too far off from the land, being desirous to search into it wherever I
should find an opening or any convenience of searching about for water,
etc. When we were off the shoal point I mentioned where we had but 20
fathom water, we had in the night abundance of whales about the ship,
some ahead, others astern, and some on each side blowing and making a
very dismal noise; but when we came out again into deeper water they left
us. Indeed the noise that they made by blowing and dashing of the sea
with their tails, making it all of a breach and foam, was very dreadful
to us, like the breach of the waves in very shoal water, or among rocks.
The shoal these whales were upon had depth of water sufficient, no less
than 20 fathom, as I said; and it lies in latitude 22 degrees 22 minutes.
The shore was generally bold all along; we had met with no shoal at sea
since the Abrolho Shoal, when we first fell on the New Holland coast in
the latitude of 28, till yesterday in the afternoon, and this night. This
morning also when we expected by the chart we had with us to have been 11
leagues offshore we were but 4; so that either our charts were faulty,
which yet hitherto and afterwards we found true enough as to the lying of
the coast, or else here was a tide unknown to us that deceived us; though
we had found very little of any tide on this coast hitherto. As to our
winds in the coasting thus far, as we had been within the verge of the
general trade (though interrupted by the storm I mentioned) from the
latitude of 28, when we first fell in with the coast: and by that time we
were in the latitude of 25 we had usually the regular tradewind (which is
here south-south-east) when we were at any distance from shore: but we
had often sea and land-breezes, especially when near shore, and when in
Shark's Bay; and had a particular north-west wind, or storm, that set us
in thither. On this 18th of August we coasted with a brisk gale of the
true tradewind at south-south-east, very fair and clear weather; but,
hauling off in the evening to sea, were next morning out of sight of
land; and the land now trending away north-easterly, and we being to the
northward of it, and the wind also shrinking from the south-south-east to
the east-south-east (that is, from the true tradewind to the seabreeze,
as the land now lay) we could not get in with the land again yet awhile,
so as to see it, though we trimmed sharp and kept close on a wind. We
were this 19th day i