ner was in one of the boats,
which carried a supply of provisions for the two crews; in the other
boat there was only what was styled a nosebag, or snack--a mouthful
for each man.

On arriving off the Hopkins, they found a nasty sea on, and Captain
Mills said it would be dangerous to attempt to land; but his brother
Charles said he would try, and in doing so his boat capsized in the
breakers. All the men clung to the boat, but the off-sea prevented
them from getting on shore. When Captain Mills saw what had
happened, he at once pushed on his boat through the surf and
succeeded in reaching the shore inside the point on the eastern side
of the entrance. He then walked round towards the other boat with a
lance warp, waded out in the water as far as he could, and then threw
the warp to the men, who hauled on it until their boat came ashore,
and they were able to land.

All the provisions were lost. The water was baled out of the boat
that had been capsized, and she was taken over to the west head. All
the food for twelve men was in the nosebag, and it was very little;
each man had a mere nibble for supper. In those days wombats were
plentiful near the river, but the men could not catch or kill one of
them. Captain Mills had a gun in his boat which happened to be
loaded, and he gave it to Davy to try if he could shoot anything for
breakfast next morning. There was only one charge, all the rest of
the ammunition having been lost in the breakers. Davy walked up the
banks of the river early in the morning, and saw plenty of ducks, but
they were so wild he could not get near them. At last he was so
fortunate as to shoot a musk duck, which he brought back to the camp,
stuck up before the fire, and roasted. He then divided it into
twelve portions, and gave one portion to each of the twelve men for
breakfast; but it was a mockery of a meal, as unsubstantial as an
echo--smell, and nothing else.

The two boats were launched, and an attempt was made to pass out to
sea through the surf, but the wind was far down south, and the men
had to return and beach the boats. The sails were taken ashore and
used as tents. In the evening they again endeavoured to catch a
wombat, but failed.

On the next day they tried again to get out of the river, but the
surf half filled the boats with water, and they were glad to reach
the camp again.

Captain Mills was a native of Australia, and a good bushman; he told
the men that sow thi