Besides Rodondo, which lies about six miles to the south-by-east of the promontory, I distinguished five or six less conspicuous isles, lying along the south and west sides of this remarkable headland; these are called Glennie's Isles. To the N. 88° E. from Rodondo, and distant about two leagues, was a small island which appears to have been one of Moncur's Isles; and in steering south-eastward we got sight of the Devil's Tower, and of the high island and rocks named Sir Roger Curtis' Isles. These names were given by captain Grant in 1800; but he was not the discoverer of the places to which they are applied. They are all laid down upon my chart of 1799, on the authority of Mr. Bass; and when it is considered that this enterprising man saw them from an open boat, in very bad weather, their relative positions to Wilson's Promontory will be thought surprisingly near the truth. Unfortunately the situation of the promontory itself, owing to some injury done to his quadrant, is considerably in error, being twelve or fourteen miles wrong in latitude. A reef is mentioned by captain Grant as lying to the southward between Rodondo and Moncur's Isles; and a rock, level with the water, was seen in the same situation by the ships Gato and Castle of Good Hope, from which last it received the appropriate name of Crocodile Rock. This also was seen by Mr. Bass, and laid down in its relative situation; but in the Investigator I was not sufficiently near to get sight of this important danger.
We continued to steer south-eastward, round all these islands, having a fresh gale at west-south-west with squally weather; and at noon our situation was in
Latitude observed, 39° 35'
Longitude by time keepers, 146 30
Rodondo bore N. 15 W.
Sir R. Curtis' Island, the peak, dist. 7 miles, N. 46 E.
(The Devil's Tower being nearly on with the north side.)
Two pointed rocks, N. 57° and 62 E.
Wilson's Promontory was no longer visible; but from the best bearings I had been able to obtain in such blowing weather, its south-eastern extremity lies in latitude 39° 11½' south, and longitude 146° 24' east.
Not seeing any more islands to the southward from the masthead, we bore away east soon after noon to make Kent's Groups; and before three o'clock they both came in sight, as did an island to the northward, which seems to have been one of the small cluster discovered by Mr. John Black, and named Hogan's Group. The longitude by time keepers at this time was 146° 58' east, and the following bearings were taken:
Sir R. Curtis' Island, the peak, N. 71° W.
Hogan's highest Island, from the mast head, N. 5 E.
Kent's large Group, south end of the eastern I. N. 70 E.
Small Group, dist. 6 or 7 miles, hiding the
north-west end of the large group, N. 52° to 45 E.
In steering past the south sides of the two groups at the distance of four to six miles, I was enabled to correct their positions; and also that of the pyramid, which was set at S. 4½° E. ten miles at four o'clock. When these lands had been laid down in the Francis and Norfolk in 1798, it was without the assistance of a time keeper, and therefore liable to considerable errors in longitude.
At five in the evening I thought myself fortunate to get a sight of Furneaux's great island through the haze; and also of a small, craggy isle which had been before fixed relatively to the inner Sister. To obtain the positions of these places by our timekeepers was to me an important object; since they were connected with the former survey of Furneaux's Islands and the north-eastern part of Van Diemen's Land. The bearings taken at five were,
Furneaux's great I., hills on the west part, S. 48° E.
Small craggy isle, S. 69 E.
Kent's large Group, extremes, N. 7° to 47 W.
Small Group, the largest isle, N. 77 W.
A small rock, not seen before, N. 88 E.
The hills upon Furneaux's great island, which I believe, but could not certainly ascertain to have been upon the westernmost point, will therefore lie very nearly S. 48° E., from the bluff south-west end of Kent's large Group, instead of S. 38° E., as before marked. This places the great island 10' of longitude further east from the group, than was given by my run in the Francis during the night of Feb. 8, 1798.