Deeming it in vain to attempt reaching the bank, after examining what was left in the boat, (a few of the trifles which they had put into her to buy the friendship of the natives, and Ascott’s greatcoat, but neither a compass nor a morsel of provisions,) they determined, by the advice of Shaw, who of these three miserable people was the only one that understood any thing of navigation, to run direct for Timor, for which place the wind was then happily fair.  To the westward, therefore, they directed their course, trusting (as the printed account stated) to that Providence which had delivered them from the cannibals at Tate Island.*

[* The narrative of this most horrible affair, as printed at Calcutta, was reprinted entire in the European Magazine for May and June 1797.]

Without provisions, destitute of water, and almost without bodily strength, it cannot be doubted that their sufferings were very great before they reached a place of safety and relief.  They left the island on the 3rd of July, the day on which their companions were butchered.  On the 7th, having the preceding day passed a sand-bank covered with birds, they providentially, in the morning, found two small birds in the boat, one of which they immediately divided into three parts, and were considerably relieved by eating it.  On the 8th they found themselves with land on both sides.  Through these straits they passed, and continued their course to the westward.  All that could be done with their wounds was to keep them clean by opening them occasionally, and washing them with salt water.  On the 11th they saw land, and pushed their boat into a bay, all agreeing that they had better trust to the chance of being well received on shore, than to that of perishing in the course of a day or two more at sea.  Here they procured some water and a roasted yam from the natives, who also gave them to understand that Timor was to the southward of them.  Not thinking themselves quite so safe here as they would be at Coupang, they again embarked.  They soon after found a proa in chase of them, which they eluded by standing with their boat over a reef that the proa would not encounter.  On the morning of the 13th they saw a point of land ahead, which, with the wind as it then was, they could not weather.  They therefore ran into a small bay, where the natives received them, calling out ‘Bligh!  Bligh!’ Here they landed, were hospitably received, and providentially saved from the horror of perishing by famine.

This place was called by the natives Sarrett, and was distinct from Timor Land, which was the first place they refreshed at.  They were also informed, that there was another small island to the northward, called by them Fardatte, but which in some charts was named Ta-na-bor.  They also understood that a proa came yearly from Banda to trade at Tanabor, and that her arrival was expected in the course of seven or eight months.

They were much gratified with this information, and soon found that they had fallen into the hands of a hospitable and humane race of people.