Volume II Part 5 (1/2)
On the 12th I was occupied in laying down the plan of this place, which, on account of the day, was honoured with the name of our most gracious king, Port George the Fourth.
August 13.
The next day we sailed out by the eastern channel, but having to beat against the wind, made no further progress than an anchorage off Point Adieu, which was the last land seen by us in the Mermaid; it is the north end of the land that forms the west side of Port George the Fourth, which was afterwards called Augustus Island: to the westward of the point there appeared to be many islands and much broken land. I sent Mr. Roe to Point Adieu to get some bearings from the summit of the hill, and in the meantime Mr. Baskerville sounded the channel between the point and the islands; which he found to be deep and clear; Mr. Roe's report, however, of the appearance of the inner part among the islands was not so favourable, for it is studded over with numerous extensive reefs, which, being low water, were exposed to view. Mr. Roe saw a tolerably broad separation between two islands to the south-west, but more to the westward the islands were so numerous that very little information as to their shape or number could be obtained.
August 14.
At daylight the following morning we weighed, and with a moderate land-breeze from South-East, steered to the North-West, and pa.s.sed round the islands. Very far to the northward on the sea horizon we saw a sandbank, surrounded with heavy breakers; and more to the westward was an island, which was at first supposed to be one of the Champagny Isles of Captain Baudin, but which I afterwards satisfied myself was Captain Heywood's Red Island: it is rocky and of small extent and apparently quite barren. We were soon afterwards abreast of a strait leading between some rocky islands to the southward; which, as it appeared to be free from danger, we purposed to steer through. The brig entered it at noon, when it was high-water, and as she advanced and reached the narrow part, the ebb-tide was setting so strong against us that, although we were sailing five knots by the log, we were losing ground; we continued however to persevere for three hours and a half, and had run nearly twenty miles by the log without gaining an inch; the breeze then died away, and not being able to stem the tide, we steered back for anchorage, but it was dark and late before a favourable bottom was found so that we lost all the progress that we had gained since noon.
August 15.
The next morning, after taking angles from the sun's rising amplitude, we got underweigh and stood towards the strait to make another attempt to pa.s.s through it. The view that was obtained yesterday evening from the masthead before we put about to look for anchorage, induced us to suppose that many reefs existed in the neighbourhood of its south entrance, for one of very extensive size was observed dry, lying off the south-west end of the island that bounds the west side of the strait. The north end of that island also appeared to be fronted by many shoals, which either embrace Red Island and extend to the northward, or else the channels are narrow and deep. The flowing tide, now in our favour, carried us quickly forward: as we pa.s.sed on we heard the voices of natives and soon afterwards perceived two standing on a hill; our course was, however, so rapid that we were soon out of sight of them; their fires were seen yesterday but then they did not make their appearance.
The flood-tide, running to the South-West through the strait, meeting the ebb flowing North-East into the deep bay to the South-East, formed many strong ripplings, which to a stranger would have been a frightful vortex to have entered, and although we had lately been accustomed to such appearances, yet we did not encounter them without some fear. After clearing them we sounded on a muddy bottom; upon which, as the weather was so thick and hazy as to conceal the land from our view, we anch.o.r.ed in seventeen fathoms muddy sand, at six miles from the strait.
In the afternoon the weather cleared a little, but it was still too thick for us to be underweigh, so that we remained all the evening, which was profitably spent in bringing up the chart; a little before sunset the weather cleared and afforded a good view of the land, which to the South-East is composed princ.i.p.ally of islands, but so numerous that the mainland could not be distinguished beyond them; a point, afterwards called Point Hall, round which the land trended to the southward, bore from the anchorage South 19 degrees East.
The direction of the tides, the flood setting South-South-East, and the ebb North-North-West and North-West, induced me to suppose that the opening to the eastward of the bay we were at anchor in, which was called Camden, in compliment to the n.o.ble Marquess, was not only connected with Rogers Strait, but was also the outlet of another considerable river or bay.
At the anchorage the flood did not run at a greater rate than a mile and a half an hour, but it ebbed two miles, and fell thirty-seven feet, which is the greatest rise and fall we had yet found; it is probable, from the intricate nature of the coast, that these high tides are common to all this neighbourhood.
August 16.
At five o'clock on the morning of the 16th after a fine night the wind sprung up from the East-South-East and blew fresh; but misty weather immediately after sunrise enveloped us, and clouded our view. The breeze was too fresh for us to continue at anchor, we therefore got underweigh, and made sail by the wind; but upon standing across the channel and finding that the flood-tide set to the South-West, we bore away, and, pa.s.sing round Point Hall, steered to the southward towards some low islands that were just visible through the haze, and which, being disposed in a group, were named after Mr. Andrew Montgomery, the surgeon of the Bathurst.
At noon our lat.i.tude observed to the South was 15 degrees 44 minutes 16 seconds. The land was visible from the deck as far as South 30 degrees West, but from the masthead at one o'clock it was seen as far as South 50 degrees West, and a long low island, the westernmost of Montgomery Isles, bore from South-West by West to South-West by South. The group besides this contained six other isles, which are all low and rocky and crowned with bushes: as we approached them the water shoaled to ten fathoms rocky ground; which on being reduced to the depth of low water, would not be more than five and perhaps only four fathoms. Between Point Hall and these islands the ground was also rocky, and, as the group appeared to be connected by reefs, we steered off to pa.s.s round them; the wind, however, changing to the westward, detained us all the evening near them.
The land to the southward trended deeply in and appeared to be much broken in its character and very uninviting to us who had only one anchor to depend upon. This bight was named, at Mr. Montgomery's request, in compliment to the late Captain Sir George Collier, Bart., K.C.B., R.N.
During the greater part of the night the wind was light, and by the bearings of a fire on the land we were making but little drift.
August 17.
At sunrise we were near two low islands, bearing South 12 degrees 22 minutes West, and South 20 degrees West, from which very extensive reefs were seen extending between the bearings of South and South-West by West.
They were called c.o.c.kells Isles. We pa.s.sed round their north end over a bottom of hard sand, mixed with sh.e.l.ls, stones, and coral; in doing which we found an irregular depth, but as the water did not shoal to less than twelve fathoms our course was not altered. Soon after the sun appeared above the horizon the distant land was again enveloped in mist. At eight o'clock we ventured to steer more southerly, but continued to sound over a rocky bottom until ten o'clock, when the islands bore South-East; we then steered South-West through a muddy channel with the flood tide in our favour, towards some land that, as the mist partially cleared off, became visible as far as South-West 1/2 West; some islands were also seen bearing South-South-East; and at noon, being in lat.i.tude 15 degrees 50 minutes 39 seconds, we found ourselves off a bay, the east head of which was formed by several islands. The land at the back appeared to be of tolerable height but its outline was so level, that it did not present any prominent feature sufficiently defined to take a bearing of more than once; its coast appeared to be fronted by several rocky islands and to be very much intersected to the westward; either by straits or considerable openings.
The continued hazy state of the weather prevented our ascertaining the particular feature of the country; it seemed to be rocky and very bare of vegetation; but they were some parts, particularly on one of the islands to the eastward at the entrance of Collier's Bay, where a few good-sized trees were growing over a sandy beach.
The ebb tide after noon was against us, and the wind being light, we were making no progress. As sunset approached, we began to look for anchorage; but the suspicious nature of the bottom and the great depth of the water prevented our being successful until some time after dark; the anchor was at last dropped in twenty-eight fathoms, on a bottom of sandy mud, with the ebb-tide setting to the North-West, at the rate nearly of two knots.
Several whales of that species called by whalers fin-backs were playing about us all day, and during the morning two or three were seen near the vessel las.h.i.+ng the water with their enormous fins and tails, and leaping at intervals out of the sea, which foamed around them for a considerable distance.
After anchoring the wind was variable and light from the western quarter but during the night there was a heavy swell. The flood-tide, which commenced at nine o'clock, when the depth was twenty-eight fathoms, gradually ran stronger until midnight, when its rate was two miles per hour: high-water took place at 3 hours 15 minutes a.m., or at twelve minutes before the moon pa.s.sed her meridian; the rise being thirty-six feet.
August 18.
We were underweigh before six o'clock the next morning, and after steering by the wind for a short time towards the southward (on which course the tide being against us we were making no progress) bore up with the intention of hauling round the point to leeward for anchorage, whence we might examine the place by the means of our boats, and wait for more favourable weather; but upon reaching within half a mile of the point we found that a shoal communication extended across to a string of islands projecting several miles to sea in a West-North-West direction: in mid channel the sea was breaking, and from the colour of the water it is more than probable that a reef of rocks stretches the whole distance across the strait; but this appearance, from the experience we afterwards had of the navigation of this part, might have been produced by tide ripplings, occasioned by the rapidity of the stream, and by its being contracted in its pa.s.sage through so narrow a pa.s.s; it was however too doubtful and dangerous to attempt without having some resource to fly to in the event of accident.
Being thus disappointed, we were under the necessity of steering round the above-mentioned range of islands, and at nine o'clock were two miles North-East by East from the small island 18, when our lat.i.tude by observation was 15 degrees 57 minutes 56 seconds; the depth being thirty-seven fathoms, and the bottom of coral mixed with sand, mud, and sh.e.l.ls.
To the westward and in a parallel direction with this line of islands was another range, towards which we steered; at sunset we hauled to the wind for the night, off the northernmost island which afterwards proved to be the Caffarelli Island of Captain Baudin. Between these two ranges of islands we only obtained one cast of the lead which gave us thirty-three fathoms on a coral bottom. Upon referring to the French charts of this part of the coast it appeared that we were in the vicinity of a reef (Brue Reef) under which the French s.h.i.+ps had anch.o.r.ed; and, as the night was pa.s.sed under sail, we were not a little anxious, fearing lest there might be others in its neighbourhood.