As soon as we had brought the entrance of the bay to bear north-north-west, we brought to, and made the signal for the convoy to pass in succession under the Sirius’s stern, when they were informed, that I intended, as the wind was easterly, to keep working off under an easy sail till day-light, and that the entrance of the harbour bore north-north-west seven or eight miles; which I supposed they could not have been near enough to have seen before dark.

The next morning being fair, with a south-east wind, we made sail at day-light for this opening, and, by signal, ordered the ships into the Sirius’s wake.  When the bay was quite open, we discovered the Supply and the three transports at an anchor; the former had arrived the 18th, and the three latter the 19th.  At eight A. M. of the 20th, we anchored with the whole of the convoy in Botany-bay, in eight fathoms water.

As the ships were sailing in, a number of the natives assembled on the south shore, and, by their motions, seemed to threaten; they pointed their spears, and often repeated the words, wara, wara.  The Supply had not gained more than forty hours of us, and the three transports twenty.  We probably met with fresher winds than they had done, otherwise I think these ships, all sailing well, should have had much more advantage of the heavy sailing part of the convoy.

On the first day of my arrival, I went with the governor to examine the south shore, in order to fix on a spot for erecting some buildings; but we found very little fresh water, and not any spot very inviting for our purpose:  we had a short conversation with a party of the natives, who were exceedingly shy.  During the time we lay here, we sounded the bay all over, and found a considerable extent of anchorage in four, five, six, and seven fathoms water, but wholly exposed to easterly winds, and no possibility of finding shelter from those winds in any part of the anchorage.

We anchored on the north shore, off a sandy bay, which I think as good a birth as any in the bay; Cape Banks bore east-south-east, and Point Solander south-south-east, the ground clear and good.  The wind, either from the north-east or south-east quarters, set in a prodigious sea.  Higher up the bay there is a spot of four fathoms, where a few ships might be laid in tolerable security, but they must be lightened, to enable them to pass over a flat of twelve feet, and that depth but of narrow limits.

The day after my arrival, the governor, accompanied by me and two other officers, embarked in three boats, and proceeded along the coast to the northward, intending, if we could, to reach what Captain Cook has called Broken-bay, with a hope of discovering a better harbour, as well as a better country; for we found nothing at Botany-bay to recommend it as a place on which to form an infant settlement.  In this examination, a large opening, or bay, about three leagues and a half to the northward of Cape Banks, was the first place we looked into:  it had rather an unpromising appearance, on entering between the outer heads or capes that form its entrance, which are high, rugged, and perpendicular cliffs; but we had not gone far in, before we discovered a large branch extending to the southward; into this we went, and soon found ourselves perfectly land-locked, with a good depth of water.