The next day, being Christmas day, we sailed through the second Narrows.  In turning through this part of the Streight we had twelve fathom within half a mile of the shore on each side, and in the middle seventeen fathom, twenty-two fathom, and no ground.  At five o’clock in the evening, the ship suddenly shoaled from seventeen fathom to five, St Bartholomew’s island then bearing S. 1/2 W. distant between three and four miles, and Elizabeth’s Island S.S.W. 1/2 W. distant five or six miles.  About half an hour after eight o’clock, the weather being rainy and tempestuous, we anchored under Elizabeth’s island in twenty-four fathom, with hard gravelly ground.  Upon this island we found great quantities of celery, which, by the direction of the surgeon, was given to the people, with boiled wheat and portable soup, for breakfast every morning.  Some of the officers who went a-shore with their guns, saw two small dogs, and several places where fires had been recently made, with many fresh shells of mussels and limpets lying about them:  They saw also several wigwams or huts, consisting of young trees, which, being sharpened at one end, and thrust into the ground in a circular form, the other ends were brought to meet, and fastened together at the top; but they saw none of the natives.

From this place we saw many high mountains, bearing from S. to W.S.W.; several parts of the summits were covered with snow, though it was the midst of summer in this part of the world:  They were clothed with wood about three parts of their height, and above with herbage, except where the snow was not yet melted.  This was the first place where we had seen wood in all South America.

At two o’clock in the morning of the 26th, we weighed, and, having a fair wind, were a-breast of the north end of Elizabeth’s Island at three:  At half an hour after five, being about mid-way between Elizabeth’s Island and St George’s Island, we suddenly shoaled our water from seventeen fathom to six:  We struck the ground once, but the next cast had no bottom with twenty fathom.  When we were upon this shoal, Cape Porpoise bore W.S.W. 1/2 W. the south end of Elizabeth’s island W.N.W. 1/2 W. distant three leagues; the south end of Saint George’s Island N.E. distant four leagues.  The store-ship, which was about half a league to the southward of us, had once no more than four fathom, and for a considerable time not seven; the Swallow, which was three or four miles, to the southward, bad deep water, for she kept near to St George’s Island.  In my opinion it is safest to run down from the north end of Elizabeth’s Island, about two or three miles from the shore, and so on all the way to Port Famine.  At noon a low point bore E. 1/2 N.; Fresh-water Bay S.W. 1/2 W. At this time we were about three miles distant from the north shore, and had no ground with eighty fathom.  Our longitude, by observation, which was made over the shoal, was 71 deg. 20’ W. our latitude 53 deg. 12’ S.