Page:Royal Naval Biography Marshall sp2.djvu/384

 back to England, in expectation of getting another ship to renew and complete his survey. The loss of the Porpoise is thus described by the latter officer:

“In the beginning of Aug. (1803), the Porpoise was nearly ready to sail; and two ships then lying in Sydney Cove, bound to Batavia, desired leave to accompany us through Torres’ Strait. These vere the Hon.E.I. Company’s extra-ship Bridgewater, conunanded by Edwin H. Palmer, Esq. and the ship Cato of London, commanded by Mr. John Park. The company of these ships gave me pleasure; for if we should be able to make a safe and expeditious passage through the strait with them, of which I had but little doubt, it would be a manifest proof of the advantage of the route discovered in the Investigator, and tend to bring it into general use. On the 10th, I took leave of my respected friend the Governor of New South Wales, and received his despatches for England; and Lieutenant Fowler having given a small code of signals to the Bridgwater and Cato, we sailed out of Port Jackson together, at 11 A.M., and steered north-eastward for Torres’ Strait. * * * * On the 17th at noon, we were in lat. 23° 22', long. 155° 34', and had the wind at S.E. by S. Soon after two o’clock, the Cato being some distance on our larboard quarter, made the signal for seeing land. This proved to be a dry sand bank, which bore S.S.W. about 3 leagues; and the Porpoise sailing faster than the other ships, they were directed to keep on their course whilst we hauled up to take a nearer view of the bank. At 3 o’clock, when it bore S. by E. 5 or 6 miles, we hove to and sounded, but had no bottom at 80 fathoms. The Cato’s Bank, for so it was named, is small, and seemed to be destitute of vegetation; there was an innumerable quantity of birds hovering about, and it was surrounded with breakers; but their extent seemed very little to exceed that of the bank, nor could any other reef near it be discovered. The situation was ascertained to be nearly 23° 6' S., and 155° 23' E.; and we then made sail after the Bridgewater and Cato, to take our station a-head of them as before.

“Some apprehensions were excited for the following night by meeting with this bank; but as it was more than two degrees to the eastward of the great Barrier Reefs, we thought it unconnected with any other, like the two discovered by Captain Ball and Mr. Bampton, further towards the north end of New Caledonia. I had, besides, steered for Torres’ Strait in the Investigator, from reefs several degrees to the westward, without meeting with any other danger than what lay near the Barrier, or belonged to the Strait; and by the time we had rejoined the ships in the evening, the distance run from the bank was 35 miles, and no other danger had been descried. It did not therefore seem necessary to lose a good night’s run by heaving to;, and I agreed with Lieutenant Fowler, that it would be sufficient to make the signal for the ships to run under easy working sail during the night, – to take our usual station a-head, – and to charge one of the 