I accordingly bore down toward the Dutch ship, which, soon after, came to an anchor to the eastward; when the wind slackening, and the current still setting very strong through the Strait to the S.W., we found it impossible to fetch her, and having therefore got as near her as the tide would permit, we also dropt anchor. I immediately dispatched Mr Williamson in the cutter with orders to get on board her, if possible; but as she lay near a mile off, and, the tide ran with great rapidity, we soon perceived that the boat was dropping fast astern. We therefore made the signal to return, and immediately began to veer away the cable, and sent out a buoy astern, in order to assist him in getting on board again. Our poverty, in the article of cordage, was here very conspicuous; for we had not a single coil of rope in the store-room to fix the buoy, but were obliged to set about unreeving the studding-sail geer, the topsail-halliards and tackle-falls for that purpose; and the boat was at this time driving to the southward so fast, that it was not before we had veered away two cables, and almost all our running-rigging, that she could fetch the buoy. I was under the necessity of waiting till the strength of the tide should abate, which did not happen till the next morning, when Mr Williamson got on board the ship, and learnt that she had been seven months from Europe, and three from the Cape of Good Hope; that before she sailed, France and Spain had declared war against Great Britain; and that she left Sir Edward Hughes, with a squadron of men of war, and a fleet of East India ships, at the Cape. Mr Williamson having at the same time been informed, that the water at Cracatoa was very good, and always preferred by the Dutch ships to that of Prince's Island, I resolved to rejoin the Resolution at the former place; and a fair breeze springing up, we weighed and stood over toward the island, where we soon after saw her at anchor; but the wind falling, and the tide setting strong against us, I was obliged to drop anchor, at the distance of about five miles from the Resolution, and immediately sent a boat on board, to acquaint Captain Gore with the intelligence we had received. As soon as the Resolution saw us preparing to come to, she fired her guns, and hoisted an English jack at the ensign staff, the signal at sea to lead a-head. This we afterward understood was intended to prevent our anchoring, on account of the foul ground, which the maps she had on board placed here. However, as we found none, having a muddy bottom, and good holding ground, in sixty fathoms water, we kept fast till the return of the boat, which brought orders to proceed the next morning to Prince's Island. We were at this time two miles distant from the shore; the Peak of Cracatoa bore N.W. by N.; Bantam Point E.N.E. 1/2 E.; Prince's Island S.W. by W.