They Brought With Them Such A Cockle As I Have Mentioned In
My "Voyage Round The World" Found Near Celebes, And They Saw Many
More, Some Bigger Than That Which They Brought Aboard, As They Said,
And For This Reason I Named It Cockle Island.
I sent them to sound
again, ordering them to fire a musket if they found good anchoring;
we were then standing to the southward, with a fine breeze.
As soon
as they fired, I tacked and stood in; they told me they had fifty
fathom when they fired. I tacked again, and made all the sail I
could to get out, being near some rocky islands and shoals to
leeward of us. The breeze increased, and I thought we were out of
danger, but having a shoal just by us, and the wind failing again, I
ordered the boat to tow us, and by their help we got clear from it.
We had a strong tide setting to the westward.
At one o'clock, being past the shoal, and finding the tide setting
to the westward, I anchored in thirty-five fathom coarse sand, with
small coral and shells. Being nearest to Cockle Island, I
immediately sent both the boats thither, one to cut wood, and the
other to fish. At four in the afternoon, having a small breeze at
south-south-west, I made a sign for my boats to come on board. They
brought some wood, and a few small cockles, none of them exceeding
ten pounds' weight, whereas the shell of the great one weighed
seventy-eight pounds; but it was now high water, and therefore they
could get no bigger.
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