All the provisions were lost.  The water was baled out of the boat that had been capsized, and she was taken over to the west head.  All the food for twelve men was in the nosebag, and it was very little; each man had a mere nibble for supper.  In those days wombats were plentiful near the river, but the men could not catch or kill one of them.  Captain Mills had a gun in his boat which happened to be loaded, and he gave it to Davy to try if he could shoot anything for breakfast next morning.  There was only one charge, all the rest of the ammunition having been lost in the breakers.  Davy walked up the banks of the river early in the morning, and saw plenty of ducks, but they were so wild he could not get near them.  At last he was so fortunate as to shoot a musk duck, which he brought back to the camp, stuck up before the fire, and roasted.  He then divided it into twelve portions, and gave one portion to each of the twelve men for breakfast; but it was a mockery of a meal, as unsubstantial as an echo—­smell, and nothing else.

The two boats were launched, and an attempt was made to pass out to sea through the surf, but the wind was far down south, and the men had to return and beach the boats.  The sails were taken ashore and used as tents.  In the evening they again endeavoured to catch a wombat, but failed.

On the next day they tried again to get out of the river, but the surf half filled the boats with water, and they were glad to reach the camp again.

Captain Mills was a native of Australia, and a good bushman; he told the men that sow thistles were good to eat, so they went about looking for them, and having found a quantity ate them.  On the third day they tried once more to get out of the river, but without success.

On the fourth day Mills decided to carry the boats and whaling gear overland to a bight in the bay to the west.  The gear was divided into lots among the men, and consisted of ten oars, two steer-oars, two tubs of whale line each 120 fathoms in length, two fifty-pound anchors, four harpoons, six lances, six lance warps, two tomahawks, two water kegs, two piggins for balers, two sheath knives, and two oil-stones for touching up the lances when they became dull.  These were carried for about a quarter of a mile, and then put down for a rest, and the men went back to the camp.  The boats were much lighter than the gear, being made of only half-inch plank.  One boat was capsized bottom up, and the men took it on their shoulders, six on each side, the tallest men being placed in the middle on account of the shear of the boat, and it was carried about half a mile past the gear.  They then returned for the other boat, and in this way brought everything to the bight close to the spot where the bathing house at Warrnambool has since been erected.  There they launched the boats, and got out to sea, pulling against a strong westerly breeze.