of anchoring under the lee of these reefs, till morning; but not finding sufficient shelter against the sea, we tacked and stretched southward for the clear water between the reefs and the land.  At sunset, the variation from amplitude was 5 deg. 39’ east; Holborne Isle bore S. by W. from the mast head, and no breakers were in sight.  This tack was prolonged, under treble-reefed top sails, till ten o’clock; when a light was seen bearing S. by E. 1/2 E., probably upon the isle, and we stood to the northward.

The wind blew fresh from the eastward all night, and raised a short swell which tried the ship more than any thing we had encountered from the time of leaving Port Jackson; and I was sorry to find, brought on her former leakiness, to the amount of five inches of water per hour.  We tacked to the south, soon after mid-night, and to the northward at three in the morning [WEDNESDAY 20 OCTOBER 1802].  Holborne Isle was seen bearing S. 6 deg.  W., four or five leagues, at daylight; and at seven we passed between three small reefs, of which the easternmost had been set at W. S. W. on the preceding afternoon.  In half an hour, when the latitude from the moon was 19 deg. 14’, and longitude by time keeper 148 deg. 211/2’, distant high breakers were seen to the north and eastward; the nearest small reef bore S. W. 1/2 W., two miles, and a much larger one extended from N. 1/2 E. to W. by N. The passage between these two being three miles wide, we bore away through it; and in following the south side of the great reef, left another, five or six miles long, on the larbord hand, the passage being equally wide with the former, and the least depth 21 fathoms.  Soon after ten o’clock, we steered northward, round the west end of the great reef.

At noon, the latitude from observations to the north and south was 19 deg. 8’ 15”, and longitude by time keeper, 147 deg. 59’ east.  No land was in sight, and the high breakers were lost in the eastern quarter; but we had detached reefs in the N. E., the N. E. by N., and W. N. W., distant from two to five miles.  Towards the north there was six points of clear water, and I steered onward till near three o’clock; when, besides two new reefs already passed, one on each side, we had five others:  two in the E. by N. at the distances of one and five miles. one E. S. E. four miles, another N. W. by W. six miles, and a fifth N. W. by N. three miles.  Whether to steer onward amongst these, and trust to finding shelter for the night, or to run south-westward towards the land, and get within all the reefs before night came on, was an important, but difficult point to decide.  The reefs in sight were small, and could not afford shelter against the sea which was breaking high upon them; but these breakers excited a hope that we might, even then, be near an opening in the barrier; and although caution inclined to steering back towards the land, this prospect of an outlet determined me to proceed, at least until four o’clock, at the chance of finding either larger reefs for shelter, or a clear sea.  We were successful.  At four, the depth was 43 fathoms, and no reefs in sight; and at six, a heavy swell from the eastward and a depth of 66 fathoms were strong assurances that we had at length gained the open sea.