Moderate breezes and Hazey upon the Land. Stood in for the Shore South-West 1/2 West. Depth of water from 10 to 9 fathoms and from 9 to 16 fathoms, being then 4 Leagues from the Land. From 16 fathoms it shoalded gradually to 5 fathoms; then we tacked, being about 1 ½ Leagues from the Shore. The extreams of the Land to the Southward, which we took for Cape St. Thomas, bore South 3/4 West, distance 4 leagues.
Joseph Banks Journal
Wind more moderate this morn; we stood in with the land and made it nearly in the same place as we left it last night, our soundings being from 15 to 10 fathoms.
After dinner the wind came more to the Eastward and freshend, and little peices of Seaweed now came floating by the ship which we took and it provd to be Sargaso fucus natans, which is generaly supposd to increase upon the surface of the sea in the same manner as duck weed Lemna does on fresh water without having any root; this however plainly shewd that it had been rooted in the Coral rock on the bottom, as two specimens particularly had large lumps of the coral still adhering to their bottoms. Among the weed we got were some few animals but scarcely worth mentioning, one Balistes but quite a fry so young that it was impossible to referr it to its species; a worm also was in it which provd to be Neireis pelagica.
In the course of this night we ran over a small bank on which the water suddenly shoald to 7 fathom and kept thereabouts for some time, it however deepend gradualy.
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