moon; he reduced sail
to double reefed topsails with a light wind, as the log tells us, and
with the cumbrous hempen cables of the day, and the imperfect means of
heaving up the anchor, he was desirous of saving his men unnecessary
labour. Cook was puzzled that the next tide did not, after lightening the
ship, take him off; but it is now known that on this coast it is only
every alternate tide that rises to a full height, and as he got ashore
nearly at the top of the higher of the two waters he had to wait
twenty-four hours until he got a similar rise. Lucky was it for them that
the wind was light. Usually at this season the trade wind is strong, and
raises a considerable sea, even inside the Barrier. Hawkesworth or Banks
makes the proposition to fother the ship emanate from Mr. Monkhouse; but
it is scarcely to be supposed that such a perfect seaman as Cook was not
familiar with this operation, and he merely says that as Mr. Monkhouse
had seen it done, he confided to him the superintendence of it, as of
course the Captain had at such a time many other things to do than stand
over the men preparing the sail. In 1886 the people of Cooktown were
anxious to recover the brass guns of the Endeavour which were thrown
overboard, in order to place them as a memento in their town; but they
could not be found, which is not altogether surprising.) In justice to
the Ship's Company, I must say that no men ever behaved better than they
have done on this occasion; animated by the behaviour of every Gentleman
on board, every man seem'd to have a just sence of the Danger we were in,
and exerted himself to the very utmost. The Ledge of Rocks, or Shoal, we
have been upon, lies in the Latitude of 15 degrees 45 minutes, and about
6 or 7 Leagues from the Main land; but this is not the only Shoal that
lay upon this part of the Coast, especially to the Northward, and one
which we saw to the Southward, the tail of which we passed over when we
had the uneven Soundings 2 hours before we Struck. A part of this Shoal
is always above Water, and looks to be white Sand; part of the one we
were upon was dry at low Water, and in that place consists of Sand and
stones, but every where else Coral Rocks. At 6 we Anchored in 17 fathoms,
about 5 or 6 Leagues from the land, and one from the Shoal. At this time
the Ship made about 15 Inches Water per hour. At 6 a.m. weigh'd and stood
to the North-West, edging in for the land, having a Gentle breeze at
South-South