observe any of
the cliffs which were described by Van Noort, as left by him to the
northward on sailing into this haven, all the cliffs they saw being on
the south side of the entrance, which therefore might be those mentioned
by Van Noort, and misplaced in his narrative by mistake.

In consequence of this error, they overpassed Port Desire to the south,
so as to miss the right channel, and came into a crooked channel, where
they had four and a half fathoms water at full sea, and only fourteen
feet at low water. By this means the Unity got fast aground by the
stern, and had infallibly been lost, if a brisk gale had blown from the
N.E. But as the wind blew west from the land, she got off again without
damage. Here they found vast quantities of eggs upon the cliffs; and the
bay afforded them great abundance of muscles, and smelts sixteen inches
long, for which reason they called it _Smelt Bay_. From this place they
sent a pinnace to the Penguin Islands, which brought back 150 of these
birds, and two sea lions.

Leaving Smelt Bay on the 8th December, they made sail for Port Desire, a
boat going before to sound the depth of the channel, which was twelve
and thirteen fathoms, so that they sailed in boldly, having a fair wind
at N.E. After going in little more than a league, the wind began to veer
about, and they cast anchor in twenty fathoms; but the ground,
consisting entirely of slippery stones, and the wind now blowing strong
at N.W. they drifted to the south shore, where both ships had nearly
been wrecked. The Unity lay with her side to the cliffs, yet still kept
afloat, and gradually slid down towards the deep water as the tide fell.
But the Horn stuck fast aground, so that at last her keel was above a
fathom out of the water, and a man might have walked under it at low
water. For some time, the N.W. wind blowing hard on one side, kept her
from falling over; but, that dying away, she at length fell over on her
bends, when she was given over for lost; but next flood, coming on with
calm weather, righted her again. Having escaped this imminent danger,
both ships went farther up the river on the 9th, and came to King's
Island, which they found full of black sea-mews, and almost entirely
covered with their eggs; so that a man without moving from one spot
might reach fifty or sixty nests with his hands, having three or four
eggs in each. They here accordingly were amply provided with eggs, and
laid in several thousands of