commander of a Calcutta trader. It is so low that it can be discerned at only a very few miles distance, and is highly dangerous to a night navigation.
“Lieutenant Belcher was sent to ascertain the depth of water round this island, with permission to land if unattended with danger; and Mr. Collie (surgeon) accompanied him, Mr. Edward Barlow being midshipman of the boat. Pulling round the island, they came to a place where the sea appeared tolerably smooth, and where in the opinion of the officers a landing might he effected. The boat was accordingly anchored, and Messrs. Belcher and Collie prepared to land, veering her into the surf, and jumping upon the reef. They had half filled two life-preservers, with which they were provided, when Mr. Belcher observed a heavy roller rising outside the boat, and desired the crew to pull and meet it; a second rose still higher, and came with such violence that the sitters in the stern of the boat were thrown into the sea; a third, of still greater force, carried all before it, upset the boat, and rolled her over upon the reef, where she was ultimately broken to pieces. Mr. Belcher had a narrow escape, the boat being thrown upon him, the gunwale resting upon his neck and keeping him down; but the next sea extricated him, and he went to the assistance of his companions; all of whom were fortunately got upon the reef, except one young lad, who probably became entangled with the coral, and was drowned. The accident was immediately perceived from the ship, and all the boats were sent to the assistance of the survivors; but the surf rolled so furiously upon the shore as to occasion much anxiety about rescuing them. At last a small raft was constructed, and Lieutenant John Wainwright, finding no other means of getting a line to them, boldly jumped overboard, with a lead-line in his hand, and suffered himself to he thrown upon the reef. By this contrivance all the people were got off, one by one, though severely bruised and wounded by the coral and spines of the echini.
“Mr. Belcher here had another escape, by being washed off the raft, his trowsers getting entangled in the coral at the bottom of a deep chasm. Fortunately they gave way, and he rose to the surface, and by great effort swam through the breakers. Lieutenant Wainwright was the last that was hauled off. To this young officer the greatest praise is due for his bravery and exertions throughout. But for his resolution, it is very doubtful whether the party would have been relieved from their perilous situation, as the tide was rising, and the surf upon the reef momentarily increasing.”
On the 27th of Dec, Commander Beechey made Crescent Island; and on the 2nd of Jan. 1826, he took formal possession of Gambier’s Group, which had been discovered by the ship Duff, when passing to the northward, on a mission-
