Matthew Flinders

“ It was with some surprise that I saw the natives of the east coast of New South Wales so nearly portrayed in those of the south-western extremity of New Holland. These do not, indeed, extract one of the upper front teeth at the age of puberty, as is generally practised at Port Jackson, nor do they make use of the womerah, or throwing stick; but their colour, the texture of the hair, and personal appearance are the same; their songs run in the same cadence; the manner of painting themselves is similar; their belts and fillets of hair are made in the same way, and worn in the same manner. ”

“ In Mr George Bass, surgeon of the Reliance, I had the happiness to find a man whose ardour for discovery was not to be repressed by any obstacles, nor deterred by danger; and with this friend a determination was formed of completing the examination of the east coast of New South Wales, by all such opportunities as the duty of the ship and procurable means could admit. ”

“ The stormy appearance of the night induced me to stretch in, under this reef; and finding there was shelter from the east winds, we came to an anchor in 5 fathoms, coarse sand: the Nautilus followed; but not liking the place, captain Bishop preferred keeping the sea. On sounding round the sloop, I found the bottom every where foul, and that there were no means of escape in case of a shift of wind; therefore, after killing a few seals upon the granitic rocks, we weighed the anchor, ran two leagues to the southward, and then hauled the wind under storm sails for the night. ”

“ The Indians then hoisted their sails, and steered for Darnley's Island.
No boats could have been manoeuvred better, in working to windward, than were these long canoes by the naked savages. Had the four been able to reach the cutter, it is difficult to say, whether the superiority of our arms would have been equal to the great difference of numbers; considering the ferocity of these people, and the skill with which they seemed to manage their weapons. ”

“ It was so on our first arrival, until the strong eastern winds in the offing raised so much swell as to make it dangerous, even for people experienced in the management of a boat in the surf.
The town of Funchal is placed at the foot of a mountain, which projects from the great central ridge; and the houses being mostly white, they form a strong, but agreeable contrast with the back land. At different elevations up the side of the mountain, are scattered the country houses of the richer inhabitants, placed amongst groups of trees and surrounded with vines. ”

“ After observing the latitude and taking bearings there, I went down to Green Island; and the tide being then out, perceived the shoals in Sea Reach to be so numerous and extensive, that it was surprising how the sloop could have reached thus far without striking upon some of them. In the channel to the east of Green Island I found from 7 to 25 fathoms, and both the sides of it steep to; a rock lies in the middle of the passage, but at twenty yards from it there was 3 fathoms all round. Green Island is covered with long, coarse grass and bushes, with a few small trees intermixed. ”

“ The soil of that part of Kangaroo Island examined by us was judged to be much superior to any before seen, either upon the south coast of the continent or upon the islands near it, with the exception of some portions behind the harbours of King George's Sound. The depth of the soil was not particularly ascertained; but from the thickness of the wood it cannot be very shallow. Some sand is mixed with the vegetable earth, but not in any great proportion; and I thought the soil superior to some of the land cultivated at Port Jackson, and to much of that in our stony counties in England. ”

“ Not being able to land, and the sea breeze coming in early next morning from the northward, we steered for two small islets, six or seven miles further on, in order to get shelter; but being in want of water, and seeing a place on the way where, though the boat could not land, a cask might be obtained by swimming, the attempt was made, and Mr Bass went on shore. Whilst getting off the cask, a surf arose further out than usual, carried the boat before it to the beach, and left us there with our arms, ammunition, clothes and provisions thoroughly drenched and partly spoiled. ”

“ In the evening the anchor was dropped in 7 fathoms, abreast of the second sandy beach near a flat rock on the south side of the Sound, almost in the same spot where captain Vancouver had anchored in 1791. I think the Sound does not afford a more secure place, the sole points of exposition being between Bald Head and Break-sea Island, making an angle of no more than 10°; and as both wood and water are procurable here, though neither very good, a ship proposing to stay only a few days is under no necessity of having recourse to the harbours. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is a great obstacle to tracing correctly the progress of early discovery in Terra Australis, that no account of this voyage of Tasman has ever been published; nor is any such known to exist. But it seems to have been the general opinion, that he sailed round the Gulph of Carpentaria; and then westward, along Arnhem's and the northern Van Diemen's Lands; and the form of these coasts in Thevenot's chart of 1663, and in those of most succeeding geographers, even up to the end of the eighteenth century, is supposed to have resulted from this voyage. ”

“ The north-east winds usually prevail at Madeira in the summer season, and sometimes blow very strong. To reach Funchal Read, ships are accustomed to sail between the east end of Madeira and the Dezertas, before the wind. They are not very desirous of passing close to Brazen Head, where they would be becalmed, but keep off a mile or two, in the skirt of the north-east wind, until they are off the town, or even off Punta de Cruz, where they generally find a breeze from the south-west, which takes them to the anchorage. This south-west wind is the sea breeze of Funchal ”

“ After clearing Bass' Strait, I think it most advisable to keep at not more than ten or twenty leagues off the coast, from Cape Otway to Kangaroo Island; as the wind may there be expected more favourable, and the contrary current less strong than in steering a straight course toward Cape Leeuwin. But should the wind rise from the north-westward, with thick weather and a descent more than usually rapid in the marine barometer, a stretch off shore should immediately be made, to prepare for a south-west gale. A look-out must be kept for an island lying to the west-south-west of Cape Northumberland ”

“ The length of the largest Swan Isle is two and a quarter miles, by a medium breadth of one mile. The stony parts are over-run with thick brush wood, and the sandy are mostly covered with hassocks of wiry grass, to which the sooty petrels resort. In external appearance, this island bears a resemblance to that of Preservation; but its sterility is greater, and it is destitute of the kangaroo. We did not see any fresh water in the valleys, a seal upon the shores, nor any marks of the island having been ever visited by the natives of the opposite coast. ”

“ On a general review of the various objects in Terra Australis, to which investigation might be usefully directed at the commencement of the nineteenth century, and in which natural history, geography, navigation, and commerce were so much interested, the question, Why it should have been thought necessary to send out another expedition? will no longer be asked. But rather it will be allowed that, instead of one, there was ample room for two or three ships; each to be employed for years, and to be conducted with a zeal and perseverance not inferior to the examples given by the best navigators. ”

“ We rowed the sloop down with the assistance of the ebb tide, to Round-head Bay, and anchored in 31⁄2 fathoms. At high water, the anchor was again weighed; and at dusk, having had a breeze, we reached the five-fathom bank in Long Reach, near Watering Cove. From the upper end of Whirlpool Reach to Point Rapid, I went ahead in the boat and examined all the creeks and gullies on the western shore, for watering places. There were drains of fresh water down some of these, but in none, not even in Glen Bight, was there any accessible to boats. ”

“ Sometimes the wind may return back to west, or something northward, with a fall in the mercury, and diminish in strength, or die away; but the gale is not over, although a cessation of a day or two may take place. In some cases, the wind flies round suddenly from north-west to south-west; and the rainy, thick weather then continues a longer time.
Such is the usual course of the gales along the South Coast and in Bass' Strait; but on the east side of the strait the winds partake of the nature of those on the East Coast, where the gale often blows hardest between south and south-east. ”

“ There is a small beach at the back of the island, off which ships might anchor in 8 fathoms sandy bottom, and be sheltered as far round as south-east; but with the wind nearer to east they would be exposed.
The east shore of Jervis Bay runs, for twelve or fifteen miles, so near to north from the entrance, that it is not, at the head, more than four hundred yards across to the shore of the long outer bay. The piece of land, which is thus made a narrow peninsula, is rather high, with a face of steep cliffs toward the sea. The rocks on the inner side bear strong marks of volcanic fire ”

“ All the islands are over-run with brush wood, amongst which, in the more sheltered and less barren parts, are mixed a few stunted trees, which seem to shed their bark annually, and to be of the heavy kind called gum tree at Port Jackson. The brush wood overspreads even the rocks where it can get the least hold; it is commonly impenetrable, and on the south and west sides of the islands assumes a depressed, creeping form, strongly indicative of the strength and generality of the winds from those quarters. ”

“ Land was then seen under the lee, and a tack made off shore till daylight, when we stood in with the wind at east-south-east. At nine the land was distant five miles, and of a very different aspect to that of Cape Jervis. As far as six leagues from the cliffy southern extremity of the Cape the land is high, rocky and much cut by gullies or ravines; a short, scrubby brush-wood covers the seaward side, and the stone appeared to be slaty, like the opposite cliffs of Kangaroo Island. But here the hills fall back from the sea, and the shore becomes very low with some hummocks of sand upon it ”

“ The island is nearly three miles long, north-west and south-east, and is moderately high and cliffy at the ends; the middle part is a sandy isthmus, not more than half a mile broad, but the breadth of the higher ends is from one-and-half to two miles. This island is the central one of a group; for besides the four small isles to the north-east, there are two close to the west end, and two others, something larger, lying off to the southward. I call these the ISLES OF ST. FRANCIS; in the persuasion that the central one is that named St. Francis by Nuyts. ”

“ On the north side of the isles and of Point Hood the shore falls back five or six miles to the west-south-west before it curves northward, and affords good shelter against all winds which do not blow strong from between north-east and east. At the time we stood out of the bay the ship was three miles within the outermost islands, and not more than a cable's length from the shore of Point Hood, and we had 71⁄2 fathoms, sandy bottom. The point and islands are steep and rocky, but the western shores of this great bay are mostly sandy beaches. ”

“ After steering east-north-east, east, and east-south-east, and having seen the beach all round the head of the Great Bight, we hauled up parallel to the new direction of the coast, at the distance of six miles; and at five o'clock were abreast of the furthest part seen by the French admiral when he quitted the examination. The coast is a sandy beach in front; but the land rises gradually from thence, and at three or four miles back is of moderate elevation, but still sandy and barren. According to the chart of Nuyts, an extensive reef lay a little beyond this part. ”

“ At one in the morning, being seven or eight leagues from the coast and in 45 fathoms, we tacked ship towards the land, having a fresh breeze at west-south-west, with fine weather. Haul-off Rock bore N. 77° W., three or four miles, at six, and we then bore away along the coast. Beyond Cape Riche the shore forms a sandy bight, in which is a small island; and on the north side of another cliffy projection, four leagues further, there is a similar falling back of the coast, where it is probable there is also good shelter for boats, if not a small inlet. ”

“ The situation of Mount Lofty was found from hence and from some other cross bearings, to be 34° 59' south and 138° 42' east. No land was visible so far to the north as where the trees appeared above the horizon, which showed the coast to be very low, and our soundings were fast decreasing. From noon to six o'clock we ran thirty miles to the northward, skirting a sandy shore at the distance of five, and thence to eight miles; the depth was then 5 fathoms, and we dropped the anchor upon a bottom of sand, mixed with pieces of dead coral. ”

“ A surveyor finds almost no object here whose bearing can be set a second time. Each small projection presents the appearance of a steep cape as it opens out in sailing along; but before the ship arrives abreast of it, it is lost in the general uniformity of the coast, and the latitude, longitude, and distance of the nearest cliffs are all the documents that remain for the construction of a chart. ”

“ On a breeze springing up from south-west, our course was steered to pass close round the northern land; but finding much rippling water between it and two islands called the Sisters by captain Furneaux, we passed round them also, and then hauled to the southward along the eastern shore.
This northern land, or island as it proved to be, has some ridges of sandy-looking hills extending north and south between the two shores; and they are sufficiently high to be visible ten leagues from a ship's deck in clear weather. On the west side of the north point, the hills come nearly down to the water ”