On the 13th, I found it necessary, from the very unfavourable prospect before us, to call together my own officers, and the master of the ship, and to consult upon the most eligible plan to be pursued, for enabling us to reach some port or settlement, where it might be possible to obtain some supply of provisions and water, sufficient for the relief of one hundred and twenty-one men, the number now on board this small vessel. The general opinion was, that it would be highly imprudent in the present reduced state of our provisions and water, to persevere any longer in an attempt to reach the strait of Macassar, in the face of fresh westerly winds and a strong easterly current; particularly, in a vessel so very ill constructed for working to windward; and what rendered it still more necessary to give up such an attempt in our situation was, that the master of the ship, (who had been a number of years in the Dutch service among the Molucca Islands) assured me, in the presence of some of the officers, that he did not know of any one place in our route, short of Batavia, where any supply for our numbers could be had. The quantity of provisions now on board, at half allowance, was a supply for about ten weeks, and the water at about two purser's quarts a man per day, was a supply for the same time, provided we had no leakage. We were now driven by currents, notwithstanding our utmost endeavours to get to the westward, eleven deg. of longitude, or 220 leagues farther to the eastward than the account by the ship's run; and that had happened within the last month, and between the latitudes 3 deg. 00' north, and 6 deg. 30' north. On the 13th of July we bore away to the northward, it being determined either to attempt the strait through which the Acapulco ships pass to the port of Manilla, or to go round the north end of Luconia, and endeavour to fetch Macao, in China, though we were a little doubtful about fetching the latter in so leewardly a vessel. It appeared from the winds that we then had, that the south-west monsoon at times blows very strong through the opening between the islands of Mindanao and Celebes, and reaches a considerable way to the eastward; I can with certainty say as far as 142 deg. 00' east longitude.