. 6 33 , corr 8 14

The coast lies nearly north, and except Sandy Cape, appears to be mostly
of free stone, which I have not found to produce any effect upon the
needle; and what is remarkable, on comparing my observations with those
of captain Cook, it appeared that little or no change had taken place in
the variation, during thirty-two years; for wherever our observations
were taken with the ships heads in the same direction, there the same
variation was obtained to a few minutes.

Within Break-sea Spit, an amplitude gave the variation when corrected, 7 deg.
25' east; and one taken at the anchorage near Sandy Cape, but
uncorrected, the direction of the ship's head being unknown, 7 deg. 57' east.
There is little doubt that on bringing the land to the eastward of the
ship, the variation was diminished at least half a degree: the stone of
Sandy Cape is granitic.

SUNDAY 1 AUGUST 1802

In the morning of August 1, the wind was from the southward, and we
steered across Hervey's Bay, towards a sloping hummock on the west side,
where my examination in the Norfolk had terminated. The soundings
increased from 7, gradually to 18 fathoms, and afterwards decreased till
half past four in the afternoon; when the sloping hummock bore S. 2 deg. E.
eight miles, and we had no more than 31/2 fathoms near some dry banks and
breakers, which extend out three miles from two shallow inlets in the
coast. At dusk the anchor was let go in 61/2 fathoms, mud and sand; the
shallow inlets to the south being distant 6 miles, and the sloping
hummock bearing S. 17 deg. E. In captain Cook's chart, the width of Hervey's
Bay is fifty-nine miles, which had appeared to me too great when here in
the Norfolk; and I now made the distance, from the north-west extremity
of Sandy Cape to a low point running out from the hummock, to be forty
three miles by the _time keepers_. Such errors as this are almost
unavoidable without the aid of these instruments, when sailing either
along a coast which lies nearly on the same parallel, or where no land is
in sight to correct the longitude by bearings. From Port Jackson to Sandy
Cape, captain Cook's positions had been found to differ from mine, not
more than from 10' east to 7' west; which must be considered a great
degree of accuracy, considering the expeditious manner in which he sailed
along the coast, and that there were no time keepers on board the
Endeavour; but from Sandy Cape northward, where the direction