Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 19

n.o.bLE ISLAND is a rock, having a sandy, or a coral beach at its north-west end; although small it is very conspicuous; and, when first seen from the southward, has the appearance of a rock with a double rounded top.

The REEFS s, t, and u are unconnected; the north end of s, lying six miles and a half due east from Point Barrow, was dry for a considerable extent; t, one mile to the north, was covered; but there is a dry sandy key on u, bearing from Point Barrow, North 32 degrees East, six miles: some rocks showed themselves above the water off its south end.

v and w may possibly be connected; the former was noticed to extend for three miles, and the latter for nearly ten miles; there was, however, a s.p.a.ce of three miles between them, where a channel may possibly exist.

The channels between t and u, and between v and w, appeared to be clear and deep.

The REEFS x, y, and Z, are probably parts of the barrier reefs, for the sea was breaking very heavily upon their outer edge; there were, however, considerable s.p.a.ces where no breakers appeared, some of which, being three or four miles wide, may possibly be as many outlets to sea.

NINIAN BAY is a bight to the west of Point Barrow;* it is about three miles deep, and has a small opening at the bottom; in crossing it we had not more water than four fathoms, and within our course it appeared to be very shoal: there is doubtless a channel leading to the opening; but, to the name of harbour or port, it has not the slightest pretension: it was named Port Ninian by Lieutenant Jeffreys: off the north end of Point Barrow are two rocky islands.

(*Footnote. Off Point Barrow, the shoals lie from half to one mile nearer the sh.o.r.e, than they are laid down; and one mile and three quarters North 55 degrees East from the point are two small patches of coral, under water; they bear North-East and South-West from each other and are probably one tenth of a mile apart. Roe ma.n.u.script.)

Between Ninian Bay and Cape Melville the coast is high and rocky, but appeared to be fronted by a reef, which in some places extends for a mile and a half from the sh.o.r.e; in this interval there are two or three sandy beaches, but I doubt the practicability of landing upon them in a boat.

The summit and sides of the hills that form the promontory, of which Cape Melville is the extreme, are of most remarkable appearance, being covered with heaps of rounded stones of very large size (volume 1.)

CAPE MELVILLE, sloping off into the sea to the north, terminates this remarkable promontory in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 9 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 144 degrees 24 minutes 50 seconds: the coast trends round it to the South-South-West and South-West, and forms Bathurst Bay, which is nine miles and a half deep, and thirteen wide, the western side being formed by Flinders' Group. A reef extends for more than two miles off Cape Melville in a North West by North direction, on which some rounded stones, similar to those upon the land, are heaped up above the sea: there is also one of these heaps at the extremity of the reef, outside, and within a quarter of a mile of which we had fourteen fathoms water: there are two other similar heaps within the outer pile, and between them there are possibly clear pa.s.sages, but they should not be attempted without great caution. It was remarked that the breeze always freshened on pa.s.sing round this cape.

PIPON ISLANDS, two small islets, of which the easternmost is the largest, are in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 6 minutes 40 seconds, longitude 144 degrees 26 minutes 5 seconds; they are surrounded by a reef, lying two miles and a half from the cape; between them and the reef that extends from the cape, there is a safe and deep pa.s.sage of more than a mile wide.

The south-east side of Bathurst Bay is shoal. At the bottom are two openings, with some projecting land between them, at the extremity of which there is a peak; these openings are doubtless rivulets of considerable size, and take their rise from the high land at the back of Cape Bowen.

FLINDERS' GROUP forms the west head of Bathurst Bay; they are high and rocky, and consist of four islands, two of which are three miles long.

The peak of the largest island, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 11 minutes 5 seconds, and longitude 144 degrees 12 minutes 5 seconds, is visible from a distance of twelve or thirteen leagues; and the higher parts of the islands may be seen generally at seven or eight leagues.

On the eastern side of the northernmost island there is a bay fronted by a coral reef, but it is too exposed to the prevailing winds to be safe.

It is here that the Frederick (merchant ship) was wrecked in 1818.

CAPE FLINDERS, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 8 minutes, longitude 144 degrees 10 minutes 20 seconds, is the north extremity of the island; it may be pa.s.sed close to with twelve fathoms: the best anchorage is under the flat-topped hill, at a quarter of a mile from the sh.o.r.e, in ten fathoms mud. The variation is 5 degrees 20 minutes East. It is high water at full and change at a quarter past nine.

In the offing is a low wooded island of more than a mile in diameter.

CLACK'S ISLAND is a high rock, situated at the south-east end of reef b, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 4 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 144 degrees 11 minutes 45 seconds, and, being a bare black rock, with no apparent vegetation, is a conspicuous object: there is another rock on its north-east end. (See above.) The reef is of circular shape, and three miles in diameter.

The shoal marked a was not seen by us. H.M. sloop Satellite struck upon it in June, 1822, on her pa.s.sage to India. The following marks for it were obligingly communicated to me by Captain M.J. Currie, of H.M. sloop Satellite, who sent a boat to examine it upon her second voyage the following year:

"In crossing the northern part of Bathurst Bay, and nearly in mid-channel, between Cape Flinders and the low wooded island, there is a small patch of sunken rocks, lying north and south, not more than a cable's length in extent, the least water being one fathom. The Satellite grounded on them in two fathoms, in June, 1822. I sent a boat to examine this shoal in making the same pa.s.sage in August, 1823, and found it to be under the following bearings (by compa.s.s): namely, Cape Flinders, South-West by West 3/4 West; the high peak on the south-east part of Flinders' Group, South 1/4 West; the highest of Clack's Islands, North-West 1/2 West, and Cape Melville East 1/2 South. It is a dangerous shoal in running for Cape Flinders, but may be easily avoided by steering near the low wooded island, to the north-east of the cape, or by keeping the sh.o.r.e of Flinders' Group on board, which is perhaps preferable. The variation is 5 degrees 40 minutes East."*

(*Footnote. The shoal is in a line with, and half way between, the flat-topped hill on the north island of Flinders' Group, and the centre of the low wooded island, and is nearly joined to some shoal-water that extends for two miles from the latter island. Roe ma.n.u.script.)

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE'S BAY is an extensive bight in the coast, twenty-two miles deep, and thirty-one broad; its sh.o.r.es are low, and at the bottom in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 29 minutes there is a mangrove opening.

JANE'S TABLE LAND, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 29 minutes 15 seconds and longitude 144 degrees 4 minutes 45 seconds, is a remarkable flat-topped hill at the bottom of the bay, rising abruptly from the surrounding low land: it is about five miles from the coast; its summit, by the angle it subtended, is about a mile in length. Excepting this hill, no other high land was seen at the bottom of the bay.

On the western side the land rises to a moderate height, and forms a bank of about ten miles in extent, but this was not visible for more than three or four leagues. To the north of this no part of the interior can be seen until in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 55 minutes, when the south end of a ridge of hills commences at about seven miles behind the beach, which it gradually approaches until it reaches the coast in 13 degrees 35 minutes, and is terminated by a round hill; the coast then extends with a low sandy beach for eleven miles to Cape Sidmouth.

c is a covered reef of coral, extending North-East by East and South-West by West for seventeen miles: its south-west end bears North 75 degrees West, twelve miles and a half, from Cape Flinders.

d, e, and f, are three coral banks, having dry sandy keys on each; they are of circular shape, and from a mile to a third of a mile in diameter: d is the largest, and bears nearly due-west from Cape Flinders, from which it is distant twelve miles and a half.

g and h are two coral reefs; but it was not ascertained whether they are connected to each other or not: they may also be joined to c, and indeed this supposition is very likely to be correct, for we found the water quite smooth, and little or no set of tide on pa.s.sing them. On the southwest extremity of g, in lat.i.tude 14 degrees 1 minute 20 seconds, longitude 143 degrees 50 minutes, there is a dry sandy key, as there is also upon h, but on the latter there are also rocks, and the sand is dry for four or five miles along its north-west side: the south-west end of h is in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 59 minutes, longitude 143 degrees 49 minutes.

i is a circular coral reef, of a mile and a quarter in diameter, and has a dry sandy key at its north-west end; it is two miles North-North-West from the south-west end of h.

k is a small reef with a sandy key upon it, four miles to the east of Pelican Island.

PELICAN ISLAND is on the north-west side of a reef of more than a mile and a half long: it is very small, but remarkable for having two clumps of trees, which at a distance give it the appearance of being two small islets: it is low, and, like the other islands of its character, may be seen at ten miles from the deck: its lat.i.tude is 13 degrees 54 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 143 degrees 46 minutes. (See volume 1.)

l is a long narrow coral reef, extending in a North-North-East direction: it is thirteen miles in extent, but generally not more than one-third of a mile wide: its greatest width is not more than a mile and a half: its south-west end is five miles and three-quarters north from Pelican Island.

m is an extensive coral reef, extending for fifteen miles in North East by North direction, parallel with l, from which it is separated by a channel of from one to two miles wide. At its south-west end, where there is an extensive dry sandy key, and some dry rocks, it is two miles wide: but towards its northern end it tapers away to the breadth of a quarter of a mile. The south trend of its south-west end lies seven miles North 44 degrees West from Pelican Island, and four miles from Island 2 of Claremont Isles.

n is another extensive reef, which may possibly be connected with m. At its westernmost end, about four miles North by East 1/2 East from the west end of m., is a dry sand of small extent.

It was considered probable that there was a safe pa.s.sage between the reefs l and m. We steered so far as to see the termination of the latter, upon which the sea was breaking, which afforded a proof of its not being connected with the former, which also the dark colour of the water sufficiently indicated.

The Mermaid was nearly lost in attempting to cross the latter reef.

(Volume 1.)

CLAREMONT ISLES consist of five small islets, numbered from 1 to 5; they are of coral formation, and are covered with small brushwood; they are from six to seven miles apart, excepting 4 and 5, which are separated by a channel only a mile and a half wide: off the east and south-east end of 5, a coral reef extends for a mile and a half to the eastward, having two dry rocks on its north-east end.

COLUMN 1: CLAREMONT ISLE.

COLUMN 2: LAt.i.tUDE IN DEGREES, MINUTES, SECONDS.

COLUMN 3: LONGITUDE IN DEGREES, MINUTES, SECONDS.

Number 1 : 13 56 20 : 143 40 30.

Number 2 : 13 51 30 : 143 37 30.

Number 3 : 13 46 45 : 143 33 20.

Number 4 : 13 40 00 : 143 36 20.

Reef o extends in an east and west direction for a mile and a half, and at a mile farther there is another reef, that may be connected to it; o has a dry sand near its western extremity, in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 34 minutes, and longitude 143 degrees 38 minutes 45 seconds.

Islet 6, in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 29 minutes, longitude 143 degrees 38 minutes 26 seconds, is a very small, low, woody islet, with a reef extending for three-quarters of a mile off its north and south ends.

A reef lies two miles and one-third North 72 1/2 degrees West from islet 6, and South 59 degrees East from the summit of Cape Sidmouth; this reef is not more than a quarter of a mile in extent, and has a rock in its centre, that is uncovered at half tide; it is a brown looking shoal, and therefore of dangerous approach.

Off ROUND HILL there is a sandbank covered by the sea; it lies about two miles from the sh.o.r.e, and about East-North-East from Round Hill summit.

q is a small, brown, rocky shoal, that is not visible until close to it; it bears South 60 degrees East, four miles from the extremity of Cape Sidmouth.

CAPE SIDMOUTH is rather an elevated point, having higher land behind it; and at about nine miles in the interior, to the West-North-West, there is a rounded summit: at the extremity of the cape there are two remarkable lumps on the land, in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 24 minutes 20 seconds, and longitude 143 degrees 30 minutes. The cape is fronted by several rocky shoals, and ought not to be approached within four miles.

r is a sandbank, on which we had two and a half fathoms; but from the nature of the other neighbouring reefs, s and t, it is perhaps rocky also, and may be connected with them. It lies four miles and a quarter North 32 degrees East from Cape Sidmouth, and West 1/2 North from islet 7.

6 1/2 and 7 are two bare sandy islets, situated at the north ends of reefs extending in a North-North-West direction; the reef off the islet 6 1/2 is four miles and a half in length, and that off 7 is two miles and a half long: 6 1/2 is in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 23 minutes 20 seconds, longitude 143 degrees 39 minutes 30 seconds; 7, in lat.i.tude 13 degrees 21 minutes 20 seconds, and longitude 143 degrees 36 minutes 10 seconds.