At three in the afternoon the northern land was in sight, and the highest hills of King's Island were sinking below the horizon as seen from the deck. Their distance was twenty-five miles; and consequently the elevation of them is between four and five hundred feet above the level of the sea. At five o'clock a bluff head, the most projecting part of the northern land, was distant three or four leagues; it was Captain Grants'
We then hauled to the wind and stood off and on; at daylight [SUNDAY 25 APRIL 1802] bore away for the land with a moderate breeze from the southward; and at eight o'clock, when Cape Otway bore N. 69° W. ten miles we steered north-eastward along the shore. On the west side of Cape Otway the coast falls back somewhat to the north, and projects again at the distance of ten or eleven miles, where it is not, as I think, more than three leagues to the east of the headland seen under the lee at eight in the evening of the 20th. From Cape Otway, eastward, the shore trends east-north-east about three leagues, to a projection called Cape Patton, and according to Captain Grant a bay is formed between them; but at three leagues off nothing worthy of being called a bay could be perceived. Beyond Cape Patton the coast took a more northern direction to a point with a flat-topped hill upon it, and further than this it was not visible.
The whole of this land is high, the elevation of the uppermost parts being not less than two thousand feet. The rising hills were covered with wood of a deep green foliage, and without any vacant spaces of rock or sand; so that I judged this part of the coast to exceed in fertility all that had yet fallen under observation.
Cape Otway lies very nearly in latitude 38° 51' south and longitude 143° 29' east. The width of the north-west entrance to Bass' Strait, between this cape on the north and King's Island to the south, is therefore sixteen leagues; and with the trifling exception of the Harbinger's Reefs, which occupy not quite two leagues of the southern part, the passage is free from danger. In such parts of it as we got soundings the depth was between 38 and 50 fathoms.
At noon, the wind had veered to the south-east, which being directly upon the shore, I did not think it prudent to follow the land too closely; and we therefore kept up nearly to the wind. In the course of the afternoon, land came in sight to the eastward; and the bearings taken at sunset were these:
Between the first and last of these bearings there was a deep bight formed, at the head of which no other land than the two small peaks could be perceived.
MONDAY 26 APRIL 1802
In the morning we kept close to an east-south-east wind, steering for the land to the north-eastward; and at nine o'clock captain Grant's Cape Schanck, the extreme of the preceding evening, was five leagues distant to the N. 88° E., and a rocky point towards the head of the bight bore N. 12° E. On coming within five miles of the shore at eleven o'clock we found it to be low, and mostly sandy, and that the bluff head which had been taken for the north end of an island was part of a ridge of hills rising at Cape Schanck. We then bore away westward in order to trace the land round the head of the deep bight; and a noon, the situation of the ship and principal bearings were as under:
On the west side of the rocky point there was a small opening, with breaking water across it; however, on advancing a little more westward the opening assumed a more interesting aspect, and I bore away to have a nearer view. A large extent of water presently became visible within side; and although the entrance seemed to be very narrow, and there were in it strong ripplings like breakers, I was induced to steer in at half-past one, the ship being close upon a wind and every man ready for tacking at a moment's warning. The soundings were irregular between 6 and 12 fathoms until we got four miles within the entrance, when they shoaled quick to 2¾. We then tacked; and having a strong tide in our favour, worked to the eastward between the shoal and the rocky point, with 12 fathoms for the deepest water. In making the last stretch from the shoal the depth diminished from 10 fathoms quickly to 3, and before the ship could come round, the flood tide set her upon a mud bank and she stuck fast. A boat was lowered down to sound, and finding the deep water lie to the north-west, a kedge anchor was carried out; and having got the ship's head in that direction, the sails were filled and she drew off into 6 and 10 fathoms; and it being then dark, we came to an anchor.
[SOUTH COAST. PORT PHILLIP.]
The extensive harbour we had thus unexpectedly found I supposed must be Western Port, although the narrowness of the entrance did by no means correspond with the width given to it by Mr. Bass. It was the information of captain Baudin, who had coasted along from thence with fine weather, and had found no inlet of any kind, which induced this supposition; and the very great extent of the place, agreeing with that of Western Port, was in confirmation of it. This, however, was not Western Port, as we found next morning [TUESDAY 27 APRIL 1802]; and I congratulated myself on having made a new and useful discovery; but here again I was in error. This place, as I afterwards learned at Port Jackson, had been discovered ten weeks before by lieutenant John Murray, who had succeeded captain Grant in the command of the Lady Nelson. He had given it the name of PORT PHILLIP, and to the rocky point on the east side of the entrance that of Point Nepean.
Our situation was found in the morning to be near two miles from the south shore, and the extreme towards Point Nepean bore N. 83° W., two leagues. About three miles to the north-by-west were some dry rocks, with bushes on them, surrounded with mud flats; and they appeared to form a part of the same shoal from which we had three times tacked in 2½ and 3 fathoms. The mud bank where the ship had grounded is distinct from the middle shoal; but I am not certain that it is so from the south shore, from which it is one mile distant. The Bluff Mount (named Arthur's Seat by Mr. Murray, from a supposed resemblance to the hill of that name near Edinburgh) bore S. 76° E.; but from thence the shore trended northward so far that the land at the head of the port could not be seen even from aloft. Before proceeding any higher with the ship I wished to gain some knowledge of the form and extent of this great piece of water; and Arthur's Seat being more than a thousand feet high and near the water-side, presented a favourable station for that purpose.
After breakfast I went away in a boat, accompanied by Mr. Brown and some other gentlemen, for the Seat. It was seven or eight miles from the ship; and in steering nearly a straight course for it we passed over the northern skirt of the shoal where the ship had touched; but afterwards had from 7 to 5 fathoms nearly to the shore. Having observed the latitude there from an artificial horizon, I ascended the hill; and to my surprise found the port so extensive, that even at this elevation its boundary to the northward could not be distinguished. The western shore extended from the entrance ten or eleven miles in a northern direction to the extremity of what, from its appearance, I called Indented Head; beyond it was a wide branch of the port leading to the westward, and I suspected might have a communication with the sea; for it was almost incredible that such a vast piece of water should not have a larger outlet than that through which we had come.
I took an extensive set of bearings from the clearest place to be found on the north-western, bluff part of the hill; and we afterwards walked a little way back upon the ridge. From thence another considerable piece of water was seen, at the distance of three or four leagues; it seemed to be mostly shallow; but as it appeared to have a communication with the sea to the south, I had no doubt of its being Mr. Bass's Western Port.
Arthur's Seat and the hills and vallies in its neighbourhood were generally well covered with wood; and the soil was superior to any upon the borders of the salt water which I have had an opportunity of examining in Terra Australis. There were many marks of natives, such as deserted fire-places and heaps of oyster shells; and upon the peninsula which forms the south side of the port a smoke was rising, but we did not see any of the people. Quantities of fine oysters were lying upon the beaches, between high and low water marks, and appeared to have been washed up by the surf; a circumstance which I do not recollect to have observed in any other part of this country.
WEDNESDAY 28 APRIL 1802
We returned on board at dusk in the evening; and at daylight the anchor was weighed with the intention of coasting round the port with the ship. The wind was at north-east, but the flood tide was in our favour; and having made a stretch toward the middle shoals, we tacked and ran east-south-east along their south side, until past eight, when, the flood having ceased, we came to in 7 fathoms. At slack water in the afternoon we again steered eastward, but were soon obliged to anchor for want of wind; and I found that this slow mode of proceeding was not at all suited to the little time for which we had provisions remaining, besides that there was much probability of getting frequently aground; the plan of examining the port with the ship was therefore abandoned.
Having left orders with Mr. Fowler, the first lieutenant, to take the ship back to the entrance, I went in a boat early next morning [THURSDAY 29 APRIL 1802] with provisions for three days, in order to explore as much of the port as could be done in that time. Round the east end of the middle shoals I carried 6 and 7 fathoms; and keeping north-eastward, had 8 and 9 fathoms at a mile or more from the shore, and 4 close past the second rocky point above Arthur's Seat. The wind being at north-west, I was obliged to land behind some rocks more than two miles short of the third point, but walked to it with my surveying instruments. This was nine miles from the Seat, and the furthest part of the shore seen from thence; further on the shore falls back more eastward, in long sandy beaches, and afterwards curves to the north-west; but it was lost to sight long before joining the land on the west side of the port. After taking angles and observing for the latitude and longitude, I rowed to windward for Indented Head, five leagues off. At the end of the first mile and a half the depth was 11 fathoms, but afterwards no bottom at 12 until within two miles of the western shore, where it was 9 fathoms. We landed at nine o'clock at night, near the uppermost part which had yet been seen.
FRIDAY 30 APRIL 1802
In the morning a fire was perceived two hundred yards from the tent; and the Indians appeared to have decamped from thence on our landing. Whilst I was taking angles from a low point at the north-easternmost part of Indented Head, a party of the inhabitants showed themselves about a mile from us; and on landing there we found a hut with a fire in it, but the people had disappeared, and carried off their effects. I left some strips of cloth, of their favourite red colour, hanging about the hut, and proceeded westward along the shore to examine the arm of the port running in that direction.
Three natives having made their appearance abreast of the boat, we again landed. They came to us without hesitation, received a shag and some trifling presents with pleasure, and parted with such of their arms as we wished to possess without reluctance. They afterwards followed us along the shore; and when I shot another bird, which hovered over the boat, and held it up to them, they ran down to the water-side and received it without expressing either surprise or distrust. Their knowledge of the effect of fire-arms I then attributed to their having seen me shoot birds when unconscious of being observed; but it had probably been learned from Mr. Murray.
At noon I landed to take an observation of the sun, which gave 38° 7' 6" for the latitude; my position being nearly at the northern extremity of Indented Head. Some bearings were taken from the brow of a hill a little way back; and after a dinner of which the natives partook, we left them on friendly terms to proceed westward in our examination. The water became very shallow abreast of a sandy point, whence the shore trends nearly south-west; and there being no appearance of an opening to the sea this way, I steered across the western arm, as well to ascertain its depth as with the intention of ascending the hills lying behind the northern shore. Two of the peaks upon these hills had been set from the ship's deck at sunset of the 25th, at the distance of thirty-seven miles; and as their elevation must consequently be a thousand feet, or more, I expected to obtain from thence such a view of the upper parts of the port as would render the coasting round it unnecessary.
The width of the western arm was found to be six miles; and the soundings across augmented regularly to 6 fathoms in mid channel, and then decreased in the same way; but there was less than 3 fathoms at two miles from the northern shore. That side is indeed very low and marshy, with mud banks lying along it; and we had difficulty in finding a dry place to pitch the tent, and still more to procure wood wherewith to cook the ducks I had shot upon the banks.
SATURDAY 1 MAY 1802
At day dawn I set off with three of the boat's crew for the highest part of the back hills called Station Peak. Our way was over a low plain, where the water appeared frequently to lodge; it was covered with small-bladed grass, but almost destitute of wood, and the soil was clayey and shallow. One or two miles before arriving at the feet of the hills we entered a wood where an emu and a kangaroo were seen at a distance; and the top of the peak was reached at ten o'clock. My position was then 21' of latitude from Point Nepean, in the direction of N. 28° 30' W., and I saw the water of the port as far as N. 75° E., at the distance of seven or eight leagues; so that the whole extent of the port, north and south, is at least thirty miles. The extremity of the western arm bore S. 15° 45' W., which makes the extent, east and west, to be thirty-six miles; but there was no communication with the sea on that side, nor did the western arm appear to be navigable beyond seven miles above where I had crossed it. Towards the interior there was a mountain bearing N. 11° E., eleven leagues distant; and so far the country was low, grassy and very slightly covered with wood, presenting great facility to a traveller of penetrating inland.
I left the ship's name on a scroll of paper, deposited in a small pile of stones upon the top of the peak; and at three in the afternoon reached the tent, much fatigued, having walked more than twenty miles without finding a drop of water. Mr. Lacy, the midshipman of the boat, had observed the latitude at the tent from an artificial horizon to be 38° 2' 22"; and Station Peak bore from thence N. 47° W.
In the evening we rowed back to Indented Head, and landed there soon after dark. Fires had been seen moving along the shore, but the people seemed to have fled; though we found two newly erected huts with fires in them, and utensils, which must have belonged to some of the people before seen, since there was boiled rice in one of the baskets. We took up our quarters here for the night, keeping a good watch; but nothing was seen of the Indians till we pushed off from the shore in the morning [SUNDAY 2 MAY 1802], when seven showed themselves upon a hill behind the huts. They ran down to examine their habitations, and finding every thing as they had left it, a little water excepted of which we were in want, they seemed satisfied; and for a short time three of them followed the boat.
Along the north-east and east sides of Indented Head I found the water to be shoal for nearly a mile off; but on approaching the entrance of what Mr. Murray called Swan Harbour, but which I have taken the liberty to converting into Swan Pond, it became somewhat deeper. Seeing swans there, I rowed into it after them, but found the place full of mud banks, and seldom more than three or four feet in depth. Three of the birds were caught; and at the south side of the entrance, upon the sandy peninsula, or island as it is when the tide is in, I shot some delicate teal, and found fresh water in small ponds.
The ship was lying about three miles within the mouth of the port, near to the south shore; and after I had taken bearings at two stations on the sandy peninsula, we steered a straight course for her, sounding all the way. It appeared that there was a passage up the port of a mile wide between the middle banks and the western shore, with a depth in it from 3 to 4½ fathoms. On the western extremity of the banks I had 2½ fathoms, and afterwards 5, 7, 4, 7, 8, 9, 9 to the ship.
Lieutenant Fowler had had a good deal of difficulty in getting back to the entrance of the port; owing in part to the western winds, and partly from the shoals, which do not seem to lie in any regular order. He had touched upon one of these, where there was ten feet on one side of the ship, and on the other 5 fathoms. This seems to have been a more eastern part of the same shoal upon which we had before grounded; but no danger is to be feared from these banks to a flat-floored ship.
I find it very difficult to speak in general terms of Port Phillip. On the one hand it is capable of receiving and sheltering a larger fleet of ships than ever yet went to sea; whilst on the other, the entrance, in its whole width, is scarcely two miles, and nearly half of it is occupied by the rocks lying off Point Nepean, and by shoals on the opposite side. The depth in the remaining part varies from 6 to 12 fathoms; and this irregularity causes the strong tides, especially when running against the wind, to make breakers, in which small vessels should be careful of engaging themselves; and when a ship has passed the entrance, the middle shoals are a great obstacle to a free passage up the port. These shoals are met with at four miles directly from the entrance, and extend about ten miles to the east-south-east, parallel with the south shore; they do not seem, however, to be one connected mass, for I believe there are two or three deep openings in them, though we had not time to make an examination.
No runs of fresh water were seen in any excursions; but Mr. Charles Grimes, surveyor-general of New South Wales, afterwards found several, and in particular a small river falling into the northern head of the port. Mr. Grimes was sent by governor King, in 1803, to walk round, and survey the harbour; and from his plan I have completed my chart of Port Phillip. The parts of the coast left unshaded are borrowed from him, and the soundings written at right angles are those of his companion, lieutenant Robbins.
The country surrounding Port Phillip has a pleasing, and in many parts a fertile appearance; and the sides of some of the hills and several of the vallies are fit for agricultural purposes. It is in great measure a grassy country, and capable of supporting much cattle, though better calculated for sheep. To this general description there are probably several exceptions; and the southern peninsula, which is terminated by Point Nepean, forms one, the surface there being mostly sandy, and the vegetation in many places little better than brush wood. Indented Head, at the northern part of the western peninsula, had an appearance particularly agreeable; the grass had been burned not long before, and had sprung up green and tender; the wood was so thinly scattered that one might see to a considerable distance; and the hills rose one over the other to a moderate elevation, but so gently that a plough might every where be used. The vegetable soil is a little mixed with sand, but good, though probably not deep, as I judged by the small size of the trees.
The most common kinds of wood are the casuarina and eucalyptus, to which Mr. Grimes adds the banksia, mimosa and some others; but the timber is rarely sound, and is not large.
Were a settlement to be made at Port Phillip, as doubtless there will be some time hereafter, the entrance could be easily defended; and it would not be difficult to establish a friendly intercourse with the natives, for they are acquainted with the effect of fire-arms and desirous of possessing many of our conveniences. I thought them more muscular than the men of King George's Sound; but, generally speaking, they differ in no essential particular from the other inhabitants of the South and East Coasts except in language, which is dissimilar, if not altogether different to that of Port Jackson, and seemingly of King George's Sound also. I am not certain whether they have canoes, but none were seen.
In the woods are the kangaroo, the emu or cassowary, paroquets, and a variety of small birds; the mud banks are frequented by ducks and some black swans, and the shores by the usual sea fowl common in New South Wales. The range of the thermometer was between 61° and 67°; and the climate appeared to be as good and as agreeable as could well be desired in the month answering to November. In 1803, colonel Collins of the marines was sent out from England to make a new settlement in this country; but he quitted Port Phillip for the south end of Van Diemen's Land, probably from not finding fresh water for a colony sufficiently near to the entrance.
Point Nepean is in latitude 38° 18' south. The longitude from twelve sets of distances taken by lieutenant Flinders in the port, and six others by me ten days before arriving, the particulars of which are given in Table V of the Appendix to this volume, is 144° 30½' east; but these observations being mostly on one side of the moon, the corrected longitude by time keepers, 144° 38' east, is preferred.
No observations were taken in the port for the variation of the compass; but at seven leagues to the south-south-west of Point Nepean, azimuths gave 3° 41' when the ship's head was at N.E. by E. ½ E., and an amplitude at N. N. E. ½ E., 6° 48' east. The mean of these, corrected to the meridian, will be 7° 30', or half a degree less than at King's Island; I therefore take the variation in Port Phillip to have been generally, 7°, though at some stations it seemed to have been no more than 6° 30' east.
The rise of tide is inconsiderable in the upper parts of the port; near the entrance it is from three to six feet. By the swinging of the ship, which, however, varied at different anchorages, it appeared to be high water two hours and a half after the moon's passage; but at Point Nepean the time of high water by the shore is said by Mr. Grimes to be only one hour after the moon. At Western Port, Mr. Bass found high water to take place half an hour after the moon's passage, and the tide to rise from ten to fourteen feet. This great increase, in a place so near, seems extraordinary; but may perhaps be accounted for by the meeting of the tides from two entrances, whilst Port Phillip has only one, and that very narrow.
Departure from Port Phillip.
Cape Schanck.
Wilson's Promontory, and its isles.
Kent's Groups, and Furneaux's Isles.
Hills behind the Long Beach.
Arrival at Port Jackson.
Health of the ship's company.
Refitment and supply of the ship.
Price of provisions.
Volunteers entered.
Arrangement for the succeeding part of the voyage.
French ships.
Astronomical and nautical observations.
[SOUTH COAST. BASS' STRAIT.]
MONDAY 3 MAY 1802
On the 3rd of May at daylight the anchor was weighed to go out of Port Phillip with the last half of the ebb; and the wind being from the westward, we backed, filled and tacked occasionally, dropping out with the tide. When the entrance was cleared, and five miles distant, Mr. Westall took a view of it (Atlas Plate XVII, View 13.), which will be an useful assistance in finding this extensive but obscure port; and at eleven o'clock, when we bore away eastward to pass Cape Schanck, he sketched that cape and the ridge of hills terminating at Arthur's Seat (View 14). Cape Schanck is a cliffy head, with three rocks lying off, the outermost of which appears at a distance like a ship under sail: the latitude is 38° 29' or 30' south, and longitude 144° 53' east. It will always be desirable for vessels to get sight of this cape before they run far into the great bight for Port Phillip; and if the wind blow strong from the southward it will be unsafe to run without having seen it.
Cape Schanck is also an excellent mark for ships desiring to go into Western Port, of which it forms the west side of the principal entrance; but as there are many breakers and shoals on that side, which extend almost to mid-channel, it will be necessary to give the cape a wide berth by keeping over to Phillip Island on the starboard hand.
At noon, Cape Schanck bore N. 36° W. five or six miles; the breeze was fresh from the westward, with cloudy weather, and we steered for Point Grant, at the east side of the entrance into Western Port. There is a square-topped rock surrounded with a reef lying off the point; but the Lady Nelson has passed between them, with 3 fathoms water. On reaching within a mile of this reef, at one o'clock, I set
We then steered eastward along the south side of Phillip Island, and passed a needle-like rock lying under the shore. Cape Wollamai is the east end of the island, and forms one side of the small, eastern entrance to the port; and at three o'clock when it bore, N. 14° E., five or six miles, its longitude was ascertained by means of the time-keepers to be 145° 25' east: the latitude deduced from bearings is 38° 33' south. Wollamai is the native name for a fish at Port Jackson, called sometimes by the settlers light-horseman, from the bones of the head having some resemblance to a helmet; and the form of this cape bearing a likeness to the head of the fish, induced Mr. Bass to give it the name of Wollamai.
We ran south-eastward along the shore, at the rate of six or seven knots, until sunset; when a steep head, supposed to be the Cape Liptrap of captain Grant, was seen through the haze, and our bearings of the land were,
We soon afterwards hauled to the wind off shore, under treble-reefed top-sails; and the gale increasing, with much swell from the south-westward, the close reefs were taken in. At midnight, tacked to the northward, and stood off and on till daybreak [TUESDAY 4 MAY 1802]; the wind being strong at west, and weather squally with rain. We then bore away for the land, which was seen to leeward; and at seven, the bearings of the principal parts were as under:
Besides Rodondo, which lies about six miles to the south-by-east of the promontory, I distinguished five or six less conspicuous isles, lying along the south and west sides of this remarkable headland; these are called Glennie's Isles. To the N. 88° E. from Rodondo, and distant about two leagues, was a small island which appears to have been one of Moncur's Isles; and in steering south-eastward we got sight of the Devil's Tower, and of the high island and rocks named Sir Roger Curtis' Isles. These names were given by captain Grant in 1800; but he was not the discoverer of the places to which they are applied. They are all laid down upon my chart of 1799, on the authority of Mr. Bass; and when it is considered that this enterprising man saw them from an open boat, in very bad weather, their relative positions to Wilson's Promontory will be thought surprisingly near the truth. Unfortunately the situation of the promontory itself, owing to some injury done to his quadrant, is considerably in error, being twelve or fourteen miles wrong in latitude. A reef is mentioned by captain Grant as lying to the southward between Rodondo and Moncur's Isles; and a rock, level with the water, was seen in the same situation by the ships Gato and Castle of Good Hope, from which last it received the appropriate name of Crocodile Rock. This also was seen by Mr. Bass, and laid down in its relative situation; but in the Investigator I was not sufficiently near to get sight of this important danger.
We continued to steer south-eastward, round all these islands, having a fresh gale at west-south-west with squally weather; and at noon our situation was in
Wilson's Promontory was no longer visible; but from the best bearings I had been able to obtain in such blowing weather, its south-eastern extremity lies in latitude 39° 11½' south, and longitude 146° 24' east.
Not seeing any more islands to the southward from the masthead, we bore away east soon after noon to make Kent's Groups; and before three o'clock they both came in sight, as did an island to the northward, which seems to have been one of the small cluster discovered by Mr. John Black, and named Hogan's Group. The longitude by time keepers at this time was 146° 58' east, and the following bearings were taken:
In steering past the south sides of the two groups at the distance of four to six miles, I was enabled to correct their positions; and also that of the pyramid, which was set at S. 4½° E. ten miles at four o'clock. When these lands had been laid down in the Francis and Norfolk in 1798, it was without the assistance of a time keeper, and therefore liable to considerable errors in longitude.
At five in the evening I thought myself fortunate to get a sight of Furneaux's great island through the haze; and also of a small, craggy isle which had been before fixed relatively to the inner Sister. To obtain the positions of these places by our timekeepers was to me an important object; since they were connected with the former survey of Furneaux's Islands and the north-eastern part of Van Diemen's Land. The bearings taken at five were,
The hills upon Furneaux's great island, which I believe, but could not certainly ascertain to have been upon the westernmost point, will therefore lie very nearly S. 48° E., from the bluff south-west end of Kent's large Group, instead of S. 38° E., as before marked. This places the great island 10' of longitude further east from the group, than was given by my run in the Francis during the night of Feb. 8, 1798.
We passed to the northward of the small new rock at the distance of three miles, and I judged it to lie four, or four-and-half leagues from the eastern side of Kent's large Group. No kind of danger was observed between them, but it was then nearly dark; and the wind being fresh and favourable, and not having more than ten days provisions in the ship, I felt it necessary to leave this and some other parts of Bass' Strait to a future examination; and we steered onward, east-north-east for Port Jackson.
WEDNESDAY 5 MAY 1802
At daylight of the 5th the course was altered more northward; and at noon, land was seen from the mast head to the north-north-west, probably some of the hills at the back of the Long Beach, and distant not less than twenty leagues: our latitude was 38° 32' south and longitude 149° 35' east. The wind had then moderated and having shifted to north-west we kept close up to make Cape Howe. At four, hove to and sounded, but no bottom could be had with 90 fathoms; the land extended in patches from west-north-west distant twenty-five or more leagues to near the Ram Head at north; and consequently the hills at the back of the Long Beach must be of considerable elevation, superior to any other land near the sea in the southern, or perhaps any part of New South Wales.
THURSDAY 6 MAY 1802
On the wind shifting to the east side of north, next day, I tacked to get in with the land; being desirous of running near to as much of the coast, and correcting its longitude in our way to Port Jackson, as could be done without loss of time; but at noon the wind veered back, and our north-eastern course was resumed. The land could not then be further distant than nine or ten leagues; but no part of it was in sight, nor from the dullness of the weather could any observation be taken.
[EAST COAST. PORT JACKSON.]
FRIDAY 7 MAY 1802
After a squally night the wind fixed at west-by-north; and at daybreak of the 7th the land was visible from west to north-west, and our course was parallel to it (Atlas Plate VIII). At noon, the latitude was 36° 24' south, and longitude 151° 16' east; Mount Dromedary was in sight bearing N. 85° W., and by the difference of longitude, was distant fifty-two miles: I estimate its highest south part to lie in 36° 19' south, and 150° 11' east. The wind returned to the north-west in the afternoon, and we lost sight of the land; but becoming fairer afterwards, and the southern current not having much strength, by four next day [SATURDAY 8 MAY 1802] the heads of Port Jackson were in sight. At dusk the flag-staff upon the South Head bore west-south-west, and our distance from the shore was seven or eight miles.
I tried to beat up for the port in the night, being sufficiently well acquainted to have run up in the dark, had the wind permitted; but we were still to leeward in the morning [SUNDAY 9 MAY 1802], and Mr. Westall made a good sketch of the entrance (Atlas Plate XVIII. View 1). At one o'clock, we gained the heads, a pilot came on board, and soon after three the Investigator was anchored in Sydney Cove.
There was not a single individual on board who was not upon deck working the ship into harbour; and it may be averred that the officers and crew were, generally speaking, in better health than on the day we sailed from Spithead, and not in less good spirits. I have said nothing of the regulations observed after we made Cape Leeuwin; they were little different from those adopted in the commencement of the voyage, and of which a strict attention to cleanliness and a free circulation of air in the messing and sleeping-places formed the most essential parts. Several of the inhabitants of Port Jackson expressed themselves never to have been so strongly reminded of England as by the fresh colour of many amongst the Investigator's ship's company.
So soon as the anchor was dropped, I went on shore to wait upon his Excellency Philip Gidley King, Esq., governor of New South Wales, and senior naval officer upon the station; to whom I communicated a general account of our discoveries and examinations upon the South Coast, and delivered the orders from the Admiralty and Secretary of State. These orders directed the governor to place the brig Lady Nelson under my command, and not to employ the Investigator on other service than that which was the object of the voyage; and His Excellency was pleased to assure me that every assistance in the power of the colony to render should be given to forward a service so interesting to his government, and to himself. The Lady Nelson was then lying in Sydney Cove; but her commander, lieutenant Grant, had requested permission to return to England, and had sailed six months before.
Besides the Lady Nelson, there were in the port His Majesty's armed vessel Porpoise, the Speedy, south-whaler, and the Margaret privateer; also the French national ship Le Naturaliste, commanded by captain Hamelin, to whom I communicated captain Baudin's intention of coming to Port Jackson so soon as the bad weather should set in. Le Géographe's boat had been picked up in Bass' Strait by Mr. Campbell of the brig Harrington, and the officers and crew were at this time on board Le Naturaliste.
MAY 1802
The duties required to fit the ship for prosecuting the voyage with success being various and extensive, Cattle Point, on the east side of Sydney Cove, was assigned to us by the governor for carrying on some of our employments, whilst others were in progress on board the ship and in the dockyard. On the morning after our arrival we warped to a convenient situation near the point, and sent on shore the tents, the sailmakers and sails, and the cooper with all the empty casks. Next day the observatory was set up, and the time-keepers and other astronomical instruments placed there under the care of lieutenant Flinders, who, with Mr. Franklin, his assistant, was to make the necessary observations and superintend the various duties carrying on at the same place; and a small detachment of marines was landed for the protection of the tents.
I had found the barricade of the quarter deck to stand so high, as to be not only an obstacle to beating to windward, but a great inconvenience to surveying the coast; for when the wind was on the side next to the land, there were no means of taking bearings over it but by standing on the top of the binnacle; or otherwise by removing the compass to different places, which I had found could not be done without materially changing the variation. These inconveniences being stated to the governor, his permission was obtained to reduce it so low as that it might be overlooked in all cases; and an order was given that four convict carpenters, and such other assistance from the dockyard should be furnished as was necessary.
To supply the place of the cutter we had lost at the entrance of Spencer's Gulf, I contracted for a boat to be built after the model of that in which Mr Bass made his long and adventurous expedition to the strait. It was twenty-eight feet seven inches in length over all, rather flat floored, head and stern alike, a keel somewhat curved, and the cut-water and stern post nearly upright; it was fitted to row eight oars when requisite, but intended for six in common cases. The timbers were cut from the largest kind of banksia, which had been found more durable than mangrove; and the planking was of cedar. This boat was constructed under the superintendance of Mr. Thomas Moore, master builder to the colony; and proved, like her prototype, to be excellent in a sea, as well as for rowing and sailing in smooth water. The cost at Port Jackson was no more than £30.; but this was owing to some of the materials being supplied from the public magazines.
Whilst these branches of our refitment were going on, a thorough examination was made and survey taken of all the ship's stores; as well for the purpose of sending away those unserviceable and replacing them with others so far as they could be obtained, as with a view to enable the warrant officers to pass their accounts and obtain their pay up to this time; a precaution which the nature of our voyage rendered more peculiarly necessary. After the surveys were ended, the seamen were employed in stripping and re-rigging the masts, and preparing the hold to receive a fresh stock of provisions and water; the naturalist and his assistants, as also the two painters, made excursions into the interior of the country; and my time was mostly occupied in constructing the fair charts of our discoveries and examinations upon the south coast, for the purpose of their being transmitted to the secretary of the Admiralty.
JUNE 1802
On the 4th of June, the ship was dressed with colours, a royal salute fired, and I went with the principal officers of the Investigator to pay my respects to His Excellency the governor and captain-general, in honour of HIS MAJESTY'S birth day. On this occasion, a splendid dinner was given to the colony; and the number of ladies and civil, military, and naval officers was not less than forty, who met to celebrate the birth of their beloved sovereign in this distant part of the earth.
On the 6th, the Speedy, south-whaler, sailed for England. By Mr. Quested, the commander, I transmitted to the Admiralty an account of my proceedings upon the south coast of Terra Australis; but the charts being unfinished, were obliged to be deferred to a future opportunity. To the Astronomer Royal I sent Arnold's time keepers, No. 82 and 176, which had stopped; together with a statement of the principal astronomical observations hitherto made, and an account of Earnshaw's two time keepers, No. 543 and 520, which continued to perform well.
Captain Baudin arrived in Le Geographe on the 20th, and a boat was sent from the Investigator to assist in towing the ship up to the cove. It was grievous to see the miserable condition to which both officers and crew were reduced by scurvy; there being not more out of one hundred and seventy, according to the commander's account, than twelve men capable of doing their duty. The sick were received into the colonial hospital; and both French ships furnished with everything in the power of the colony to supply. Before their arrival, the necessity of augmenting the number of cattle in the country had prevented the governor from allowing us any fresh meat; but some oxen belonging to government were now killed for the distressed strangers; and by returning an equal quantity of salt meat, which was exceedingly scarce at this time, I obtained a quarter of beef for my people. The distress of the French navigators had indeed been great; but every means were used by the governor and the principal inhabitants of the colony, to make them forget both their sufferings and the war which existed between the two nations.*
[* These liberal proceedings, which do so much honour to governor King and the colonists, are handsomely acknowledged by M. Peron in his account of the French voyage.]
JULY 1802
His Excellency, Governor King, had done me the honour to visit the Investigator, and to accept of a dinner on board; on which occasion he had been received with the marks of respect due to his rank of captain-general; and shortly afterward, the Captains Baudin and Hamelin, with Monsieur Peron and some other French officers, as also Colonel Paterson, the lieutenant-governor, did me the same favour; when they were received under a salute of eleven guns. The intelligence of peace, which had just been received, contributed to enliven the party, and rendered our meeting more particularly agreeable. I showed to Captain Baudin one of my charts of the south coast, containing the part first explored by him, and distinctly marked as his discovery. He made no objection to the justice of the limits therein pointed out; but found his portion to be smaller than he had supposed, not having before been aware of the extent of the discoveries previously made by Captain Grant. After examining the chart, he said, apparently as a reason for not producing any of his own, that his charts were not constructed on board the ship; but that he transmitted to Paris all his bearings and observations, with a regular series of views of the land, and from them the charts were to be made at a future time. This mode appeared to me extraordinary, and not to be worthy of imitation; conceiving that a rough chart, at least, should be made whilst the land is in sight, when any error in bearing or observation can be corrected; a plan which was adopted in the commencement, and followed throughout the course of my voyage.
Amongst our employments was that of fitting up a green house on the quarter deck, and sawing plank to make boxes for the reception of such plants as might be found by the naturalist, and thought worthy of being transported to His Majesty's botanic garden at Kew. This green house had been received at Sheerness, and stowed away in pieces; but I saw that when filled with boxes of earth, the upper works of the ship, naturally very weak, would be incapable of supporting the weight; and that in bad weather, we should be obliged to throw it over board for the safety of the ship. I therefore proposed its reduction to two-thirds of the size; and Mr. Brown being of opinion it would then contain all the plants likely to be collected in any one absence from Port Jackson, it was reduced accordingly; and the feet lowered down close to the deck. This arrangement required an alteration in the tiller, and a short one, with two arms, was fitted to the after part of the rudder head; with which expedient, and leading the main braces forward, the green house was not likely to cause much inconvenience to the working of the ship. The plants already collected on the South Coast had been landed on our arrival, in good order; and deposited in the governor's garden until such time as, the objects of the voyage being completed, we should be ready to sail for England.
The ship had never made more than three inches of water in an hour, after leaving the Cape of Good Hope; so that much caulking was not required, either within or out board. What was found necessary, was finished by the middle of July, at the same time with the barricading of the quarter deck; and the masts being then new rigged, and holds nearly completed with water and provisions, the sails were bent and the ship was painted. On the 21st, the last bag of bread and turn of water were received, the new whale boat was brought off, and we dropped down the harbour; being then ready for going to sea next morning.
In consequence of the directions given by His Majesty's principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, the Lady Nelson, a brig of sixty tons, commanded by Acting-Lieutenant John Murray, was placed under my orders, as a tender to the Investigator. This vessel was fitted with three sliding keels; and built after the plan of that ingenious officer commissioner (now vice-admiral) Schanck. When the sliding keels were up, the Lady Nelson drew no more than six feet water; and was therefore peculiarly adapted for going up rivers, or other shallow places which it might be dangerous, or impossible for the ship to enter. Mr Murray's crew was mostly composed of convicts; and having no officer in whom he could place entire confidence, I lent to him Mr Denis Lacy, one of my young gentlemen acquainted with the management of a time keeper, to act as his chief mate.
The price of fresh meat at Port Jackson was so exorbitant, that it was impossible to think of purchasing it on the public account. I obtained one quarter of beef for the ship's company, in exchange for salt meat, and the governor furnished us with some baskets of vegetables from his garden; and in lieu of the daily pound of biscuit, each man received a pound and a quarter of soft bread, without any expense to government. But with these exceptions, I was obliged to leave the refreshment of the people to their own individual exertions; assisting them with the payment due for savings of bread since leaving the Cape of Good Hope, and the different artificers with the money earned by their extra services in refitting the ship. Fish are usually plentiful at Port Jackson in the summer, but not in the winter time; and our duties were too numerous and indispensable to admit of sending people away with the seine, when there was little prospect of success; a few were, however, occasionally bought alongside, from boats which fished along the coast.
In purchasing a sea stock for the cabin, I paid £3 a head for sheep, weighing from thirty to forty pounds when dressed. Pigs were bought at 9d. per pound, weighed alive, geese at 10s. each, and fowls at 3s.; and Indian corn for the stock cost 5s. a bushel.
To complete the ship's provisions, I entered into a contract for 30,000 pounds of biscuit, 8000 pounds of flour, and 156 bushels of kiln-dried wheat; but in the meantime, the ship Coromandel brought out the greater part of the twelvemonths' provisions, for which I had applied on sailing from Spithead; and the contractor was prevailed upon to annul that part of the agreement relating to flour and wheat. The biscuit cost 33s. per hundred pounds; and considering that the colony was at short allowance, and that the French ships were to be supplied, it was a favourable price. From two American vessels which arrived, I purchased 1483 gallons of rum at 6s. 6d. per gallon; which, with what remained of our former stock was a proportion for twelve months. In other respects our provisions were completed from the quantity sent out from England; and the remaining part was lodged in the public stores, in charge of the commissary, until our return.
In addition to the melancholy loss of eight officers and men, at the entrance of Spencer's Gulf, and the previous deficiency of four in the complement, I found it necessary to discharge the man who had been bitten by a seal at Kangaroo Island, as also a marine, who was invalided; so that fourteen men were required to complete my small ship's company. Mr John Aken, chief mate of the ship Hercules, was engaged to fill the situation of master, and five men, mostly seamen, were entered, but finding it impossible to fill up the complement with free people, I applied to the governor for his permission to enter such convicts as should present themselves, and could bring respectable recommendations. This request, as every other I had occasion to make to His Excellency, was complied with; and when the requisite number was selected, he gave me an official document, containing clauses relative to these men, well calculated to ensure their good conduct. As this document may be thought curious by many readers, it is here inserted; premising, that the men therein mentioned, with the exception of two, were convicts for life.
By His Excellency Philip Gidley King, Esq.,
captain-general and governor in chief, in and
over His Majesty's territory of New South Wales
and its dependencies, etc., etc., etc.
"Whereas Captain Matthew Flinders, commander of His Majesty's ship Investigator, has requested permission to receive on board that ship the undermentioned convicts as seamen, to make up the number he is deficient. I do hereby grant Thomas Toney, Thomas Martin, Joseph Marlow, Thomas Shirley, Joseph Tuzo, Richard Stephenson, Thomas Smith, Francis Smith, and Charles Brown permission to ship themselves on board His Majesty's ship Investigator, and on the return of that ship to this port, according to Captain Flinders' recommendation of them, severally and individually, they will receive conditional emancipations or absolute pardons, as that officer may request.
"And in the interim I do, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested, grant a provisional-conditional emancipation to the said Thomas Toney, etc.; for the purpose of their being enabled to serve on board His Majesty's said ship Investigator, whilst in the neighbourhood of this territory; which conditional emancipation will be of no effect, in case any of those named herein do individually conduct themselves so ill, as to put it out of captain Flinders' power to recommend them for a conditional or absolute pardon on his return to this port.
"Given under my hand and seal at government house Sydney,
in New South Wales, this 15th day of July, in the year
of our Lord 1802. (Signed) Philip Gidley King, (L. S.)"
Several of these men were seamen, and all were able and healthy; so that I considered them a great acquisition to our strength. With respect to themselves, the situation to which they were admitted was most desirable; since they had thereby a prospect of returning to their country, and that society from which they had been banished; and judging from the number of candidates for the vacancies, such was the light in which a reception on board the Investigator was considered in the colony. When the master was entered, one of the men, being over the complement, was sent to the Lady Nelson, with a reserve of the privilege above granted.
I had before experienced much advantage from the presence of a native of Port Jackson, in bringing about a friendly intercourse with the inhabitants of other parts of the coast; and on representing this to the governor, he authorised me to receive two on board. Bongaree, the worthy and brave fellow who had sailed with me in the Norfolk, now volunteered again; the other was Nanbaree, a good-natured lad, of whom Colonel Collins has made mention in his Account of New South Wales.
My instructions directed me to consult with Governor King upon the best means of proceeding in the execution of the voyage; they also pointed out my return to the south coast, as the first step after refitting the ship at Port Jackson; but His Excellency was of opinion, as well as myself, that it would be unsafe to do this in the middle of the winter season; and that to remain six months in port waiting for the fine weather would be a sad waste of time; I had, besides, left very little of importance to be examined upon the south coast, a circumstance which the instructions had not contemplated. Upon all these considerations, it was decided to proceed to the northward--examine Torres' Strait and the east side of the Gulf of Carpentaria before the north-west monsoon should set in--proceed as I might be able during its continuance--and afterwards explore the north and north-west coasts; returning to Port Jackson when, and by such route as might be found most advisable, and conducive to the general purposes of the voyage.
It was probable that the north-west monsoon would not set in before the beginning of November; I therefore intended to examine such parts of the east coast of New South Wales in my way to the northward, as had been passed by Captain Cook in the night, and were not seen in my expedition with the Norfolk sloop in 1799. The openings of Keppel and Shoal-water Bays, and the still larger of Broad Sound, I was also anxious to explore; in the hope of finding a river falling into some one of them, capable of admitting the Lady Nelson into the interior of the country. These desirable objects I expected to accomplish before the approach of the monsoon would call me into the Gulf of Carpentaria.
The French ships were in no forwardness for sailing; and it was understood that Captain Baudin intended sending back Le Naturaliste to France, by the way of Bass' Strait, so soon as the season should be favourable. He had purchased a small vessel of between thirty and forty tons at Sydney, to serve him as a tender; and he told me that we should probably meet in the Gulf of Carpentaria in December or January. I understood that he meant to return to the south coast, and after completing its examination, to proceed northward, and enter the Gulf with the north-west monsoon; but it appeared to me very probable, that the western winds on the south coast would detain him too long to admit of reaching the Gulf of Carpentaria at the time specified, or at any time before the south-east monsoon would set in against him.
Before leaving Sydney Cove, I placed in the hands of governor King two copies of my chart of the south coast of Terra Australis, in six sheets; with three other sheets of particular parts, on a large scale. One copy I requested him to send with my letters to the secretary of the Admiralty, by the first good opportunity that offered; the other was to remain in his hands until my return, or until he should hear of the loss of the Investigator, when it was also to be sent to the Admiralty.
During our stay of twelve weeks at Port Jackson, there were not many days favourable to our pursuits at the observatory, the weather being dull and rainy for the greater part of the time; by watching all opportunities however, a sufficient number of observations were obtained to show the rates of the time keepers, and to answer the purposes of geography and navigation.
The Latitude of Cattle Point, from thirty meridian altitudes in an artificial horizon, of which fourteen were taken by Mr. Crosley and seven by me in 1795, and nine by lieutenant Flinders at this time, is 33° 51' 45.6" S.
Longitude from forty-four sets of distances of the sun and moon, of which the individual results are given in Table VI of the Appendix to this volume, 151° 11' 49" E.*
[* In 1795 and 1796 I took sixty sets of distances upon Cattle Point, an equal number on each side, which gave the longitude 151° 17' 12"; but these observations not having been calculated with great nicety, nor corrected for the errors of the lunar and solar tables, the result is not considered to be of equal authority with that given above. The present admiral D'ESPINOSA, when an officer in the voyage of Malaspina, observed an eclipse of the sun at Port Jackson, and occultations of the first and second satellites of Jupiter, from which he deduces the longitude of the town of Sydney to be 151° 12' 45" east of Greenwich; not differing more than a minute of longitude from the above forty-four sets of corrected lunar observations.]
This position of Cattle Point, being reduced to the entrance of Port Jackson, will be for the Flag staff on the south head, latitude 33° 51½' south, longitude 151° 16½ east.
Ramsden's universal theodolite was set up at the observatory, and intended to be used as a transit instrument; but from the unfavourable state of the weather and my numerous occupations, it was not adjusted to the meridian; and the rates of the time keepers were therefore deduced from equal altitudes, taken with a sextant and artificial horizon in the usual way. Their errors from mean Greenwich time, at noon there July 18, and the mean rates of going in the last fifteen days, which were selected as the best, were as under: