At noon we were in latitude 27 degrees 5 minutes 18 seconds.

At one o'clock the depth was forty-five fathoms fine gray sand.

No land was seen during the rest of the day; for although the sky was beautifully clear and serene, the atmosphere for fifteen degrees above the horizon was enveloped in a thick hazy mist that caused an extraordinary dampness in the air, and from the unfavourable state of the weather we did not attempt to make it again.
January 20.
The next morning we saw that part of Dirk Hartog's Island which lies in 25 degrees 56 minutes, and when we had reached within four miles of the shore steered to the northward parallel to the beach, but the haze was still so great as to render the land very indistinct.

We saw enough of it however to be convinced of its perfect sterility.

The coast is lined with a barrier of rocks on which the sea was breaking high with a roar that was heard on board although our distance from the shore was at least three miles.
The warmth of the weather now began rapidly to increase; the thermometer at noon ranged as high as 79 degrees.
At one o'clock Cape Inscription, the north-westernmost point of Dirk Hartog's Island, was distinguished and the sea-breeze veered as far as South-West by West, which was two points more westerly than we had hitherto had it.