoal with all th^ 
accuracy in our power, I drre cted my course west-south-west* I had remarked, 
that all the clouds appeared to collect thensleves m this direction/ and I 
flattered myself that I was on the point of making some land of great importance* 
A heavy swell, which came from the west-north-west, lead me to presume that there 
was no island to the northward, and I had some difficulty in persuading myself 
that Keeker island and the shoal of the French frigates did not precede an 
archipelago, perhaps inhabited, or at least habitable; but my conjectures were 
not realised; the birds soon disappeared, and we lost every hope of any immediate 
discovery* • 
