slets near together, called
the _Pages_, whose situation is in latitude 35 deg. 461/2' and longitude 138 deg.
21' east; these are the sole dangers in Back-stairs Passage, and two of
them are conspicuous. Our soundings in beating through were from 8 to 23
fathoms; and in a strong rippling of tide like breakers there was from 10
to 12, upon a bottom of stones and shells.

At eight in the evening we tacked from Cape Willoughby; and having passed
to windward of the Pages, stretched on east and north-eastward until four
in the morning [THURSDAY 8 APRIL 1802]. Land was then seen under the lee,
and a tack made off shore till daylight, when we stood in with the wind
at east-south-east. At nine the land was distant five miles, and of a
very different aspect to that of Cape Jervis. As far as six leagues from
the cliffy southern extremity of the Cape the land is high, rocky and
much cut by gullies or ravines; a short, scrubby brush-wood covers the
seaward side, and the stone appeared to be slaty, like the opposite
cliffs of Kangaroo Island. But here the hills fall back from the sea, and
the shore becomes very low with some hummocks of sand upon it; and the
same description of coast prevailed as far as could be seen to the
eastward.

Our situation at nine o'clock, when we tacked to the south, was as
follows;

Longitude by time keepers, 138 deg. 471/2'
Cape Jervis, two southern parts, bore S. 84 W.
A round hummock, N. 85 W.
A rocky islet, under the land, N. 62 W.
Furthest visible part of the sandy coast, S. 87 E.

Before two in the afternoon we stretched eastward again, and at four a
white rock was reported from aloft to be seen ahead. On approaching
nearer it proved to be a ship standing towards us, and we cleared for
action, in case of being attacked. The stranger was a heavy-looking ship,
without any top-gallant masts up; and our colours being hoisted, she
showed a French ensign, and afterwards an English jack forward, as we did
a white flag. At half-past five, the land being then five miles distant
to the north-eastward, I hove to, and learned, as the stranger passed to
leeward with a free wind, that it was the French national ship _Le
Geographe_, under the command of captain NICOLAS BAUDIN. We veered round
as Le Geographe was passing, so as to keep our broadside to her, lest the
flag of truce should be a deception; and having come to the wind on the
other t