Page:A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume 1.djvu/447

Bass' Strait.]

the 3d of May at daylight, the anchor was weighed to go out of Port Phillip with the last half of the ebb; and the wind being from the westward, we backed, filled, and tacked occasionally, dropping out with the tide. When the entrance was cleared, and five miles distant, Mr. Westall took a view of it, which will be an useful assistance in finding this extensive, but obscure port; and at eleven o'clock, when we bore away eastward to pass Cape Schanck, he sketched that cape and the ridge of hills terminating at Arthur's Seat. Cape Schanck is a cliffy head, with three rocks lying off, the outermost of which appears at a distance like a ship under sail: the latitude is 38° 29′ or 30′ south, and longitude 144° 5′ east. It will always be desirable for vessels to get sight of this cape, before they run far into the great bight for Port Phillip; and if the wind blow strong from the southward, it will be unsafe to run without having seen it.

Cape Schanck is also an excellent mark for ships desiring to go into Western Port, of which it forms the west side of the principal entrance; but as there are many breakers and shoals on that side, which extend almost to mid-channel, it will be necessary to give the cape a wide berth, by keeping over to Phillip Island on the starbord hand.