Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/378

 

CHAPTER VII.

 

Departure from Port Lincoln. Sir Joseph Banks' Group. Examination of the coast, northward. The ship found to be in a gulph. Anchorage near the head of the gulph. Boat expedition. Excursion to Mount Brown. Nautical observations. Departure from the head, and examination of the east side of the gulph. Extensive shoal. Point Pearce. Hardwicke Bay. Verification of the time keepers. General remarks on the gulph. Cape Spencer, and the Althorpe Isles. New land discovered: Anchorage there. General remarks on Kanguroo Island. Nautical observations.

 

1802.
March.
Saturday 6.At ten in the morning of March 6, we sailed out of Port Lincoln, and skirted along the east side of Boston Island and the entrance of Louth Bay, In the afternoon we passed within two miles of Point Bolingbroke; and at six in the evening came to an anchor in 10 fathoms, off the north side of Kirkby Island, which is the nearest to the point of any of Sir Joseph Banks' Group, and had been seen from Stamford Hill. A boat was lowered down to sound about the ship, and I went on shore to take bearings of the different islands; but they proved to be so numerous, that the whole could not be completed before dark.

Sunday 7.I landed again in the morning with the botanical gentlemen, taking Arnold's watch and the necessary instruments for ascertaining the latitude and longitude. Twelve other isles of the group were counted, and three rocks above water; and it is possible that some others may exist to the eastward, beyond the boundary of my horizon, for it was not extensive. The largest island seen is four or five miles long, and is low and sandy, except at the north-east and south ends; it was called Reevesby Island, and names were applied in the chart to