Cook Strait

“ I now gave up all hopes of finding any more land in this ocean, and came to a resolution to steer directly for the west entrance of the Straits of Magalhaeus, with a view of coasting the out, or south side of Terra del Fuego round Cape Horn to the strait Le Maire. As the world has but a very imperfect knowledge of this shore, I thought the coasting of it would be of more advantage, both to navigation and to geography, than any thing I could expect to find in a higher latitude. In the afternoon of this day, the wind blew in squalls, and carried away the main top-gallant mast. ”

“ I think it is not likely she will venture through the Strait, even suppose she discovers it, but will follow Tasman's Track to the N. Cape, where no doubt she will leave him, and follow the direction of the Coast to the S.E., as it will not be out of her way; by which means she will fall in with the most fertile part of that Country, and as they cannot know anything of the Endeavour's voyage, they will not hesitate a moment to declare themselves the first discoverers. ”

“ Strait Le Maire is formed on the West by part of Terra Del Fuego, and on the East by the West end of Staten Land or Island; its Length and Breadth is about 5 Leagues each; about the Middle of the Strait is Success Bay, on Terra Del Fuego side, and about a 1⁄4 of a League more to the Northwards is Port Maurice, a little Cove, before which we Anchored in 12 fathoms.
The Bay of Success is discovered immediately upon entring the Strait from the Northward ”

“ We were not wanting in taking immediate advantage of this favourable wind, by setting all our sails, and steering for Cape Campbell, which at noon bore north, distant three or four leagues.
At two o’clock we passed the Cape, and entered the Strait with a brisk gale a-stern, and so likely to continue that we thought of nothing less than reaching our port the next morning. Once more we were to be deceived: at six o’clock, being off Cloudy Bay, our favourable wind was succeeded by one from the north, which soon after veered to N. W. and increased to a fresh gale. We spent the night plying ”

“ But later we were to learn that under similar conditions a modern expedition can meet the same fate as that of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition.
We turned about, took the advance supplies, and picked a course through Rice Strait, to avoid the rough ice northward. Here the surface was good, but a light wind, with a temperature of -52° F., came with great [Pg 159] bitterness. The dogs refused to face the wind, and required someone to lead the way. The men buried their faces in the fur mittens, leaned on the upstanders, and ran along. ”

“ The latitude is a clerical error for 10.37, which Cook's chart shows, and is nearly correct. ↑ This conjecture was very near the truth. The whole of Torres Strait is obstructed by either islands or reefs that leave very little passage. ↑ It is the western and not the eastern approach of Endeavour Strait that forms the difficulty, now the locality has been charted, for vessels of deeper draught than the Endeavour; though for small craft, as Cook says, you can hardly wish for a better. ↑ The east coast of Australia, which Cook had now followed from end to end, is 2,000 miles in extent. ”

“ I therefore assume it as a great probability, that with the exception of this, and perhaps several small openings, our Barrier Reefs are connected with the Labyrinth of captain Cook; and that they reach to Torres' Strait and to New Guinea, in 9° south; or through 14° of latitude and 9° of longitude; which is not to be equalled in any other known part of the world. ”

“ Anchored in the Bay of Success in 9 fathoms, the bottom Owse and sand.* (* The Endeavour was three days and a half in getting through the Strait of Le Maire, as far as Success Bay. It is a difficult passage for a sailing vessel even in the present day, as the tides are strong and winds generally contrary, but experience has enabled good directions to be given as to the best way to pass the Strait. Cook himself gives capital advice farther on.) The south point of the Bay bore South-East and the north point East-North-East. ”

“ These were finally left on October 7th for New Zealand, which was made on the 21st, and from this day to November 2nd the time was spent in fruitless endeavours to get into Cook's Strait. Gale succeeded gale--no uncommon thing here--and in one of them the Adventure parted company never again to rejoin. Cook anchored in Queen Charlotte's Sound on November 2nd, and waited until the 25th for his consort in vain. Whilst here they gained further and indisputable proof of the cannibalistic tendencies of the Maoris, some of the natives eating human flesh before them. ”

“ We are longing for a gale of wind. We are not particular from what direction, anything will do so long as it breaks the ice and gives us a little room. With this promise before us, and while still beset, the Commandant comes forward with the first of a long series of new programmes. We are to gain the open sea northward, as quickly as possible, from here make a line of soundings from the edge of the pack northward, and another line parallel to the western shores of Grahamland, then go to Yankee Harbour, Deception Island, and return to Belgica Strait for a short period. ”

“ Most enjoyable excursions may be made from Wellington to the sounds on the northern shores of the South Island, but great care should be exercised in crossing Cook's Strait, though the distance to the first sound is but a few miles. The winds are local, and almost invariably north-west or south-east. Yachts running through the Straits should, therefore, be on the look out for a rapid change from the south-east to north-east, or from north-west to south-west, as they open out either entrance. ”

“ Whether, after Captain Cook's and Captain Clerke's discoveries on the west side of America, and their report of the state of Beering's Strait, there can be sufficient encouragement to make future attempts to penetrate into the Pacific Ocean in any northern direction, is a question, for the decision of which the public will be indebted to this work. ”

“ Captain King seeing the danger attending this, and aware that Captain Cook had merely passed along this part of the coast, directed his attention towards finding another passage, and succeeded in discovering a route towards Torres Strait, which he says, ‘is infinitely preferable on every account to the dangerous navigation without the reefs.’ The only river which falls into this part of the coast, and which in itself is a trifling stream, is Endeavour River, in lat. ”

“ It is a long and wearisome operation if the bottom is uneven. Cook, however, having already lost one of his large anchors, could not afford to leave this without an effort. ↑ Cook Reef. ↑ Cook Shoal. ↑ Swung to the tide. ↑ The ship was now off the south coast of New Guinea, and near what is known as Princess Marianne Strait, which separates Frederick Henry Island from the main island. All this coast is very shallow, but very imperfectly charted to the present day. ”

“ Cook's first voyage; discovers New Zealand and east coast of Australia; passes through Torres Strait.
1769-71. Hearne traces river Coppermine.
1769-71. James Bruce re-discovers the source of the Blue Nile in Abyssinia.
1770. Liakhoff discovers the New Siberian Islands.
1771-72. Pallas surveys West and South Siberia.
1776-79. Cook's third voyage; surveys North-West Passage; discovers Owhyhee (Hawaii) , where he was killed.
1785-88. La Pérouse survey north-east coast of Asia and Japan, discovers Saghalien, and completes delimitation of the ocean. ”

“ Perhaps no science ever received greater additions from the labour of a single man, than geography has done from those of Captain Cook. In his first voyage to the South Seas, he discovered the Society Islands; determined the insularity of New Zealand; discovered the straits which separate the two islands, and are called after his name; and made a complete survey of both. He afterward explored the eastern coast of New Holland, hitherto unknown; an extent of twenty-seven degrees of latitude, or upward of two thousand miles. ”

“ On the evening of December 17 the west coast of Tierra del Fuego, near the entrance of the Straits of Magalhaens, was made; and now Captain Cook says that he had done with the South Pacific, but he had a sound ship and a healthy crew, and he resolved to accomplish some more work before returning home. Among other things, he made a survey of the coasts he was now on. Nothing could be more desolate than those shores. ”

“ After touching at Easter Island he explored the New Hebrides and discovered New Caledonia, whence he returned home by New Zealand, Cape Horn, and South Georgia, reaching Plymouth in July 1775.
Apart from the geographical discoveries, and finally setting at rest the question of a habitable southern continent, this voyage was, even more than the first, remarkable for the fact that Cook kept his crew absolutely free from scurvy, and lost only a single man during the whole of the three years. ”

“ In tracing the route of the Resolution and Adventure, throughout the South Atlantic, the South Indian, and the South Pacific Oceans that environ the globe, and combining it with the route of the Endeavour, we receive what may be called ocular demonstration, that Captain Cook, in his persevering researches, sailed over many an extensive continent, which, though supposed to have been seen by former navigators, at the approach of his ships, sunk into the bosom of the ocean, and, "like the baseless fabric of a vision, left not a rack behind." ”

“ By the middle of March, the antarctic summer being over, Captain Cook shaped a course for New Zealand, where he intended to recruit his crew and refit the ship. On the 26th he entered Dusky Bay in the middle island, having sailed over nearly ten thousand miles without having once sighted land. His crew had been kept in excellent health by the anti-scorbutic provisions on which they were fed, and by the frequent airing of the ship by fires. A snug harbour having been found, the ship was warped into it, and places forthwith cleared in which the observatories, forge, and the tents were set up. ”

“ Given a good breeze and plenty of daylight, the whale-ships of the olden days could stand round the western horn of the island, a projecting point rendered pleasingly conspicuous by the grove of graceful coco-palms which Cook was so glad to observe so many years before, and then enter a deep bay on the north-west coast, where they obtained good anchorage in from fifteen to twenty fathoms of water of the most wonderful transparency, and within a mile of the vast stretches of white sandy beach that trend away for miles on either hand. ”

“ Of course this pleasant break was followed by a heavy gale, with a tremendously heavy sea, and the ship ran before it for New Zealand. Cook's wish was to touch at Van Diemen's Land, so as to satisfy himself as to its forming a part of New Holland, but the wind kept obstinately between west and north, having shifted after the gale, and he thought it would occupy a longer time than he could spare, so he bore up for the South Island. It was soon found that a few degrees of latitude made a great difference in the temperature, "which we felt with an agreeable satisfaction." ”

“ At eight o'clock we were abreast of the most eastern isle, distant from it about two miles, and had the same depth of water as before. I now shortened sail to the three top-sails, to wait for clear weather; for the fog was so thick that we could see no other land than this island. After waiting an hour, and the weather not clearing, we bore up and hauled round the east end of the island, for the sake of smooth water and anchorage, if it should be necessary. In hauling round, we found a strong race of a current, like unto broken water; but we had no less than nineteen fathoms. ”

“ The scenery of the coast in all directions was much admired; the vegetation was most luxuriant; every hill was chequered with plantations, and every valley was watered by a sparkling stream. The survey of the group being at length completed, the Resolution stood away towards New Zealand. The supposed continent of Quiros had dwindled into a small island, and, as Captain Cook took his departure from the south-west point in latitude 15 degrees 40 minutes, longitude 165 degrees 59 minutes, he named it Cape Lisbourne. ”

“ But exploration, it must always be remembered, was not the primary object of the voyage of the Endeavour, as it was of Le Geographe. Cook, when he achieved the greatest extent of maritime discovery made at one time by any navigator in history, was simply on his way homeward from a visit to Tahiti, the primary purpose of which was to enable astronomers to observe the transit of Venus. Cook, too, made a record of the latitude and longitude of Port Jackson. No such entry was made by the French relative to Port Phillip, as will presently be shown. ”

“ At length, on August 4, Captain Cook had the satisfaction of sailing out of Endeavour Harbour. The ship was surrounded by shoals, and he was yet in doubt whether he should beat back to the southward, or seek a passage to the north or east. He had now a most anxious time, for it was clear that there was no way to sea except through the labyrinth of shoals amid which the ship lay. The navigation of a ship among coral rocks is at all times dangerous, for the lead gives no notice of their vicinity, their sides rising up like walls from almost unfathomable depths. ”