TRANSCRIPTION
those that we shall take upon returning East, when the wind allows us. At
six O'clock we headed South to stand out a little from the coast. 1 planned
to spend the night hove-to, but the weather began to grow very bad and the
wind to be squally. The barometer had fallen by three points in less than
four hours, so I no longer had any doubt of there being some squalls very
close at hand. And I was not mistaken, for the night was extremely rough.
Some serious reflections upon the position I was in, the weakness of my
crew, which now consisted of only thirty men for the handling of the ship,
our pressing need for firewood, the shortness of the days, and a host of
other private considerations all decided me to abandon the coast and make
first for D'Entrecasteaux Channel, where the anchorage is good, and from
there proceed to Portjackson, which I have always hoped that the dinghy
believed lost may have been able to reach. As the change of course was soon
known, everyone expressed satisfaction at it and, truly, we were all very
much in need of a little rest.
