commanders.
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to avoid the tremendous breakers on either side; the Straits were not half a mile in breadth; a perfect silence prevailed on board; every individual seemed absorbed in the contemplation of the imminent danger which surrounded them; and the rapid execution of every successive order, shewed the superiority of British seamen over every other in the hour of danger. I had sent men aloft to report if any opening could be observed between the land to leeward; when at once on the dispersion of a dark and heavy squall, which kept back the day, several voices exclaimed, “We are in the Straits, Sir,” and the opening appeared every moment more manifest. We had stood the cast of life or death, and the throw was successful. I now steered confidently into the Straits, and we were soon in that part of them formed by the northernmost of the two islands I have spoken of, and Timor. Here we were perfectly sheltered from the fury of the monsoon, but our difficulties were not all over. Our chart, owing to the illiberal conduct of the Dutch government, whose invariable practice was to preclude strangers from all knowledge whatever of their seas, contained no details, and I knew not in what part to look for an anchorage. Our sounding-lead could never reach the bottom with forty fathoms, and the day was employed in a vain search. I was in hopes, by the intervention of some canoe, to have opened a communication with the shore, and to have gained this so necessary information; but neither men nor habitation presented themselves in this quarter. I continued in the Straits all night, and in the morning sailed out to explore the northern coast of Timor. The weather had somewhat moderated when I quitted the shelter of the Straits. The land of Timor formed, I found, a deep bay to the northward, at the bottom of which, I suspected the settlement I was in search of existed. I stood in for a considerable time, but no signs of habitation appearing, I began almost to despair of finding the object of my search here; when, as I looked through my glass for the last time, I imagined I perceived a real habitation peeping from among the trees. I now stood in farther, and rounding a precipitous point, my doubts were changed to certitude. The picturesque town of Coupang presented itself, protected by the battery of Vittoria, which stood high on a cliff to the westward. Our colours were now hoisted, a signal gun was tired, and I expected to see the British flag hoisted on the fort; but you may judge of my embarrassment when I observed the Dutch flag wave. What measure was to be taken? I immediately despatched an officer with a flag of truce a shore, bearing a letter to the governor, in which I informed him of the reduction of the Dutch settlements in Java by the English, and demanded the surrender of the colony, and his immediate attendance on board. The officer returned with the answer of the governor, that he could not comprehend the affair; that he had had no communication with Java for nearly two years, and begged me to come on shore to explain. I did not hesitate, with the white flag in my hand; I was received on the beach with military honours, the battery was manned, and the troops and militia drawn up.
