Should it be night time or thick weather,
and you have sighted Cape Willoughby at the entrance after passing that
Cape, steer north-west fifteen miles, and you may lay to or run up
north-east by east under snug sail until daylight. There are four rocks
at the entrance of this passage, called the Pages; with a beating wind,
you may pass on either side of them, but with a leading wind there is no
necessity to approach them at all, as it is best to pass close round Cape
Willoughby. Should the wind be so strong that a vessel could not carry
sufficient canvas to fetch through the passage, it would be better for a
stranger to stand out to the southward, rather than attempt to run into
Encounter Bay. The anchorage in Encounter Bay is close round Granite
Island, where a vessel may lay sheltered from all winds, save from
south-east. There are several good anchorages where a vessel may run to,
should she be caught in a gale of wind in Bass' Straits: one behind
Wilson's Promontory, the corner inlet of Flinders; another in Western
Port; two under King's Island, besides several on the Van Diemen's Land
side, as Circular Head, George Town, Preservation Island, &c., the whole
of which may be attained by a proper consideration of the chart; but it
is always better, provided a vessel has sufficient sea room, to keep at
sea than to run for an anchorage, as the sea will seldom hurt a good ship
properly managed, and she is always ready to take advantage of any change
that may take place.
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