Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Volume II Part 22

From Macquarie Strait the land trends to the westward, and north-westward to De Courcy Head, and forms but few sinuosities. POINT BROGDEN, in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 30 minutes, the only projection in this s.p.a.ce, is remarkable for being higher than usual, and for having a range of cliffs to the southward of the point; with a solitary tree near its extremity, hence the land is rocky towards De Courcy Head, which is a cliffy projection in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 17 minutes 30 seconds; thence the sh.o.r.e continues rocky to Cape c.o.c.kburn, a low rocky point, with a conspicuous tree at its extremity. The point is wooded to within a short distance of the sea, as is generally the case with the sh.o.r.es of this coast. CAPE c.o.c.kBURN is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 18 minutes, and longitude 132 degrees 53 minutes 5 seconds.

MOUNTNORRIS BAY extends between Cape c.o.c.kburn and Cape Croker, it is twenty-eight miles wide, and twenty-three deep. It contains several islands, and is also fronted by a group, of which New Year's Island, the lat.i.tude of whose centre is 10 degrees 55 minutes, and longitude 133 degrees 0 minutes 36 seconds, is the outermost; the others are named Oxley, Lawson, McCluer, Grant, Templer, and Cowlard. They are straggling, and have wide and apparently deep channels between them. Between New Year's and McCluer's Islands, the channel is nearly eight miles wide and eighteen and nineteen fathoms deep. A reef extends off the north-west end of the latter island for nearly three miles, and the ground is rocky and shoal for some distance off the north-east end of Oxley's Island. Grant's Island is higher than the others, which are merely small woody islets, the centre is in 11 degrees 10 minutes.

At the north-east end of Mountnorris Bay is MALAY BAY which is four miles wide and six deep; it affords good anchorage in four and five fathoms in the centre: as it offered no other inducement, we did not land upon any part of it. Between Valentia Island and Point Annesley, the channel is more than a mile wide and four fathoms deep. VALENTIA ISLAND has a reef off its north point, and another off its south-east point, each about a mile in extent.

COPELAND ISLAND is small and wedge-shaped, its summit is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 28 minutes, and longitude 132 degrees 43 minutes; four miles and a quarter West-North-West from it is a covered sandbank having nine feet water near its edge; it was not quite certain whether it was joined to the land or not, from which it is distant two miles and a half.

On the western side of the bay there is a strait two miles wide separating Croker's Island from the main; it is ten or eleven miles in length, and is navigable since the Malay fleet were observed to pa.s.s through it.

CROKER'S ISLAND is twenty-one miles and a quarter from north to south, and from two to five broad, its northern extremity is in 10 degrees 58 minutes 30 seconds lat.i.tude, and 132 degrees 34 minutes 10 seconds longitude; about three-quarters of a mile within it there is a remarkable rocky k.n.o.b: its south extreme is in 11 degrees 19 1/4 minutes.

PALM BAY, on its western side, is an excellent anchorage in the easterly monsoon; it is four miles and a half wide, and nearly three deep. The sh.o.r.e is rocky for a mile off, and the south point has a rocky shoal projecting to the West-North-West for a mile and a quarter.

DARCH'S ISLAND is separated from Croker's Island by a navigable strait two miles wide; near the reef at the north-east end we had six fathoms, but in mid-channel the depth was as much as eleven fathoms. A considerable reef projects off the east end for more than a mile. The island is about two miles and three-quarters long, and is thickly wooded; its north point is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 7 minutes 30 seconds.

RAFFLES BAY forms a good port during any season; it is seven miles deep, and from two to three broad: beyond High Point the depth is not more than three fathoms and a half. The anchorage is however quite safe.

The bay to the eastward of Point Smith, which has a reef extending from it for nearly a mile, has a shoal opening at its bottom of very little importance. At the north-east end of the bay, separated from the point by a channel a mile wide, and more than five fathoms deep, is a small sandy island, with a reef extending for a mile off its north end.

PORT ESSINGTON, the outer heads of which, Vashon Head and Point Smith, are seven miles apart, is an extensive port, thirteen miles and a quarter deep, and from five to three wide; independent of its Inner Harbour, which, with a navigable entrance of a mile wide, is five miles deep and four wide. The port is not only capacious, but has very few shoals or dangers in it.

On the western side, off Island Point, there are some rocks, and also a reef projects for a mile off the bluff point that forms the east head of Knocker's Bay. The western side of the entrance to Inner Harbour, is also rocky and shoal for two-thirds across, but near the opposite point* the depth is thirteen fathoms.

(*Footnote. This is Point Record of Captain Bremer, see above.)

On the eastern side of the port there is no danger beyond a quarter of a mile from the sh.o.r.e, excepting a reef of rocks, some of which are dry; this danger, when in a line with a remarkable cliff two miles and a quarter to the south of Table Point, bears East-South-East 1/2 East; close without them the depth is five fathoms.

The INNER HARBOUR is divided into two basins which extend in for two miles on either side of Middle Head, a cliffy projection, surrounded by a rocky sh.o.r.e for a quarter of a mile off. The anchorage between the entrance and Middle Head is in five and six fathoms mud, and in the centre of the western basin the depth is five fathoms mud. The sh.o.r.es are higher than usual, and are varied by sandy beaches and cliffs, some of white and others of a red colour. The western side of the port was not visited, and our tracks and examinations were made princ.i.p.ally on the opposite sh.o.r.e. At the bottom of Knocker's Bay is a shoal mangrove opening, of no importance. See volume 1.

POINT SMITH is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 6 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 132 degrees 12 minutes 30 seconds.

VASHON HEAD has a considerable shoal projecting from it, and extending into the bay to the westward which was called TREPANG BAY. This bay has an opening at the bottom, that appeared to be shoal. A small sandy island lies at the distance of a mile and three-quarters from the sh.o.r.e; the reef projects into the sea for nearly a mile farther, and apparently extends to the South-West to the north head of POPHAM BAY, which has a small opening at the bottom, but of shoal approach; good anchorage may be had in Popham Bay in five and six fathoms, a little within the heads, and as they bear North and South-South-West, it is well sheltered in the easterly monsoon. Hence to CAPE DON is three miles and a half. The latter cape is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 19 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 131 degrees 45 minutes 30 seconds.

VAN DIEMEN'S GULF is seventy miles deep, and more than forty broad. It has two outlets to sea; the one to the northward, DUNDAS STRAIT, is sixteen miles wide and very deep; the other, CLARENCE STRAIT, is seventeen miles wide, and communicates with the sea round the south sides of Melville and Bathurst Islands: it is probably not so safe as Dundas'

Strait, on account of Vernon's Isles, which lie in mid channel, near its western end.

The north eastern side of Van Diemen's Gulf washes the south side of Coburg Peninsula. It has several bays, and, to the eastward of MOUNTS BEDWELL and Roe, the sh.o.r.e is fronted by SIR GEORGE HOPE'S ISLANDS, forming a channel or port within them twenty miles deep and from three to six broad; the entrance to it is round the north end of GREENHILL ISLAND, which is separated from the land of the peninsula, by a strait a mile and a half wide: the depth in mid-channel, for the sh.o.r.e on either side for half a mile is shoal and rocky, is eighteen fathoms, and within it the bottom is six, seven, and eight fathoms deep, and princ.i.p.ally of mud.

This strait is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 35 minutes.

The eastern side has several openings in it, but the sh.o.r.es are very low, and of shoal approach. At its south-east end are the two (and probably three) Alligator Rivers; the westernmost (or centre) is fronted by FIELD ISLAND, the centre of which is in 12 degrees 6 minutes lat.i.tude, and 132 degrees 25 minutes 10 seconds longitude. These rivers have been described in the narrative. See volume 1. The bottom of the gulf is very low, and forms two bights, separated by a point that projects for seven or eight miles.

In the neighbourhood of the rivers the country is sprinkled with wooded hills, that extend in a straggling chain towards Wellington Range, of which they might be considered a part: but between the rivers and Clarence Strait the country is low and flat, and only protected from inroads of the sea by a barrier of sandhills, beyond which not a vestige of the interior could be seen.

CLARENCE STRAIT separates Bathurst and Melville Islands from the mainland: it is seventy-five miles long, and from seventeen to thirty-five wide. The narrowest part is at about its centre, between Cape Gambier and Cape Eldon, and in this s.p.a.ce is a group of four low rocky islands, covered with mangroves (Vernon's Islands) from which considerable reefs extend towards either sh.o.r.e.

The best channel is probably on the northern side, near Cape Gambier, which is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 56 minutes 20 seconds; and there also appeared to be a wide and safe channel on the south side; but the neighbourhood of Vernon's Islands is rocky. The flood-tide sets to the eastward into the gulf.

MELVILLE ISLAND is of considerable size, and forms the western side of Van Diemen's Gulf; its greatest length from Cape Van Diemen to Cape Keith being seventy-two miles, and its greatest breadth thirty-eight miles; its circ.u.mference is two hundred miles.

We did not land on any part of it, excepting in the entrance of Apsley Strait, at Luxmoore Head (lat.i.tude 11 degrees 21 minutes, longitude 130 degrees 22 minutes) from which we were driven by the natives. It appeared fertile and more elevated than the coast to the eastward, and to possess several good harbours, particularly Apsley Strait, besides several bays on its north coast; and from the appearance of the land on its east side, and the extent and abrupt shape of the hills, it is probable that there may be a port there also.

BRENTON BAY is the mouth of a small inlet, which may probably prove to be a fresh-water stream; and the bottom of LETHBRIDGE BAY appeared likely to yield one also. The hills and coast are wooded to the brink of the cliffs and sandy beaches that vary the northern sh.o.r.es of Melville Island.

The most unproductive part appeared to be the narrow strip that extends towards Cape Van Diemen. On either side of the point, near Karslake Island, is a bay, and at the bottom of each there is an opening in the land, like those of Brenton and Lethbridge Bays.

The western trend of CAPE VAN DIEMEN is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 8 minutes 15 seconds, and longitude 130 degrees 20 minutes 30 seconds. The coast to the south-east of the cape is formed by a range of cliffs, extending uninterruptedly for seven miles, of a most remarkable white appearance, whiter even than the usual colour of the pipe-clay cliffs to the eastward. Cape Van Diemen is a low sandy point, with a shoal spit projecting from it for four miles, within half a mile of the extremity of which we had no bottom with ten fathoms: from this a very considerable shoal (MERMAID'S SHOAL) extends to the westward and south-westward for seventeen miles; and, curving round to PIPER'S HEAD, forms the northern limit of the entrance to Apsley Strait: its western edge is rather steep; we coasted along it, and had overfalls between ten and four fathoms near its edge. It is not only possible, but very likely, that there are channels through it, but the most direct channel is round its south side, across the bar, on which there is (at low water) five fathoms. To sail into APSLEY STRAIT by this channel, if coming from the westward, steer in on the parallel of 11 degrees 15 minutes, until the northern part of Bathurst Island is seen: when the western trend of the island bears South, you will be abreast of the west extremity of the shoal off Cape Van Diemen. Steering on, you will see Piper's Head, a cliffy point, forming the north entrance to the strait, which must be kept upon the bearing of East by North, until the low, sandy, south point of the strait's entrance* is in a line with the summit of LUXMOORE HEAD, a remarkable flat-topped hill on the eastern side of the strait, bearing South 59 degrees East. Then steer East by South, keeping the lead going, and hauling to the north if the soundings are less than seven fathoms, until the strait is opened bearing South-East by South, when you may haul in for Luxmoore Head, and anchor at will.

(*Footnote. Point Brace of Captain Bremer.)

The narrowest part of the strait is where the low, sandy extremity, Point Brace, bears South 40 degrees East; the channel then is from seventeen to eighteen fathoms deep, and shoals suddenly on its south, but gradually on its north side: it is about a mile and a half wide.

APSLEY STRAIT is forty miles long, and from one to three broad; the widest part being at the north end: the southern end, for five or six miles from the outlet, is very rocky; the south entrance is in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 45 minutes; the flood sets to the southward, and the ebb, from Van Diemen's Gulf out of Clarence Strait, runs through the strait to the north, which must cause many shoals off the south entrance; the depth is generally from ten to thirteen fathoms, but is very irregular towards the south end; at low water many parts are dry, which leave the channels very intricate. We pa.s.sed over it at high water without knowing our danger, for the stream of the tide carried us through the deepest part of the channel.

BATHURST ISLAND is from thirty to thirty-three miles in extent, having a circ.u.mference of a hundred and twenty miles. GORDON BAY, on its western side, affords a good shelter in the easterly monsoon; it is ten miles wide, and six deep, and terminated by PORT HURD, the entrance to which is fronted by a bar, having twelve or fourteen feet on it at low water. Near the south-western head of the bay two projecting cliffy points (Twin Cliffs) terminate a sandy bay, from which wood and, probably, water may be obtained.

PORT HURD, at the bottom of Gordon Bay, in lat.i.tude 11 degrees 39 minutes 30 seconds, is a mere salt-water inlet, running up in a South-East direction for eight miles; it then separates into two creeks that wind under each side of a wooded hill; the entrance is three-quarters of a mile wide, and formed by two low points. At the back of the port are some wooded hills; one of them, Mount Hurd, kept in the opening between the two points of entrance, is the mark for the deepest part of the bar. When within the entrance the port opens, and forms a basin two miles and a quarter broad, after which it narrows and runs up at from half to a quarter of a mile wide, with a channel four and five fathoms deep.

The country here is thickly wooded, but very low, excepting a few ranges of hills that may rise to the height of two hundred feet. The south side of Bathurst Island has no sinuosities.

Near CAPE FOURCROY the coast is formed by sandhills: but, for the next fifteen miles, it is low and backed by wooded hills.

APPENDIX A. SECTION 4.

OF THE NATURE OF THE WINDS AND THE DESCRIPTION OF THE COAST BETWEEN CLARENCE STRAIT AND THE NORTH-WEST CAPE.

NORTH-WEST COAST.

The nature of the winds upon the North-west Coast, that is, between Cape Van Diemen and the North-west Cape, differs very materially from the regularity of the monsoons in the sea that divides it from Timor and the islands to the northward; excepting in the narrower part between Cape Londonderry and the Sahul Bank, where, from the contracted nature of the sea, more regular winds may be expected. The easterly monsoon commences about the beginning of April, and in the months of May and June blows with great strength, and will be found more regular close to the projecting parts of the coast, but they then rather a.s.sume the character of a sea-breeze, for the nights are generally calm.

After the month of June the winds to the westward of Cape Londonderry are very irregular, and generally blow from the southward or south-west; they are however more constant to the westward of Buccaneer's Archipelago, where the seabreezes blow princ.i.p.ally from the North-West along the land.

At intervals, during the east monsoon, the wind blows strong from South-East, but only for a short time, perhaps only for a few hours.

Ships may creep along the Coast of New Holland to the eastward during the easterly monsoon, when they could not make any progress in the mid sea, without being much delayed by calms. Towards the North-west Cape, neither the monsoon nor the South East trade are much experienced, the wind being generally from the South-West or North-West.

During the strength of the westerly monsoon, that is, in the months of December and January, the wind is regular between West-North-West and West-South-West, and, in the neighbourhood of the North-west Cape, sometimes blows hard; but even in these tropical regions, when the weather is very bad, the change is predicted by the barometer, which otherwise is scarcely affected.

In February, near the coast of New Holland, the monsoon is less constant, and the wind often blows off the land, so that a ship could make her westing, when, if more to the northward, it would be impossible for her to gain any ground. At the latter end of February the westerly winds die away, and are succeeded by light, baffling, easterly winds, with damp, unwholesome weather, and attended occasionally by heavy squalls of wind and rain.

If a ship is detained late in the easterly monsoon, and wishes to get to the westward, she will find the wind more regular and strong from the eastward in the neighbourhood of Timor, where the easterly monsoon lasts until the first or second week in November: in the months of September and October, to the southward of the parallel of 12 degrees, the winds are almost constant from South-West.

The currents are stronger according to the regularity and strength of the wind, and generally set at the rate of one or one knot and a half. The tides in this part of the coast are noticed in the description of the places where they were observed. High water at full and change takes place at:

The anchorage off Vansittart Bay at 9 hours 15 minutes.

In Montagu Sound at 12 hours 00 minutes.

In Careening Bay at 12 hours 00 minutes.