The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson Part 4

"Sat.u.r.day, October 3rd. Fresh winds and clear. About half-past 4 P.M. the wind shifted to north-west with light rain and thunder and lightning. At 8 A.M. the wind rather took off and we had clear weather, but with a very heavy sea on. At noon we had a strong gale with a high sea on, our Lat.i.tude 33 degrees 55 minutes south.

"Sunday, October 4th. Strong gale with heavy squalls at intervals with a very high sea running. Very heavy squall attended with thunder and lightning, large hail stones at ye same time. At 10 A.M. Mustered ye Ship's Company and read the articles of war being the first Sunday of ye month.

"Monday, October 5th. Fresh breezes and heavy squalls with flying showers of rain and heavy sea running. At 4 P.M. saw Lord Howe Island bearing north-east distant 16 or 17 leagues. At 10 P.M. when it cleared saw b.a.l.l.s Pyramid bearing north by west distant 6 or 9 miles: at 12 had another sight of it on our larboard quarter--at daylight again saw the Pyramid distant 10 or 12 leagues...At noon lost sight of Island.

"Tuesday, October 6th. Fresh breezes and clear--squally. At noon light airs.

"Wednesday, October 7th. Light airs and inclinable to calm.

"Thursday, 8th October. Fresh wind and clear high sea. Keeping good look out for Island of Norfolk. At 4 A.M. made sail--at 6 A.M. saw Norfolk and Phillip Islands distant 12 leagues--at noon, being 9 or 10 miles off ye town, fired a gun and hoisted signal for pilot.

"Friday, 9th October. Moderate weather--at half-past 2 P.M. fired a 2nd gun for pilot--at half-past 3 seeing no boat and judging of the appearance of the sea there was no landing at Sydney Bay,* (* Sydney, Norfolk Island.) bore on for Cascade, and by 5 got in sight of ye Storehouse--fired another gun--at 7 P.M. John Drumond, pilot, came on board, took charge as pilot--sent our boatswain's mate on sh.o.r.e in pilot's boat with letter to Lieutenant Governor--kept standing off all night--at daylight the Storehouse distant 3 miles--at 6 A.M. landed Captain E. Abbott, Ensign Piper and Mr. John Roberts--at 9 A.M. boat returned bringing with them ye pilot's a.s.sistant who told us ye landing was good at Sydney--bore up for Sydney. By 11 got round and a boat coming off we discharged a number of articles into her belonging to the different officers. At noon they went on sh.o.r.e.

"Sat.u.r.day, 10th October. Observed the flag for indifferent landing--hove up, put ye vessel under snug sail and stood off and on during night--at 4 P.M. Phillip's Island bore north distant 6 miles. A boat came along, into which we delivered a part of the officers' baggage.

"Sunday, 11th October. Moderate winds and weather--a confused sea. P.M. A boat came off--sent in her ye officers' baggage--at 6 P.M. the weather looking rather unfavourable ran the vessel into Hunsons Bay--stood off and on during night--at daylight went round to Sydney Harbour.

"Monday, 12th October. Variable winds, fine weather. P.M. a 2nd boat came with Ensign Baillie's baggage. Stood off and on during night--in the morning went into Sydney Bay--a boat came off with Mr. Baillie's baggage, also received for boat 4 rough spars for sweeps.

"Tuesday, 13th October. Standing off and on Cascade Bay--at 4 the vessel's signal for a boat was made from ye sh.o.r.e--lowered down our gig and sent the boatswain on sh.o.r.e in her. In a little time he returned and informed me it was the Lieutenant-Governor's orders that I should stand to sea and await boat--made all sail and stood to sea till sundown, when seeing no signs of a boat made sail for ye island. Saw a large ship in the offing, she proved to be the Earl Cornwallis from Sydney.

"Wednesday, 14th October. A.M. Seeing no signs of a boat went around to Sydney Bay and observed Cornwallis lying to off Northern Island.

"Thursday, 15th October. At 5 P.M. Ensign Bayley embarked on boat and the boat brought remainder of his baggage--all the other pa.s.sengers came on board--discharged the pilot. At 6 made sail--at 7 P.M. Mount Pitt bore north-east by east distant 4 leagues--at sundown ye Earl Cornwallis out of sight.

"Friday, 16th October. Fresh gales--cloudy and rain--a high sea running--strong gales. The vessel laboured a great deal.

"Tuesday, 27th October. Fresh winds and hazy--at 2 A.M. saw land north-west 10 or 11 miles--at 8 A.M. south head of Broken Bay bore to north-west 6 miles--at noon fine--got within Heads and made all sail.

"JOHN MURRAY,

"Commander."

On his return to Sydney on the completion of the voyage Murray was ordered by Governor King to proceed in the Lady Nelson and finish the exploration of the south coast, which Grant had not been able to complete. The instructions issued by Governor King were very precise.

"You will proceed without loss of time to Ba.s.ses Straights and observe the following directions for prosecuting discoveries in those straights on the south-west coast of this country...When you are between Ram Head and Western Port you will proceed to Kent's Group and ascertain the size of those islands (particularly the easternmost)...From Kent's Group you will run on a straight course to Wilson's Promontory noticing the course and distance, soundings and quality of the bottom...From Wilson's Promontory you will trace the coast between Point Schanck and Cape Albany Otway...From thence you will run to Harbinger Rock lying off the north-west point of King's Island...You will make the circuit of that island or islands in addition to the King's instructions respecting new discoveries...You will carefully examine...all within 6 miles round the island to ascertain whether a vessel may anchor. Having completed the survey...you will ascertain the time of bearing...between the south westernmost point and Albatross Islands, the northernmost of Hunter's Islands and the Pyramid. Having completed...your survey thus far you will ascertain to what distance soundings may be got to the westward of the Norfolk's and Lady Nelson's pa.s.sages taking care to traverse across to the lat.i.tude of 42 degrees on the south side and within sight of land on the north side or coast of New Holland (Van Dieman's Land) until between 38 and 42 degrees...As you stand in on the New Holland side you will examine the coast between Cape Albany Otway and Cape Solicitor which Lieutenant Grant named Portland Bay the bottom of which he did not see.

Should you have time I would wish you to run due south from Cape Solicitor as far as 40 degrees and work back again to Cape Bridgewater...you will employ another month...in tracing the coast from Cape Banks...In returning to this port you will deliver all such journals and charts as may have been completed...during your intended voyage.

"Should you fall in with H.M.S. Investigator you will communicate these instructions to the Commander...and put yourself under his command. And in case you fall in and are come up with by the Naturaliste and Geographe, French vessels on discovery, you will produce your pa.s.sport from His Grace the Duke of Portland to the Commander of that expedition.

"PHILIP GIDLEY KING.

"SYDNEY, October 31st, 1801."

CHAPTER 5.

MURRAY'S EXPLORATION OF Ba.s.s STRAIT.

The Lady Nelson set forth from Sydney on her mission on November 12th, 1801. Obeying Governor King's orders, Murray steered first towards the Kent Group.* (* The Kent Group was discovered by Lieutenant Matthew Flinders in the Francis, and named by him in honour of Captain William Kent of H.M.S. Supply. The group was subsequently visited by Mr.

Rushworth and other sailors.) His log shows how he mistook other islands, probably the Sisters* (* The Sisters Islands were so named by Captain Furneaux in 1773 from the resemblance they bore to each other. Peron calls them two small islands escarpes.) at the northern extremity of the Furneaux Group, for his place of destination and how, when 25 miles to the northward of Cape Barren, on seeing smoke rising from an island, he sent a boat ash.o.r.e and found living there two men, a woman and a child, the men, Chase and Beven, being sealers in the employ of Messrs. Kable & Underwood, of Sydney. The Lady Nelson was then brought to and moored in Diana Bay, a well-known anchorage in Furneaux Islands.

Murray, at this time, seems to have been much farther southward than Governor King intended him to go, for the island which he writes of as Grand Capshine was undoubtedly the Grand Capuchin, the largest island of the Furneaux Group, now known as Flinders Island.* (* Named Flinders Island by Captain Flinders in honour of his brother, Lieutenant Samuel Flinders, R.N.)

Diana Bay, the bay in which the Lady Nelson stayed for some days, was formed by the sh.o.r.es of the Grand Capuchin and Storehouse and Cat Islands, the last named islands being the Babel Islands of Flinders. In very early days this bay was much frequented by sealing vessels and in 1801 gained its name from the ship Diana, a small vessel belonging to Messrs. Kable & Underwood, of Sydney, which afterwards stranded on the Grand Capuchin and which had a curious history. A French schooner named L'Entreprise of Bordeaux, under the command of Captain Le Corre, last from the Isle of France, while sealing in these waters was also wrecked about a year later off one of the Sisters, 30 miles to the northward of where the Diana went ash.o.r.e. Le Corre and two-thirds of his crew perished. The supercargo whose name, according to Peron, was c.o.xwell, but which the Sydney Gazette prints as Coggeshall, was among the saved and was brought with the other rescued men to Sydney. Coggeshall returned with Mr. Underwood to endeavour to save the hull of the vessel, and though they failed to float L'Entreprise, they were more successful as regards the Diana which was repaired and renamed the Surprise, the name by which the lost French schooner had been known by the English from Governor King downwards. In order to pay expenses she was put up to public auction in Sydney and purchased by one of the officers of L'Entreprise for 117 guineas, but was afterwards resold to her original owners, Messrs. Kable & Underwood.* (* See Sydney Gazettes, March 12th and March 19th, 1803.)

Murray did not name the Grand Capuchin, for it was so called before the time of his visit. Nor did Flinders or Ba.s.s give it that name, which was probably derived from the cowled peak of a mountain on it, one of three christened by Flinders the Patriarchs, combined with the fact that Furneaux had already named some black rocky islands that lay off the entrance to Storm Bay Pa.s.sage, The Friars.* (* The Boreels Eylander of Tasman.) It seems likely that Barrallier in the Lady Nelson's previous voyage or some French sailor bestowed the name Capuchin upon Flinders Island, and Murray wrote it on his chart, although it was afterwards erased from the maps and replaced at first by the name of Great Island and later by that of Flinders Island.* (* The Sydney Gazette of March 31st, 1831, in giving the names of the Furneaux Group transfers the name to Babel Islands, i.e. "Babel Islands or Capisheens as called by the sealers," but, as Murray's Chart, page 146, and Sydney Gazettes of an earlier period will show, at first Flinders Island alone was called Capuchin.)

Leaving Diana Bay on November 25th Murray saw the easternmost members of the Kent Group and steered through the pa.s.sage which separates the princ.i.p.al islands and which was named in his honour, Murray's Pa.s.sage.

Flinders had pa.s.sed through the same pa.s.sage, when he discovered the group, in the Francis in 1798, and named a rock to the south of it the Judgment Rock "from its resemblance to an elevated seat."* (* The Australian Sailing Directory, Admiralty.)

After surveying the Kent Group, Murray started to carry out his survey of Western Port and Port Phillip. On December 5th he sighted Sir Roger Curtis's Island and on the 7th reached Western Port where he was detained by bad weather until the first week in January. On January 5th* (* The logbooks were kept in nautical fashion, the day beginning at noon before the civil reckoning, so that Port Phillip was really discovered on the afternoon of Monday, January 4th, 1802. According to the Admiralty librarian the change from nautical to civil reckoning in the logs did not take place until 1805.) as the vessel ran along the Victorian coast towards Port Phillip dense smoke from native fires hid the land from view. At 3 P.M. the smoke had cleared away and Bowen, who was at the masthead, espied an opening in the land ahead which "had the appearance of a harbour." Keeping close in for it Murray saw inside a fine smooth sheet of water. An island lay at the entrance but the waves were breaking high on the rocks so the brig was hauled off and taken out to sea. Murray then steered to King Island deciding to return again later to explore the newly discovered harbour. He surveyed the east coast of King Island from Cape Farewell to Seal Bay. Some sea elephants were lying on the beach of the bay that he first entered, and this was named Sea Elephant Bay.* (*

Murray's survey of King Island was an important one and Governor King refers to it as "giving to the British priority of discovery over the French ships" when eleven months afterwards Baudin came to the island.) The following pages describe Murray's exploration of King Island and of his first sight of Port Phillip.

MURRAY'S LOG.

H.M.A. SURVEYING VESSEL LADY NELSON ON DISCOVERY. LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER JOHN MURRAY.

Sydney Cove to Ba.s.s Strait.

"Thursday, 12th November 1801. Working out of ye Heads at 1 P.M.--at 2 P.M. ye South Head of Port Jackson bore north-north-west 11 miles. At 4 P.M. ye weather began to look squally and black from ye south-west with now and then lightning...At 5 it thundered and the lightning increased...During night fresh winds and a heavy sea up; in the morning no land in sight.

"Friday, 13th November. Fresh winds and clear with heavy tumbling sea...At sundown Mount Dromedary 9 or 10 leagues N.W.W. During night unsettled weather and a confused sea. At noon Cape How bore West distance 7 or 8 leagues.

"Sat.u.r.day, 14th November. Light airs inclinable to calm, a very heavy sea from south-west. At sundown Cape How bore north-west distant about 7 leagues...We hauled in for the land this morning, the Longitude by Governor King's timekeeper was 149 degrees 30 minutes 45 seconds east, Lat.i.tude by antic.i.p.ation 38 degrees 00 minutes 00 seconds south. At noon calm fine weather. Lat.i.tude observed 38 degrees 06 minutes 43 seconds south.

"Sunday, 15th November. Moderate fine weather and smooth water...At 9 A.M. we had a curious squall at every point of the compa.s.s, it did not blow very hard and seemed to settle in the south-east quarter.

"Monday, 16th November. At half-past 5 P.M. saw a thunder squall rising in western quarter. The squall pa.s.sed over the land and thundered a good deal with much lightning, at half-past 7 it took a north-west turn and at 8 P.M. pa.s.sed over our heads, though with no great deal of wind...In the morning made sail...Lat.i.tude 38 degrees 32 minutes south.

"Thursday, 19th November. Moderate and hazy. At 6 A.M. saw Kent's Group bearing south-west distances 8 or 9 leagues--their appearance was like a great number of small islands being nearly south-east and north-west; at 8 A.M. the easternmost island of Kent's Group and the largest bore south-south-west distance 7 or 8 leagues. At 9 A.M. the whole chain of islands, 13 in number, bore from south by west to west the large island as above.

"Friday, 20th November. Light variable winds and fine weather. Kept working up to the land but were surprised to find that instead of being a small group of islands, ye body of the land was very large and whatever appeared as islands began to connect itself into one island, the lat.i.tude not agreeing with Lieutenant Flinders, concluded it could not be Kent's Group. Kept working up to it and by daylight was within 5 miles of ye northernmost island, pa.s.sed close to it and seeing an immense number of birds on it sent the boat on sh.o.r.e to procure some; in a short time after this I saw a smoke arise from the small island just pa.s.sed, sent ye boat and ye first mate there where they found two men, one woman and a child, of Henry Kable's employ; a.s.sisted them as well as we could--by noon worked into a good harbour and moored between Storehouse and Cat Island--got the Lat.i.tude by going on sh.o.r.e 39 degrees 57 minutes 46 seconds south. When moored, the Grand Capshine bore west-north-west distant 1/2 mile--Cat Island bore north by east 1/4 mile and Storehouse Island south-east quarter of a mile. Cape Barren the east point south 1/2 east distant 25 miles.

"Sat.u.r.day, 21st November. Employed taking on stone for ballast. Carpenter fitting places for sweeps to row in and on the longboat. P.M. Broke Farmer Barnes for contempt and disobedience of orders. Rated Robert Warren boatswain's mate in his room. A.M. Sent the first mate and a party of hands (with one of the people found here) and some dogs to get kangaroo being informed that great plenty was to be found in the country.

"Sunday, 22nd November. The first officer and his party returned on board; they shot 2 wambucks,* (* Presumably wombats.) a kangaroo, a porcupine, a swan and some birds--in the evening sent the second mate and some hands on sh.o.r.e to get mutton-birds, and eggs. On account of the great plenty of fresh provisions served no salt meat this day. I went and measured a base line from the south end of Storehouse Island due East and West 2 miles to a point on ye Grand Capshine and from thence surveyed this harbour more for the sake of practice than any use it could be, this place being well-known by the name Diana Bay.

"Monday, 23rd November. At 6 P.M. sent party on sh.o.r.e with the first mate to procure mutton-birds for officers and people. At 9 P.M. the officer and party returned on board, having got near 100 birds and some eggs. As I was at supper, I received the following note from R.B. Wood my clerk:

"'SIR,--Under the unfortunate situation in which I am placed as a prisoner and a convict it may appear strange my presumption in observing that something serious I wish to communicate to you. Pardon me saying that secrecy is requisite--and that after you have supped and alone will be best. I am, Sir, Your humble servant,

"'R.B. WOOD.'

"On receiving this, a little time after, I sent for him and he informed me that he had seen Mark Clark, soldier, and Robert Warren, who was only two days ago rated boatswain's mate, pumping off spirits from a cask in the hold; that he suspected this business had been carried on for some time and believed more than those might be concerned. In addition John Johnston, cabin servant, informed me that he had seen a number of the people at different times half drunk when on their watch below; in consequence of these circ.u.mstances I turned the hands on deck and read the Articles of War to them, put Mark Clark, Robert Warren and Farmer Barnes in irons, he being drunk; and in the morning I hoisted on deck all the casks of spirits, overhauled them and found one with the bung just out and about 4 1/2 inches dry in it; nailed lead over the bung and tossed them below again. On questioning Clark on this affair he confessed that he and Warren had pumped spirits out of the cask last night, and George Yates informed me that Warren had made a practice of it for some time back. On investigating the matter closer it appeared that Barnes had nothing to do with it. I accordingly released Barnes and again rated him boatswain's mate--turned the hands up and punished Robert Warren with four dozen lashes for robbery, drunkenness, etc., and Mark Clark with one dozen lashes only as it appeared that he had been prompted to this when drunk.

"Tuesday, 24th November. First and middle parts fine weather and mostly calm, latter hazy. Half-past 9 anchor and made sail out between the Grand Capshine and Cat Island, hoisted up our gig and stowe her. At 10 A.M. Cat Island bore south-east distant 5 miles and the peak of the Grand Capshine south-south-east distant 6 miles. At noon the Grand Capshine bore south-east distant 16 or 17 miles and the west end of ye Sisters west by south distant 8 or 9 miles. The harbour we have just left is formed by the Grand Capshine Island, Cat Island and Storehouse Island. Between the Grand Capshine and Cat Island is a narrow channel with deep water through which we came to-day--it lies about north-west by north a few hundred yards. Between Cat Island and Storehouse Island is a two-fathom channel, one-sixth of a mile broad through which Kable's schooner has pa.s.sed to the South. The harbour is very open and a good deal of sea heaves in, but small vessels can up anchor and just run round to the opposite side of Cat Island--there is a snug cove entirely secure from all southerly winds where they may anchor, taking care to be off from this last place, if the wind comes from the northward. From the Grand Capshine the land trends away in a south-east and south direction as far as Cape Barren; from where we lay the Bay of Shoals bore south by west distant 15 miles. A vessel of a large draught would have to lie a good deal further out in the Bay than we, as we rode in one quarter less than 3 fathoms.