Volume I Part 25 (2/2)
We found ourselves at daylight in 35 fathoms, two miles South-West from the Pyramid, e stood away East-South-East, to sound and have a seaward view of the entrance between Hunter Island and Point Woolnorth
This examination confirmed our former opinion that no shi+p-channel existed there But even if there had been one, the passage is so streith rocks and disturbed by such heavy tide ripples, that it wears athe south side of the south Black Rock, ent between it and Steep Island in 19 fathoms From thence we steered between the north Black Rock and the west point of Hunter Island in 24 fatho 15 fatho our northern course, we passed a mile from the west side of Albatross Island, in 30 and 33 fathoh 125 feet high, appears to be soer-shaped points of rock at the south end; and a singular split in the entire island rees East The wind had now increased to a gale froed to seek shelter under Hunter Island
January 28
In thethe breeze was ed suddenly during the night, veering round from west by the north By noon it had shi+fted to East-North-East and had increased to a gale At 8 PM it blew a strong gale with gusts froun to fall, and was at 299 During the day it had been steady at 3002 This gale lasted, bloith the same violence (latterly from East) until 1 PM the next day, when after a caled suddenly to North with rain, thunder, and vivid lightning, and by 4 PM had veered to west and increased once ale with heavy squalls The baroan to rise; it had been stationary at 296 since the ale blew over, after veering to the South-West The baroht in theThe rotatory character of this storm, which resembled those we had experienced on our for it These observations, too, e at this ti sheltered from both east and inds
FIRE ON THREE HUMMOCK ISLAND
The fire that had been accidentally kindled on Three Hu This conflagration had almost been fatal to Mr Bynoe, as out in the scrubs when it burst forth, having with great difficulty forced his way a them in search of specimens for his collection of birds His attention was suddenly roused by the roaring of the fla them in a sheet of fire The predicament in which he was placed was a most critical one, as he hardly knehich way to turn to avoid the pressing danger Even when, fortunately, he had taken the right direction, it ith the greatest exertion that he burst through the e before the fire
Our fisher near the rocks great nuside the shi+p we only caught sharks, one of which contained thirty-six young ones
Although the barometer remained stationery at 299 the weather continued so boisterous, and westerly squalls followed each other in such rapid succession, that it was the 3rd of February, before we could commence work in earnest On that day the shi+p was moved to near the south end of Hunter Island, where we found a nice quiet anchorage with scarcely any tide off a long sandy beach
LEAVE FOR CIRCULAR HEAD
By the 6th we completed what remained to be done of the survey of this part, and proceeded to collect the necessary soundings between Three Hu under the latter the sa Here we met Mr Curr, the Co our first visit Froreat hospitality, that our stay appeared shorter than it really was On the ain left It was our intention to have stood over midway across the Strait in search of soh all the local inforain on the subject tended to induce a disbelief of their existence
HEAVY GALE
But the sky assu froht shelter under the South-East end of Robbin Island And it e did so; for during the following two days, it blew the heaviest gale we had yet usts fro, and much rain, constantly re At Port Phillip this sath and violence, that e a the air with the clouds of dust it bore along with it, and filling the reatest terror and apprehension They called it a tornado; and it appeared to have quite the rotatory character of a hurricane
February 11
We left this anchorage, and passed three miles from the North-East side of Three Hummock Island where we found only six fatho round its sides From thence we steered across the Strait to Sea Elephant Rock on the eastern shore of King Island We saw nothing of the islands laid down by the French, thirteen leagues east of it, and it was my firm belief that they had no existence Subsequent observation has confirmed this belief We however found the shoal water supposed to exist thereabouts
The northern terhland over the south-eastern part of the island which marks Sea Elephant Bay was very apparent as we approached In the evening we anchored in seven fathoms on the north side of Sea Elephant Rock, which we visited the followingIt is nearly a h, clothed with a coarse wiry grass A sht find shelter under it froh-water here nearly two hours earlier than at Three Hummock Island; the flood-stream came from the southward
WILD DOGS
Of the nu on this island,only two From the bones we found of others it is more than probable that they live upon each other at the seasons of the year when thedeparted; they would otherwise have to depend solely for subsistence on the few shellfish adhering to the rocks This reminded me of what I once witnessed on an island off the eastern coast of Patagonia Several herds of deer had once existed upon it; but soinal inhabitants were soon destroyed, and the newcomers afterwards devoured each other, so that when I saw thes on Sea Elephant Rock, which were left by sealers, had grown so wild that they would not allow us to approach theuins, a bird we rarelyIsland is clothed with thick scrubs, an that it is notthis anchorage we examined the eastern shore of the island which we found, as I have before described, to be low and sandy Passing along two miles from it, we had a depth of from 8 to 12 and 15 fathoms As we approached the northern end, the character of the coast changed, it being for The reef laid down by the French, two miles from the North-East extremity of the island, we found to be only half a mile South-South-West from it, one of the many errors we discovered in the French chart of the strait It is a se quite beneath the water, and from the absence of rocky points on the low sandy shore it fronts, is quite unlooked for
NAVARIN AND HARBINGER ROCKS
The next day, February 13th, we exa the north side of the island, consisting of Navarin and Harbinger Rocks, neither of which we found so formidable or so far from the shore as had been reported The forh we did not pass between it and the shore, there is little doubt that a passage exists We passed between the Harbinger rocks in 27 fathoives no warning of their proxi thick weather
COMPLETE THE SURVEY OF PORT PHILLIP
As it was now necessary for us to think of preparing for our return to the North coast, the proper season for passing through Torres Strait also approaching, and the increasing i it desirable to complete our survey of its entrance before our departure; we consequently proceeded thither We found even soundings of 53 fathoer Reef, but froradually decreased Cale across very tedious We spent one night at anchor in 31 fathoms near the entrance, about six miles south from Point Flinders, where the tide scarcely ran a knot an hour; the flood-stream set North-East With these operations closed our work in Bass Strait, for the present We had completed the western entrance from Port Western on the north shore and Circular Head on the south The weather had prevented our doing s as we could have wished It had been unusually boisterous and unsettled, enerally is From all I could learn such a season had not been experienced in the memory of the oldest inhabitants