Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 15

APPENDIX A.

Previously to entering into the detail of the following coast-directions, in which it has been attempted, for the sake of a more easy reference, to collect all the nautical information under one general head, it may be proper to premise that Captain Flinders, in the account of his voyage,*

has given two very useful chapters upon the winds and weather that may be experienced upon the various coasts of this continent; as well as information respecting its general navigation and particular sailing-directions for the outer pa.s.sage from Port Jackson through Torres Strait, by entering the reefs at Murray Island. From these chapters Captain Horsburgh has arranged, in his valuable work on the Hydrography etc. of the Indian Ocean, a set of sailing-directions and other nautical information** that will be found useful for the navigation of the southern and eastern coasts of this continent.

(*Footnote. Volume 1 book 1 chapter 11 and volume 2 book 2 chapter 11.)

(**Footnote. Horsburgh's Indian Directory volume 2 pages 493 and 515.)

APPENDIX A. SECTION 1.

OF THE WINDS AND CURRENTS, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PORTS, ISLANDS, AND COAST BETWEEN PORT JACKSON AND BREAKSEA SPIT.

EAST COAST.

The south-east trade cannot be said to blow home upon that part of the coast of New South Wales, which lies between Breaksea Spit and Port Jackson, except during the summer months when winds from that quarter prevail and often blow very hard; they are then accompanied by heavy rains and very thick weather: generally however from October to April they a.s.sume the character of a sea-breeze and, excepting during their suspension by south-easterly or westerly gales, are very regular. In the month of December strong south-easterly gales are not uncommon; and in February and March they are very frequent.

In the month of December hot winds from the north-west will sometimes last for two or three days, and are almost always suddenly terminated by a gust of wind from the southward. The most prevailing winds, during all seasons, are from the south, and are probably oftener from the eastward of that point than from the westward. The current always sets to the southward, and has been found by us on several occasions to set the strongest during a South-East gale. The general course of the current is in the direction of the coast, but this is not constant; for, between Port Stevens and to the southward of Port Jackson, it sometimes sets in towards it. In a gale from the South-East in the month of December 1820, it must have been setting as much to the westward as South-West. This should be attended to, particularly in south-easterly gales, and an offing preserved to provide against the wind's veering to East-South-East and East by South, which is often the case; and then the current, setting upon the weather-bow, will place the vessel, in a dark night, in considerable danger. The rate of the current is generally about one mile per hour, but it sometimes though rarely runs at the rate of nearly three knots.

To the eastward in the s.p.a.ce between New South Wales and New Caledonia the current sets to the North-West, which carries a great body of water into the bight between the former and New Guinea; but as Torres Strait offers but a very inconsiderable outlet the stream is turned, and sets to the southward until it gradually joins the easterly current which, from the prevalence of westerly winds, is constantly running between Van Diemen's Land and Cape Horn.

The tides in this interval are of little consequence and in few places rise higher than six feet at the springs, excepting where they are affected by local circ.u.mstances.

There are but few places of shelter upon the east coast between Port Jackson and Breaksea Spit: Captain Flinders points out Broken Bay, Port Hunter for small craft, Port Stephens, Shoal Bay for vessels not exceeding fifty tons, and Gla.s.s House (Moreton) Bay. There are however other anchorages that might be resorted to in the event of being thrown upon a lee sh.o.r.e, which are equally good with Port Hunter, Shoal Bay, and Gla.s.s House Bay.

There is an anchorage behind Black Head to the north of Point Stevens which Lieutenant Oxley discovered to be an island; Port Macquarie also affords shelter for small vessels; and on the north side of Smoky Cape there is good shelter from southerly or south-easterly winds: but the whole of these, excepting Broken Bay, are only attainable by small vessels. A large ship must keep an offing; and as the coast is not at all indented the wind must blow very hard, and the ship sail very badly, to be placed in danger. Wide Bay however is a very good port, and affords a safe and secure shelter; the anchorage being protected by a reef which fronts it.

PORT JACKSON.

The Lighthouse, or Macquarie Tower, is in lat.i.tude 33 degrees 51 minutes 11 seconds South and longitude 4 minutes 29.8 seconds east of Sir Thomas Brisbane's Observatory at Sydney, or 151 degrees 19 minutes 45 seconds East of Greenwich. It is a revolving light and may be seen at the distance of ten leagues. The Inner South Head bears from it North 20 degrees West* and is distant about two thousand five hundred yards. The North Head bears from the Inner South Head North 53 degrees East by compa.s.s, about two thousand four hundred and forty yards; and the narrowest part of the entrance, which is between the Inner North and South Heads, is a little more than eight hundred yards, so that there is abundance of room to work in should the wind blow out of the Port. On arriving off the lighthouse, steer in between the North and South Heads until you are past the line of bearing of the Outer North, and the Inner South Heads: then haul round the latter, but avoid a reef of rocks that extends for two hundred yards off the point, and steer for Middle Head, a projecting cliff at the bottom of the bay, until the harbour opens round the Inner South Head; you may then pa.s.s on either side of the Sow and Pigs; but the eastern channel, although the narrowest, is perhaps the best; but this, in a great measure, depends upon the direction of the wind. The eastern channel is the deepest. The Sow and Pigs, or Middle Ground, is the only danger in Port Jackson: it is a bank of sand and rocks, of about eight hundred yards in length, by about three hundred and fifty in breadth: its length being in the direction of the harbour; a very small portion of it is dry, and consists of a few rocks, upon which the sea almost always breaks; they are situated upon the outer end of the shoal, and are in the line of bearing of the Outer North and the Inner South Heads. The south-western tail of the bank is chiefly of sand, with rocks scattered about it; but, on the greater portion of it, there is twelve feet water; it gradually deepens to three and a quarter fathoms, which is beyond the rocky limits of the shoal. To sail through the Western Channel, which is from one-third to half a mile wide, steer towards George's Head, a high rocky head, about three quarters of a mile above Middle Head, keeping it in sight upon the larboard bow, and the sea horizon open between the points of entrance, until you are within the line of bearing between a small sandy beach on the western sh.o.r.e and Green Point; the latter is a gra.s.sy mound, the south head of Camp Cove.

Then steer for George's Head, and gradually round it: when you have pa.s.sed the line of bearing between it and Green Point, and opened the sandy beach of Watson's Bay, steer boldly up the harbour. In rounding Point Bradley, there is a rocky shelf that runs off the point for perhaps one hundred yards. Pa.s.s on either side of Pinch-gut Island, and, in hauling into Sydney Cove, avoid a rocky reef that extends off Point Bennelong for rather more than two hundred yards into the sea.

To sail through the Eastern Channel, or to the eastward of the Sow and Pigs, haul round the Inner South Head until the summit of the Inner North Head is in a line with the inner trend of the former, bearing by compa.s.s North 23 1/2 degrees East; then steer South-South-West until you have pa.s.sed Green Point, when the course may be directed at pleasure up the harbour.

In turning to windward, go no nearer to the Sow and Pigs than three and a quarter fathoms, unless your vessel is small; nor within two hundred yards of the sh.o.r.e, for although it is bold in most parts close to, yet there are some few straggling rocks off the south point of Watson's Bay, and also some round Shark's Island. There is good anchorage in all parts of the harbour, when within Middle and the South Heads. There is also anchorage in North Harbour, but not to be recommended, for the swell sometimes rolls into the mouth of the harbour; no swell can, however, affect the anchorage between Middle Head and the Sow and Pigs.

SYDNEY COVE is nearly half a mile deep, and four hundred yards wide, and will contain more than twenty ships swinging at their moorings. The sh.o.r.es are bold to, and, excepting the rocky shoals that extend off Point Bennelong and Point Dawes, ships may approach very near.

On the eastern side of the cove is a convenient place for heaving down: it belongs to the government, but merchant ships may use it, by paying a small sum according to the length of time it is engaged. Wood and water are easily obtained from the north sh.o.r.e of the port; the former may be cut close to the beach; the latter is collected in tanks, and, excepting during a very dry season, is always abundant.

The tide rises occasionally at the springs as much as eight feet, but six feet is the general rise; it is high water at Sydney Cove at half past eight o'clock, but at the heads, it precedes this time by a quarter of an hour. The variation of the magnetic needle observed on sh.o.r.e by Lieutenant Roe:

at Sydney Cove in 1822, to be 8 degrees 42 minutes East,

at Garden Island 9 degrees 6 minutes East,

at Camp Cove 9 degrees 42 minutes East.

As all navigators are, or ought to be, supplied with Captain Horsburgh's Indian Directory, it has not been thought necessary to descant further upon the nature of the winds and currents of the east coast; since this subject has been so fully treated upon, in the above valuable book, in the section that commences at page 501.

Captain Horsburgh has also described the entrance of Botany Bay at page 502, and of Broken Bay, at page 505. According to Lieutenant Jeffreys, R.N., who commanded the hired armed transport Kangaroo, the latter harbour has a bar stretching across from the south to the north head, on which there is not less than five fathoms water.

PORT HUNTER is situated fifty-nine miles North 22 degrees East (true) from the entrance of Port Jackson. There is a lighthouse at its southern entrance, and pilots are established who come off to vessels that arrive.

The entrance is round the n.o.bby (lat.i.tude 32 degrees 56 minutes, longitude 151 degrees 43 1/4 minutes) an insulated rock: and the pa.s.sage is indicated by keeping two lights, that are placed at a distance from each other at the wharf, in a line: the anchorage is about two hundred yards from the wharf in three fathoms. The shoals on the west side are dangerous, and several vessels have been wrecked upon them in going in.

The above information is from a plan drawn by Lieutenant Jeffreys, in the Hydrographical Office at the Admiralty: it was drawn in the year 1816; since which a portion of the labour of the convicts has been employed in building a breakwater, or pier, from the south entrance to the n.o.bby Rock, which will tend to direct the stream of tide through the channel, and also protect it from the surf and swell, which, during a south-east gale, must render the harbour of dangerous access. The town was formerly called King's Town, but it has since been changed to that of Newcastle, and the appellation of the Coal River has partly superseded the more legitimate name of Port Hunter.

PORT STEPHENS is easy to enter, but not to sail from, unless the wind is fair, on account of the shoals that are near its entrance. Point Stephens is in lat.i.tude 32 degrees 46 1/2 minutes, longitude 152 degrees 9 minutes 45 seconds.

BLACK HEAD is an island, behind which there is very good anchorage; the head is in lat.i.tude 32 degrees 38 minutes 20 seconds. Between Black Head, and the hills called the Brothers, are WALLIS' Lake, in lat.i.tude 32 degrees 11 minutes 50 seconds, HARRINGTON'S Lake, in 32 degrees 0 minutes, and FARQUHAR'S Lake, in lat.i.tude 31 degrees 54 minutes; they were discovered by Lieutenant Oxley on his return from his land journey in 1819; they have all shoal entrances, and are merely the outlets of extensive lagoons, which receive the streams from the hills, and occupy a considerable s.p.a.ce between the coast and the mountains.

In lat.i.tude 31 degrees 47 minutes 50 seconds, and at the distance of two miles and a quarter from the sh.o.r.e, is a dangerous reef, on which the sea constantly breaks; it was named by Lieutenant Oxley, who discovered it, the MERMAID'S REEF; it is about a quarter of a mile in extent, and bears South 85 degrees East from the South Brother; a small detached portion of the reef is separated from the princ.i.p.al rock, within which there appeared to be a narrow navigable channel. A quarter of a mile without the latter we found sixteen fathoms water. Round the point under the North Brother Hill, is CAMDEN HAVEN, the particulars respecting its entrance (in lat.i.tude 31 degrees 41 minutes, longitude 152 degrees) are not yet known, but it is supposed to be very shoal.

PORT MACQUARIE is the embouchure or the River Hastings; its entrance is about two miles and two-thirds to the North-North-West of Tacking Point.

It is a bar harbour, and, like Port Hunter, is of dangerous access, on account of the banks of sand that project from the low north sandy point of entrance, on which the sea breaks and forms sand rollers; these however serve to indicate the edge of the channel, which is about ninety yards wide. The south sh.o.r.e extends in a North-North-West direction from Tacking Point to Green Mound (a remarkable conical shaped hillock) whence the south sh.o.r.e of the entrance trends in nearly a west direction to the narrow entrance opposite Pelican Point.

Between Green Mound and the next projection the bar stretches across towards the sand rollers, and is about one hundred and twenty yards in extent.

The deepest channel over it is within thirty yards of two sunken rocks, the outermost of which bears from Green Mound North 45 degrees West (true) or North 55 degrees West, nine hundred yards. When Green Mound Point and the next point to the southward of it are in a line, you are within a few yards of the shoalest part of the bar. After pa.s.sing the bar, there are from two to four fathoms water. Since the examination of this harbour, a penal settlement has been formed, and a pilot appointed to conduct vessels in and out. Off the entrance is a high rocky islet, the n.o.bby, within which the channel is shoal and dangerous to pa.s.s. There is good anchorage in four, five, or six fathoms, about half a mile outside of the bar, on a bank of sand, which gradually deepens for three miles to fourteen fathoms, upon any part of which a vessel may anchor to await high water.

Lat.i.tude of its entrance 31 degrees 25 minutes 32 seconds South.

Longitude 152 degrees 57 minutes 25 seconds East.

Variation of the compa.s.s 10 degrees 11 minutes 0 seconds East.

High water at full and change 8 hours 56 minutes.

Tide rises four to five feet.

The south-east trend of SMOKY CAPE is in lat.i.tude 30 degrees 55 minutes 40 seconds, longitude 153 degrees 4 minutes 30 seconds.

TRIAL BAY, so named by Lieutenant Oxley, who anch.o.r.ed in it on a second expedition to examine Port Macquarie previous to its being settled, is a convenient roadstead during southerly winds: it is situated on the north side of Smoky Cape, and affords an anchorage in three fathoms, protected from the sea as far as North-East by East. Fresh water may be procured from a stream that runs over the beach. Four miles to the north of Smoky Cape is an inlet having a bar harbour, on which there is but eight feet water.

SHOAL BAY is the next harbour to the northward: the following description of it is from Captain Flinders (Flinders' Terra Australis, Introduction, cxcv.)

"On the south side of the entrance, which is the deepest, there is ten feet at low water; and within side the depth is from two to four fathoms, in a channel near the south sh.o.r.e: the rest of the bar is mostly occupied by shoals, over which boats can scarcely pa.s.s when the tide is out. High water appeared to take place about seven hours after the moon's pa.s.sage; at which time a ship not drawing more than fourteen feet might venture in, if severely pressed. Shoal Bay is difficult to be found except by its lat.i.tude, which is 29 degrees 26 1/2 minutes, but there is on the low land about four leagues to the southward, a small hill somewhat peaked, which may serve as a mark to vessels coming from that direction."

CAPE BYRON, in lat.i.tude 28 degrees 38 minutes 10 seconds, longitude 153 degrees 37 minutes 20 seconds. MOUNT WARNING is in lat.i.tude 28 degrees 24 minutes, longitude 153 degrees 12 minutes.

THE TWEED is a river communicating with the sea by a bar, on which there is twelve feet water, it is situated about a mile and a half to the north of a small island off Point Danger, which lies in lat.i.tude 28 degrees 8 minutes.

In lat.i.tude 28 degrees there is a communication with the inlet at the south side of Moreton Bay, insulating the land whose north extremity is Point Lookout. The entrance of this inlet is shoal and only pa.s.sable for boats.

MORETON BAY.* In addition to the account of this bay by Captain Flinders,** Lieutenant Oxley has lately discovered the Brisbane, a very fine fresh water river that falls into it in 27 degrees 25 minutes lat.i.tude, abreast of the strait between Moreton Island and Point Lookout.