The craft that Cook was aboard charged into some coral rock, and if his vessel didn't go down, it was thanks to the circumstance that a piece of coral broke off in the collision and plugged the very hole it had made in the hull.
El barco en que navegaba Cook chocó con una roca, y si no se fue a pique se debió a la circunstancia de que el trozo de coral arrancado se incrustó en el casco entreabierto.