Sep 16, 1792 Home Tobin's Log Sep 18, 1792
Revised Sep 8, 2021
1 pm: Strong breezes and fair weather with haze – at 00..25 brought up with the small Bower in 7½ fathoms coarse ground, & veered to ½ a Cable – Passage Island N59°W 6 or 7 Miles – Island U from N52°W to N62°W – Bold head S59W 4 Leagues – Low Point S58W 2 Leagues – High mountain S8E 5 or 6 miles – eastern part of R S18E 7 Miles – Possession Island S28E 2 Miles – Sandy Key EBN 6 Miles – SE65E 3 Leagues – at ½ past 2 sent two Boats on shore to the nearest Island, under the command of Lieutenant Guthrie and with the usual ceremony took possession of it, and the neighbouring country in the name of our gracious Sovereign King George the 3d – At 8 the Boats returned with a few Cocoa nuts after leaving such articles on the Beach as will convince the natives this visit from strangers was not with a hostile intention – In Boats and veered to a whole Cable
10 pm: At 10 PM fresh Gales and cloudy – at 4 more moderate, hove in the ½ cable Service – at ½ past 6 AM weighed and hove to under close reefed Top Sails
7 am: at 7..5 bore away the Assistant leading – found our Fluke of the small Bower Anchor broke – unbent the Cable – employed cackling the Best Bower Cable
8 am: At 8 Passage Island N25°W 5 Miles – Extremes U from N32°W to N53°W Islands ahead N82°W found by west to Possession Island S87E 8½ miles – Black Rock S47W 1 Mile – Extremes R S21°W 6 Miles to S40°E. High mountain S38°E – 7 fathom water coarse ground – at ¼ past 9 The Assistant hauled on the wind to the Northward – Boats making sounding Signals – hauled up – at ½ past the Assistant bore away – Made the Signal to know how we should proceed – She made the Signal to denote being in good anchoring ground –
10 am: at ¼ past 10 bore away after making some tacks in the doubtful situation – at 35 minutes past 10 anchored with the Best Bower in 10¼ fathoms coarse bottom – very strong Sea setting to the Westward – Brought the anchor home, veered to 1 and ⅓ of a Cable ship not bringing up, let go the Sheet anchor and snubbed her – The Best Bower Buoy & rope broke adrift – Struck Top Gallant Masts – Bent the small Bower Cable to the spare anchor and got it over the side – Sent the 2d & 3d Lieutenants in 2 boats to examine for a Passage to the West – no determined opening appearing from our Mast head – Bearings at anchor Extremes of a Reef off an Island N14W distant ½ a mile to N75°W 2 or 3 Miles Chain of Reefs & Land West round by South to #½N – Point of a reef N64E ½ Mile on with the 1st Reef [set?] & & several Islands at the back of it at various distances –
The Island I was sent to after anchoring (which I called Lookout Island) with Mr. Guthrie to look for a Passage to the Westward, like the higher parts of this inhospitable country is a group of Rocks tumbled on one another to the Summit in some parts a sandy beach surrounds it – for such a barren looking spot it yields some Trees of a Tolerable growth and some flowers & plants we observed of a lively appearance – Among the Trees was the Whassa of Otahytey The [Nona?] of the same Island and two kinds of what in the West Indies are called vulgarly Iambee beads, from the hard red berries it has – The largest sort were worn by some of the natives who have visited us – The Natives had been here recently as there was a track of a canoe on the beach and several fire places with Turtle bones about them – In [every?] part of the Island among the Trees, as well as in the clear places, we observed paths intersecting each other, but there was no kind of hut or habitation to be seen, so that most probably in in their fishing visits to this Island the woods serve them as a shelter from the weather
The Island is destitute of water, but liberaly supplied with various kinds of shell fish, one of which that adheres to the rocks like a Limpet is of a desirable flavour – We saw two or three kind of land Birds, one I shot and saw numbers more of the same kind, it is a kind of Dove, very much like those of China – About the shore were Herons, Gulls of different kinds several kinds of Sand Pipers, & Curlews, one with a vermillion Bill & Legs, & large flocks of Birds which we Christened Sea Pigeons from their manner of flight
The reptile Tribe, were small Lizards, numbers of a very large kind of Grasshopper, Ants of different kinds, among them the green one Captain Cook describes on the Coast of New Holland, which were equally troublesome to us – Of these last Captain Cook has been particular in describing the manner in which they form their habitations – Their manner did not fall under our observation, but we saw great numbers of the nests he describes – besides these, there were two or three kind of Butterflies, numbers of land Shells and we shot a snake that had just shed its skin about nine feet in length – About the [few?] places were some Large rib bones, probably of the Sea Animal we saw in the Straits
The Island is not a mile in circumference – Tide by the high water mark seemed to rise at least 9 or
ten feet
Sep 16, 1792 Home Tobin's Log Sep 18, 1792