utenant McCluer; and six or seven leagues to the S. W.
was a part of the main, somewhat higher but equally sandy, which we
traced above half a degree to the westward. I made the _latitude_ of the
island to be 10 deg. 55' south, and _longitude_ by time keeper corrected 133 deg.
4' east; being 3' more south and 8' less east than Mr. McCluer's
position. The _variation_ of the compass, from azimuths taken twenty
leagues to the east of New Year's Isle, was 1 deg. 55' east, with the ship's
head W. N. W.; and at thirteen leagues on the west side, 1 deg. 20' with the
head N. W.; these being corrected to the meridian, will be 0 deg. 23' and 0 deg.
12' east. The _tide_ ran strong to the N. W. whilst it was ebbing by the
shore, so that the flood would seem to come from the westward; whereas in
the neighbourhood of Cape Arnhem the flood came mostly from the opposite
direction: whether this change were a general one, or arose from some
opening to the S. E. of New Year's Isle, our knowledge of the coast was
too imperfect to determine.

We had continued to have soundings, generally on a muddy bottom, from the
time of quitting Wessel's Islands; nor did they vary much, being rarely
less than 25, and never more than 35 fathoms. On the 13th [SUNDAY 13
MARCH 1803] at noon we had 34 fathoms, being then in 10 deg. 41' south and
132 deg. 40' east, and the coast still in sight to the southward. The winds
then hung in the southern quarter, being sometimes S. W., and at others
S. E., but always light; and I steered further off the land, in the hope
of getting them more steady. Our soundings gradually increased until the
18th, when the depth was 150 fathoms in latitude 9 deg. 47' and longitude
130 deg. 17'; at midnight we had no ground at 160, but next morning [SATURDAY
19 MARCH 1803] the coral bottom was seen under the ship, and we tacked
until a boat was sent ahead; from 7 fathoms on the bank, the soundings in
steering after the boat increased to 9, 10, 13, and suddenly to 92
fathoms.

This small bank appeared to be nearly circular, and about four miles
round; it lies in latitude 9 deg. 56', longitude 129 deg. 28' and as I judge,
about twenty-five leagues from the western extremity of the northern Van
Diemen's Land. In some of the old charts there are shoals marked to a
considerable distance from that cape; and it seems not improbable, that a
chain of reefs may extend as far out as the situation of this bank. We
afterwards had soundings at irre