Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.1): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

372 CAPE TATE FINCHAM ISLANDS. DcC. 1829. always breaks violently upon them. In crossing Otway Bay, the morning being clear, I was enabled to add considerably to what had been already learned respecting the shoi-es and dangers around it.(e) " Off Cape Tate, to the north and west, lie the College Rocks. Those nearest the Cape are also nearest the track of a ship running along the land, and half a mile west of them lies a detached and dangerous rock, under water. The sea generally breaks on it. " We had very thick weather when close to those rocks, which obliged us to ' haul our wind' for half an hour ; when, as it cleared, we steered round Cape Tate, about a mile off shore. I was in hopes of gaining an anchorage between it and the Fincham Islands, and therefore kept as near the land as I could ; but seeing numerous breakers a-head and outside of me, I altered our course, and steered to go outside of all the ixjcks. After we had passed some of them, a large bight opened out to the north-eastward, and tempted me to haul up for it. We entered the sound at noon, and stood on for nearly four miles witliout finding an anchorage, or even gaining bottom with fifty fathoms of line, altliough at tlie entrance we had from twentv to ten fathoms. Thick weather coming; on, made me very anxious to anchor somewhere, and we were now too much hampered to stand out again. We appeared to be among a multitude of islands, very near each other, yet without any anchorage between them ; therefore, having no other resource, we let go both anchors upon the end of a steep-sided islet, where one fell into seven, the other into ten fathoms water, and hooked the rocks. Veering half a cable on each, we found forty fathoms vmder the stern, with a similar rocky bottom ; so that we had the pleasant prospect of shouldering both our anchors, and drifting into deep water, with the first strong squall. During the remainder of that day, our boats were looking for better anchorage, but without success ; they found patches of rocky CeJ In Otway Bay, not far from Landfall Island, is a rock on wliieh Mr. Low found Fuegians living among a number of (apparently) tame seals. See second volume.-^R. F.