Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 10

Barrow Island.

Heavy gale off the Montebello Isles.

Rowley's Shoals.

Cape Leveque.

Dangerous situation of the brig among the islands of Buccaneer's Archipelago.

Examination and description of Cygnet Bay.

Lose an anchor, and leave the coast.

Adele Island.

Return to Port Jackson.

1822. January 6.

We sailed from King George's Sound on the 6th.

January 8.

But from south-westerly winds, were no further advanced by the 8th than the meridian of Cape Chatham. After which, entering a current setting at one mile an hour to the westward, the brig made considerable progress.

January 10.

At daylight, 10th, Cape Leeuwin came in sight from the masthead, and at eight o'clock was seen from the deck at the distance of ten leagues, bearing North 42 degrees East by compa.s.s.

At this, the south-westernmost extremity of New Holland, Captain Flinders commenced his examination of the south coast, but saw no part to the northward. The French expedition under Captain Baudin were upon this part at two different periods of their voyage, and it appears from an examination of their tracks that the coast between Capes Leeuwin and Peron, the latter of which is about five leagues to the southward of the entrance of Swan River, has been sufficiently examined by them. They landed in several parts of Geographe Bay which affords a shelter from southerly winds but is so exposed to those between North and West-North-West that the French ships ran great danger of being shipwrecked during a gale from that quarter.

The coast is sandy, and from M. Peron's description, barren and unprofitable. With the exception of the Recif du Naturaliste which lies about five leagues to the north of the Cape of that name there seems to be no danger in the vicinity of the bay. The small inlet of Port Leschenault is only the embouchure of a salt-marsh; it is scarcely attainable even by boats; for there appears to be only three feet water on the bar, and over and within it not more than fifteen feet. The French found no fresh water in any part of Geographe Bay. From Port Leschenault to Cape Peron the coast is low and sandy but inland it is of a moderate height and appears to be furnished with a slight vegetation. The French ships sailed along this coast at the distance of four or five miles from the beach, and the report made by them is sufficiently in detail for all the purposes of navigation.

Upon these considerations it was not deemed necessary that we should examine this part again, and therefore sailed at a distance from the land to ensure a quicker pa.s.sage to Cape Peron, in order to explore the bay behind the Isles of Louis Napoleon. Swan River and Rottnest Island had been already carefully examined by the French; but from the latter island to the North-west Cape, with the exception of Shark's Bay, they saw very little of the coast, and have given its outline princ.i.p.ally from Van Keulen.*

(*Footnote. Freycinet page 441.)

At noon on the 10th our lat.i.tude was 34 degrees 16 minutes 14 seconds, and a large bare, sandy patch upon the land, the Tache Blanche remarquable of Captain Baudin, bore North 77 degrees East (magnetic). At six o'clock in the evening we pa.s.sed Cape Naturaliste, having experienced a strong current setting North 11 degrees West, at nearly two miles per hour; hence we steered to the northward, but it was dark when we pa.s.sed near the position a.s.signed to the Recif Naturaliste: after steering on for three hours longer we edged in for the land and at ten o'clock hauled to the wind for the night.

January 11.

The next day at noon we were in lat.i.tude 32 degrees 36 minutes 2 seconds, having the land about Cape Peron in sight from the masthead, bearing East by South 1/2 South; but during the day the wind was so light that we had not approached it within four leagues by sunset.

At this time the coast was visible as far as Cape Bouvard between which and Cape Peron it is low and sandy, but the hills appeared to be tolerably well wooded, and of a moderate height. Buache Island was visible as well as the small rocky islet between it and Cape Peron. The former is low and sandy, and its outline of hummocky shape; and to the eastward was some distant land trending towards the a.s.signed entrance of Swan River. To the northward of Buache Island a small lump was seen on the horizon, which perhaps might have been Berthollet Island, but it was very indistinct. The sun set in a dense bank and the moment it disappeared a very copious dew began to fall.

January 12.

The next morning at daylight the land to the southward of Cape Peron was ten miles off, but at half-past nine o'clock we were between Capes Peron and Bouvard, and about five miles from the sh.o.r.e, which from the former extended in a North-East by North direction, still low and sandy.

At noon the lat.i.tude was observed to be 32 degrees 30 minutes 42 seconds, but by the land it was only 32 degrees 23 minutes 30 seconds, a difference of 7 minutes 12 seconds. This error was occasioned by the haze which concealed the true horizon, and caused an appearance of land all round us, on which rocks, sandy beaches, and trees were so plainly formed that the officer of the watch actually reported two islands on the western horizon. This was the most remarkable instance of mirage that we ever witnessed; the haze had only commenced a few minutes before noon, whilst the observation for the lat.i.tude was in the act of being taken; and immediately after I was employed upon the chart for half an hour, puzzling myself in attempting to reconcile the observed lat.i.tude with the bearings of the land. This curious phenomenon was also witnessed by the French in Geographe Bay. During the time this magical appearance continued, we had very light airs from the southward: the barometrical column fell to 29.76 inches, but the hygrometer indicated an extraordinary dryness of the air. At sunset the haze cleared away, when Rottnest Island was seen, bearing between North 10 degrees and 32 degrees East (magnetic); a breeze then freshened from West-South-West but gradually veered round to the southward; and at nine o'clock was very light from South-East.

January 13.

During the night we made short tacks. At four o'clock in the morning (13th) the lat.i.tude by the moon's meridional alt.i.tude was 32 degrees 16 minutes 17 seconds, and soon afterwards Rottnest was in sight in the North-North-East. At six o'clock the sky was clouded, and the weather threatened to be bad; the mercury fell to 29.69 inches, upon which all sail was made off the land, as appearances indicated a westerly gale: but after an interval of two hours, during which we had a fresh breeze from North-West by West, the weather cleared up and we steered towards Rottnest Island.

January 14.

The next morning the brig was anch.o.r.ed off the north-east end of the island in thirteen fathoms gravelly sand; and in the afternoon I went on sh.o.r.e in a bay on the east or leeward side, where we found the water smooth and the landing more practicable than upon the north side where a tremendous surf was rolling in upon the beach. We disturbed a great many seals but only killed three; and were much disappointed in finding that these animals were not of the fur species, as in M. de Freycinet's account of the island they are said to be; they were evidently the same description as those noticed at King George's Sound. The traces of a small kangaroo were everywhere abundant but the animals were not seen. We walked to the easternmost of the lakes which the French named Etangs Duvaildaily and which M. de Freycinet remarks as being surrounded by an extensive beach, composed entirely of bivalve sh.e.l.ls, a species of cardium: the quant.i.ty was indeed extraordinary. The banks were frequented by gulls and sandpipers, of which many were shot. The water was found to be perfectly salt and from the circ.u.mstance of its rising and falling with the tide it must have some communication with the sea. The rocks of the island are princ.i.p.ally calcareous and in a very advanced state of decomposition. The beaches were covered with dead sh.e.l.ls of the genera buccinum, bulla, murex, trochus, and haliotis; but we found none with the living animal in them. Of the feathered tribe a hawk and a pigeon were the only land-birds seen; but b.o.o.bies, terns, and sandpipers were very numerous about the sh.o.r.es. Mr. Cunningham was fully employed during the short time that we were on sh.o.r.e, and excepting the pleasing interest created in our minds by landing on an island which has been so seldom before seen, and which from Vlaming's account bears a prominent place in the history of this part of the coast, he was the only one of the party that derived any advantage from our visit. Of the productions of this island he makes the following brief remarks: "It is surprising that an island, situated at so short a distance from the south-west coast, should bear so small a feature of the characteristic vegetation of King George's Sound as not to furnish a plant of its several genera of Proteaceae or Mimoseae, and but a solitary plant of Leguminosae. It would therefore seem that these families are confined to the sh.o.r.es of the main, particularly about King George's Sound, where we have just left them in the greatest luxuriance and profusion. Among the botanical productions of this island there is no plant of so striking a feature as the callitris, a tree of about twenty-five feet high, with a short stem of three feet in diameter; it much resembles the Pinus cedrus, or cedar of Lebanon, in its robust horizontal growth; it is found abundantly over the island, and within a few yards of the sea-beach. The island is formed by a succession of small hills and intervening valleys; and although the soil is very poor, being princ.i.p.ally a mixture of quartzose sand and a large proportion of marine exuviae, yet this tree grows to a considerable size, but covering the surface of the island, gives it a monotonous appearance which is however occasionally relieved by a spreading undescribed species of melaleuca (allied to Melaleuca armillaris, Smith) and the more elegant pittosporum, an arborescent species, also undescribed. In fact, these three trees const.i.tute the timber of the island. The ground is in some parts profusely clothed with Spinifex hirsutus, Labil., in which I detected a new species of xerotes, a round bushy plant growing in large bodies.

"No fresh water has ever been discovered upon this island: indeed the loose filtering nature of the soil is not tenacious enough to retain that element at the surface. The woods are abundantly stocked with a small species of kangaroo of which we saw only the traces; nor did we see the animal, on account of whose numbers and resemblance to a rat the island received its name from Vlaming in 1619. M. Peron says that it forms a new genus, and of a very remarkable character.* Rottnest Island does not appear ever to have been inhabited or even visited by the natives from the main; probably on account of the stormy nature of the weather, and the prevalence of westerly winds, which would be quite sufficient to deter them from venturing to sea in such fragile vessels as they possess."**

(*Footnote. Peron volume 1 page 189.)

(**Footnote. Cunningham ma.n.u.scripts.)

January 15.

On our return to the brig, we pa.s.sed over a clear sandy bottom that would have afforded better anchorage than where we had brought up; for the vessel was not only exposed to a considerable swell but the ground was so foul that in weighing the anchor the following morning one of the flukes hooked a rock and broke off, besides which the cable was much rubbed.

As Swan River had been very minutely examined in Baudin's voyage by MM.

Heirisson and Baily, the former an enseigne de vaisseau, the latter a mineralogist, an account of which is fully detailed in De Freycinet's and Peron's respective accounts of that voyage,* without their finding anything of sufficient importance to induce me to risk leaving the brig at anchor off Rottnest Island for so long a time as it would necessarily take to add to the knowledge of it that we already possess, I did not think it advisable to delay for such a purpose, and therefore as soon as we were underweigh steered for the mainland and continued to run northerly along the sh.o.r.e at the distance of six miles from it. At noon our lat.i.tude was 31 degrees 37 minutes 32 seconds. The coast is formed by sandy hillocks, or dunes, of from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high, here and there sprinkled with shrubs, but in many parts quite bare: behind this frontier a second range of hills was occasionally seen on which the trees appeared to be of moderate size: the sh.o.r.e is rocky for two miles off and in many parts the sea broke. At half-past three o'clock we were abreast of a low, sandy projection, supposed to be Captain Baudin's Cape Leschenault. The appearance of the coast to the northward on this cape differed from what we pa.s.sed in the morning, in that the coast hillocks are more bare of vegetation; there appeared to be several ridges behind the coast dunes, but they were all equally unproductive of vegetation. Lancelin Island was not distinctly made out but the two small rocky lumps on the bare sandhills that M. De Freycinet mentions, were seen and thought to be very remarkable. At seven o'clock, having reached in my plan the lat.i.tude 31 degrees 0 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 115 degrees 0 minutes 0 seconds, we hauled off sh.o.r.e for the night.

January 16.

And at six o'clock a.m. stood towards the land again. At half-past ten o'clock we were so near to it as to see the beach: at noon the lat.i.tude was observed to be 30 degrees 52 minutes 13 seconds, its longitude being 114 degrees 56 minutes 45 seconds, at which time we were on the parallel of the two rocky lumps seen the last evening. Hence we steered north on a parallel direction with the coast and ran forty-five miles, pa.s.sing the different projections of the beach at the distance of four or five miles, and sounding in between nineteen and twenty-five fathoms. At four o'clock we were abreast of a bare sandy point which appeared to be the north head of Jurien Bay, in which two rocky islets were seen, fronted by reefs, on which the sea in many parts was breaking violently. To the southward of the point the coast hills are rather high and princ.i.p.ally formed of very white sand, bearing a strong resemblance, from the absence of vegetables, to hills covered with snow. Here and there however a few shrubs partially concealed the sand, and gave a variety to the scene which was dismally triste. The country to the northward bears a different character; the sh.o.r.e is very low and sandy and continues so for some distance in the interior towards the base of a range of tolerably-elevated hills, on which the French have placed three remarkable pitons, but these, perhaps from our being too close in sh.o.r.e, we did not discover.

(*Footnote. See De Freycinet page 175 et seq and Peron volume 1 page 178 et seq.)

This range extends in a North by West and South by East direction, and appears to be rocky. In the middle ground some trees were noticed and vegetation appeared to be more abundant than in the s.p.a.ce between the bare sandy point and Cape Leschenault. In Jurien Bay towards its south part near the sh.o.r.e is a small hillock, on which some trees of a moderate size were seen; they are thus noticed because the existence of trees hereabout is so rare as to be deserving of record. No native fires were seen between this part and Rottnest Island, nor was there any other indication of the coast being inhabited; it is however likely to be as populous as any other part, for the hills in the interior, which we occasionally got a glimpse of, seemed to be wooded, and would therefore furnish subsistence to natives from hunting, even if the seash.o.r.e failed in supplying them with fish. Between the bare sandy point and Island Point there is a deep bay, the sh.o.r.es of which are fronted by a reef partly dry, extending from the sh.o.r.e two miles.

At seven o'clock we were about a mile and a half from a reef that nearly crossed our course; and as it was time to haul off for the night we shortened sail and brought to the wind, then blowing a strong squally breeze from south; but notwithstanding this succession of bad weather, the mercury in the barometer had ranged steadily between 29.90 and 29.92 inches.

January 17.

At daybreak we steered in for the land but ran twenty-two miles before it was seen. At nine o'clock it bore between North-East and South-East, and at a quarter after nine heavy breakers were seen in the South-East at the distance of five miles. The weather was now fine and the wind South-South-East, but still blew strong; the horizon was so enveloped by haze that the land, although not more than seven miles from our track, was very indistinctly seen: it seemed to be formed of sandhills, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high, slightly studded with a scrubby vegetation; in the interior we perceived a range of hills of tabular form which are probably very high. At ten o'clock we pa.s.sed another patch of breakers at the distance of about a mile and a half; but these appeared to have no connexion with those seen at nine o'clock. Our soundings were between fifteen and seventeen fathoms, and our distance from the beach from six to seven miles. At noon the wind veered back to South-South-West and blew hard: we were at this time in 29 degrees 5 minutes 1 second South and by chronometers in 114 degrees 40 minutes 30 seconds East; by which we found that a current had set us during the last twenty-four hours to the North-North-West at one mile per hour. At half-past twelve o'clock more breakers were seen bearing North-West 1/2 North, when we hauled off West-North-West in order to ascertain the distance between the land and the Abrolhos bank which, in Van Keulen's chart, is placed abreast of this part of the coast.

At half-past four o'clock the masthead man was cautioned to look out for breakers and in less than half an hour afterwards he reported some bearing North-West by North. On going to the masthead I saw them distinctly for they were not more than four miles off, and on looking round the horizon towards the westward, distinctly saw the island of Frederick Houtman's Abrolhos, which for some time the masthead man persisted was only the shadow of the clouds; but a small hummock being soon afterwards descried upon the summit of the largest, confirmed my conjectures. The group appeared to consist of three islands, all low and of small size. Beyond and around them the sea was smooth and to the southward another patch of breakers was observed. Preparations were now made to tack off, but I had scarcely reached the deck when the lookout man reported rocks under our lee bow, upon which the helm was immediately put up; and when the vessel's head was round upon the opposite tack the following bearings were taken:

Island of the Abrolhos: eight miles off, between West and South 75 degrees West.

Breakers: four miles off, North-North-West North.

Another patch: seven miles off, South-West.

And the small rock patch, half a mile off, West.

This last I did not see myself but two men perceived it distinctly from the masthead, and it is from their accounts that I am induced to give it a place upon the chart. The position of the vessel when we saw the breakers was in lat.i.tude 28 degrees 53 minutes and in longitude 114 degrees 2 minutes, and from the short interval between our obtaining sights for the chronometer and the meridional observation at noon, the position may be considered to be tolerably correct. After taking the bearings and before sail was made we sounded in twenty-five fathoms, fine sh.e.l.ly sand; but as we stood to the eastward the water gradually deepened to twenty-nine and thirty fathoms.

January 18.

The next morning at daylight the land was out of sight but at five o'clock was distinguished, forming a range of flat-topped land, probably about one thousand feet high. At the northern end of the range were four or five hills standing apart from each other, of which, in the view we then had of them, the northernmost was flat-topped, and the others peaked; at the south end of the range were three other distinct hills, the centre being peaked and the other two flat-topped. Near the centre of the main range was another summit that was remarkable for its form.

This range was seen by Captain Hamelin of the Naturaliste, and is thus noticed by M. De Freycinet in his account of the voyage. "Entre les paralleles de 29 degres et 28 degres 20 minutes, la terre est tres haute; on y remarque deux montagnes bien reconnoisables par leur forme qui approche de celle de la Grange, sur la cote de Saint-Domingue, ou de la Montagne de la Table au Cap de Bonne-Esperance; une autre ressemble un peu au Pouce, de l'Ile-de-France. La terre est aride, bordee de falaises rougeatres; on y voit peu de sable comparativement aux terres plus au sud."*

(*Footnote. De Freycinet page 181.)

We sought in vain for the resemblance to the Pouce, but as all the hills were flat-topped of course they were similar to the Table Land of the Cape of Good Hope, but probably inferior to it in point of height.