A General History & Collection of Voyages and Travels ... - Nauticus

leagues. In the afternoon, with a fine gale at east, we steered N.W. by W., along the outside of the shoals,with a view of falling in with the land a little to S.W. of the foreland. At two o'clock p.m. two low isletswere seen bearing W. by S., and as they were connected by breakers, which seemed to join those on ourstarboard, this discovery made it necessary to haul off S.W., in order to get clear of them all. At three,more breakers appeared, extending from the low isles towards the S.E. We now hauled out close to thewind, and, in an hour and a half, were almost on board the breakers, and obliged to tack. From the mastheadthey were seen to extend as far as E.S.E., and the smoothness of the sea made it probable that theyextended to the north of east, and that we were in a manner surrounded by them. At this time the hill on theIsle of Pines bore N. 71 1/2 E., the foreland N. 1/4 W., and the most advanced point of land on the S.W.coast bore N.W., distant fifteen or sixteen leagues. This direction of the S.W. coast, which was ratherwithin the parallel of the N.E., assured us that this land extended no farther to the S.W. After making ashort trip to N.N.E., we stood again to the south, in expectation of having a better view of the shoals beforesun-set. We gained nothing by this but the prospect of a sea strewed with shoals, which we could not clearbut by returning in the track by which we came. We tacked nearly in the same place where we had tackedbefore, and on sounding found a bottom of fine sand. But anchoring in a strong gale, with a chain ofbreakers to leeward, being the last resource, I rather chose to spend the night in making short boards overthat space we had, in some measure, made ourselves acquainted with in the day: And thus it was spent, butunder the terrible apprehension, every moment, of falling on some of the many dangers which surroundedus.Day-light shewed that our fears were not ill-founded, and that we had been in the most imminent danger;having had breakers continually under our lee, and at a very little distance from us. We owed our safety tothe interposition of Providence, a good look-out, and the very brisk manner in which the ship wasmanaged; for, as we were standing to the north, the people on the lee-gangway and forecastle saw breakersunder the lee-bow, which we escaped by quickly tacking the ship.I was now almost tired of a coast which I could no longer explore, but at the risk of losing the ship, andruining the whole voyage. I was, however, determined not to leave it, till I knew what trees those werewhich had been the subject of our speculation; especially as they appeared to be of a sort useful toshipping, and had not been seen any where but in the southern part of this land. With this view, aftermaking a trip to the south, to weather the shoals under our lee, we stood to the north, in hopes of findinganchorage under some of the islets on which these trees grow. We were stopped by eight o'clock by theshoals which lie extended between the Isle of Pines and Queen Charlotte's Foreland; and found soundingsoff them in fifty-five, forty, and thirty-six fathoms, a fine sandy bottom. The nearer we came to theseshoals, the more we saw of them, and we were not able to say if there was any passage between the twolands.Being now but a few miles to windward of the low isles lying off the Foreland, mentioned on the 25th and26th, I bore down to the one next to us. As we drew near it, I perceived that it was unconnected with theneighbouring shoals, and that it is probable we might get to an anchor under its lee or west side. Wetherefore stood on, being conducted by an officer at the mast-head; and after hauling round the point of thereef which surrounds the isle, we attempted to ply to windward, in order to get nearer the shore. Anotherreef to the north confined us to a narrow channel, through which ran a current against us, that rendered thisattempt fruitless; so that we were obliged to anchor in thirty-nine fathoms water, the bottom fine coralsand; the isle bearing W. by N. one mile distant. As soon as this was done, we hoisted out a boat, in whichI went on ashore, accompanied by the botanists. We found the tall trees to be a kind of spruce pine, veryproper for spars, of which we were in want. After making this discovery, I hastened on board in order tohave more time after dinner, when I landed again with two boats, accompanied by several of the officers