ted that there was only thirteen
feet water upon the bar, which was six inches less than the ship drew.
We were therefore obliged to come to, and the sea breeze setting in
again about eight o'clock; we gave up all hope of sailing that day.

We had fresh gales at S.E., with hazy weather and rain, till two in the
morning of the 31st, when the weather being something more moderate, I
had thoughts of trying to warp the ship out of the harbour; but upon
going out myself first in the boat, I found it still blow too fresh for
the attempt. During all this time the pinnace and yawl continued to ply
the net and hook with tolerable success; sometimes taking a turtle, and
frequently bringing in from two to three hundred-weight of fish.

On the 1st of August, the carpenter examined the pumps, and to our great
mortification, found them all in a state of decay, owing, as he said, to
the sap's being left in the wood; one of them was so rotten, as, when
hoisted up, to drop to pieces, and the rest were little better; so that
our chief trust was now in the soundness of our vessel, which happily
did not admit more than one inch of water in an hour.

At six o'clock in the morning of Friday the 3d, we made another
unsuccessful attempt to warp the ship out of the harbour; but at five
o'clock in the morning of the 4th, our efforts had a better effect, and
about seven we got once more under sail, with a light air from the land,
which soon died away, and was followed by the sea breezes from S.E. by
S., with which we stood off to sea E. by N., having the pinnace a-head,
which was ordered to keep sounding continually. The yawl had been sent
to the turtle bank to take up the net which had been left there; but as
the wind freshened, we got out before her. A little before noon we
anchored in fifteen fathom water, with a sandy bottom, for I did not
think it safe to run in among the shoals till I had well viewed them at
low water from the mast head, which might determine me which way to
steer; for as yet I was in doubt whether I should beat back to the
southward, round all the shoals, or seek a passage to the eastward or
the northward, all which at present appeared to be equally difficult and
dangerous. When we were at anchor, the harbour from which we sailed bore
S. 70 W., distant about five leagues; the northermost point of the main
in sight, which I named _Cape Bedford_, and which lies in latitude 15 deg.
16' S. longitude 214 deg. 45' W., bore N. 2