A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume II Part 28

Cape Arid, top of the mount, N. 74 W.

Cape Pasley, N. 26 W.

Two south-east isles, S. 19 W.

Reef, distant 4 or 5 miles, S. 16 E.

Small round isle, dist. 4 or 5 leagues, N. 88 E.

We pa.s.sed within three miles of the round isle at dusk, and saw no other danger near it than the two rocks, which are very distinguishable; the weather was squally, but as I did not expect to meet with any more dangers, we kept on, steering seven points from the wind all night, with the precaution of having a warrant officer at the lookout. In the way to Ba.s.s' Strait I wished to have completed the examination of Kangaroo Island, and also to run along the s.p.a.ce of main coast, from Cape Northumberland to Cape Otway, of which the bad weather had prevented a survey in the former year; but the sickly state of my people from dysentery and fever, as also of myself, did not admit of doing any thing to cause delay in our arrival at Port Jackson.

MONDAY 23 MAY 1803

(Atlas, Plate III.)

In the afternoon of the 23rd, being in lat.i.tude 35 10' and longitude 128 54', the variation was observed with three compa.s.ses to be 4 58'

west, when the ship's head was at magnetic east; this corrected, will be 1 46' west, agreeing with the observations on each side of this longitude in sight of the coast. On the 26th [THURSDAY 26 MAY 1803], in 37 53' south and 135 48' east, with the head S. E. by E., the variation was 1 33' west, or 1 17' east corrected; and in the same longitude at the head of Port Lincoln, we had found 1 39' east. This day James Greenhalgh, sergeant of marines, died of the dysentery; a man whom I sincerely regretted, from the zeal and fidelity with which he had constantly fulfilled the duties of his situation.

The winds continued to blow strong, usually between South and W. S. W.; but the ship did not at any time leak more than five inches an hour. On the 29th [SUNDAY 29 MAY 1803], when approaching Ba.s.s' Strait, the breeze died away, and after some hours calm sprung up from the northward; next day at noon [MONDAY 30 MAY 1803], our lat.i.tude was 40 25 1/3', longitude 143 8', and we sounded with 98 fathoms, no ground (Atlas, Plate VI). At two o'clock the south end of King's Island was in sight; and at 4h 40', when it bore N. 5 to 35 E, a small island was seen from the mast head, bearing E. by S., which I at first judged must be Albatross Island; but as no other could be seen more southward, it was probably the Black Pyramid of Hunter's Isles, discovered in the Norfolk sloop. I much wished to fix its relative situation to King's Island; but night coming on, the bearing of S. 5 W., in which this pyramidal lump was set at ten o'clock with the a.s.sistance of a night gla.s.s, was the best point of connexion to be obtained. The southern extremity of King's Island lies nearly in 40 7' south and 143 53' east; and by our run from 4h 40' to ten o'clock, corrected for a tide setting to the south-westward, this lump of land, which I believe to have been the Black Pyramid, will be 29' or 30' of longitude more east: its lat.i.tude made in the Norfolk was 40 32' south.

The wind blew fresh at north, and the ship could barely lie a course to clear Albatross Island, yet we pa.s.sed without seeing it, though there was moonlight; so that supposing it was the Black Pyramid we had set at ten o'clock, the tide, which I calculated to turn about that time, must have run strong to the N. E. Our least sounding between King's Island and Hunter's Isles was 28 fathoms, on red coral sand, nine or ten miles to the south, as I judge, of Reid's Rocks; but they were not seen, nor have I any certain knowledge of their position. They are laid down in the chart partly from the journal of lieutenant Murray, who saw them in going from the Bay of Seals to Three-hummock Island; but princ.i.p.ally from a rough sketch of Mr. Ba.s.s, then commander of the brig Venus, who appears to have seen King's Island, Reid's Rocks, and the Black Pyramid, all at the same time.

It was a great mortification to be thus obliged to pa.s.s Hunter's Isles and the north coast of Van Diemen's Land, without correcting their positions in longitude from the errors which the want of a time keeper in the Norfolk had made unavoidable; but when I contemplated eighteen of my men below, several of whom were stretched in their hammocks almost without hope, and reflected that the lives of the rest depended upon our speedy arrival in port, every other consideration vanished; and I carried all possible sail, day and night, making such observations only as could be done without causing delay.

TUESDAY 31 MAY 1803

At day break, land was seen from the mast head bearing S. W. by S., probably Three-hummock Island; and at noon our

Lat.i.tude observed was 39 5 1/3'

Wilson's Promontory, the S. W. part, bore N. 16 1/2 E.

Curtis' largest Isle, the top, N. 51 E.

Kent's Group came in sight in the evening; and a little before nine o'clock the centre of the larger isles was set at N. by E, when the Pyramid was distant four miles bearing S. W. At eleven, we pa.s.sed sufficiently near to the new rock, lying four leagues to the E. S. E. of the group, to hear the growling of the seals; and land, apparently the Sisters, was distinguished soon afterward in the S. E., but too imperfectly to be known. A set of bearings here would have been essentially useful in fixing the relative positions of these lands, which remained in some degree doubtful; but I dared not lose an hour's fair wind to obtain them.

THURSDAY 2 JUNE 1803

On the 2nd of June we lost John Draper, quarter master, one of the most orderly men in the ship; and it seemed to be a fatality, that the dysentery should fall heaviest on the most valuable part of the crew. The wind had then veered against us, to the N. E., as it had done the year before in nearly the same situation; and it should seem that the direction of the coast influences it to blow either from N. E. or S. W.

The weather was so hazy, that the hills at the back of the Long Beach were not seen till the evening of the 3rd; and on the 4th [SAt.u.r.dAY 4 JUNE 1803] they were still visible, about twenty leagues to the N. 31 W.

A fair breeze sprung up in the night; and at noon next day, the land from Cape Howe northward extended from S. 65 to N. 72 W., and a hill which appeared to be the highest of those behind Two-fold Bay, bore W. 1 S.; our lat.i.tude was then 37 13', and longitude by time keepers 150 44'

east.

We steered a due north course, closing a little in with the land; at sunset [MONDAY 6 JUNE 1803] Mount Dromedary bore N. 45 W., and at eight next morning it was seen bearing S. 30 W., at the distance of twenty leagues, although the weather was hazy (Atlas, Plate VIII). The sh.o.r.e was five miles off at noon, when the observed lat.i.tude was 35 17'; the outer part of Cape George bearing N. 32 E., about eight miles, and the Pigeon House S. 77 W. We pa.s.sed the cape at the distance of two miles, having then but light winds; and at dusk, Bowen's Isle in the entrance of Jervis' Bay was set at N. 51 W. Hat Hill was abreast of the ship at noon next day; but the wind had then veered to the northward, and we beat up until the following noon [WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE 1803] with little advantage, our situation being then in

Lat.i.tude observed. 34 21 2/3'

Longitude by time keepers corrected, 151 12 1/2 Hat Hill bore S. 70 W.

Saddle Hill, on Red Point, S. 53 W.

Point Ba.s.s, S. 33 W.

North extreme, near C. Solander., N. 3 W.

Nearest sh.o.r.e, distant 8 or 9 miles, N. 72. W.

[EAST COAST. PORT JACKSON]

Whilst beating against this foul wind the dysentery carried off another seaman, Thomas Smith, one of those obtained from governor King; and had the wind continued long in the same quarter, many others must have followed. Happily it veered to the southward at midnight, we pa.s.sed Botany Bay at three in the morning [THURSDAY 9 JUNE 1803], and at daybreak tacked between the heads of Port Jackson, to work up for Sydney Cove. I left the ship at noon, above Garden Island, and waited upon His Excellency governor King, to inform him of our arrival, and concert arrangements for the reception of the sick at the colonial hospital. On the following day [FRIDAY 10 JUNE 1803] they were placed under the care of Thomas Jamison, Esq., princ.i.p.al surgeon of the colony; from whom they received that kind attention and care which their situation demanded; but four were too much exhausted, and died in a few days. The first of them was Mr. Peter Good, botanical gardener, a zealous, worthy man, who was regretted by all.

Lieutenant Murray had arrived safely with the Lady Nelson, after a somewhat tedious pa.s.sage from the Barrier Reefs; he made himself an anchor of heavy wood on the coast, for fear of accident to his sole remaining bower, but fortunately had no occasion to use it. Besides the Lady Nelson, we found lying in Sydney Cove H. M. armed vessel Porpoise, the Bridgewater extra-Indiaman, the ships Cato, Rolla, and Alexander, and brig Nautilus. The Geographe and Naturaliste had not sailed for the South Coast till some months after I left Port Jackson to go to the northward, and so late as the end of December, captain Baudin was lying at King's Island in Ba.s.s' Strait; it was therefore not very probable that he should reach the Gulph of Carpentaria by the middle of February, when I had finished its examination, nor even at the beginning of March, when the south-west monsoon would set in against him.

We found also at Port Jackson Mr. James Inman (the present professor of mathematics at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth), whom the Board of Longitude had sent out to join the expedition as astronomer, in the place of Mr. Crosley who had left us at the Cape of Good Hope. To this gentleman's care I committed all the larger astronomical instruments, and also the time keepers, after observations had been taken to compare their longitudes with that of Cattle Point. The results obtained on the 10th a.m., with the Goose-island-Bay rates, were,

From No. 543, 151 18' 41" east.

From No. 520, 151 16 22 east.

Cattle Point having been settled in 151 11' 49" (see Vol. I.), the mean error of the time keepers was 5' 42.5" to the east; and as I have no means to form an accelerating correction to the Goose-Island Bay rates, the 5' 42.5" of error has been equally apportioned throughout the twenty days between the two stations.

In order to re-establish the health of the ship's company, I contracted for a regular supply of vegetables and fresh meat; and such was the favourable change in the state of the colony in one year, that the meat, pork one day and mutton another, was obtained at the average price of 10d. per pound, which before, if it could have been obtained, would have cost nearly double the sum. On my application to the governor, the commissary was ordered to supply us with two pipes of port wine; and a pint was given daily to all those on board, as well as on sh.o.r.e, whose debilitated health was judged by the surgeon to require it.

The arrangements being made which concerned the health of the ship's company, I inclosed to the governor the report of the master and carpenter upon the state of the ship when in the Gulph of Carpentaria; and requested that he would appoint officers to make a survey of her condition. A plank was ripped off all round, a little above the water's edge; and on the 14th, the officers appointed by His Excellency made the survey, and their report was as follows:

Pursuant to an order from His Excellency Philip Gidley King, esquire, princ.i.p.al commander of His Majesty's ship Buffalo.

We whose names are hereunto subscribed, have been on board His Majesty's ship Investigator, and taken a strict, careful, and minute survey of her defects, the state of which we find to be as follows.

One plank immediately above the wales being ripped off all round the ship, we began the examination on the larbord side forward; and out of ninety-eight timbers we find eleven to be sound, so far as the ripping off of one plank enables us to see into them, ten of which are amongst the aftermost timbers. Sixty-three of the remaining timbers are so far rotten as to make it necessary to shift them; and the remaining twenty-four entirely rotten, and these are princ.i.p.ally in the bow and the middle of the ship.

On the starbord side forward we have minutely examined eighty-nine timbers, out of which we find only five sound; fifty-six are so far decayed as to require shifting, and the remaining twenty-eight are entirely rotten. The sound timbers are in the after part of the ship, and those totally decayed lie princ.i.p.ally in the bow.

The stemson is so far decayed, princ.i.p.ally in its outer part, as to make it absolutely necessary to be shifted.

As far as we could examine under the counter, both plank and timbers are rotten, and consequently necessary to be shifted.

We find generally, that the plank on both sides is so far decayed as to require shifting, even had the timbers been sound.

The above being the state of the Investigator thus far, we think it altogether unnecessary to make any further examination; being unanimously of opinion that she is not worth repairing in any country, and that it is impossible in this country to put her in a state fit for going to sea.

And we do further declare, that we have taken this survey with such care and circ.u.mspection, that we are ready, if required, to make oath to the veracity and impartiality of our proceedings.

Given under our hands on board the said ship in Sydney Cove, this 14th June 1803.

(Signed) W. Scott, Commander of H. M. armed vessel Porpoise.

E. H. Palmer, Commander of the Hon. East-India-Company's extra ship Bridgewater.

Thomas Moore, Master builder to the Territory of New South Wales.