Having received the dispatches for his Majesty’s principal Secretary of State, and for the Secretary of the Admiralty, from Governor Phillip, together with his order for me to go on board the Supply, and to proced in her to Batavia, and from thence, to make the best of my way to England, with the above dispatches, and Lieutenant Ball having also received his orders, I took my leave of the governor, and at noon on the 17th of April, we set sail; carrying with us the fervent prayers of those we left behind, for our safety.

From this time till the 22d, we had variable weather, the wind in general from the south-east.  Lieutenant Ball was directed to call at Norfolk-Island, if it did not occasion him too much loss of time; but, as the winds seemed to hang to the eastward, there was every probability of losing at least a fortnight; and, as the Supply did not carry any thing which could be of the least assistance to those on the island, he thought proper to proceed on the voyage, and accordingly bore up in order to go to the westward of the shoal seen by the Golden-Grove, in latitude 29 deg. 25’ south, and 159 deg. 59’ east longitude:  Lieutenant Shortland also saw another shoal, as hath already been mentioned, which may probably be the same, if they exist:  this, however, seems to be a matter of doubt, as Lieutenant Ball, in July, 1789, cruized in these and the adjacent latitudes and longitudes for a fortnight, and could not see the least appearance either of an island or shoals; although Mr. Blackburn, the master of the Supply, who was at that time on board the Golden-Grove, is very confident that a shoal was seen in that vessel.

We had very heavy gales of wind from east until the 28th, with violent squalls, attended with rain:  the air in general thick and hazy, and a high hollow sea running.  At one o’clock on the 28th, we perceived a great alteration in the sea, which was become so smooth, that at four o’clock it was, comparatively speaking, smooth water:  at half past five, the man who was stationed at the mast-head, saw breakers in the south-east, which were found to be a shoal, bearing from south-east by east to east-south-east, about seven miles distant:  it appeared to trend south-south-east and north-north-west; and the north end seemed to break off suddenly in a small bluff.

The man at the mast-head had seen this shoal a considerable time before he spoke of it, and, when asked why he did not mention it sooner, he said that he took it for the reflection of the setting-sun; forgetting that the sun, if it had been visible, set to the westward:  this circumstance occasioned Lieutenant Ball to name it “-Booby shoal:-” its latitude is 21 deg. 24’ south, and the longitude, by the time-keeper, 159 deg. 24’ east of Greenwich.  Immediately after passing this shoal, we found the same high hollow sea running as we had in the morning.