We sounded every two hours, and hove to three times a day, to get a greater depth; and in this way ran S. W. until the 16th [SATURDAY 16 APRIL 1803] at noon, to latitude 16° 15' and longitude 116° 45', without finding bottom with from 100 to 240 fathoms of line. Our course was then W. by S., sounding in the same manner, until the 21st [THURSDAY 21 APRIL 1803] in the morning, to latitude 17° 45' and longitude 107° 58', but equally without success as to the bank; and I then hauled to the wind at S. E,. in order to make the rocks themselves.
The Trial Rocks obtained their name from the English ship Trial, which was lost upon them in 1622; but their exact situation seemed not to be well known. Mr. Dalrymple had published a sketch of them upon the authority of a Dutch sloop, apparently sent from Batavia expressly for their examination; and in this they are described to lie in 19° 30' south, eighty leagues from the coast of New Holland; but Arrowsmith in his large chart of the South Sea, laid the Trial Rocks down in 20° 40' south, and 104° 30' east, or near double the distance from the coast. The soundings of two East-Indiamen near the rocks, given in the South-Sea chart, stamped this last position with an authority which decided my opinion in its favour, and I accordingly steered for it.
Dull weather, with frequent heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, had prevailed from the time of leaving Coepang, and it produced the same effect upon the health of the ship's company as similar weather had before done in the Gulph of Carpentaria; for we had at this time ten men in the sick list with diarrhoea, and many others were slightly affected. It seemed possible that the change of food, from salt provisions to the fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables of Timor--a change by which I hoped to banish every appearance of scurvy, might have had an influence in producing the disease; and if so, it was avoiding Scylla to fall upon Charybdis, and was truly unfortunate.
SATURDAY 23 APRIL 1803
At noon of the 23rd, we had reached the latitude 20° 50', and were in longitude 105° 13' east, without having had soundings at 100 fathoms; I then steered a west course, lying to from eight in the evening till daylight; and at the following noon [SUNDAY 24 APRIL 1803] we observed in 20° 49' south, and the longitude was 103° 49' east. This was more than half a degree to the west of Mr. Arrowsmith's position, and we neither had soundings at 140 fathoms, nor any thing in sight to betoken the vicinity of land; I therefore ran N. W. to get somewhat to the north of the latitude 20° 40', and at dusk hauled up to the wind, as near to east as the ship could lie, to make further search in that direction.
On the 25th, some tropic birds were seen; and the next day [TUESDAY 26 APRIL 1803], when our latitude was 20° 36' and longitude 104° 55', there were several birds of the petrel kind about the ship; very vague signs of land, it is true, but still they gave us hopes; and once we were flattered with the appearance of breakers, and bore away for them, but it was a deception. We continued to stretch eastward all the next day [WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL 1803]; but the wind having veered from south to S. E., a good deal of northing was made with it; and having reached the latitude 19° 53' and longitude 106° 41', without finding bottom, or any more signs of land, I tacked to the S. S. W. and gave up the search.
It should appear from our examination, that the Trial Rocks do not lie in the space comprehended between the latitudes 20° 15' and 21° south, and the longitudes 103° 25' and 106° 30' east. That they exist, does not seem to admit of a doubt, and probably they will be found near the situation assigned to them by the Dutch sloop; but no bank can extend in a line from thence at all near to Timor. The variations of the compass observed during our search for the Trial Rocks, were 3° west with the head N. W., 5° 11' at E. by S., and 5° 38' at E. S.E.; and the mean, corrected to the meridian, will be 3° 43' west, in 20° 33' south and 104° 20' east longitude.
From the 27th of April we steered eight days to the S. S. W., mostly with south-eastern winds; they were sometimes light, but occasionally fresh, and at these times the ship made five inches of water in the hour. The diarrhoea on board was gaining ground, notwithstanding all the attention paid to keeping the ship dry and well aired, and the people clean and as comfortable as possible. Some of the officers began to feel its attack; and in order to relieve them and the people, now that we had no expectation of meeting danger, I directed the ship's company to be divided into three watches, and put the officers to four; giving Mr. Denis Lacy, master's mate, the charge of acting lieutenant in the fourth watch.
THURSDAY 5 MAY 1803
On May 5, in latitude 26° 24' and longitude 103° 21', the south-east wind died away, and a breeze sprung up from the opposite quarter, which veered afterwards to the S. W., blowing fresh with squally, moist weather. Our course was then directed for Cape Leeuwin, with the wind usually a-beam; the sea being too high for the ship to make good way any nearer. In this passage we were accompanied by several petrels, and amongst them by the albatross, the first of which had been seen in the latitude 23°