ance. It was only by patient watching
indeed, that Mr. Pullen seized the opportunity by which he entered the
Goolwa. He was not the first, however, who did so, as Captain Gill, the
master of a small cutter that was unfortunately wrecked on the strand at
some distance to the eastward of the outlet, was the first to come down
the Coorong in his boat, in which he ultimately reached Victor Harbour,
but he also had to remain three weeks under the sand-hills before he
could venture forth. Some years prior to this, however, Sir John
Jeffcott, the first judge of South Australia, and Captain Blenkensorf,
the head of the fishery, both found a watery grave in attempting to pass
from the Goolwa into Encounter Bay.

I speak more particularly on the point, however, because, in 1838, during
my first visit to the province, I went with a party of hardy seamen, with
the intention, if possible, of passing into the Goolwa from seaward. At
Encounter Bay, Captain Hart, who had the superintendence of the fishery
there, gave me his most experienced steersman, and a strong whale-boat.
In this I left Victor harbour for Freeman's Nob, a small rocky point in
the very bight of Encounter Bay, where I remained until three a.m. of the
next morning, when I started for the outlet under the most favourable
auspices. A northerly wind had been blowing off the land for several
days, and the sea was so tranquil that I had every hope of success. I had
five leagues to pull, and keeping about a mile from the shore, swept
rapidly along it. We were still about four miles from the inlet when the
sun rose over it, as if encouraging us onwards. On approaching it at low
water, I tried in vain to enter. The sea was breaking heavily right
across the entrance from one side to the other, and after several
ineffectual attempts to run in, I came to an anchor, close to the outer
line of breakers, hoping that the sea would subside at high water and
that we should then have less difficulty. We had not, however, been in
this position more than half an hour, when a heavy southerly swell set
in; from a deep blue the water became green, and the wind suddenly flew
round to the S.W. Before we could weigh and stand out from the shore,
several seas had broken outside of us, and in less than ten minutes the
whole coast, to the distance of more than a mile from the shore, was
white with foam, and it seemed clear that a gale was coming on. Under
these circumstances I determined on return