A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume I Part 1

A Voyage to Terra Australis.

by Matthew Flinders.

VOL I.

PREFACE.

The publication in 1814 of a voyage commenced in 1801, and of which all the essential parts were concluded within three years, requires some explanation. Shipwreck and a long imprisonment prevented my arrival in England until the latter end of 1810; much had then been done to forward the account, and the charts in particular were nearly prepared for the engraver; but it was desirable that the astronomical observations, upon which so much depended, should undergo a re-calculation, and the lunar distances have the advantage of being compared with the observations made at the same time at Greenwich; and in July 1811, the necessary authority was obtained from the Board of Longitude. A considerable delay hence arose, and it was prolonged by the Greenwich observations being found to differ so much from the calculated places of the sun and moon, given in the Nautical Almanacks of 1801, 2 and 3, as to make considerable alterations in the longitudes of places settled during the voyage; and a reconstruction of all the charts becoming thence indispensable to accuracy, I wished also to employ in it corrections of another kind, which before had been adopted only in some particular instances.

A variety of observations with the compa.s.s had shown the magnetic needle to differ from itself sometimes as much as six, and even seven degrees, in or very near the same place, and the differences appeared to be subject to regular laws; but it was so extraordinary in the present advanced state of navigation, that they should not have been before discovered and a mode of preventing or correcting them ascertained, that my deductions, and almost the facts were distrusted; and in the first construction of the charts I had feared to deviate much from the usual practice. Application was now made to the Admiralty for experiments to be tried with the compa.s.s on board different ships; and the results in five cases being conformable to one of the three laws before deduced, which alone was susceptible of proof in England, the whole were adopted without reserve, and the variations and bearings taken throughout the voyage underwent a systematic correction. From these causes the reconstruction of the charts could not be commenced before 1813, which, when the extent of them is considered, will explain why the publication did not take place sooner; but it is hoped that the advantage in point of accuracy will amply compensate the delay.

Besides correcting the lunar distances and the variations and bearings, there are some other particulars, both in the account of the voyage and in the Atlas, where the practice of former navigators has not been strictly followed. Lat.i.tudes, longitudes, and bearings, so important to the seaman and _un_interesting to the general reader, have hitherto been interwoven in the text; they are here commonly separated from it, by which the one will be enabled to find them more readily, and the other perceive at a glance what may be pa.s.sed. I heard it declared that a man who published a quarto volume without an index ought to be set in the pillory, and being unwilling to incur the full rigour of this sentence, a running t.i.tle has been affixed to all the pages; on one side is expressed the country or coast, and on the opposite the particular part where the ship is at anchor or which is the immediate subject of examination; this, it is hoped, will answer the main purpose of an index, without swelling the volumes. Longitude is one of the most essential, but at the same time least certain _data_ in hydrography; the man of science therefore requires something more than the general result of observations before giving his unqualified a.s.sent to their accuracy, and the progress of knowledge has of late been such, that a commander now wishes to know the foundation upon which he is to rest his confidence and the safety of his ship; to comply with this laudable desire, the particular results of the observations by which the most important points on each coast are fixed in longitude, as also the means used to obtain them, are given at the end of the volume wherein that coast is described., as being there of most easy reference.

The deviations in the Atlas from former practice, or rather the additional marks used, are intended to make the charts contain as full a journal of the voyage as can be conveyed in this form; a chart is the seaman's great, and often sole guide, and if the information in it can be rendered more complete without introducing confusion, the advantage will be admitted by those who are not opposers of all improvement. In closely following a track laid down upon a chart, seamen often run at night, unsuspicious of danger if none be marked; but some parts of that track were run in the night also, and there may consequently be rocks or shoals, as near even as half a mile, which might prove fatal to them; it therefore seems proper that night tracks should be distinguished from those of the day, and they are so in this Atlas, I believe, for the first time. A distinction is made between the situations at noon where the lat.i.tude was observed, and those in which none could be obtained; and the positions fixed in longitude by the time keepers are also marked in the track, as are the few points where a lat.i.tude was obtained from the moon.

It has appeared to me, that to show the direction and strength of the winds, with the kind of weather we had when running along these coasts, would be an useful addition to the charts; not only as it would enable those who may navigate by them alone to form a judgment of what is to be expected at the same season, but also that it may be seen how far circ.u.mstances prevented several parts of the coast being laid down so correctly as others. This has been done by single arrows, wherever they could be marked without confusion; they are more or less feathered, proportionate to the strength of wind intended to be expressed, and the arrows themselves give the direction. Under each is a short or abridged word, denoting the weather; when this weather prevailed in a more than usual degree a line is drawn under the word, and when in an excessive degree there are two lines. Single arrows being thus appropriated to the winds, the tides and currents are shown by double arrows, between which is usually marked the rate per hour.

On the land, the shading of the hills gives a general idea of their elevation, and it has been a.s.sisted by saying how far particular hills and capes are visible from a ship's deck in fine weather; this will be useful to a seaman on first making the land, be a better criterion to judge of its height, and those hills not so marked may be more nearly estimated by comparison. Behind different parts of the coast is given a short description of their appearance, which it is conceived will be gratifying to scientific, and useful to professional men. The capes and hills whose positions are fixed by cross bearings taken on sh.o.r.e or from well ascertained points in the track, as also the stations whence bearings were observed with a theodolite, have distinguishing marks; which, with all others not before in common use, are explained on the General Chart, Plate I.

To have laid down no more than the lands and dangers seen in the Investigator and other vessels under my command, would have left several open s.p.a.ces, and obliged the seaman to have recourse to other charts where the difference of positions might have perplexed; the discoveries and examinations of former navigators which come within the sphere of each sheet, are therefore incorporated with, or added to mine, but so marked as to be distinctly known. In making the combination, alterations in their longitudes were frequently necessary to agreement; and that they might be made with every regard to accuracy, the charts of the former discoveries were compared with the astronomical observations, narratives, or ma.n.u.script journals, when such could be had, and the alterations introduced where there seemed to be the best authority. This has been done with the charts of the east coast of New South Wales, published by Mr. Dalrymple from the ma.n.u.scripts, as it should appear, of captain Cook; and since it may be thought presumptuous in me to have made alterations in any work of so great a master, this case is selected for a more particular explanation.

Time keepers were in their infancy in 1768, when captain Cook sailed upon his first voyage, and he was not then furnished with them; his longitude was therefore regulated only by occasional observations of lunar distances and some few of Jupiter's satellites, which even in the present improved state of instruments and tables, require to be connected by time keepers before satisfactory conclusions can be drawn. Errors of greater or less magnitude were thence unavoidable; at Cape Gloucester, where I quitted the East Coast, my longitude was 20' greater than captain Cook's chart--at Cape York where the survey was again resumed, it was 58; and to incorporate the intermediate parts, it was necessary not only to carry his scale of longitude 20' more west, but also to reduce the extent of the coast. The chart was compared with the narrative and chart in Hawkesworth, and the log book of the Endeavour with them all; when it was found that reductions might be made in various places upon one or more of the above authorities, for differences between them were frequent and sometimes considerable, and in one instance alone a reduction of 12' in the chart was obtained. It is said in Hawkesworth (III, 202), "As soon as we got within side the reef (through Providential Channel) we anch.o.r.ed in nineteen fathom;" and afterwards (p. 204), that the channel, "bore E. N.

E. distant ten or twelve miles." In the first chart the distance is 14 miles, and nearly the same in that which accompanies the narrative; but in the log book it is said to be 2 miles only, which corresponds with having anch.o.r.ed as soon as they got within the reef, and has been adopted. In some cases it was not easy to make a choice between these different authorities; but I have commonly followed the narrative and log book when they were found to specify with precision, and they generally produced such corrections to the chart as brought the longitudes of places nearer to my positions. Captain Cook's track in Plates XI. XII.

and XIII. is laid down afresh from the log book; and many soundings, with some other useful particulars not to be found in the original chart, are introduced, for the benefit of any navigator who may follow the same route.

The reconstruction of the charts in the Atlas was done upon various scales, but that no error might escape unseen, the least was of _ten_ inches to a degree of longitude; they were then reduced by Mr. Thomas Arrowsmith to four inches, this being thought sufficiently large for a general sailing scale; and each reduced sheet was scrupulously compared by me with the original before it went into the engravers hands, and the proof impressions with the drawing until no errors were found. To those who may read this voyage with a view to geographical information, a frequent reference to the Atlas is earnestly recommended; for many particulars are there marked which it would have been tedious to describe, and should any thing appear obscure in the narrative the charts will generally afford an elucidation.

From the general tenour of the explanations here given, it will perhaps be inferred that the perfection of the Atlas has been the princ.i.p.al object of concern; in fact, having no pretension to authorship, the writing of the narrative, though by much the most troublesome part of my labour, was not that upon which any hope of reputation was founded; a polished style was therefore not attempted, but some pains have been taken to render it clearly intelligible. The first quire of my ma.n.u.script was submitted to the judgment of a few literary friends, and I hope to have profited by the corrections they had the kindness to make; but finding these to bear more upon redundancies than inaccuracy of expression, I determined to confide in the indulgence of the public, endeavour to improve as the work advanced, and give my friends no further trouble. Matter, rather than manner, was the object of my anxiety; and if the reader shall be satisfied with the selection and arrangement, and not think the information dest.i.tute of such interest as might be expected from the subject, the utmost of my hopes will be accomplished.

N.B. Throughout this narrative _the variation has been allowed upon the bearings, and also in the direction of winds, tides, etc._; the whole are therefore to be considered with reference to the true poles of the earth, unless it be otherwise particularly expressed; and perhaps in some few cases of the ship's head when variations are taken, where the expression _by compa.s.s_, or _magnetic_, may have been omitted.

A VOYAGE TO TERRA AUSTRALIS VOLUME I

INTRODUCTION.

The voyages which had been made, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, by Dutch and by English navigators, had successively brought to light various extensive coasts in the southern hemisphere, which were thought to be united; and to comprise a land, which must be nearly equal in magnitude to the whole of Europe. To this land, though known to be separated from all other great portions of the globe, geographers were disposed to give the appellation of Continent: but doubts still existed, of the continuity of its widely extended sh.o.r.es; and it was urged, that, as our knowledge of some parts was not founded upon well authenticated information, and we were in total ignorance of some others, these coasts might, instead of forming one great land, be no other than parts of different large islands.

The establishment, in 1788, of a British colony on the easternmost, and last discovered, of these new regions, had added that degree of interest to the question of their continuity, which a mother country takes in favour, even, of her outcast children, to know the form, extent, and general nature of the land, where they may be placed. The question had, therefore, ceased to be one in which geography was alone concerned: it claimed the paternal consideration of the father of all his people, and the interests of the national commerce seconded the call for investigation.

Accordingly, the following voyage was undertaken by command of HIS MAJESTY, in the year 1801; in a ship of 334 tons, which received the appropriate name of the INVESTIGATOR; and, besides great objects of clearing up the doubt respecting the unity of these southern regions, and of opening therein fresh sources to commerce, and new ports to seamen, it was intended, that the voyage should contribute to the advancement of natural knowledge in various branches; and that some parts of the neighbouring seas should he visited, wherein geography and navigation had still much to desire.

The vast regions to which this voyage was princ.i.p.ally directed, comprehend, in the western part, the early discoveries of the Dutch, under the name of NEW HOLLAND; and in the east, the coasts explored by British navigators, and named NEW SOUTH WALES. It has not, however, been unusual to apply the first appellation to both regions; but to continue this, would be almost as great an injustice to the British nation, whose seamen have had so large a share in the discovery, as it would be to the Dutch, were New South Wales to be so extended. This appears to have been felt by a neighbouring, and even rival, nation; whose writers commonly speak of these countries under the general term of _Terres Australes_. In fact, the original name, used by the Dutch themselves until some time after Tasman's second voyage, in 1644, was _Terra Australis_, or _Great South Land_; and when it was displaced by New Holland, the new term was applied only to the parts lying _westward_ of a meridian line, pa.s.sing through Arnhem's Land on the north., and near the isles of St. Francis and St. Peter, on the south: all to the eastward, including the sh.o.r.es of the Gulph of Carpentaria, still remained as Terra Australis. This appears from a chart published by THEVENOT, in 1663; which, he says, "was originally taken from that done in inlaid work, upon the pavement of the new Stadt-House at Amsterdam." * The same thing is to be inferred from the notes of Burgomaster WITSEN, in 1705; of which there will be occasion to speak in the sequel.

[* "La carte que l'on a mise icy, tire sa premiere origine de celle que l'on a fait tailler de pieces rapportees, sur le pave de la nouvelle Maison-de-Ville d'Amsterdam." _Relations de divers Voyages curieux._--Avis.]

It is necessary, however, to geographical precision, that so soon as New Holland and New South Wales were known to form one land, there should be a general name applicable to the whole; and this essential point having been ascertained in the present voyage, with a degree of certainty sufficient to authorise the measure, I have, with the concurrence of opinions ent.i.tled to deference, ventured upon the re-adoption of the _original_ TERRA AUSTRALIS; and of this term I shall hereafter make use, when speaking of New Holland and New South Wales, in a collective sense; and when using it in the most extensive signification, the adjacent isles, including that of Van Diemen, must be understood to be comprehended.

There is no probability, that any other detached body of land, of nearly equal extent, will ever be found in a more southern lat.i.tude; the name Terra Australis will, therefore, remain descriptive of the geographical importance of this country, and of its situation on the globe: it has antiquity to recommend it; and, having no reference to either of the two claiming nations, appears to be less objectionable than any other which could have been selected.*

[* Had I permitted myself any innovation upon the original term, it would have been to convert it into AUSTRALIA; as being more agreeable to the ear, and an a.s.similation to the names of the other great portions of the earth.]

In dividing New South Wales from New Holland, I have been guided by the British patent to the first governor of the new colony, at Port Jackson.

In this patent, a meridian, nearly corresponding to the ancient line of separation, between New Holland and Terra Australis, has been made the western limit of New South Wales; and is fixed at the longitude of 135 east, from the meridian of Greenwich. From hence, the British territory extends eastward, to the islands of the _Pacific_, or _Great Ocean_: its northern limit is at _Cape York_; and the extremity of the southern _Van Diemen's Land_, is its opposite boundary.

The various discoveries which had been made upon the coasts of Terra Australis, antecedently to the present voyage, are of dates as widely distant, as are the degrees of confidence to which they are respectively ent.i.tled; the accounts, also, lie scattered through various books in different languages; and many are still in ma.n.u.script. It has, therefore, been judged, that a succinct history of these discoveries would be acceptable to the public; and would form an appropriate introduction to a voyage, whose princ.i.p.al object was to complete what they had left unfinished. Such a history will not only, it is hoped, be found interesting, but, from the occasions it will furnish to point out what remained to be done at the beginning of the nineteenth century, will satisfy a question which may be asked: Why it should have been thought necessary to send another expedition to explore the coasts of a country, concerning which it has been said, near thirty years ago--"It is no longer a doubt, that we have now a full knowledge of the whole circ.u.mference of this vast body of land, this fifth part of the world." *

An expression, which the learned writer could have intended to apply only to the general extent of the new continent, and not to the particular formation of every part of the coasts; since the chart, which accompanies the voyage of which he was writing the introduction, represents much of the south coast, as being totally unknown.

[* _Cook's third Voyage_, Introduction. p. xv.]

In tracing a historical sketch of the previous discoveries, I shall not dwell upon such as depend upon conjecture and probability, but come speedily to those, for which there are authentic doc.u.ments. In this latter, and solely important, cla.s.s, the articles extracted from voyages, which are in the hands of the public, will be abridged to their leading heads; and the reader referred, for the details, to the original works; but in such articles as have either not appeared before, or but very imperfectly, in an English dress, as also in those extracted from unpublished ma.n.u.scripts, a wider range will be taken: in these, so far as the doc.u.ments go, on the one hand, and the limits of an introduction can allow, on the other, no interesting fact will be omitted.

Conformably to this plan, no attempt will be made to investigate the claims of the _Chinese_ to the earliest knowledge of Terra Australis; which some, from the chart of _Marco Polo_, have thought they possessed.

Nor yet will much be said upon the plea advanced by the Abbe PReVOST,*

and after him by the President DEBROSSES,** in favour of _Paulmier de Gonneville_, a French captain; for whom they claim the honour of having discovered Terra Australis, in 1504. It is evident from the proofs they adduce, that it was not to any part of this country, but to Madagascar, that Gonneville was driven; and from whence he brought his prince Essomeric, to Normandy.

[* _Histoire generale des Voyages_. Tome XVI. (a la Haye) p. 7-14.]

[** _Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes_. Tome I. p. 102-120.]

Within these few years, however, two curious ma.n.u.script charts have been brought to light; which have favoured an opinion, that Terra Australis had really been visited by Europeans, nearly a century before any authentic accounts speak of its discovery. One of these charts is in French, without date; and from its almost exact similitude, is probably either the original, or a copy of the other, which is in English; and bears, with the date 1542, a dedication to the KING OF ENGLAND.* In it, an extensive country is marked to the southward of the Moluccas, under the name of GREAT JAVA; which agrees nearer with the position and extent of Terra Australis, than with any other land; and the direction given to some parts of the coast, approaches too near to the truth, for the whole to have been marked from conjecture alone. But, combining this with the exaggerated extent of Great Java in a southern direction, and the animals and houses painted upon the sh.o.r.es, such as have not been any where seen in Terra Australis, it should appear to have been partly formed from vague information, collected, probably, by the early Portuguese navigators, from the eastern nations; and that conjecture has done the rest. It may, at the same time, be admitted, that a part of the west and north-west coasts, where the coincidence of form is most striking, might have been seen by the Portuguese themselves, before the year 1540, in their voyages to, and from, India.

[* A more particular account of these charts, now in the _British Museum_, will be found in Captain Burney's "_History of Discoveries in the South Sea_." Vol. I. p. 379-383. An opinion is there expressed concerning the early discoveries in these regions, which is ent.i.tled to respectful attention.]

But quitting those claims to original discovery, in which conjecture bears so large a share, we come to such as are supported by undeniable doc.u.ments. Before entering upon these, it is proper to premise, that, instead of following precisely the order of time, these discoveries will be cla.s.sed under the heads of the different coasts upon which they were made: an arrangement which will obviate the confusion that would arise from being carried back from one coast to another, as must, of necessity, be the case, were the chronological order to be strictly followed.

The discoveries made in Terra Australis, _prior to the Investigator's voyage_, will, therefore, be divided into four Sections, under the following heads: 1. The NORTH COAST; 2. The WESTERN COASTS; 3. The SOUTH COAST; and, 4. The EAST COAST with VAN DIEMEN'S LAND. But the articles in the fourth Section, being numerous and more extensive, will be divided into two parts: PART I. will contain the early discoveries, and such of the later, as were made independently of the British colony in New South Wales; and PART II. those which were made in vessels sent from that colony; and which may be considered as a consequence of its establishment.

PRIOR DISCOVERIES IN TERRA AUSTRALIS.

SECTION I.

NORTH COAST.

Preliminary Remarks: Discoveries of the Duyfhen; of Torres; Carstens; Pool; Pietersen; Tasman; and of three Dutch vessels.

Of Cook; M'Cluer; Bligh; Edwards; Bligh and Portlock; and Bampton and Alt.

Conclusive Remarks.

PRELIMINARY REMARKS

The late Hydrographer to the Admiralty, ALEXANDER DALRYMPLE, Esq., in his curious _Collection concerning_ PAPUA, published, with a translation, a paper which furnishes more regular and authentic accounts of the early Dutch discoveries in the East, than any thing with which the public was before acquainted. This interesting paper was procured by the Right Hon.

Sir Joseph Banks; and is a copy of the instructions to commodore ABEL JANSZ TASMAN, for his _second_ voyage of discovery: It is dated January 29, 1644, from the _Castle of Batavia_, and signed by the governor-general ANTONIO VAN DIEMEN, and by _Vander Lyn_, _Maatsuyker_, _Schouten_, and _Sweers_, members of the council. The instructions are prefaced with a recital, in chronological order, of the previous discoveries of the Dutch, whether made from accident or design, in NOVA GUINEA, and the _Great_ SOUTH LAND; and from this account, combined with a pa.s.sage from Saris,* it appears, that--

THE DUYFHEN. 1606.