Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume I Part 11

A curious freshwater fish (Megalops setipinnis) is found in the lagoon here, and even in the wells dug by the Fly, there were some full-grown individuals; it much resembles the herring, in shape, colour and size.

The sh.e.l.ls may be very briefly dismissed. The princ.i.p.al landsh.e.l.l is a very large variety of Helix bipart.i.ta, here attaining its greatest size.

The most striking sh.e.l.l of the sandflats is a handsome olive (O.

ispidula) remarkable for its extraordinary variations in colour, size, and even form.

ABUNDANCE OF FRESH WATER.

In viewing Cape York as the probable site of a future settlement or military post, an important feature to be noticed is the comparative abundance of fresh water at the very close of the dry season. In Evans Bay it may always be procured by digging behind the beach, especially at the foot of some low wooded hillocks, towards its western end. Native wells were met with in most of the smaller bays, and the size of the dried-up watercourses indicates that during the wet season, a considerable body is carried off by them from the flats and temporary lagoons.

Were one inclined, from interested motives, to extol the natural capabilities of the immediate neighbourhood of Cape York, it would be very easy to speculate upon, and at once presume its peculiar fitness for the growth of tropical produce. Thus, any swampy land might at once be p.r.o.nounced peculiarly adapted for paddy fields, and the remainder as admirably suited to the growth of cotton, coffee, indigo, etc. With the exception of a piece of rich soil, several acres in extent, on the eastern margin of a watercourse, leading from the small lagoon behind Evans Bay, and which would be a good site for a large garden, I did not see much ground that was fit for cultivation. Very fine rich patches occur here and there in the brushes removed from the coast, but in the belts of brush along the beaches the soil, despite the acc.u.mulation of vegetable matter, is essentially poor and sandy. It may be added that the value of the garden land above alluded to, is much enhanced by its proximity to a constant supply of water, to be procured by digging in the bed of the lagoon. Nearly all the gra.s.s is of a coa.r.s.e sedge-like description, mixed, however, in places with gra.s.ses of a finer kind.

Towards the end of the dry season, the gra.s.s, when not burnt off by the natives, presents a most uninviting, withered appearance, being so dry as almost to crumble into dust if rubbed between the palms of the hand.

PORT ALBANY AS A DEPOT FOR STEAMERS.

As one of the more immediate beneficial results of our survey of the Inner Pa.s.sage, would be to facilitate its use by steamers, should arrangements at present contemplated for the continuance of the overland communication by Great Britain and India, from Singapore to the Australian colonies, by way of Torres Strait, ever be carried into effect, so it was of importance to find some place in the neighbourhood of Cape York, convenient as a coaling station during either monsoon. An eligible spot for this purpose was found in Port Albany, the name given by Lieutenant Yule, who surveyed it in 1846, to the narrow channel separating Albany Island from the mainland. Here a small sandy bay with a sufficient depth of water close insh.o.r.e, was, after a minute examination by Captain Stanley, considered to be well adapted to the running out of a jetty, alongside of which the largest steamer could lie in perfect safety. This little bay has anchorage close insh.o.r.e for three or four vessels only, as a little further out they would be in the stream of tide which runs with great strength, especially in the neighbourhood of the various points; however, it is completely sheltered from any wind which may be experienced on this part of the coast.

On several occasions I landed on Albany Island, and walked over the place. It is three miles in length, and one in greatest breadth, its outline irregular from the number of bays and small rocky headlands. On its western side the bays are small, and the sh.o.r.es generally steep and rocky, with sandy intervals, the banks being covered with brush of the usual Australian intertropical character. The rock here is either a stratum of ironstone in irregular ma.s.ses and nodules cemented together by a ferruginous base, or a very coa.r.s.e sandstone, almost a quartzose conglomerate, forming cliffs, occasionally thirty feet or more in height.

The latter stone is suitable for rough building purposes, such as the construction of a pier, but is much acted on by the weather. On the northern and eastern sides the bays are large and generally sandy, with the land sloping down towards them from the low undulating hills, which compose the rest of the island. These hills are either sandy or covered with ironstone gravel* over red clay. They are thinly covered with a sprinkling of Grevillea, Boronia, and Leucopogon bushes, with occasional tufts of the coa.r.s.est gra.s.s. There must always be, however, sufficient pasturage for such cattle and sheep as a small party in charge of a coaling depot would require. There is also sufficient water in the island for their support, and by digging wells, no doubt the quant.i.ty would be greatly increased. In addition there are several small spots where the soil is suitable for gardening purposes, thus ensuring a supply of vegetables during the greater part, perhaps the whole of the year.

(*Footnote. A sample of this ironstone picked up from the surface has furnished materials for the following remarks, for which I am indebted to the politeness of Warrington W. Smyth, Esquire, of the Museum of Practical Geology.

On examining the specimens which you presented to our Museum, I see that they consist for the most part of the red or anhydrous peroxide of iron--similar in chemical character to the celebrated haemat.i.te ore of Ulverstone and Whitehaven. It is, however, less rich in iron than would be inferred from its outward appearance, since the pebbles on being broken, exhibit interiorly a loose and cellular structure, where grains of quartz and plates of mica are interspersed with the ore, and of course reduce its specific gravity and value.

Such an ore, if occurring in great quant.i.ty, and at no great distance from abundant fuel and from a supply of limestone for flux, may prove to be very valuable; but I should fear that your suggestion of employing the coral and sh.e.l.ls of the coast, for the last-mentioned purpose, might impair the quality of an iron thus produced, for the phosphoric acid present in them would give one of the const.i.tuents most troublesome to the iron-master, who wishes to produce a strong and tough iron.)

SAIL FROM CAPE YORK.

On November 2nd we sailed from Cape York on our way to Port Essington and Sydney, but owing to the prevalence of light airs, chiefly from the eastward, and calms, we did not reach b.o.o.by Island until the 4th, having pa.s.sed out of Torres Strait by the Prince of Wales Channel. The Bramble was left to perform some work in Endeavour Strait* and elsewhere along the Inner Pa.s.sage, and after its completion to make the best of her way to Sydney down the eastern coast of Australia against the trade-wind, before successfully accomplished by only two other vessels besides herself. Of course a considerable degree of interest has been excited by this intended procedure, as the two vessels start under pretty equal circ.u.mstances to reach the same place by two very different routes, of the merits of one of which comparatively little is known.

(*Footnote. Since the survey of Endeavour Strait in 1844 by Lieutenant Yule in the Bramble (then attached to the Fly under Captain F.P.

Blackwood) several sunken rocks have been discovered, thereby lessening the value of the pa.s.sage through the Strait, as others, yet undetected, to be found only by sweeping for them, may be presumed to exist. Captain Stanley was strongly of opinion that the Prince of Wales Channel was far preferable, especially for large ships, to Endeavour Strait.)

ARRIVE AT PORT ESSINGTON.

November 9th.

Since leaving b.o.o.by Island, the weather has been fine with light easterly winds, the westerly monsoon in these seas not usually setting in until the month of December. We first made the land in the neighbourhood of Cape Croker, and soon afterwards saw the beacon on Point Smith. Entering Port Essington we ran up the harbour, and anch.o.r.ed off the settlement of Victoria early in the afternoon.

On landing and walking over the place after an absence of more than three years, I might naturally have looked for some signs of improvement in the appearance of the settlement and condition of the unfortunate residents, had I not been aware of the non-progressive nature of the system which had long been established there. I saw no such indications of prosperity except in the flourishing and improved appearance of the coconut-trees now in full bearing, as if nature boldly a.s.serted her rights in opposition to the dormant or even retrograde condition of everything else in the place.

CONDITION OF THE SETTLEMENT. ITS UNHEALTHINESS.

We found the settlement in a ruinous condition. Even the hospital, the best building in the place, had the roof in such a state that when rain came on some of the patients' beds had to be shifted, and the surgeon found it necessary to protect his own bed by a tent-like canopy. With few exceptions, everyone was dissatisfied, and anxiously looked forward to the happy time when the party should be relieved, or the settlement finally abandoned. The unhealthiness* of the place, so often denied, had now shown itself in an unequivocal manner; everyone had suffered from repeated attacks of intermittent fever, and another fever of a more deadly character had occasionally made its appearance, and, operating upon previously debilitated const.i.tutions, frequently proved fatal.

(*Footnote. As ill.u.s.tration of this point, I would direct attention to the following tabular view of the Detachment of Marines at Port Essington, from the time of the arrival of the SECOND party to their final departure, embracing a period of five years. I have not been able to procure any authentic statement of the mortality among the FIRST party.

November 19th, 1844: Found there: 1 officer, 0 men.

Arrived by Cadet: 3 officers, 52 men.

1847: Arrived by Freak: 2 officers, 6 men.

Total: 6 officers, 58 men.

Died: 1 officer, 12 men.

Were invalided: 1 officer, 13 men.

November 30th, 1849: Were taken away by Meander: 4 officers, 33 men.

Total: 6 officers, 58 men.

I may remark that, although it would obviously be unjust to suppose that all the cases of death and invaliding are to be attributed to the effects of the climate, yet the loss of the services of twenty-seven men out of fifty-eight in five years by these means, clearly proves the unhealthiness of the place. Another may be added to the list, for Captain Macarthur was shortly afterwards invalided in Sydney, a victim to the climate of Port Essington.)

There can, I think, be little doubt that much of the unhealthiness of the garrison depended upon local influences. The situation of Victoria, at the distance of sixteen miles from the open sea on the sh.o.r.es of an almost land-locked harbour, was unfavourable for salubrity, although in other respects judiciously chosen. Occasionally for days together the seabreeze has not reached as far up as the settlement, and the heat has been almost stifling; usually however the seabreeze set in during the forenoon, and after blowing for some hours was succeeded by a calm, often interrupted by a gentle land-wind. Within 400 yards of the hospital a great extent of mud overgrown with mangroves, dry at low-water, must have exercised a prejudicial influence; at times while crossing this swamp, the putrid exhalations have induced a feeling almost amounting to nausea.

And if anything more than another shows the comparative unhealthiness of the site of the settlement, it is the fact, that invalids sent to Point Smith (at the entrance of the harbour) or Coral Bay--both of which places are within the full influence of the seabreeze--speedily recovered, although relapses on their return to Victoria were not infrequent.

CONDITION OF THE GARRISON.

Even in the important article of food--setting aside other secondary stores--the Port Essington garrison have almost always been badly supplied. I have seen them obliged to use bread which was not fit for human food--the refuse of the stock on hand at the close of the war in China, and yet there was none better to be got. In short, I believe, as I stated some years ago in a Colonial paper, that there is probably no vessel in Her Majesty's navy, no matter where serving, the men of which are not better supplied with all the necessaries and comforts of life than are the residents at Port Essington. All these have volunteered for the place, but their preconceived ideas formed in England almost always on reaching the place gave way to feelings of regret at the step they had taken; I well remember the excitement in the settlement, and the feelings of joy everywhere expressed, when in October 1845, the first party learned that their relief had arrived.

HISTORY OF PREVIOUS SETTLEMENTS.

I shall now proceed to make some remarks upon Port Essington, ere the subject becomes a matter of history, as I fervently hope the abandonment of the place will render it ere many years have gone by;* but before doing so I may premise a brief account of the former British settlements on the north coast of Australia.**

(*Footnote. Port Essington was finally abandoned on November 30th, 1849, when the garrison and stores were removed to Sydney by H.M.S. Meander, Captain the Honourable H. Keppel. I may mention that most of the remarks in this chapter relative to Port Essington appear as they were originally written in my journal soon after leaving the place in the Rattlesnake; they are mostly a combination of the observations made during three visits, at intervals of various lengths, including a residence in 1844, of upwards of four months. I am also anxious to place on record a somewhat connected but brief account of the Aborigines, as I have seen many injudicious remarks and erroneous statements regarding them, and as it is only at Port Essington, for the whole extent of coastline between Swan River and Cape York, that we were able to have sufficient intercourse with them to arrive at even a moderate degree of acquaintance with their manners, customs, and language.)

(**Footnote. See Voyage round the World by T.B. Wilson, M.D.)

The British Government having determined to form an establishment on the northern coast of Australia, Captain J.J. Gordon Bremer, with H.M.S.

Tamar, sailed from Sydney in August 1824, in company with two store ships and a party of military and convicts, the latter chiefly mechanics. On September 20th, they arrived at Port Essington, when formal possession was taken of the whole of the coast between the 129th and 135th meridians of east longitude.

MELVILLE ISLAND SETTLEMENT.

A sufficiency of fresh water not being found at this place it was determined to proceed to Melville Island, where they arrived on the 30th, and commenced forming the settlement of Fort Dundas in Apsley Strait.

This settlement, however, after an existence of four years, was abandoned on March 31st, 1829, in consequence of the continued unfavourable accounts transmitted to the Home Government. Hostilities with the natives had early commenced, and several lives were lost on either side.

RAFFLES BAY SETTLEMENT.

Meanwhile in antic.i.p.ation of the abandonment of Melville Island, it had been resolved to found a second settlement upon the north coast of Australia. For this purpose, H.M.S. Success, Captain Stirling, with a convoy of three vessels conveying troops, convicts, stores, and provisions, sailed from Sydney, and arrived at Raffles Bay on June 17th, 1827. Next day the new settlement of Fort Wellington was formed. A grand error was made in the very beginning, for the site was chosen behind a mudbank, dry at low tides, in order to secure proximity to a lagoon of fresh water, which after all disappeared towards the close of the dry season. At first the natives committed many depredations, chiefly during the night. About a month after the founding of the settlement, it was thought necessary to order the sentries to fire upon the natives whenever they approached, and on one occasion they were greeted with a discharge of grape-shot. At length one of the soldiers was speared, and in reprisal a party was sent out, which, coming unexpectedly upon a camp of natives, killed and wounded several, including a woman and two children. When the Bugis paid their annual visit to the coast several prahus remained to fish for trepang under the protection of the settlement. Of the healthiness of the place the medical officer states: "There is no endemic disease here. The climate of the place surpa.s.ses every other as far as I know, which is equally as near the equator; and were it not for the great height of atmospheric temperature, I should consider this one of the best in the world." However, two years after the foundation of the settlement, when hostilities with the natives had ceased, and a friendly intercourse had been established--when the Bugis had already taken advantage of the protection of Europeans to carry on the trepang fishery in the bay--when the reported unhealthiness of the climate had never exhibited itself--in short when the settlement had been brought into a flourishing state, orders were suddenly received for its entire abandonment, which were carried into effect on August 29th, 1829.

SETTLEMENT OF VICTORIA.

Eight years afterwards, Government resolved for the fourth time to establish a settlement on the north coast of Australia, with the double view of affording shelter to the crews of vessels wrecked in Torres Strait, and of endeavouring to throw open to British enterprise the neighbouring islands of the Indian Archipelago. For this purpose, H.M.S.

Alligator, under the command of Captain J.J. Gordon Bremer, and H.M.S.

Britomart (Lieutenant Owen Stanley) were sent out, and left Sydney for Port Essington in September 1837. Another vessel with stores accompanied the Alligator, and both arrived at Port Essington on October 27th of the same year. Soon afterwards, upon a site for the settlement being chosen, the necessary operations were commenced, and by the end of May in the following year, the preliminary arrangements having been completed, the Alligator left, and Captain John Macarthur, R.M., with a subaltern, a.s.sistant-surgeon, storekeeper, and a linguist, together with a detachment of forty marines, remained in charge of the new settlement.

The Britomart remained behind for several years as a tender to this naval station, or military post--for either term is equally applicable, and was afterwards succeeded in her charge by H.M.S. Royalist. In October 1845 the remains of the original party which had been there for seven years (including also a small detachment sent down from China) were relieved by a draft from England of two subalterns, an a.s.sistant-surgeon, and fifty-two rank and file of the Royal Marines, Captain Macarthur still remaining as commandant.

PORT ESSINGTON A MILITARY POST.

The Port Essington experiment I am afraid is to be regarded as a complete failure. Yet it could not well have been otherwise. It was never more than a mere military post, and the smallness of the party, almost always further lessened by sickness, was such that, even if judiciously managed, little more could be expected than that they should be employed merely in rendering their own condition more comfortable. And now after the settlement has been established for eleven years, they are not even able to keep themselves in fresh vegetables, much less efficiently to supply any of Her Majesty's vessels which may happen to call there.