other hand, he boldly encounters all the dangers and Obstacles he meets
with, and is unfortunate enough not to succeed, he is then Charged with
Temerity, and, perhaps, want of Conduct. The former of these Aspersions,
I am confident, can never be laid to my Charge, and if I am fortunate to
Surmount all the Dangers we meet with, the latter will never be brought
in Question; altho' I must own that I have engaged more among the Islands
and Shoals upon this Coast than perhaps in prudence I ought to have done
with a single Ship* (* Cook was so impressed with the danger of one ship
alone being engaged in these explorations, that in his subsequent voyages
he asked for, and obtained, two vessels.) and every other thing
considered. But if I had not I should not have been able to give any
better account of the one half of it than if I had never seen it; at
best, I should not have been able to say wether it was Mainland or
Islands; and as to its produce, that we should have been totally ignorant
of as being inseparable with the other; and in this case it would have
been far more satisfaction to me never to have discover'd it. But it is
time I should have done with this Subject, which at best is but
disagreeable, and which I was lead into on reflecting on our late
Dangers.

In the P.M., as the wind would not permit us to sail out by the same
Channel as we came in, neither did I care to move until the pinnace was
in better repair, I sent the Master with all the other Boats to the Reef
to get such refreshments as he could find, and in the meantime the
Carpenters were repairing the pinnace. Variations by the Amplitude and
Azimuth in the morning 4 degrees 9 minutes Easterly; at noon Latitude
observed 12 degrees 38 minutes South, Longitude in 216 degrees 45 minutes
West. It being now about low water, I and some other of the officers went
to the Masthead to see what we could discover. Great part of the reef
without us was dry, and we could see an Opening in it about two Leagues
farther to the South-East than the one we came in by; we likewise saw 2
large spots of sand to the Southward within the Reef, but could see
nothing to the Northward between it and the Main. On the Mainland within
us was a pretty high promontary, which I called Cape Weymouth (Latitude
12 degrees 42 minutes South, Longitude 217 degrees 15 minutes); and on
the North-West side of this Cape is a Bay, which I called Weymouth Bay.*
(* Viscount Weymouth was one of the Secre