Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume I Part 13

Fate of Kennedy's Expedition.

Sail on our Third Northern Cruise.

Excursion on Moreton Island.

History of Discoveries on the South-East Coast of New Guinea and the Louisiade Archipelago, from 1606 to 1846.

Find the Sh.o.r.es of the Louisiade protected by a Barrier Reef.

Beautiful appearances of Rossel Island.

Pa.s.s through an opening in the Reef, and enter Coral Haven.

Interview with Natives on Pig Island.

Find them treacherously disposed.

Their mode of Fishing on the Reefs.

Establish a system of Barter alongside the Ship.

Description of the Louisiade Canoes, and mode of management.

Find a Watering Place on South-East Island.

Its Scenery and Productions.

Suspicious conduct of the Natives.

Their Ornaments, etc. described.

FATE OF KENNEDY'S OVERLAND EXPEDITION.

The most eventful occurrence during our stay in Sydney, was the arrival of the schooner which we had left at Port Albany, awaiting the arrival of Mr. Kennedy. She brought the sad news of the disastrous failure of his expedition, and of the death of all but three composing the overland party, including their brave but ill-fated leader. I was present at the judicial investigation which shortly afterwards took place, and shall briefly relate the particulars. I shall not easily forget the appearance which the survivors presented on this occasion--pale and emaciated, with haggard looks attesting the misery and privations they had undergone, and with low trembling voices, they gave their evidence.

It would appear that their difficulties commenced at the outset, as many weeks pa.s.sed before they got clear of Rockingham Bay, its rivers, swamps, and dense scrubs, fenced in by a mountain chain. Six weeks elapsed before they were enabled to pursue a northerly course, the scrubs or dense brushes still continuing, requiring the party to cut their way. The carts were abandoned on July 18th, and the horses were packed. Sickness early made its appearance, the stock of provisions was getting low, the horses long failing in strength were dying of weakness, and their flesh was used as food.

On November 10th, or upwards of five months after leaving Rockingham Bay, having made less than 400 miles in a direct line towards their destination, and three of the party having been completely knocked up, and the remainder in a feeble state; nineteen of their horses dead, and their provisions reduced to one sheep, forty-six pounds of flour, and less than one pound of tea--Mr. Kennedy resolved to form a light party consisting of himself, three men, and the aboriginal Jackey-Jackey, and push on for Cape York, distant about 150 miles, to procure a.s.sistance for the remainder, and save them from impending death by the combined influences of sickness, exhaustion, and starvation.

On November 13th Kennedy started, leaving eight men at the camp at Weymouth Bay. Near Shelburne Bay one of the party accidentally shot himself, and another was too ill to proceed; consequently, it was determined to leave them behind in charge of the third man, with a horse for food, while Kennedy and the black pushed on for Port Albany. At length near Escape River, within twenty miles of Cape York, a tribe of natives with whom they had had some apparently friendly intercourse, tempted by their forlorn condition and a savage thirst for plunder, attacked them in a scrub and with too fatal success, as the gallant leader of this unfortunate expedition breathed his last after receiving no less than three spear wounds. The affecting narrative of what pa.s.sed during his last moments as related by his faithful companion, is simply as follows: "Mr. Kennedy, are you going to leave me?" "Yes, my boy, I am going to leave you," was the reply of the dying man, "I am very bad, Jackey; you take the books, Jackey, to the Captain, but not the big ones, the Governor will give anything for them." "I then tied up the papers;"

he then said, "Jackey, give me paper and I will write." "I gave him paper and pencil, and he tried to write; and he then fell back and died, and I caught him as he fell back and held him, and I then turned round myself and cried; I was crying a good while until I got well; that was about an hour, and then I buried him; I dug up the ground with a tomahawk, and covered him over with logs, then gra.s.s, and my shirt and trousers; that night I left him near dark."

About eight days after, Jackey-Jackey, having with wonderful ingenuity succeeded in escaping from his pursuers, contrived to reach Port Albany, and was received on board the vessel, which immediately proceeded to Shelburne Bay to endeavour to rescue the three men left there. The attempt to find the place was unsuccessful, and from the evidence furnished by clothes said by Jackey to belong to them, found in a canoe upon the beach, little doubt seemed to exist as to their fate. They then proceeded to Weymouth Bay, where they arrived just in time to save Mr.

Carron, the botanical collector, and another man, the remaining six having perished. In the words of one of the survivors: "the men did not seem to suffer pain, but withered into perfect skeletons, and died from utter exhaustion."

Such was the fate of Kennedy's expedition, and in conclusion, to use the words of the Sydney Morning Herald, "it would appear that as far as earnestness of purpose, unshrinking endurance of pain and fatigue, and most disinterested self-sacrifice, go, the gallant leader of the party exhibited a model for his subordinates. But the great natural difficulties they had to encounter at the outset of the expedition so severely affected the resources of the adventurers, that they sunk under an acc.u.mulation of sufferings, which have rarely, if ever been equalled, in the most extreme perils of the wilderness."

SAIL ON OUR SECOND NORTHERN CRUISE.

Our stay in Sydney was protracted to the unusual period of three months and a half, affording ample time for refreshing the crews after their long and arduous labours, thoroughly refitting both vessels, and completing the charts. The object of our next cruise, which was expected to be of equal duration with the last, was to undertake the survey of a portion of the Louisiade Archipelago, and the south-east coast of New Guinea. For this purpose we sailed from Sydney on May 8th, deeply laden, with six months provisions on board, arrangements having also been made for receiving a further supply at Cape York in October following.

The Bramble joined us at Moreton Bay, where we did not arrive until May 17th, our pa.s.sage having been protracted beyond the usual time by the prevalence during the early part of light northerly winds and a strong adverse current, which on one occasion set us fifty-one miles to the southward in twenty-four hours. We took up our former anchorage under Moreton Island, and remained there for nine days, occupied in completing our stock of water, and obtaining a rate for the chronometers--so as to ensure a good meridian distance between this and the Louisiade. Since our last visit, the pilot station had been shifted to this place from Amity Point, the northern entrance to Moreton Bay being now preferred to that formerly in use.

One night while returning from an excursion, I saw some fires behind the beach near c.u.mboyooro Point, and on walking up was glad to find an encampment of about thirty natives, collected there for the purpose of fishing, this being the sp.a.w.ning season of the mullet, which now frequent the coast in prodigious shoals. Finding among the party an old friend of mine, usually known by the name of Funny-eye, I obtained with some difficulty permission to sleep at his fire, and he gave me a roasted mullet for supper. The party at our bivouac, consisted of my host, his wife and two children, an old man and two wretched dogs. We lay down with our feet towards a large fire of driftwood, partially sheltered from the wind by a semicircular line of branches, stuck in the sand behind us; still, while one part of the body was nearly roasted, the rest shivered with cold. The woman appeared to be busy all night long in scaling and roasting fish, of which, before morning, she had a large pile ready cooked; neither did the men sleep much--for they awoke every hour or so, gorged themselves still further with mullet, took a copious draft of water, and wound up by lighting their pipes before lying down again.

At daylight everyone was up and stirring, and soon afterwards the men and boys went down to the beach to fish. The rollers coming in from seaward broke about one hundred yards from the sh.o.r.e, and in the advancing wave one might see thousands of large mullet keeping together in a shoal with numbers of porpoises playing about, making frequent rushes among the dense ma.s.ses and scattering them in every direction. Such of the men as were furnished with the scoop-net waded out in line, and, waiting until the porpoises had driven the mullet close in sh.o.r.e, rushed among the shoal, and, closing round in a circle with the nets nearly touching, secured a number of fine fish, averaging two and a half pounds weight.

This was repeated at intervals until enough had been procured. Meanwhile others, chiefly boys, were at work with their spears, darting them in every direction among the fish, and on the best possible terms with the porpoises, which were dashing about among their legs, as if fully aware that they would not be molested.

HISTORY OF PREVIOUS DISCOVERIES ON THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW GUINEA.

On May 26th, we sailed from Moreton Bay--but, before entering into the details of this, the most interesting portion of the Voyage of the Rattlesnake, a brief but connected account of the progress of discovery on the south-east coast of New Guinea, and the Louisiade Archipelago, will enable the reader more clearly to perceive the necessity then existing for as complete a survey of these sh.o.r.es and the adjacent seas as would enable the voyager to approach them with safety. A glance at any of the published charts will show a vague outline of coast and islands and reefs, with numerous blanks--a compilation from various sources, some utterly unworthy of credit; and of the inhabitants and productions of these regions, nothing was known beyond that portion at least of them were peopled by a savage and warlike race.

LUIZ VAEZ DE TORRES.

The first navigator who saw the sh.o.r.es in question, appears to have been Luiz Vaez de Torres, in the Spanish frigate La Almiranta, coming from the eastward, in August 1606. In lat.i.tude 11 1/2 degrees South, Torres came upon what he calls the beginning of New Guinea, which, however, appears to have been a portion of what is now known as the Louisiade Archipelago.

Being unable to weather the easternmost point of this land (Cape Deliverance) he bore away to the westward along its southern sh.o.r.es. "All this land of New Guinea," says he, in his long-forgotten letter to the king of Spain (a copy of which was found in the Archives at Manila, after the capture of that city by the British, in 1762) "is peopled with Indians, not very white, much painted, and naked, except a cloth made of the bark of trees. They fight with darts, targets, and some stone clubs, which are made fine with plumage. Along the coast are many islands and habitations. All the coast has many ports, very large, with very large rivers, and many plains. Without these islands there runs a reef of shoals, and between them (the shoals) and the mainland are the islands.

There is a channel within. In these parts I took possession for your Majesty.

"We went along 300 leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, and diminished the lat.i.tude 2 1/2 degrees, which brought us into 9 degrees. From hence we fell in with a bank of from three to nine fathoms, which extends along the coast above 180 leagues. We went over it along the coast to 7 1/2 South lat.i.tude, and the end of it is in 5 degrees. We could not go further on for the many shoals and great currents, so we were obliged to sail out South-West in that depth to 11 degrees South lat.i.tude."

By this time Torres had reached the Strait which now bears his name, and which he was the first to pa.s.s through. He continues: "We caught in all this land twenty persons of different nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to your Majesty. They give much notice of other people, although as yet they do not make themselves well understood."*

(*Footnote. Burney's Chronological History of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean Volume 2 Appendix page 475.)

M. DE BOUGAINVILLE.

M. de Bougainville, in June 1768, with two vessels, La Boudeuse and L'Etoile, was proceeding to the eastward towards the coast of Australia, when the unexpected discovery of some detached reefs (Bougainville's reefs of the charts) induced him to alter course and stand to the northward. No land was seen for three days. "On the 10th, at daybreak,"

says he, "the land was discovered, bearing from east to North-West. Long before dawn a delicious odour informed us of the vicinity of this land, which formed a great gulf open to the south-east. I have seldom seen a country which presented so beautiful a prospect; a low land, divided into plains and groves, extended along the seash.o.r.e, and afterwards rose like an amphitheatre up to the mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds. There were three ranges of mountains, and the highest chain was distant upwards of twenty-five leagues from the sh.o.r.e. The melancholy condition to which we were reduced* neither allowed us to spend some time in visiting this beautiful country, which by all appearances was rich and fertile, nor to stand to the westward in search of a pa.s.sage to the south of New Guinea, which might open to us a new and short route to the Moluccas by way of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Nothing, indeed, was more probable than the existence of such a pa.s.sage."** Bougainville, it may be mentioned, was not aware of the previous discovery of Torres, which indeed was not published to the world until after our ill.u.s.trious navigator Cook, in August, 1770, had confirmed the existence of such a strait by pa.s.sing from east to west between the sh.o.r.es of Australia and New Guinea.

(*Footnote. They were beginning to run short of provisions, and the salt meat was so bad that the men preferred such RATS as they could catch. It even became necessary to prevent the crew from eating the LEATHER about the rigging and elsewhere in the ship.)

(**Footnote. Voyage autour du Monde par la Fregate du Roi La Boudeuse et la Flute l'Etoile en 1766 a 1769 page 258. See also the chart of the Louisiade given there, which, however, does not correspond very closely with the text.)

The Boudeuse and Etoile were engaged in working to windward along this new land (as it was thought to be) until the 26th, when, having doubled its eastern point, to which the significant name of Cape Deliverance was given, they were enabled to bear away to the North-North-East. The name of Gulf of the Louisiade was bestowed by Bougainville upon the whole of the s.p.a.ce thus traversed by him, extending between Cape Deliverance and that portion of (what has since been determined to be) the coast of New Guinea of which he gives so glowing a description, and calls the Cul de Sac de l'Orangerie upon his chart.

CAPTAIN EDWARDS.

The next addition to our knowledge of these sh.o.r.es was made in August, 1791, by Captain Edwards in H.M.S. Pandora, shortly before the wreck of that vessel in Torres Strait, when returning from Tahiti with the mutineers of the Bounty. In the published narrative of that voyage the following brief account is given. "On the 23rd, saw land, which we supposed to be the Louisiade, a cape bearing north-east and by east. We called it Cape Rodney. Another contiguous to it was called Cape Hood: and a mountain between them, we named Mount Clarence. After pa.s.sing Cape Hood, the land appears lower, and to trench away about north-west, forming a deep bay, and it may be doubted whether it joins New Guinea or not."* The positions a.s.signed to two of these places, which subsequent experience has shown it is difficult to identify, are:

Cape Rodney: Lat.i.tude 10 degrees 3 minutes 32 seconds South, Longitude 147 degrees 45 minutes 45 seconds East.

Cape Hood: Lat.i.tude 9 degrees 58 minutes 6 seconds South, Longitude 147 degrees 22 minutes 50 seconds East.**

(*Footnote. Voyage round the world in His Majesty's frigate Pandora, performed under the direction of Captain Edwards in the years 1790, 1791 and 1792 by Mr. G. Hamilton, late surgeon of the Pandora, page 100.)

(**Footnote. Ibid page 164. Krusenstern a.s.sumes these longitudes to be 45 minutes too far to the westward, adopting Flinders' longitude of Murray's Islands, which differs by that amount from Captain Edwards'.)

CAPTAINS BLIGH AND PORTLOCK.

In the following year, Captains Bligh and Portlock, in the Providence and a.s.sistance, conveying breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies, saw a portion of the south-east coast of New Guinea, when on their way to pa.s.s through Torres Strait. A line of coast extending from Cape Rodney to the westward and northward about eighty miles, the latter half with a continuous line of reef running parallel with the coast, is laid down in a chart by Flinders,* as having been "seen from the Providence's masthead, August 30th 1792."

(*Footnote. Flinders' Voyage to Terra Australis Atlas Plate 13.)

ADMIRAL D'ENTRECASTEAUX.

The northern portion of the Louisiade Archipelago was yet unknown to Europeans, and for almost all the knowledge which we even now possess regarding it, we are indebted to the expedition under the command of Rear-Admiral Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, who, on June 11th, 1793, with La Recherche and L'Esperance, during his voyage in search of the unfortunate La Perouse, came in sight of Rossel Island. The hills of that island were enveloped in clouds, and the lower parts appeared to be thickly wooded with verdant inters.p.a.ces. A harbour was supposed to exist in the deep bay on the north coast of Rossel Island, but access to it was found to be prevented by a line of breakers extending to the westward as far as the eye could reach. D'Entrecasteaux pa.s.sed Piron's Island, which he named, as well as various others, and on St. Aignan's observed several huts, and the first inhabitants of the Louisiade whom they had seen, for, at Renard's Isles, a boat sent close in to sound, had observed no indications of natives, although smoke was afterwards seen rising from the largest of the group. At the Bonvouloir Islands, they had the first communication with the natives, who came off in a very large canoe and several others which approached near enough for one of the officers of L'Esperance to swim off to them. The natives showed much timidity and could not be induced to come on board the frigate. Some sweet-potatoes and bananas were given in return for various presents. No arms were seen among them, and these people did not appear to understand the use of iron.* The remainder of the voyage does not require further notice here, as the D'Entrecasteaux Isles of the charts belong to the north-east coast of New Guinea.

(*Footnote. Voyage de Bruny D'Entrecasteaux envoye a la recherche de la Perouse. Redige par M. de Rossel, ancien Capitaine de Vaisseau, tome 1 page 405 et seq. See also Atlas.)

In June 1793, Messrs. Bampton and Alt, in the English merchantships Hormuzeer and Chesterfield, got embayed on the south-east coast of New Guinea, and after in vain seeking a pa.s.sage out to the north-east, were forced to abandon the attempt and make their way to the westward, through Torres Strait, which they were no less than seventy-three days in clearing. Among other hydrographical results, was the discovery of large portions of the land forming the north-west sh.o.r.es of this bay, extending from Bristow Island to the northward and eastward for a distance of 120 miles.

M. RUALT COUTANCE.

In 1804, M. Rualt Coutance, commanding the French privateer L'Adele, made several discoveries on the south-east coast of New Guinea which were recorded by Freycinet, from the ma.n.u.script journal of Coutance, in the history of Baudin's voyage.* A portion of this is unquestionably the land seen by Captain Bligh in 1792--but in addition detached portions of the sh.o.r.es of the great bight of the south-east coast were seen, as in the neighbourhood of Freshwater Bay and elsewhere.