Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 18

ENDEAVOUR REEF is nine miles long; it lies in a North-West direction; the north end, in 15 degrees 39 minutes South, bears due from the North-east Hope.

c is covered, and not quite half a mile in length; its lat.i.tude is 15 degrees 32 minutes: it lies four miles from the sh.o.r.e.

d is rather larger, and has some dry rocks on its north end, in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 29 minutes 30 seconds. Between c and d and the sh.o.r.e the pa.s.sage is from three to four miles wide, and in mid-channel the depth is seven and eight fathoms.

On the south side of Point Monkhouse there is a bay having a small opening at the bottom, but not deep enough for ships: it was this bay that Captain Cook first examined in search of a place to repair his ship.

On steering along the sh.o.r.e between Point Monkhouse and the entrance of Endeavour River, the bottom is of sand and of irregular depth. A spit of sand was pa.s.sed over with only two and a half fathoms on it when the summit of Mount Cook bore South 66 degrees West (magnetic) and the outer extreme of Point Monkhouse South 18 degrees West (magnetic). One mile off sh.o.r.e the shoal soundings continued with two and a half fathoms until it bore South 59 degrees West (magnetic) when the depth was three, and three and a half fathoms.

ENDEAVOUR RIVER. The entrance of this river, in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 27 minutes 4 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 10 minutes 49 seconds,*

forms a very good port for small vessels; and, in a case of distress, might be useful for large ships, as it proved to our celebrated navigator Captain Cook, who, it is well known, repaired his ship there after having laid twenty-three hours upon a coral reef.

(*Footnote. The situation of the observatory at Endeavour River was found by lunar distances, taken during my visits to that place in 1819 and 1820, as follows:

Lat.i.tude by meridional alt.i.tudes of the sun, taken in the artificial horizon, being the mean of twenty-seven observations: 15 degrees 27 minutes 4 seconds.

Longitude by twenty-five set of distances (sun West of first quarter of the moon) containing one hundred and seventeen sights, with the s.e.xtant: 144 degrees 52 minutes 16 seconds.

Longitude by thirty set of distances (sun East of first quarter of the moon) containing one hundred and fifty sights, with the s.e.xtant: 145 degrees 29 minutes 23 seconds.

Mean, of fifty-five sets: 145 degrees 10 minutes 49 seconds.)

The entrance is formed on the south side by a steep hill, covered with trees growing to the edge of its rocky sh.o.r.e. The north side of the entrance is a low sandy beach of two miles and a quarter in length: at its north end a range of hills rises abruptly, and extends for six or seven miles, when it again suddenly terminates, and is separated from the rocky projection of Cape Bedford by a low plain of sand.

The entrance of Endeavour River is defended by a bar, on which, at high water, there is about fourteen feet; but, at low water, not more than ten feet: the channel over the bar is close to the south side, for the sandbank extends from the low sandy north sh.o.r.e to within one hundred and forty yards of the south sh.o.r.e, and at three quarters ebb (spring tides) is dry.

In steering in for the mouth, upon bringing Point Monkhouse in a line with Point a (the north point of the bay under Mount Cook) you will be in three fathoms; steer in until the south extremity of the low north sandy point is opened of the trend round Point c, when you may haul a little more in, and when point d (which is a point where the mangroves commence) bears South 33 degrees West (magnetic) steer directly for it; this will carry you over the deepest part or the bar, which stretches off from point c in a North 75 degrees West (magnetic) direction; another mark is to keep the trend beyond d just in sight, but not open, or you will be too near the spit: the best way is, having opened it, haul in a little to the southward, and shut it in again: you may pa.s.s within ten yards of point d; and the best anchorage is just within it; the vessel may be secured head and stern to trees on the beach, with bow and stern anchors to steady her. No vessel of a greater draught than twelve feet should enter the harbour; and this vessel may even moor in four fathoms within her own length of the sh.o.r.e, with the outer trend just shut in by the mangrove point a. The watering-place is a stream that empties itself into the port through the mangroves, about two hundred yards to the south: and if this should fail, there is a good stream at the north end of the long north sandy beach. The latter, although very high coloured, is of wholesome quality; but in bad weather is inconvenient to be procured on account of the surf. Water for common purposes of cooking may be had on a sandy beach a little without the entrance, but it is of a mineral quality, and of brackish taste. It is high water at full and change at eight o'clock, and the tide rises from five to ten feet. The variation of the observatory was 5 degrees 14 minutes East.

CAPE BEDFORD (lat.i.tude 15 degrees 16 minutes 19 seconds, longitude 145 degrees 17 minutes 19 seconds) is high, and forms a steep slope to the sea: it appeared to be bold to.* Between it and Cape Flattery is a bay backed by low land, about five miles deep; but it is exposed to the wind, unless there is anchorage under the north-west end of Cape Bedford.

(*Footnote. Shoal water extends for nearly a mile round Cape Bedford. Roe ma.n.u.script.)

CAPE FLATTERY is eighteen miles north of Cape Bedford: its extremity is high and rocky, and forms two distinct hills. The summit of the cape is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 52 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 16 minutes 10 seconds.*

(*Footnote. There are some dangerous shoals to the eastward of Point Lookout, and to the northward of Cape Flattery, about two miles apart from each other, situated in what was considered to be the fair channel.

Roe ma.n.u.script.)

Eleven miles beyond the cape, in a North 45 degrees West direction, is POINT LOOKOUT, forming a peaked hill at the extremity of a low sandy projection, whence the land trends West by North 1/2 North for twelve leagues to Cape Bowen.

e, a reef nearly three miles long and one broad: its north end is twelve miles nearly due East from the entrance of Endeavour River, in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 26 minutes 50 seconds, longitude 145 degrees 23 minutes 30 seconds.

TURTLE REEF was visited by Mr. Bedwell, it is covered at high water, excepting a small spot of sand, about the size of the boat, at its north end in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 23 minutes, longitude 145 degrees 22 minutes 50 seconds: its interior is occupied, like most others, by a shoal lagoon; it is entirely of coral, and has abundance of sh.e.l.lfish; it was here that Captain Cook procured turtle during his stay at Endeavour River, from the entrance of which it bears North 75 degrees East, and is distant eleven miles; its south end is separated from e by a channel of a mile wide.

THREE ISLES, in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 7 minutes 30 seconds, is a group of low coral islets covered with shrubs, and encircled by a reef, that is not quite two miles in diameter.

Two miles and three quarters to the North-West is a low wooded island, about a mile long, also surrounded by a reef; and four miles to the southward of it is a rocky islet.

REEF f is about four or five miles East-South-East from Three Isles; it appeared to be about three miles long: its western extreme is in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 10 minutes, and in longitude 145 degrees 26 minutes.

TWO ISLES are also low and wooded, and surrounded by a reef: the largest islet is in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 1 minute 20 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 22 minutes 10 seconds.

REEF g appeared to be about a mile broad and two miles and a half long: its south end is in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 0 minutes 15 seconds, longitude 145 degrees 26 minutes 45 seconds.

REEF h is an extensive reef, having high breakers on its outer edge: it is more than four miles long, and separated from the north end of g by a channel a mile wide.

REEF i has several detached reefs about it, on the northernmost are two rocky islands, and to the southward, on a detached shoal, there is a bare sandy islet that is perhaps occasionally covered by the tide: its south-westernmost extremity and the summit of Lizard Island are in the line of bearing of North 5 degrees West (magnetic) its lat.i.tude is 14 degrees 53 minutes 40 seconds.

REEF k, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 47 minutes, has a dry sand upon it: its sub-marine extent was not ascertained.

REEF l; the position of this reef is rather uncertain, near its western side is a dry key in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 47 minutes 30 seconds.

m is probably unconnected with the shoal off the south end of Eagle Island. In Captain Cook's rough chart there is twelve fathoms marked between two shoals which must mean the above.

EAGLE ISLAND is low and wooded, and situated at the north end of a considerable shoal; its lat.i.tude is 14 degrees 42 minutes 20 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 18 minutes 30 seconds.

DIRECTION ISLANDS are two high rocky islands, so called by Captain Cook to direct ships to the opening in the reefs, through which he pa.s.sed out to sea; they are high and of conical shape, and might be seen more than five or six leagues off was it not for the hazy weather that always exists in the neighbourhood of the reefs; the northernmost is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 44 minutes 50 seconds, longitude 145 degrees 26 minutes 25 seconds: the southernmost is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 50 minutes, longitude 145 degrees 26 minutes 45 seconds.

LIZARD ISLAND, about three miles long, is remarkable for its peaked summit, the lat.i.tude of which is 14 degrees 40 minutes 20 seconds, and longitude 145 degrees 23 minutes: on its south side is an extensive reef encompa.s.sing three islets, of which two are high and rocky: the best anchorage is on its western side under the summit; with the high northernmost of the Direction Islands in sight over the low land, bearing about South-East by compa.s.s: the depth is six and seven fathoms sandy bottom. The variation here is 5 degrees 2 minutes East.

TURTLE GROUP is four miles to the north of Point Lookout; the islets are encircled by a horse-shoe shaped coral reef, and consist of six islands, all low and bushy. These islands are not laid down with sufficient accuracy as to their relative positions.

n is a low wooded island about eleven miles west from Lizard Island; no reef was seen to project from it; it is in the meridian of the observatory of Endeavour River; and in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 40 minutes.

o is a small coral reef; it lies a mile and a half North 64 degrees West from the north end of n.

p is a coral reef, about a mile in extent, separated from o by a channel of a mile wide.

q, a reef, on which are two low wooded isles, apparently connected with a shoal extending from Point Lookout along the sh.o.r.e to the West-North-West; the isles are seven miles North 64 degrees West from Point Lookout.

COLES ISLANDS consist of four small bushy islets from a quarter to half a mile in extent; they are from four to six miles North-East from Point Murdoch. This group appeared to be merely the several dry parts of the shoal that extends from Point Lookout to n.o.ble Island; between them and the latter island, are two patches of dry sandy keys, but it is probable that they may be covered by the tide. The continuation of the shoal between the islands and Point Lookout was not clearly ascertained.

At POINT MURDOCH, which has a peaked hill at its extremity, the hills again approach the coast; at Cape Bowen they project into the sea, and separate two bays, in each of which there is possibly a rivulet; that to the eastward of the cape trends in and forms a deep bight. On the western side of the hills of Cape Bowen there is a track of low land, separating them from another rocky range. The summit of the hill at Point Murdoch is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 40 minutes, and longitude 144 degrees 46 minutes.

HOWICK'S GROUP consists of ten or eleven islands, of which Number 1, remarkable for a hillock at its south-east end, is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 32 minutes 40 seconds, and longitude 144 degrees 55 minutes 20 seconds; it is nearly three miles long; the rest are all less than half a mile in extent, excepting the westernmost, Number 6, which is nearly a mile and a half in diameter.

The pa.s.sage between 2 and 3 is safe, and has seven and eight fathoms: the north-west side of 3 is of rocky approach, but the opposite side of the strait is bold to; the anchorage is tolerably good. The Mermaid drove, but it was not considered to be caused by the nature of the bottom, which is of soft sand, and free from rocks.

The channel between 1 and 2 appeared to be very rocky, and shoal: between 1 and the reef r there is probably a clear channel of about a mile wide: the north-east end of 1 has a reef which extends off it for half a mile.

(*Footnote. Many shoals, partly dry, occupy the s.p.a.ce to the northward and eastward of Howick's Group. Roe ma.n.u.script.)

All the islands are low and wooded, and surrounded by a coral reef of small extent.

4 has a small islet off its west end.

5, 8, and 9 did not appear to have any reefs projecting from them. 7 is probably two islands, with a reef extending for half a mile on its western side. 6 is of larger size than the generality of the low islands hereabout, Number 1 excepted: its centre is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 28 minutes, and longitude 144 degrees 45 minutes. The position of Number 10 was not correctly ascertained.

The peak of CAPE BOWEN is in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 34 minutes, and longitude 144 degrees 35 minutes 40 seconds.