We sailed from Port Jackson on the 6th of March, and the wind being from the westward, we made Lord Howe's Island on the 9th, at four in the afternoon, bearing east-north-east, distant about 16 or 18 leagues. The south end of this island is two very high mountains, nearly perpendicular from the sea; those hills are the only land you see until you come within six or seven leagues, when the lower land begins to appear, extending from the foot of the mountains, northward: it was calm most of the night, with now and then a light air, with which, and an easterly set of current, which is generally found here, we were enabled to get in with the land by noon of the 10th. I made the Latitude of the southermost hill: (Mount Gower) 31 deg. 35' S. Longitude, by time-keeper, 159 deg. 10' 30" E. of Greenwich. Longitude, by distance of the sun and moon, taken at 10, A. M. 159 deg. 08' 00" E. There is a very remarkable rock, which lies about 12 or 14 miles to the southward of the island, and which is named Ball's-pyramid, and has much the appearance of a church steeple at a distance; but as you come near, it is exceedingly high and perpendicular: we passed in the evening between the island and the pyramid, and had 26 fathoms within two miles of Mount Gower, over a rocky bottom. This island I judge to be about three miles and a half long, north-north-west and south-south-east; it is very narrow across. There is anchorage on both sides of it, but the bottom is foul. On the west side there is a bay, off which lies a reef parallel to the shore, with good swatches, or passages through for boats; this reef breaks off the sea from the shore, which is a fine sandy beach, so that there is no difficulty in landing. I have observed before, that turtle are sometimes caught here, and that there are many birds upon the island. On the 13th, at two o'clock in the morning, we made Norfolk Island, which I did not expect we should have done quite so soon, but the easterly current, which is commonly found here, had been strong: we brought to till day-light, and then, as the wind was fresh from the south-west, I well knew there could be no landing in Sydney-bay, where the settlement is fixed, on account of the high surf, which southerly winds occasion, I therefore bore away, and ran round to the north-east side of the island into a bay called Cascade-bay; where, after a few days of moderate weather, and an off-shore wind, it is possible to land; but that only on one spot, which is a rock that projects some distance into the sea, and has deep water to it: on that rock I landed, on the afternoon of the 13th, all the marines, and a considerable number of the convicts, but being set to the eastward in the night, I did not land the remainder until the 15th, when they were also put on shore on the same place.