Volume I Part 1 (2/2)

For this service HM Sloop Beagle was commissioned at Woolwich, in the second week of February 1837 by Commander Wickhas over the least known and lobe; first, in her sister shi+p of discovery, the Adventure, Captain King, and afterwards as first lieutenant of the sloop now entrusted to his command Under Captain Wickhae were achieved, but in consequence of his retire to ill health, the cole was entrusted to the author of the following pages; and as, by a singular co and hazardous voyages of discovery have been successfully completed in this vessel, so The reader will be surprised to learn that she belongs to that s--COFFINS, as they are not infrequently designated in the service; notwithstanding which, she has proved herself, under every possible variety of trial, in all kinds of weather, an excellent sea boat She was built at Woolwich in 1819, and her first exploit was the novel and unprecedented one of passing through old London bridge (the first rigged h upon the waters of the Thae the Fourth

VOYAGES OF THE BEAGLE

Towards the close of the year 1825 she was first cole Stokes, as second officer of the expedition which sailed from Plymouth on the 22nd of May, 1826, under the co; an account of which voyage, published by Captain R Fitzroy, who ultimately succeeded to the vacancy occasioned by the lamented death of Captain Stokes, and who subsequently co her second solitary, butexpedition--has added to the well-earned reputation of the sea laurels which literature and science can alone supply

(Footnote Not related to the author)

DEATH OF CAPTAIN STOKES

Though painful recollections surround the subject, it would be hardly possible to offer an account of the earlier history of the Beagle, and yet make no allusion to the fate of her first commander, in whom the service lost, upon the testient, and etic officer:” and well has it been reh authority, ”that those who have been exposed to one of such trials as his, upon an unknown lee shore, during the worst description of weather, will understand and appreciate soht too powerfully upon his excitablecares connected with his responsible coers to which his creere of necessity exposed during the survey of Tierra del Fuego--and in soloom which rests forever on that storm-swept coast--finally destroyed the equilibrium of a mind distracted with anxiety and shattered by disease

Perhaps no circuly the peculiar difficulties connected with a service of this nature, nor could any more clearly testify that in this ht of self-preservation was absorbed by a zeal to proer, disappointment, anxiety, nor disease could render less earnest, or less vigilant, even to the last!

The two vessels returned to England in October, 1830, when the Adventure was paid off at Woolwich, and the Beagle at Plymouth; she was recohtful narrative allusion has been already made--on the 4th July, 1831, and continued under his command till her return to Woolwich in Noveht repairs, she was a third time put in commission for the purposes of discovery, under Commander Wickham, her former first lieutenant; and shortly afterwards coe, of the toils and successes of which, as an hue, I have attees to convey as faithful and complete an account as the circumstances under which the materials have been prepared will allow Nor will the subject less interest le has been to me a home upon the wave--thatin her alone I have passed through every grade in my profession to the rank I have now the honour to hold--that in her I have known the excite anticipated success; and that with her perils and her name are connected those recollections of early and familiar friendshi+p, to which even memory herself fails to do full justice!

(Footnote The Beagle was stripped to her timbers, and rebuilt under this able officer's own inspection: and a conductors of the well-known Snow Harris, Esquire, FRS

fitted to her masts; a circumstance to which she has more than once been indebted for her safety)

ADMIRALTY INSTRUCTIONS

The following instructions were received by Captain Wickham, previous to our departure from Woolwich, and under them I subsequently acted

BY THE COMMISSIONERS FOR EXECUTING THE OFFICE OF LORD HIGH ADMIRAL OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, ETC

Whereas his Majesty's surveying vessel, Beagle, under your co certain parts of the north-west coast of New Holland, and of surveying the best channels in the straits of Bass and Torres, you are hereby required and directed, as soon as she shall be in all respects ready, to repair to Plymouth Sound, in order to obtain a chronometric departure from the west end of the breakwater, and then to proceed, with all convenient expedition, to Santa Cruz, in Tenerife

In the voyage there, you are to endeavour to pass over the reputed site of the Eight Stones, within the li a strict lookout for any appearance of discoloured water, and getting a few deep casts of the lead

At Tenerife you are to re the chronometers, when you are to make the best of your way to Bahia, in order to replenish your water, and from thence to Si without loss of time obtained the necessary refreshments, you will proceed direct to Swan River; but as the severe gales which are sometimes felt at that settlement may not have entirely ceased, you will approach that coast with due caution

At Swan River, you are to land Lieutenants Grey and Lushi+ngton, as well as to refit and water with all convenient despatch; and you are then to proceed i the coast in the vicinity of Da objects of your examination there will be, the extent of the two deep inlets connected with Roebuck Bay and Cygnet Bay, where the strength and elevation of the tides have led to the supposition that Das unite in the mouth of a river, or that they branch off fros extend far out from Cape Villaret: you will, therefore, in the first instance,the southern shore of Roebuck Bay, penetrate at once as far as the Beagle and her boats can find sufficient depth of water; but you must, however, take care not too precipitately to co these rapid tides, nor to entangle her a the numerous rocks hich all this part of the coast seems to abound; but by a cautious advance of your boats, for the double purpose of feeling your way, and at the sa, you will establish her in a judicious series of stations, equally beneficial to the progress of the survey, and to the support of your detached people

Prince Regent River appears to have been fully exa up to its freshwater rapids, but as the adjacent ridges of rocky land which were seen on both sides of Collier Bay, were only laid down from their distant appearance, it is probable that they will resolve themselves into a collection of islands in the rear of Dampier Land; and it is possible that they may form avenues to soe river, the discovery of which would be highly interesting

As this question, whether there are or are not any rivers of nitude on the western coast is one of the principal objects of the expedition, you will leave no likely opening unexplored, nor desist from its examination till fully satisfied; but as no estimate can be formed of the tined at which you shall abandon it in order to obtain refreshments; when that necessity is felt, it ment, whether to have recourse to the town Balli, in the strait of Allas, or to the Dutch settle, or even to the Arrou Islands, which have been described as places well adapted for that purpose; but on these points you will take pains to acquire all the information which can be obtained from the residents at Swan River

Another circuiven to you on this head, is the uncertainty that prevails here respecting the weather which you may at that period find in those latitudes, and which it is possible ether to prevent the execution of these orders, may at least cause them to be ineffectually perforht be better employed on other parts of the coast If such should eventually be the case, it would be prudent not to atte the prevalence of the north-westthe examination of Shark Bay and of Exmouth Gulf, as well as of other unexplored intervals of coast up to the 122nd degree of longitude; or, with a view to the proximity of one of the above-ht, perhaps, be advisable, if compelled to quit the vicinity of Dampier Land, to devote that part of the season to a ulf of Carpentaria, where it has been surh very loosely, that rivers of so been accomplished (in whatever order you may find suitable to the service) you will return to the southern settle the su days, to Bass Strait, in which so many fatal accidents have recently occurred, and of which you are to make a correct and effectual survey

But previous to your undertaking that survey, as it has been represented to us that it would be very desirable for the perfection of the Tidal theory, that an accurate register of the tih and loater should be kept for some time in Bass Strait, you will (if practicable) establish a party for that purpose on King Island, and you are to cause the above particulars of the Tides there to be uninteristered in the blank forrapher If, however, circumstances should render this measure unadvisable at that island, you will either choose soe tide in the Strait istered; or, if you can employ no permanent party on this service, you will be thethe above particulars at every one of your stations; and in all parts of this Strait you will carefully note the set and strength of the streah and loater, and also the ti

The survey of Bass Strait should include, first, a verification of the two shores by which it is formed; secondly, such a systematic representation of the depth and quality of the bottoht or day, a correct knowledge of her position; and, thirdly, a careful exa Island, as well as through the chains of rocks and islands which stretch across from Wilson's Promontory to Cape Portland

This survey will, of course, comprehend the approach to Port Dalrymple, but the interior details of that extensive harbour may be left to the officers employed by the Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land, provided you can ascertain that it is his intention to employ them there within any reasonable time