cables; and to have been
under sail in the night was certain destruction. I therefore formed the
determination, in our future search for a passage out, to avoid all
narrow channels, and run along, within side the larger reefs, until a
good and safe opening should present itself. This plan, which was
dictated by a common regard to safety, might carry us far to the
north-west, and delay our arrival in the Gulph of Carpentaria; yet I
hoped not; for captain Cook had found the flood tide to come from
south-east after passing the Cumberland Islands, whereas before, it ran
from the northward; a circumstance which seemed to indicate a termination
of the reefs, or a great opening in them., to the north or north-west of
those islands.

TUESDAY 12 OCTOBER 1802

In the morning., we got under way and steered N. N. W.; but anchored
again on finding the flood tide too strong to be stemmed with a light
breeze. Our latitude at this tenth anchorage amongst the reefs, was 20 deg.
53' 10", from observations to the north and south, and longitude by time
keeper 150 deg. 42' east. At one o'clock our course was resumed, and
continued till sunset in clear water; when we came to, in 32 fathoms sand
and shells, not far to the south of where the first high breakers had
been seen, in the afternoon of the 6th. A dry reef bore N.1/2 E., distant
two and a half, and another E. 1/2 S. one-and-half miles; and from the mast
head others were seen at the back of them, extending from N. W. by N. to
near S. E. by E.

WEDNESDAY 13 OCTOBER 1802

On going upon deck next morning at daybreak, to get the ship under way, I
found her situation different to that wherein we had anchored in the
evening. The wind had been light, and as usual in such cases, the cable
was shortened in; and it appeared from the bearings, and from the
soundings marked every hour on the log board, that between four and five
in the morning, the anchor had been lifted by the tide, or dragged, two
miles north-east amongst the reefs, from 33 into 28 fathoms; where it had
again caught. This change of place had not been perceived; and it was
difficult, from the circumstance having occurred at the relief of the
watch, to discover with whom the culpable inattention lay; but it might
have been attended with fatal consequences.

Having weighed the anchor, we steered westward with the brig and whale
boat ahead, until past ten; when the eastern breeze died away and the
stream anchor was dropped in