PITCAIEN'S ISLAND. 95 
Captain Philip Carteret, in his description of 
a Voyage round the World, wrote as follows, 
July 1767: 
" We continued our course westward till the 
evening of Thursday, the 2d of July, when we 
discovered land to the northward of us. Upon 
approaching it the next day, it appeared like a 
great rock rising out of the sea. It was not more 
than five miles in circumference, and seemed to 
be uninhabited. It was, however, covered with 
trees ; and we saw a small stream of fresh water 
running 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 w 
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 tempestuous, with long 
* The latitude and longitude are here wrongly stated. 
h His father, Major Pitcairn, was killed at the battle of 
Bunker's Hill, in America, in 1775. 
