On the 3rd of May at daylight the anchor was weighed to go out of Port Phillip with the last half of the ebb; and the wind being from the westward, we backed, filled and tacked occasionally, dropping out with the tide.  When the entrance was cleared, and five miles distant, Mr. Westall took a view of it (Atlas Plate XVII, View 13.), which will be an useful assistance in finding this extensive but obscure port; and at eleven o’clock, when we bore away eastward to pass Cape Schanck, he sketched that cape and the ridge of hills terminating at Arthur’s Seat (View 14).  Cape Schanck is a cliffy head, with three rocks lying off, the outermost of which appears at a distance like a ship under sail:  the latitude is 38 deg. 29’ or 30’ south, and longitude 144 deg. 53’ east.  It will always be desirable for vessels to get sight of this cape before they run far into the great bight for Port Phillip; and if the wind blow strong from the southward it will be unsafe to run without having seen it.

Cape Schanck is also an excellent mark for ships desiring to go into Western Port, of which it forms the west side of the principal entrance; but as there are many breakers and shoals on that side, which extend almost to mid-channel, it will be necessary to give the cape a wide berth by keeping over to Phillip Island on the starboard hand.

At noon, Cape Schanck bore N. 36 deg.  W. five or six miles; the breeze was fresh from the westward, with cloudy weather, and we steered for Point Grant, at the east side of the entrance into Western Port.  There is a square-topped rock surrounded with a reef lying off the point; but the Lady Nelson has passed between them, with 3 fathoms water.  On reaching within a mile of this reef, at one o’clock, I set

C. Schanck, distant 9 or 10 miles, at N. 85 deg.  W.
A cliffy head up the entrance, distant 5 miles, N. 16 W.
Square-topped rock, N. 85 E.
Cape Wollamai, S. 801/2 E.

We then steered eastward along the south side of Phillip Island, and passed a needle-like rock lying under the shore.  Cape Wollamai is the east end of the island, and forms one side of the small, eastern entrance to the port; and at three o’clock when it bore, N. 14 deg.  E., five or six miles, its longitude was ascertained by means of the time-keepers to be 145 deg. 25’ east:  the latitude deduced from bearings is 38 deg. 33’ south. Wollamai is the native name for a fish at Port Jackson, called sometimes by the settlers light-horseman, from the bones of the head having some resemblance to a helmet; and the form of this cape bearing a likeness to the head of the fish, induced Mr. Bass to give it the name of Wollamai.

We ran south-eastward along the shore, at the rate of six or seven knots, until sunset; when a steep head, supposed to be the Cape Liptrap of captain Grant, was seen through the haze, and our bearings of the land were,