The passage or channel, through which we passed into the open sea beyond the reef, lies in latitude 14° 32' S. and may always be known by the three high islands within it, which I have called the Islands of Direction, because by these a stranger may find a safe passage through the reef quite to the main. The channel lies from Lizard Island N.E. 1/2 N. distant three leagues, and is about one-third of a mile broad, and not more in length. Lizard Island, which is, as I have before observed, the largest and the northermost of the three, affords safe anchorage under the north-west side, fresh water, and wood for fuel. The low islands and shoals also which lie between it and the main abound with turtle and fish, which may probably be caught in all seasons of the year, except when the weather is very tempestuous; so that, all things considered, there is not perhaps a better place for ships to refresh at upon the whole coast than this island. And before I dismiss it, I must observe, that we found upon it, as well as upon the beach in and about Endeavour River, bamboos, cocoa-nuts, pumice-stone, and the seeds of plants which are not the produce of this country, and which it is reasonable to suppose are brought from the eastward by the trade-winds. The islands which were discovered by Quiros, and called Australia del Espiritu Santa, lie in this parallel, but how far to the eastward cannot now be ascertained: In most charts they are placed in the same longitude with this country, which, as appears by the account of his voyage that has been published, he never saw; for that places his discoveries no less than two-and-twenty degrees to the eastward of it.[85]
[Footnote 85: The islands form part of what is now called New Hebrides. We shall have occasion to speak of them when we treat of a subsequent voyage, it is needless to say a word about them at present.--E.]
As soon as we were without the reef, we brought-to, and having hoisted in the boats, we stood off and on upon a wind all night; for I was not willing to run to leeward till I had a whole day before me. In the morning, at daybreak, Lizard Island bore S. 15 E. distant ten leagues, and we then made sail and stood away N.N.W. 1/2 W. till nine o'clock, when we stood N.W. 1/2 N. having the advantage of a fresh gale at S.E. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was I3° 46' S. and at this time we had no land in sight. At six in the evening we shortened sail and brought the ship to, with her head to the N.E.; and at six in the morning made sail and steered west, in order to get within sight of the land, that I might be sure not to overshoot the passage, if a passage there was, between this land and New Guinea. At noon, our latitude, by observation, was 13° 2' S., longitude 216° W.; which was 1° 23' W. of Lizard Island: At this time we had no land in sight; but a little before one o'clock, we saw high land from the masthead, bearing W.S.W. At two, we saw more land to the N.W. of that we had seen before: It appeared in hills, like islands; but we judged it to be a continuation of the main land. About three, we discovered breakers between the land and the ship, extending to the southward farther than we could see; but to the north we thought we saw them terminate abreast of us. What we took for the end of them in this direction, however, soon appeared to be only an opening in the reef; for we presently saw them again, extending northward beyond the reach of our sight. Upon this we hauled close upon a wind, which was now at E.S.E. and we had scarcely trimmed our sails before it came to E. by N. which was right upon the reef, and consequently made our clearing it doubtful. At sun-set the northermost part of it that was in sight bore from us N. by E. and was two or three leagues distant; this however being the best tack to clear it, we kept standing to the northward with all the sail we could set till midnight; when, being afraid of standing too far in this direction, we tacked and stood to the southward, our run from sun-set to this time being six leagues N. and N. by E. When we had stood about two miles S.S.E. it fell calm. We had sounded several times during the night, but had no bottom with one hundred and forty fathom, neither had we any ground now with the same length of line; yet, about four in the morning, we plainly heard the roaring of the surf, and at break of day saw it foaming to a vast height, at not more than a mile's distance. Our distress now returned upon us with double force; the waves, which rolled in upon the reef, carried us towards it very fast; we could reach no ground with an anchor, and had not a breath of wind for the sail. In this dreadful situation, no resource was left us but the boats; and to aggravate our misfortune the pinnace was under repair: The long-boat and yawl, however, were put into the water, and sent a-head to tow, which, by the help of our sweeps abaft, got the ship's head round to the northward; which, if it could not prevent our destruction, might at least delay it. But it was six o'clock before this was effected, and we were not then a hundred yards from the rock upon which the same billow which washed the side of the ship, broke to a tremendous height the very next time it rose; so that between us and destruction there was only a dreary valley, no wider than the base of one wave, and even now the sea under us was unfathomable, at least no bottom was to be found with a hundred and twenty fathom. During this scene of distress the carpenter had found means to patch up the pinnace, so that she was hoisted out, and sent a-head, in aid of the other boats, to tow; but all our efforts would have been ineffectual, if, just at this crisis of our fate, a light air of wind had not sprung up, so light, that at any other time we should not have observed it, but which was enough to turn the scale in our favour, and, in conjunction with the assistance which was afforded us by the boats, to give the ship a perceptible motion obliquely from the reef. Our hopes now revived; but in less than ten minutes it was again a dead calm, and the ship was again driven towards the breakers, which were not now two hundred yards distant. The same light breeze, however, returned before we had lost all the ground it had enabled us to gain, and lasted about ten minutes more. During this time we discovered a small opening in the reef, at about the distance of a quarter of a mile: I immediately sent one of the mates to examine it, who reported that its breadth was not more than the length of the ship, but that within it there was smooth water: This discovery seemed to render our escape possible, and that was all, by pushing the ship through the opening, which was immediately attempted. It was uncertain indeed whether we could reach it; but if we should succeed thus far, we made no doubt of being able to get through: In this however we were disappointed, for having reached it by the joint assistance of our boats and the breeze, we found that in the mean time it had become high water, and to our great surprise we met the tide of ebb rushing out of it like a mill-stream. We gained, however, some advantage, though in a manner directly contrary to our expectations: We found it impossible to go through the opening, but the stream that prevented us, carried us out about a quarter of a mile: It was too narrow for us to keep in it longer; yet this tide of ebb so much assisted the boats, that by noon we had got an offing of near two miles. We had, however, reason to despair of deliverance, even if the breeze, which had now died away, should revive, for we were still embayed in the reef; and the tide of ebb being spent, the tide of flood, notwithstanding our utmost efforts, again drove the ship into the bight. About this time, however, we saw another opening, near a mile to the westward, which I immediately sent the first lieutenant, Mr Hicks, in the small boat to examine: In the mean time we struggled hard with the flood, sometimes gaining a little, and sometimes losing; but every man still did his duty, with as much calmness and regularity as if no danger had been near. About two o'clock, Mr Hicks returned with an account that the opening was narrow and dangerous, but that it might be passed: The possibility of passing it was sufficient encouragement to make the attempt, for all danger was less imminent than that of our present situation. A light breeze now sprung up at E.N.E. with which, by the help of our boats, and the very tide of flood that without an opening would have been our destruction, we entered it, and were hurried through with amazing rapidity, by a torrent that kept us from driving against either side of the channel, which was not more than a quarter of a mile in breadth. While we were shooting this gulph, our soundings were from thirty to seven fathom, very irregular, and the ground at bottom very foul.
As soon as we had got within the reef, we anchored in nineteen fathom, over a bottom of coral and shells. And now, such is the vicissitude of life, we thought ourselves happy in having regained a situation, which but two days before it was the utmost object of our hope to quit. Rocks and shoals are always dangerous to the mariner, even where their situation has been ascertained; they are more dangerous in seas which have never before been navigated, and in this part of the globe they are more dangerous than in any other; for here there are reefs of coral rock, rising like a wall almost perpendicularly out of the unfathomable deep, always overflowed at high-water, and at low-water dry in many places; and here the enormous waves of the vast Southern Ocean, meeting with so abrupt a resistance, break with inconceivable violence, in a surf which no rocks or storms in the northern hemisphere can produce. The danger of navigating unknown parts of this ocean was now greatly increased by our having a crazy ship, and being short of provisions and every other necessary; yet the distinction of a first discoverer made us cheerfully encounter every danger, and submit to every inconvenience; and we chose rather to incur the censure of imprudence and temerity, which the idle and voluptuous so liberally bestow upon unsuccessful fortitude and perseverance, than leave a country which we had discovered unexplored, and give colour to a charge of timidity and irresolution.
Having now congratulated ourselves upon getting within the reef, notwithstanding we had so lately congratulated ourselves upon getting without it, I resolved to keep the main-land on board in my future route to the northward, whatever the consequence might be; for if we had now gone without the reef again, it might have carried us so far from the coast as to prevent my being able to determine, whether this country did, or did not, join to New Guinea; a question which I was determined to resolve from my first coming within sight of land. However, as I had experienced the disadvantage of having a boat under repair, at a time when it was possible I might want to use her, I determined to remain fast at anchor, till the pinnace was perfectly refitted. As I had no employment for the other boats, I sent them out in the morning to the reef, to see what refreshments could be procured, and Mr Banks, in his little boat, accompanied by Dr Solander, went with them. In this situation I found the variation by amplitude and azimuth to be 4° 9' E.; and at noon, our latitude by observation was 12° 38' S., and our longitude 216° 45' W. The main land extended from N. 66 W. to S.W. by S., and the nearest part of it was distant about nine leagues. The opening through which we had passed I called Providential Channel; and this bore E.N.E. distant ten or twelve miles: On the main land within us was a lofty promontory which I called Cape Weymouth; on the north side of which is a bay, which I called Weymouth Bay: They lie in latitude 12° 42' S., longitude 217° 15' W. At four o'clock in the afternoon the boats returned with two hundred and forty pounds of the meat of shell-fish, chiefly of cockles, some of which were as much as two men could move, and contained twenty pounds of good meat. Mr Banks also brought back many curious shells, and Mollusca; besides many species of coral, among which was that called the Tubipora musica.
At six o'clock in the morning, we got under sail and stood away to the N.W., having two boats ahead to direct us; our soundings were very irregular, varying five or six fathom every cast, between ten and twenty-seven. A little before noon, we passed a low sandy island, which we left on our starboard-side, at the distance of two miles. At noon, our latitude was 12° 28', and our distance from the main about four leagues: It extended from S. by W. to N. 71 W., and some small islands from N. 40 W. to 54 W. Between us and the main were several shoals, and some without us, besides the main or outermost reef, which we could see from the mast-head, stretching away to the N.E. At two in the afternoon, as we were steering N.W. by N. we saw a large shoal right ahead, extending three or four points upon each bow; upon this we hauled up N.N.E. and N.E. by N. to get round the north point of it, which we reached by four, and then edged away to the westward, and ran between the north end of this shoal and another, which lies two miles to the northward of it, having a boat all the way ahead sounding; our depth of water was still very irregular, from twenty-two to eight fathom. At half an hour after six, we anchored in thirteen fathom: The northermost of the small islands seen at noon bore W. 1/2 S., distant three miles: These islands, which I distinguished by the name of Forbes's Islands, lie about five leagues from the main, which here forms a high point that we called Bolt Head, from which the land trends more westerly, and is in that direction all low and sandy; to the southward it is high and hilly even near the sea.
At six in the morning we got again under sail, and steered for an island which lay at a small distance from the main, and at this time bore from us N. 40 W., distant about five leagues: Our course was soon interrupted by shoals; however, by the help of the boats, and a good look-out from the top of the mast, we got into a fair channel that led us down to the island, between a very large shoal on our starboard side and several small ones towards the main: In this channel we had from twenty to thirty fathom water. Between eleven and twelve o'clock we hauled round the north-east side of the island, leaving it between us and the main, from which it is distant about seven or eight miles. This island is about a league in circuit, and we saw upon it five of the natives, two of whom had lances in their hands; they came down upon a point, and having looked a little while at the ship, retired. To the N.W. of it are several low islands and quays, which lie not far from the main; and to the northward and eastward are several other islands and shoals; so that we were now encompassed on every side: But having lately been exposed to much greater danger, and rocks and shoals being grown familiar, we looked at them comparatively with little concern. The main land appeared to be low and barren, interspersed with large patches of the very fine white sand, which we had found upon Lizard Island and different parts of the main. The boats had seen many turtle upon the shoals which they passed, but it blew too hard for them to take any. At noon, our latitude by observation was 12°, and our longitude 217° 25': Our depth of water was fourteen fathom; and our course and distance, reduced to a straight line, was, between this time and the preceding noon, N. 29 W. thirty-two miles.
The main land within the islands that have been just mentioned forms a point, which I called Cape Grenville: It lies in latitude 11° 58', longitude 217° 38'; and between it and Bolt Head is a bay, which I called Temple Bay. At the distance of nine leagues from Cape Grenville, in the direction of E. 1/2 N. lie some high islands, which I called Sir Charles Hardy's Isles; and those which lie off the Cape I called Cockburn's Isles. Having lain by for the boats, which had got out of their station, till about one o'clock, we then took the yawl in tow; and the pinnace having got ahead, we filled, and stood N. by W. for some small islands which lay in that direction; such at least they were in appearance, but upon approaching them we perceived that they were joined together by a large reef: Upon this we edged away N.W. and left them on our starboard hand; we steered between them and the islands that lay off the main, having a clear passage, and from fifteen to twenty-three fathom water. At four o'clock, we discovered some low islands and rocks, bearing W.N.W., and stood directly for them: At half an hour after six, we anchored on the north-east side of the northermost of them, at one mile distance, and in sixteen fathom. These islands lie N.W. four leagues from Cape Grenville, and from the number of birds that I saw upon them, I called them Bird Isles. A little before sun-set, we were in sight of the main-land, which appeared all very low and sandy, extending as far to the northward as N.W. by N., some shoals, quays, and low sandy isles stretching away to the N.E.
At six o'clock in the morning, we got again under sail, with a fresh breeze at E., and stood away N.N.W. for some low islands in that direction, but were soon obliged to haul close upon a wind to weather a shoal which we discovered upon our larboard bow, having at the same time others to the eastward: By the time we had weathered this shoal to leeward, we had brought the islands well upon our lee-bow, but seeing some shoals run off from them, and some rocks on our starboard-bow, which we did not discover till we were very near them, I was afraid to go to windward of the islands, and therefore brought-to, and having made the signal for the pinnace, which was ahead, to come on board, I sent her to leeward of the islands, with orders to keep along the edge of the shoal, which ran off from the south side of the southermost island, sending the yawl at the same time, to run over the shoal in search of turtle. As soon as the pinnace had got to a proper distance, we wore, and stood after her: As we ran to leeward of this land, we took the yawl in tow, she having seen only one small turtle, and therefore made but little stay upon the shoal. The island we found to be a small spot of sand with some trees upon it, and we could discern many huts, or habitations of the natives whom we supposed occasionally to visit these islands from the main, they being only five leagues distant, to catch turtle, when they come ashore to lay their eggs. We continued to stand after the pinnace N.N.E. and N. by E. for two other low islands, having two shoals without us, and one between us and the main. At noon, we were about four leagues from the main, which we saw extending to the northward, as far as N.W. by N. all flat and sandy. Our latitude, by observation, was 11° 23' S. and our longitude 217° 46' W. our soundings were from fourteen to twenty-three fathom. By one o'clock, we had run nearly the length of the southermost of the two islands in sight, and finding that the going to windward of them would carry us too far from the main, we bore up and ran to leeward, where finding a fair open passage, we steered N. by W. in a direction parallel to the main, leaving a small island which lay between it and the ship, and some low sandy isles and shoals without us, of all which we lost sight by four o'clock, and saw no more before the sun went down: At this time the farthest part of the land in sight bore N.N.W. 1/2 W., and soon after we anchored in thirteen fathom, upon soft ground, at the distance of about five leagues from the land, where we lay till day-light.
Early in the morning, we made sail again, and steered N.N.W. by compass, for the northermost land in sight; and at this time, we observed the variation of the needle to be 3° 6' E. At eight o'clock, we discovered shoals ahead, on our larboard bow, and saw that the northermost land, which we had taken for the main, was detached from it, and that we might pass between them, by running to leeward of the shoals on our larboard-bow, which were now near us: We therefore wore and brought-to, sending away the pinnace and yawl to direct us, and then steered N.W. along the S.W. or inside of the shoals, keeping a good look-out from the mast-head, and having another shoal on our larboard-side: We found however a good channel of a mile broad between them, in which we had from ten to fourteen fathom. At eleven o'clock, we were nearly the length of the land detached from the main, and there appeared to be no obstruction in the passage between them, yet having the long-boat astern, and rigged, we sent her away to keep in shore upon our larboard bow, and at the same time dispatched the pinnace a starboard; precautions which I thought necessary, as we had a strong flood that carried us an end very fast, and it was near high water: As soon as the boats were ahead, we stood after them, and by noon got through the passage. Our latitude, by observation, was then 10° 36', and the nearest part of the main, which we soon after found to be the northermost, bore W. 2 S., distant between three or four miles: We found the land which was detached from the main, to be a single island, extending from N. to N. 75 E., distant between two and three miles; at the same time we saw other islands at a considerable distance, extending from N. by W. to W.N.W., and behind them another chain of high land, which we judged also to be islands; there were still other islands, extending as far as N. 71 W., which at this time we took for the main.