Discoveries in Australia Volume II Part 44

DEPARTURE FROM WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

We left Swan River on the evening of the 6th of May, 1843, running out with a moderate North-East breeze. Everything seemed auspicious. The water was smooth, and the sails, as they slept in the breeze, echoed back the sounds of the well-known song, We are homeward bound, that was sung with an earnestness that could not be mistaken. I fancied I could discern, in the rough tones of the crew under my command, the existence of the same emotions that swelled in my own breast at this moment. For seamen, high and low, though content to pa.s.s the greater portion of their lives upon the world of waters, can never entirely suppress that yearning for home, which, perhaps, after all, is one of the finest traits in human nature. And now that it might be legitimately indulged, I was not sorry to see such strong evidences of its existence.

Ere the last vestige of day had pa.s.sed, the coast of Australia had faded from our sight, though not from our memory; for, however much thoughts of the land to which we were returning crowded on our minds, they could not as yet entirely obliterate the recollection of that we were quitting. The Swan River colony--its history, its state, its prospects--naturally occupied much of our mind. What a change had come over it even since our visit! From a happy little family, if I may use the expression, it had grown into a populous colony, in which all the pa.s.sions, the rivalries, the loves and the hates of the mother country were in some sort represented. And yet there remained still much of that old English hospitality, which rendered our first stay so pleasant, and which almost made us desire to prolong our last. The alteration that had taken place was rather to be referred to the increasing number of settlers, which rendered inevitable the formation of circles more or less exclusive, and which, with the forms of European society, promised to introduce many of its defects.

But our thoughts wandered, from time to time, over the whole of this extraordinary continent, which we saw for the first time in November 1837, at the point from which we took our departure, in May, 1843. The strange contrasts to the rest of the world which it affords were enumerated and commented upon--its cherries with their stones growing outside--its trees, which shed their bark instead of their leaves--its strange animals--its still stranger population--its mushroom cities--and, finally, the fact that the approach to human habitations is not announced by the barking of dogs, but by the barking of trees!*

(*Footnote. The trees in the vicinity of houses are generally barked to obtain a covering for the roofs.)

Westerly winds carried us into the South-East trade by the 13th, in lat.i.tude 22 degrees 30 minutes South four hundred miles from the North-west Cape, when our course was directed for the Mauritius. We found the trade very squally, and on one or two occasions managed to screw as much as eleven knots out of the old craft.

RODRIGUE ISLAND.

A little after noon on the 27th we saw Rodrigue Island sooner than we expected, in consequence of our finding it placed seven miles to the westward of its true position, even with reference to the meridian of the Mauritius. Our observations, in pa.s.sing to southward, made the eastern end of it 5 degrees 59 minutes East of Port Louis, and 63 degrees 31 3/4 East of Greenwich, lat.i.tude 19 degrees 42 minutes South. I was rather surprised to find this error in the position of Rodrigue, as it is quite a finger-post for ships on their voyage from India to Great Britain. It trends east and west for seventeen miles, and is in width about six. For a volcanic island its features are not very remarkable; the highest part is a peak or excrescence, 1700 feet high, rising towards the eastern end out of a rather level ridge.

On the morning of the 29th, the high land of the Mauritius was seen breaking through the ma.s.s of clouds. Pa.s.sing round the north end of the island, in the evening we reached Port Louis, where we found a French man-of-war that had just brought in the crew of a vessel foundered at sea. Their escape had been one of the most remarkable on record. The ship was from Liverpool, and was rounding the south-eastern point of Africa with a strong north-west wind, when she sprang a leak, which increased so fast, that the crew were ultimately obliged to abandon her and take to the boats. The sea was so great that they were compelled to run before the wind, with the prospect only of prolonging their lives for a brief s.p.a.ce, no land lying in that direction.

PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE.

Providentially, the morning following they found themselves alongside a French frigate; but the boats were so low in the water that for some time they escaped observation, and were nearly pa.s.sed. At length, by waving a lady's shawl in the air, they attracted the attention of the Frenchmen, and were taken on board, and treated with an attentive kindness, which ent.i.tled their preservers to the thanks of all who would wish to be so received under such circ.u.mstances. I regret that the name of the captain of the ship has escaped me; though I remember it being said, that he had himself been saved on a previous occasion by a Liverpool ship in the China Sea.

Not long before the arrival of the Beagle in Port Louis, a fleet of crippled vessels, the victims of a recent hurricane, might have been seen making their way into the harbour, some dismasted, others kept afloat with difficulty, firing guns of distress, or giving other signs of their helpless condition. The monotony of colonial life was suddenly disturbed, by no means disagreeably to some, as the telegraph told off a succession of lame ducks, as they were jocularly called, such as seldom or ever had been witnessed, even at that place. It required but a visit to the bell buoy, to see at a glance the destructive effects of the storm on the unfortunate ships.

EFFECTS OF HURRICANE AT MAURITIUS.

On the tranquil surface of the harbour lay a group of shattered vessels, presenting the appearance of floating wrecks. In almost all, the bulwarks, boats, and everything on deck had been swept away; some, that were towed in, had lost all their masts, others more or less of their spars; one had her p.o.o.p and all its cabins swept away; many had four or five feet water in the hold, and the clank of the pumps was still kept up by the weary crew.

Such was the description given me of the circ.u.mstances under which the crowd of vessels that lay at anchor in Port Louis had arrived. I had antic.i.p.ated that I should here be enabled to make some important additions to the notices of hurricanes that have occasionally appeared in this work; and certainly ample opportunity now presented itself. But I found that this interesting subject was in more able hands, those, namely, of Mr. Alexander Thom, of H.M. 86th Regiment, whose valuable observations have been laid before the public, in a work called, An Inquiry into the Nature and Course of Storms; a volume that embraces many important considerations for seamen, to whom, indeed, and to the ship-owner, Mr. Thom, by his scientific investigations, has proved himself a true friend.

It is curious that military men should have been the first to study the causes of hurricanes, and to tell sailors how to avoid their effects; but that such is the case, the works of Colonel Reid and of my friend Mr.

Thom will testify.

I had the pleasure of making the acquaintance of the latter gentleman in Port Louis. What he considered to be the grand sources of rotatory storms--winds charged with opposite kinds of electricity and blowing in opposite directions--appeared to account satisfactorily for the occurrence of hurricanes in the Pacific, where there are no continents or chains of mountains to produce them and guide their courses.

As so much has been already written about this interesting island, the Mauritius, and as, moreover, s.p.a.ce forbids, I do not here make use of the ma.s.s of information with which Mr. Thom has kindly furnished me, respecting its history and resources, and the subject of Coolie labour; but on some future occasion I may be able to lay it before the public.

During my stay at Port Louis I received much hospitality, particularly from the family of Colonel Staveley, Commander of the Forces, which I take this opportunity of acknowledging.

We sailed from the Mauritius on the 10th of June, and on the following day pa.s.sed about 20 miles south-east of the Island of Bourbon. It resembles a large cone emerging from the water; and its features are strikingly different from those of the Mauritius; the outline is not softened by luxuriant vegetation, but is sudden and steep and ma.s.sive.

MADAGASCAR.

Southerly and westerly winds brought us in sight of Madagascar on the 16th, and on the same evening, aided by a southerly current of 2 knots an hour, we were just able to weather its South-East extreme. The features of this great island that were presented to our view approached the Alpine, and from a pa.s.sing glimpse of the small hills near the sh.o.r.e, it appeared to be a fertile country. This portion of the globe is one of great interest to the world at large, especially when we know that, if considered as a naval or military station, it is scarcely equalled by any in the Indian Ocean; besides having a soil of the best description, and abounding also in mineral wealth, with timber fit for any purposes, and thousands of cattle running wild in its valleys. On the afternoon of the 27th we were within seven or eight miles of the land, near the great Fish River, on the south-eastern coast of Africa, having apparently got within the eddy of the westerly current, which sweeps round that part of the coast at the distance of thirty miles with a velocity of from two to five miles an hour, which we entirely lost after pa.s.sing Algoa Bay. Within thirty miles of the latter place we had a strong gale from the southward of twenty-four hours duration; and on the morning of the 1st of July arrived at Simon's Bay, in company with Her Majesty's ship Belleisle, which sailed two days before us from the Mauritius. Nearly six years had elapsed since our last visit, and little improvement had taken place in colonial affairs.

(*Footnote. The little difficulty that strangers found in recognizing this anchorage at night, is now overcome by a light-vessel being placed near the Roman Rocks; but the streaks of sand, resembling snow, down the sides of the hills over Simons Bay, and the remarkable break in the high land over another bay, just to the northward, are sufficient guides of themselves in clear weather.)

On the 9th we were again on our way homeward. Touching at St. Helena* and Ascension, we crossed the equator on the forenoon of the 15th, in longitude 19 degrees 45 minutes West, where we endeavoured to obtain soundings with 2000 fathoms of line, which parted at 1600 fathoms.

Respecting deep-sea soundings, there are some sceptical persons who, in consequence of the bottom not being brought up from the great depths reported to have been found, are inclined to doubt that soundings were actually obtained on those occasions.

(*Footnote. This place is famed for its large flying-fish, of which some are from 18 to 24 inches in length: and not a little so, for those monsters of the finny tribe called sharks. In the Admiralty book of directions, the fact is related of an artillery-man being found fully accoutred in the stomach of one taken there.)

ARRIVAL IN ENGLAND.

On the 24th a continuation of westerly winds* brought us in sight of St.

Jago and Bravo, of the Cape de Verd Group; on pa.s.sing which we got the North-East trade, and, after staying a part of the 10th and 11th at Fayal, where we met Her Majesty's Steamer Styx, Captain Vidal, who, on parting, gave us three hearty farewell cheers, we did not, in consequence of easterly winds, arrive at Spithead until the 30th day of September, after an absence of upwards of six years. During this period we only lost two men, and preserved throughout almost the same spars** and boats,***

we left Plymouth with in 1831. From Portsmouth we proceeded round to Woolwich, where the ship was paid off on the 18th of October, 1843.

(*Footnote. Ships availing themselves of these winds, when, also, the westerly current ceases near the equator, might, by running away to the eastward in them, shorten the pa.s.sage to either Ascension or St. Helena.)

(**Footnote. I have already mentioned that the Beagle was fitted with Mr.

Snow Harris's lightning conductors; the fact mentioned in the text is ample proof that they do not weaken even the smallest spars.)

(***Footnote. It is in justice due to say, that the boats were chiefly built by Mr. Johns, of Plymouth Dockyard.)

TAKE LEAVE OF THE BEAGLE.

After giving the men their certificates, I loitered a short time to indulge in those feelings that naturally arose on taking a final leave of the poor old Beagle at the same place where I first joined her in 1825.

Many events have occurred since my first trip to sea in her: I have seen her under every variety of circ.u.mstances, placed in peculiar situations and fearful positions, from nearly the antarctic to the tropic, cooled by the frigid clime of the extreme of South America, or parched by the heats of North Australia; under every vicissitude, from the grave to the gay, I have struggled along with her; and after wandering together for eighteen years, a fact unprecedented in the service, I naturally parted from her with regret. Her movements, latterly, have been anxiously watched, and the chances are that her ribs will separate, and that she will perish in the river* where she was first put together. She has made herself as notorious as during the war did her namesake, that reaped golden opinions from her success in prize-making; while my old friend has extensively contributed to our geographical knowledge.

(*Footnote. The Beagle, now employed in the Preventive Service, is moored in Crouch Creek, near South End.)

THE SURVEYING SERVICE. CONCLUSION.

There was only one drawback to the pleasure I experienced on arriving in England--namely, that Lieutenant G. Gore did not obtain his promotion, but was compelled to seek it by a second voyage to the North Pole. All the mates were, in the course of a short time, promoted, and the ship's company received the favour of having half of their slop bill deducted, an indulgence which the Lords of the Admiralty, from the kindest and most considerate motives, have in some instances bestowed upon the crews of surveying vessels, on their return from distant voyages. This boon, however, in some instances, operates unfairly. In the first place, it often happens, in spite of the strictest surveillance, that the worst characters will, if they can, take up the greatest quant.i.ty of slops, which they convert either into money or grog, whenever an opportunity presents itself. The really steady men generally look clean and neat as long as possible, without much a.s.sistance from the purser. Then again, the boats' crews of all surveying vessels are necessarily so much more exposed, that they not only the sooner wear out their ordinary clothing, but absolutely require additional comforts in that way. I am therefore strongly of opinion that, in this department (and I speak from experience) the Captain should be allowed a certain portion of slops, to be placed at his disposal, and distributed under his sole authority; or might not he be enabled to recommend a certain number of the best men for a small increase upon their regular pay? This judicious exercise of discretion would be the means of retaining in this important branch of the service, a cla.s.s of men who would become most valuable to their officers when engaged in the arduous and responsible duties of a survey.

As in the Royal Engineers, a great deal of the superior talent of the officers might be better bestowed, by abandoning to the petty officers the rougher part of the surveying work, in which calculation is not required. For this purpose, a kind of instruction might be imparted, which that cla.s.s of men, if encouraged by extra pay, is capable of receiving, particularly those who have had the advantage of a Greenwich education.

To strengthen the suggestions I have made regarding the surveying service, I cannot refrain from alluding--and I do so with honest pride--both to the actions in China, and the very recent gallant destruction of the Argentine batteries in the River Parana, as instances of the importance of this branch of the profession in time of war. During peace the new countries that are explored, and the new fields of commerce that are opened to the world, will speak for themselves.

APPENDIX.

WINDS AND WEATHER ON THE WESTERN AND NORTHERN COASTS OF AUSTRALIA.

BY COMMANDER J.C. WICKHAM, R.N.

The winds on the western coast of Australia, are, for the most part, from some southern point--chiefly between South-South-West and South-South-East.

During the summer, or from the early part of October to the beginning of April, they are almost constant from this quarter; but in the winter their regularity is broken in upon by occasional winds between north and west that at times blow with great violence, and are accompanied by heavy rain, and thick dirty weather.

Near the sh.o.r.e, land and seabreezes appear to be regular, the former generally dying away towards the middle of the day, after having reached as far as East from about South-East at sunrise; then follows a short interval of calm, after which, the seabreeze sets in, mostly at South-South-West, and draws to the eastward of south in the evening.

At times the land wind veers round the compa.s.s, and is then generally stronger than usual; blowing fresh for a short time from North-East, and bringing a parching heat from the land; upon these occasions the seabreeze comes in from a more western point, and is lighter.

At Swan River, in the months of December, January, and February, the seabreezes are very strong, for intervals of from three to five days; during which time they blow fresh throughout the night--drawing to the southward after midnight, and towards sunrise to South-South-East and South-East, but more moderate. In the middle of the day, they back again to the southward, and soon to South-South-West, from which quarter they blow very fresh until midnight.

Intervals of such weather are from three to five days' duration, and are followed by the like number of days of moderate weather, with winds mostly off the land; sometimes strong gusts from the east, for a few hours, with oppressively hot weather.