It was in some measure at the request of the surgeon, in order to alleviate Mr. Fitzmaurice's great sufferings by a little rest, that our stay was lengthened to September 7th, when we left in the morning.*
(*Footnote. While steering North by East 1/2 East for Point Record, we discovered a bank of 4 1/2 fathoms, with 7 and 8 on each side. When just off it, to the northward, in 7 fathoms, the west extreme of Point Record bore North 19 1/4 East, and its east extreme North 35 1/4 East, and the north-east end of Spear Point North 59 degrees West.)
SAHUL SHOAL.
By noon we had cleared the heads of Port Essington, and a course was then shaped for the supposed Sahul Shoal, the northern and central parts of which we passed over without finding any remarkable decrease in the soundings.*
(*Footnote. This clearly proved that our knowledge of the extent of the Sahul Bank was very imperfect. It appears that between the latitudes 11 degrees 0 minutes South and 11 degrees 25 minutes South, and the longitudes 125 degrees 20 minutes East and 125 degrees 50 minutes East, there are no less than six patches of coral known, of 12 and 16 fathoms. It is my belief that the whole of this shoal, if it merit the name, lies between the latitudes of 11 degrees 15 minutes South and 11 degrees 35 minutes South, and the longitudes of 123 degrees 35 minutes East and 124 degrees 15 minutes East.)
ARRIVE AT TIMOR.
The winds were singularly light from the eastward, until we approached Timor, the South-West end of which we saw in the morning of the 15th,* when, after passing through Samow Strait,** we anchored in 13 fathoms off Coepang; the flagstaff of Fort Concordia bearing South-South-East a quarter of a mile.
(*Footnote. In passing the north-east end of Rottee a good lookout was kept for a 5-fathom patch, laid down in the Admiralty Chart as lying four miles east of it. Nothing, however, could be discovered of it; and close to the place we had 50 fathoms. In Flinders' Atlas we find 50 fathoms marked on this spot; and it is probable that the mistake has occurred in copying, the 0 being left out, and the space dotted round, to draw attention to the supposed shoal-water.)
(**Footnote. The tides in Samow Strait run from one to two knots an hour, eight hours to the northward, and four in the opposite direction. The time of high-water at Coepang at the full and change is half-past eleven, when the rise is twelve feet. On the north side of Timor, between it and Ombaye, the current sets to the westward at the rate of from two to four knots an hour, in the south-east monsoon; but close to the Timor shore it sets to windward. Ships make the passage to the eastward during its prevalence by keeping close to the north sides of the Lomblen, Pantar, and Ombaye Islands, where they find a favourable current, and winds from the southward drawing through the straits separating the islands. There is no anchorage between Pantar and Ombaye; but on the south side of Timor, at the mouth of the Naminie River, and twenty-five miles further eastward, and also at the east point, inside the small island of Pulo Jackie, there are good anchorages in from 10 to 15 fathoms. The southern coast of Timor is washed by heavy surf in either monsoon.)
Arrangements were immediately made for watering the ship, by having the barecas filled and carried to the boats by persons from the shore, thereby saving our crew from exposure in this, I believe at all times, unhealthy climate. When our stock was completed, with the additional casks procured at Port Essington, we had sufficient for eighty days.