We set our sails and steered along shore by the west side of the island Tofoa, the wind blowing fresh from the eastward. My mind was employed in considering what was best to be done when I was solicited by all hands to take them towards home: and when I told them that no hopes of relief for us remained (except what might be found at New Holland) till I came to Timor, a distance of full 1200 leagues, where there was a Dutch settlement, but in what part of the island I knew not, they all agreed to live on one ounce of bread and a quarter of a pint of water per day. Therefore after examining our stock of provisions and recommending to them in the most solemn manner not to depart from their promise, we bore away across a sea where the navigation is but little known, in a small boat twenty-three feet long from stem to stern, deep laden with eighteen men. I was happy however to see that everyone seemed better satisfied with our situation than myself. Our stock of provisions consisted of about one hundred and fifty pounds of bread, twenty-eight gallons of water, twenty pounds of pork, three bottles of wine, and five quarts of rum. The difference between this and the quantity we had on leaving the ship was principally owing to our loss in the bustle and confusion of the attack. A few coconuts were in the boat and some breadfruit, but the latter was trampled to pieces. CHAPTER 15. Passage towards New Holland. Islands discovered in our Route. Our great Distresses. See the Reefs of New Holland and find a Passage through them. 1789. May. It was about eight o'clock at night when we bore away under a reefed lug fore-sail and, having divided the people into watches and got the boat in a little order, we returned God thanks for our miraculous preservation and, fully confident of his gracious support, I found my mind more at ease than it had been for some time past. Sunday 3. At daybreak the gale increased; the sun rose very fiery and red, a sure indication of a severe gale of wind. At eight it blew a violent storm and the sea ran very high, so that between the seas the sail was becalmed, and when on the top of the sea it was too much to have set: but we could not venture to take in the sail for we were in very imminent danger and distress, the sea curling over the stern of the boat, which obliged us to bale with all our might. A situation more distressing has perhaps seldom been experienced.