Captain Cheap was ſhipwrecked there, I was diſcouraged from paying any further attention to it. The inlet, which was the object of my ſearch, is not a mile wide; a ſpace, which can be diſcerned, but on a very near approach. The Anna Pink did not ſee it, until ſhe was within a mile or two of the rocks and breakers, among which it lies; and although they may ſhew themſelves, the depth of water is ſo great in the bay, that when found, no whaler will attempt to make it, becauſe he cannot truſt to his anchors. I tried for ſounding ſeveral times off Wager Iſle, but got no bottom; neither was the colour of the water ſo much changed here, as the day before we made the land.
By the Anna Pinks ſuppoſed Latitude of that place, and my own obſervations, I have no doubt, as was conjectured, at the time, that the crew of the Wager heard the Anna Pinks guns; and that ſhe lay under the main to the Eaſt of Wager Iſland[1]. If the deſign propoſed by Captain Cheap had been adopted, of coaſting in the boats, it is more than probable that it would have ſucceeded; and the well-known diſtreſſes of that officer and his crew would then have been avoided. The many eſcapes and voyages which, from ſhipwreck, views of gain, and other cauſes, have been made and performed in boats within theſe few years,
- ↑ The Anna Pink was a victualler belonging to Lord Anſon's ſquadron, and driven into this port in diſtreſs.
