danger has not been previously known; or that its position is inaccurately laid down on the chart; or that the ship has been drifted out of her proper course by unknown currents. That vessels are frequently lost, through one or other of these causes, there can be no doubt, yet it is no less true, that many others owe their destruction to ignorance or inadvertence.
Although our disaster might, in like manner, be easily ascribed either to currents, erroneous charts, or recent-formed coral reefs, yet it must be confessed, that we were not entirely free from blame.—1st. We gave a reef on the larboard hand too wide a berth, and, in consequence, the fair channel being very narrow, we (assisted partly by the tide,) approached too near the reef on the starboard, off which the ship was lost.—2dly, We ought to have passed to the northward of the reef, where there was not only much more sea-room; but where, by our being between the sun and the reef, its limits and detached patches, (from the beautiful green appearance, contrasted, when viewed in such an aspect, with the dark blue of the deep water,) would have been much more easily and accurately discerned. This error was committed by our wish to avoid going round about, so that we might reach Halfway Island before the sun got too far a-head.—3dly, In such an intricate navigation, we ought not to have carried such a press of sail; for, if the ship had not been going with such velocity, it must be evident, she would not have struck with so much force, and, conse-
