A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume II Part 16

FRIDAY 3 DECEMBER 1802

At daylight, the piece of hilly land before judged to be an island, and which still appeared so, bore N. 86 to 28 W., two or three miles, with some nearer rocks lying in front; the northern land extended from behind it to N. 32 E., and we followed its course at the distance of five, and from that to two miles off sh.o.r.e. At noon we approached the eastern extremity, and saw a small island two leagues further out, one of three laid down in the old chart near Cape Van Diemen; it is thickly covered with wood, princ.i.p.ally of that softish, white kind, whence it obtained the name of _Isle Pisonia_. Another and a larger island afterwards opened from the cape; but this could not be one of the three, for it lies so close, that Tasman, or whoever discovered these parts, would scarcely have observed the separation; and in fact, the other two isles presently came in sight to the southward, nearly in the situation a.s.signed to them.

The wind being unfavourable to doubling the cape, we bore away for the two islands; and soon after four o'clock, anch.o.r.ed on the south-east side of the outermost, in 6 fathoms, good holding ground.

Turtle tracks were distinguished on the beach as we rounded the north-east point, and afforded us the pleasurable antic.i.p.ation of some fresh food. We had explored tropical coasts for several months, without reaping any one of the advantages usually attending it, and been frequently tantalized with the sight of turtle in the water, and of bones and sh.e.l.ls round the fire places on sh.o.r.e; but we now hoped to have found a place where the Indians had not forestalled us, and to indemnify ourselves for so many disappointments.

In rowing to the Island, we carried 5 fathoms nearly close to the beach.

Several turtle were swimming about, and some perceived above high-water mark, which we ran to secure, but found them dead, and rotten; they appeared to have fallen on their backs in climbing up a steep part of the beach, and not being able to right themselves, had miserably perished. I walked the greater part of the length of the island; and from the highest hillock set the eastern extreme of the island close to Cape Van Diemen, at N. 34 W., and Isle Pisonia from N. 22 to 19 W.

During my absence from the boat, the impatient crew, not waiting for the turtle to come on sh.o.r.e, had been attacking them in the water; and had caught three large ones, and broken my harpoon. They had also been scratching out some of the holes, of which the upper part of the sandy beach was full; from one they filled a hat with turtles eggs, and from another took a swarm of young ones, not broader than a crown piece, which I found crawling in every part of the boat. It was then past sunset, and numbers of turtle were collected, waiting only for our departure to take the beach; I therefore hastened to the ship, and sent lieutenant Fowler with a party of men, to remain all night and turn them.

SAt.u.r.dAY 4 DECEMBER 1802

Next morning, two boats went to bring off the officer and people with what had been caught; but their success had been so great, that it was necessary to hoist out the launch; and it took nearly the whole day to get on board what the decks and holds could contain, without impediment to the working of the ship. They were found by Mr. Brown to be nearly similar to, but not exactly the true green turtle, and he thought might be an undescribed species. We contrived to stow away forty-six, the least of them weighing 250 lbs, and the average about 300; besides which, many were re-turned on sh.o.r.e, and suffered to go away.

This _Bountiful Island_, for so I termed it, is near three miles long, and generally low and sandy; the highest parts are ridges of sand, overspread with a long, creeping, coa.r.s.e gra.s.s, which binds the sand together, and preserves it from being blown away; gra.s.s of the common kind grows in the lower parts, and in one place there were some bushes and small trees. The basis consists partly of a streaked, ochrous earth, and in part of sand, concreted with particles of iron ore. Nothing bespoke this island to have been ever before visited, whence it is probable that the natives of the neighbouring lands do not possess canoes; for with them, the distance of four leagues from Cape Van Diemen would not have been too great to be pa.s.sed, though too far in a tide's way for such rafts as I saw at Horse-shoe Island.

A kind of bustard, with a very strong bill, and not larger than a hen, was numerous at Bountiful Island; and appeared to subsist upon the young turtle. The effect of instinct is admirable in all cases, and was very striking in these little amphibious creatures. When scratched out from their holes, they no sooner saw the day light than they made for the water, and with speed, as if conscious that the bustards were watching them; when placed in a direction from the sea, which was done for experiment, they turned themselves and took the straightest course to the water side. But it is not only in the bustards, nor on land alone, that they have enemies to fear; tiger sharks were numerous. and so voracious, that seven were hooked along-side the ship, measuring from five to nine feet in length. These were ready to receive such of the little animals as escape their first enemies; and even one of the full grown turtle had lost a semi circular piece, equal to the tenth part of its bulk, which had been bitten out of its side; and what seemed more extraordinary, the sh.e.l.l had closed, and the place was healed up. Were it not for the immense destruction made of these animals in the different stages of their existence, and that food must in the end fail, their fecundity is such, that all the tropical seas and sh.o.r.es would scarcely afford room for them in a few years. The number of eggs found in the females, and there were few, if any males amongst the forty-six taken here, usually ran from four to seven hundred; and in one weighing 459 lbs, taken earlier in the following season, the number of eggs counted was 1940, as recorded in lieutenant Fowler's journal; but many were not bigger, some not so large as peas. They seem to lay from twenty to a hundred eggs at once, and this is done many times in the season; after which they go very little on sh.o.r.e. In Terra Australis, the season appears to commence in August, and to terminate in January or February.

The _lat.i.tude_ of our anchorage, one mile from the south-east side of Bountiful Island, was 16 41' south. Lieutenant Flinders observed six sets of lunar distances, which gave 139 46' 18" east _longitude_; but the time keeper No. 543 made it 14' east of Inspection Hill, or in 139 59'. The _variation_ of the compa.s.s, from azimuth and amplitude observed with the ship's head in the magnetic meridian, was 3 46' east; and at my station on sh.o.r.e, an amplitude with the theodolite gave 3 47' east. From a little past ten in the morning to eleven at night, the _tide_ ran half a mile an hour to the S. W., and N. E. during the remainder of the twenty-four hours; the first, which seemed to be the flood, was only three hours after the moon, above six hours earlier than in the Investigator's Road; but the time of high water by the sh.o.r.e might be very different: no greater rise than five feet was perceivable by the lead line.

SUNDAY 5 DECEMBER 1802

In the morning of the 5th, we quitted Bountiful Island to resume our examination at Cape Van Diemen; and the weather being rainy, with thunder and lightning, and the wind fresh at N. N. E., we pa.s.sed round the smaller island, two miles to the southwest, before hauling to the northward. At ten o'clock, Cape Van Diemen was distant three miles, and we tacked to the east; and from that time till evening, continued to work up between the cape and a shoal lying two leagues from it to the E. S. E.

This shoal is a narrow ridge of sand, over which we had pa.s.sed in going to Bountiful Island; but there were now breakers upon a more southern part. It seems to be formed by different sets of tide amongst the islands, and to be steep to; for in pa.s.sing over, the soundings had been 13, 4, 5, 7, 11 fathoms, almost as quick as the lead could be heaved. At dusk the wind had gone down, and the anchor was dropped in 6 fathoms, sand and sh.e.l.ls, in the following situation.

C. Van Diemen, the S. E. extreme, dist. 3 miles, S. 75 W.

The island close to it, N. 57 to 21 W.

Isle Pisonia, distant 3 miles, N. 55 to 61 E.

Bountiful I., station on the green hillock, S. 40 E.

That part of Cape Van Diemen above set, is in lat.i.tude 16 32' south, and longitude 139 49 east.

The tide here set N. N. E. and S. S. W., between the island close to the cape and Isle Pisonia; and at daylight [MONDAY 6 DECEMBER 1802] we steered for the middle of the opening. On seeing breakers ahead, the master was sent in the whale boat to sound, and we kept more westward, after him. There were natives upon the island nearest to the land, who seemed to wait in expectation of being visited; but our soundings diminishing to 3 fathoms, and the master having still less, we stood out and were followed by the boat. The wind was then at N. E.; and Isle Pisonia being brought to bear N. W. at nine o'clock, we tacked and weathered it nearly a mile, carrying from 9 to 13 fathoms water. Turtle tracks were very distinguishable upon the beach, but these prognostics, once so much desired, did not now interest us; however, on the wind becoming so light that we could not weather some breakers whilst the lee tide was running, the stream, anchor was dropped in 9 fathoms, and I went to the island with the botanical gentlemen.

More holes were scratched in the sand here by the turtle, than even upon the island last quitted; and several of the poor animals were lying dead on their backs. The isle is nothing more than a high sand bank upon a basis of coral rock, which has become thickly covered with wood, and much resembles several of the smaller isles in Torres' Strait. There was no trace of former visitors, though it is not more than four miles from the island where Indians had been seen in the morning; the tides probably run too strong in a narrow, four-fathom channel, close to Isle Pisonia, to be encountered by their rafts.

TUESDAY 7 DECEMBER 1802

Next morning, the wind was at N. E.; and after weathering a reef which runs out three miles from the island under Cape Van Diemen, we closed in with the land, and steered westward along it with soundings from 9 to 4 fathoms. A low head with white cliffs was pa.s.sed at nine o'clock, and proved to be the northernmost point of this land; beyond it the coast extended W. by S., in a long sandy beach, and the country was better clothed with trees than on the south side. At noon we came abreast of a low woody point, with a shoal running off, where the coast took a south-west direction; and our situation and bearings were then as under:

Lat.i.tude, observed to the north., 16 26'

Longitude, from time keeper and bearings, 139 25 Cliffy north head of this land, N. 86 E.

Woody shoal point, distant two miles, S. 35 E.

Furthest southern extreme, S. 29 W.

Islet from the mast head, distant 3 leagues, North.

From one o'clock till four, we steered S. S. W. past three other small cliffy projections; and I then saw the clump of high trees on the south-west point of this land, bearing S. 31 E. six miles, the same which had been set five days before from the inner side. Our course was continued, to get in with the main land; but in half an hour the depth had diminished to 2 fathoms, and obliged us to haul out W. by N., close to the wind. The low main coast was then in sight from the mast head to the south-westward, and at dusk we anch.o.r.ed about three leagues off, in 5 fathoms, sandy bottom.

No doubt remained that the land of Cape Van Diemen was an island; for it had been circ.u.mnavigated, with the exception of about three leagues, which the rocks and shoal water made impracticable. Its extent is considerable, being thirty-five miles long, and the circ.u.mference near ninety, independently of the smaller sinuosities in the coast; I did not land upon any part, but the surface appeared to be more rocky than sandy; and judging from the bushes and trees with which it is mostly covered, there must be some portion, though perhaps a small one, of vegetable soil. In any other part of the world, this would be deemed low land; but here, where even the tops of the trees on the main scarcely exceed a ship's mast head in elevation, it must be called moderately high; for it may in some parts, reach three hundred feet. Several smokes and some natives were seen, and it is reasonable to suppose there are fixed inhabitants, but their number is probably small.

Had not the name of Van Diemen so often occurred in Terra Australis, as to make confusion, I should have extended it from the cape to the whole island; but such being the case, I have taken this opportunity of indulging my grat.i.tude to a n.o.bleman of high character and consideration; who, when governor-general of British India, humanely used his efforts to relieve me from an imprisonment which was super-added to a shipwreck in the sequel of the voyage. This large island is therefore distinguished by the name of _Isle Mornington_; and to the whole of the group, now discovered to exist at the head of the Gulph of Carpentaria, I have given the appellation of WELLESLEY'S ISLANDS.

WEDNESDAY 8 DECEMBER 1802

In the morning of the 8th, the wind was light from the southward, and unfavourable for closing in with the main land; but a water spout brought the wind up from north-east, and obliged us to double reef the top sails.

At noon the squalls had mostly pa.s.sed over, and the sh.o.r.e, which then extended from S. E. by S. to W. S. W., was distant five miles in the nearest part; our lat.i.tude being then 16 42' south, and longitude 138 49' east. We continued to steer westward till five o'clock, at nearly the same distance from the land, and in soundings between 5 and 3 fathoms; the wind then drew forward, and the trending of the sh.o.r.e being W. N. W., we could barely lie along it. At seven, tacked for deeper water; and in half an hour anch.o.r.ed in 4 fathoms, sand and sh.e.l.ls, the land being distant five or six miles, and the furthest extreme from the mast head bearing N. 70 W. A meridian alt.i.tude of the star _Achernar_ gave the lat.i.tude 16 39 2/3'; and from the sun's western amplitude the variation was 4 10', with the ship's head N. W., or 2 37' east, corrected to the meridian.

The main land, from Wellesley's Islands to this anchorage, is of the same description as that along which we had previously sailed a hundred and ninety leagues, being a very low, woody country, fronted by a sandy beach; there are some slight wavings in the sh.o.r.e, but so slight, that not any part of it could be set twice. This tedious uniformity began, however, to be somewhat broken; for a range of low hills was perceived at three or four leagues inland, and the sinuosities of the sh.o.r.e were becoming more distinguishable: two smokes were seen during the day.

THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER 1802

Our progress next morning was very little, until the sea breeze set in; and we were then obliged, from the more northern trending of the coast, to keep up to the wind. The soundings varied between 6 and 3 fathoms; and at five in the evening diminished rather suddenly to 2, on a rocky bottom, two or three miles from the land. We then tacked, and worked to windward till dark, when the anchor was dropped in 4 fathoms upon rocky ground covered with mud; but as there was little wind and no sea, the anchor held. The observed lat.i.tude here, from the moon, was 16 28', and longitude by time keeper 138 6' east.

During the night, the wind came as usual off the land; and in the morning [FRIDAY 10 DECEMBER 1802] we lay up N. by W., nearly parallel to the then direction of the coast. At ten, the sea breeze set in at N. by W.; and from that time until evening we worked to windward, tacking from the sh.o.r.e when the depth diminished to 2 fathoms, and stretching in again when it increased to 6; the distances from the land being in miles, as nearly as might be what the depth was in fathoms, a coincidence which had been observed in some parts on the east side of the Gulph. At sunset, a hillock upon a projecting point bore N. 73 W. four miles, and behind it was a small opening which answered in situation to the _River Van Alphen_ of the old chart; our last tack was then made from the sh.o.r.e; and at dusk we anch.o.r.ed in 4 fathoms, coa.r.s.e sand and gravel. Variation from amplitude, with the head W. by N., 4 45', or corrected to the meridian, 2 38' east, nearly as on the 8th.

[NORTH COAST. GULPH OF CARPENTARIA.]

SAt.u.r.dAY 11 DECEMBER 1802

At daylight, we steered northward with a land wind; and when the sea breeze came, stretched W. S. W. towards the sh.o.r.e.

At noon,

Lat.i.tude observed, 16 11'

Longitude by time keeper, 137 53 The extremes of the land bore S. 21 E. to 89 W.

Nearest part, dist. 3 miles, S. 35 W.

Small opening, supposed R. Van Alphen, S. 3 W.

This opening may be half a mile in width, but a dry sand runs across from the west side, and left no prospect of its being accessible to the ship; the shoal water, indeed, extended further out than usual, being caused, probably, by a deposit of sand from the inlet. The range of low hills, before mentioned as running behind the coast, was still perceived; but in front, the country was low as before, and somewhat less covered with wood.

The direction of the coast, which had been from north to north-west the day before, was now again W. N. W.; and after making a tack at noon, in 3 fathoms, and stretching off for an hour, we lay along it till near eight o'clock. At that time the depth diminished from 3, suddenly to 2 fathoms; and before the helm was put down the ship touched upon a rock, and hung abaft. By keeping the sails full she went off into 3 fathoms, but in five minutes hung upon another rock; and the water being more shallow further on, the head sails were now laid aback. On swinging off, I filled to stretch out by the way we had come; and after another slight touch of the keel we got into deep water, and anch.o.r.ed in 4 fathoms, on a bottom of blue mud. The bad state of the ship would have made our situation amongst these rocks very alarming, had we not cleared them so quickly; but the water was very smooth at this time, and it could not be perceived that any injury had been sustained.

Our distance here from the sh.o.r.e was three miles. It is very low and broken, with many dry rocks and banks lying near it; and in the s.p.a.ce of seven or eight miles we had counted five small openings, and behind them some lagoons were perceived from the mast head. _The Abel Tasman's River_ of the old chart is marked in about this situation; and however little these shallow openings and salt lagoons resemble a river, there is no other place to which the name could have been applied.

I was preparing to take alt.i.tudes of the star _Rigel_, to ascertain our longitude at this anchorage, when it was found that the time keepers had stopped, my a.s.sistant having forgotten to wind them up at noon. In the morning [SUNDAY 12 DECEMBER 1802] they were set forward, and alt.i.tudes of the sun taken to find their errors from the time under this meridian. The moon and planet Mars had been observed in the night, from which, and the noon's observation following, the lat.i.tude of the anchorage was ascertained to be 16 7'; and a projection on the west side of the R.

Van Alphen, which had been the nearest sh.o.r.e at the preceding noon, was now set at S. 64 E. From these _data_ and from the log, I ascertained the difference of longitude, from half past ten in the morning of the 11th, when the last observations for the time keepers had been taken, to be 20' 18"; and that this anchorage was in 137 37' 18" east. The errors from mean Greenwich time were thence obtained; and they were carried on as before, with the rates found at Sweers' Island, which it was to be presumed, had undergone no alteration from the letting down, since none had been caused by former accidents of the same kind. An amplitude taken when the ship's head was W. N. W., gave variation 3 46', or 1 47' east, corrected to the meridian; being nearly a degree less than on the east side of the River Van Alphen, when the land lay to the west of the ship.

Soon after seven o'clock the anchor was weighed; and the breeze being at N. W., we stretched off till noon, when the observed lat.i.tude from both sides was 16 2' 11", and the land was nine or ten miles distant; but the only part visible from the deck was the range of low hills, two or three leagues behind the sh.o.r.e. We then tacked to the westward, and kept closing in with the coast until sunset; at which time the corrected variation was 1 47' east, as on the preceding evening, and the following bearings were taken.

Eastern extreme of the sh.o.r.e S. 31 E.

Small opening, dist. 4 or 5 miles, S. 54 W.