oke, we found ourselves surrounded by cliffs and shoals...

I saw no land that I thought would remain above water at high tide,
except an island, which by estimation was fully three miles from the
ship. I therefore sent the skipper to two small islets or cliffs, in
order to ascertain whether our men and part of our cargo could be landed
there. About 9 o'clock the skipper returned, informing me that it was
well-nigh impossible to get through the rocks and cliffs, the pinnace
running aground in one place, and the water being several fathom deep in
another. As far as he could judge, the islands would remain above water
at high tide. Therefore, moved by the loud lamentations raised on board
by women, children, sick people, and faint-hearted men, we thought it
best first to land the greater part of our people...

[On June 5] at their earnest instances to move me, it was determined, as
shown by the resolution, that we should try to find fresh water in the
neighbouring islands, or on the mainland coast in order to save their
lives and our own; and that, if no water should be found, we should in
that case at the mercy of God with the pinnace continue our voyage to
Batavia, there to make known our calamitous and unheard-of disasters...

{Page 56}

This day the 6th do...[we] set sail in the pinnace, and on this day
touched at two separate islands, where we found at best some brackish
water, which had collected in the cavities of the rocks on the beach
after the rain, but it was largely mixed with seawater. On the 7th do. we
remained here, in order to repair our pinnace with a plank, for we found
that without this it would have been impossible to reach the mainland...

On the 8th do. in the morning we set sail from this island for the
mainland...

At noon we were in 28 deg. 13' Lat., and shortly after sighted the mainland,
which we estimated to lie 6 miles north by west of our ship. The wind
blew from the west, and we sounded 25 and 30 fathom about 3 o'clock in
the afternoon. During the night we kept off the land, and after midnight
shaped our course for it again.

In the morning of the 9th we were still about 3 miles from the land, the
wind being mainly north-west with some rain; in the last 24 hours we
covered 4 or 5 miles by estimation, course held north by west. The land
here extends chiefly north by west and south by east. It is a barren,
rocky coast without trees, about the height of Dover in England.

We here saw a