the flood-stream has quite spent itself at the spot where we are; for when we look carefully at a tree or some other object which is directly ahead of us on the shore, we observe that it does not alter its bearings as we near it, or only does so to an extent that our leeway will account for. It follows, therefore, that our vessel is not being affected by any current, and that it is slack water.
After studying the conditions we decide to stand in as near as we safely can, and then to go about. By doing this we will cheat the ebb-stream when it begins to make itself felt; for we know that hereabouts the tides, as is often the case, do not run nearly so rapidly in the shoal-water under the land as they do outside. Moreover, a look at the chart shows us that we shall be able on the starboard tack to fetch the mouth of our river without having to go about again and so lose ground by bringing the contrary current broadside on to us.
But our chart indicates submerged rocky patches, which make it perilous to approach within a certain distance of the shore, so we must now take cross-bearings again to ascertain our position, and enable us to give these dangers a sufficiently wide berth. We took our departure at C by cross-bearings of two well-known landmarks, which is the most accurate method: but it happens that on this portion of the coast there are no two landmarks whose positions are shown on the chart; we must, therefore, adopt another method.
