92 PITCAIEN'S ISLAND. 
down one side of it. I would have landed 
upon it, but the surf, which at this season 
broke upon it with great violence, rendered 
it impossible. I got soundings on the west 
side of it, at somewhat less than a mile from 
the shore, in twenty-five fathoms, with a 
bottom of coral and sand ; and it is probable 
that in fine summer weather landing here 
may not only be practicable, but easy. We 
saw a great number of sea-birds hovering 
about it, at somewhat less than a mile from 
the shore ; and the sea here seemed to have 
fish. It lies in lat. 20 2' south: long. 
133 21' west. It is so high, that we saw 
it at the distance of more than fifteen leagues ; 
and it having been discovered by a young 
gentleman, son to Major Pitcairn, of the 
marines, we called it PITCAIRN'S ISLAND. 
This young man was unfortunately lost in 
the Aurora.* 
" While we were in the neighbourhood of 
this island, the weather was extremely tem- 
pestuous, with long rolling billows from the 
southward, larger and higher than any I had 
* His father, Major Pitcairn, was killed at the battle 
of Bunker's Hill, in America, in 1775. 
