Dusky Bay

“ What Dusky Bay most abounds with is fish: a boat with six or eight men with hooks and lines, caught daily sufficient to serve the whole ship’s company: of this article the variety is almost equal to the plenty; and of such kinds as are common to the more northern coast; but some are superior; and in particular the cole fish, as we called it, which is both larger and finer flavoured than any I had seen before, and was, in the opinion of most on board, the highest luxury the sea afforded us. The shell-fish are muscles, cockles, scallops, cray-fish, and many other sorts ”

“ With such a harvest awaiting the taking, many Australian and other overseas vessels made Dusky Sound their headquarters, operations extending in all directions, and to well within the southern boundary of Westland. As showing this to be so, the Rev. Richard Taylor, in his book, “New Zealand and its Inhabitants,” says: “From the evidence of a person who was formerly engaged in sealing at Dusky Bay, as far back as the year 1823, it appears that from 1826 to 1827 there was an almost constant succession of earthquakes, some of which were sufficiently violent to throw men down. ”

“ For, if they did, why do they not form themselves into some society? a thing not only natural to man, but observed even by the brute creation.
I shall conclude this account of Dusky Bay with some observations made and communicated to me by Mr Wales. He found by a great variety of observations, that the latitude of his observatory at Pickersgill Harbour, was 45° 47' 26" half south; and, by the mean of several distances of the moon from the sun, that its longitude was 106° 18' E., which is about half a degree less than it is laid down in my chart constructed in my former voyage. ”

“ After leaving Dusky Bay, as hath been already mentioned, I directed my course along shore for Queen Charlotte's Sound, where I expected to find the Adventure. In this passage we met with nothing remarkable, or worthy of notice, till the 17th at four o'clock in the afternoon. Being then about three leagues to the westward of Cape Stephens; having a gentle gale at west by south, and clear weather, the wind at once flattened to a calm, the sky became suddenly obscured by dark dense clouds, and seemed to forebode much wind. ”

“ But perhaps the climate was less noxious to Englishmen than to any other nation, because it is analagous to their own. Another inconvenience in Dusky Bay is the want of celery, scurvy-grass, and other antiscorbutics, which may be found in great plenty at Queen Charlotte's sound, and many parts in New Zeeland. The intricate forests which clothe the ground, the prodigious steepness of the hills, which on that account are almost incapable of cultivation, and the virulent bite of sand-flies, which causes ulcers like the small-pox, are certainly disagreeable circumstances ”

“ There are now no inhabitants whatsoever, either European or Maori;—the few families of natives seen in Dusky Bay in 1773, by Captain Cook, appear to have become extinct;—and the tales related by the old whalers of thirty years ago, concerning a tribe of wild men haunting these desolate shores, have probably as little foundation as the stories of flocks of moas having been seen, within living memory, stalking over the neighbouring mountains. Nor can I trespass on your patience any longer with remarks upon the fauna and flora of this part of New Zealand. ”

“ No wonder then, that the description given of the scenery should be somewhat enthusiastic; besides, for every obvious reason, one might be inclined to expect, that Mr G. Forster should exceed even Cook in the warmth of colouring. It is so. He speaks in evidently poetical feeling of the delightfully fair weather, the lightly wafting airs, the numerous evergreens mingling with the various shades of autumnal yellow, the wild notes of the feathered tribe, &c. This was on getting sight of Dusky Bay. The effects of such charming panorama were visible on all the crew ”

“ Every person in our sloop experienced the good effects of this change of diet; nay every animal on board seemed to be benefited by it, except our sheep, which were not likely to fare so well as ourselves. The nature of the country accounts for this disegreeable circumstance. The whole southern extremity of Tavai-poe-namoo, or the southern island of New Zeeland, and especially the land about Dusky Bay consists entirely of steep rocky mountains, with craggy precipices, clad with thick forests, and either barren or covered with snow on their summits. ”

“ After passing the entrance to Daggs Sound, we entered Breaksea Sound, and regained the sea by Dusky Bay, in which Captain Cook remained for several weeks in 1773, and which he has described with his usual graphic accuracy. Afterwards we passed the entrances to Chalky and Preservation Inlets, and then proceeded to the Solander Islets, at the west end of Foveaux Straits. ”

“ Chapter IV. Transactions in Dusky Bay, with an Account of several Interviews with the Inhabitants. Chapter V. Directions for sailing in and out of Dusky Bay, with an Account of the adjacent Country, its Produce, and Inhabitants: Astronomical and Nautical Observations. ”

“ Crossing an arm of Duck Bay, twenty miles broad, where the ice, having become fixed in a gale of wind, was piled up in high sharp ridges, we encamped in a wood of pines, the first we had yet met with. Their evergreen branches form the favourite bed of the winter voyager—a comfort we did not fail to enjoy. A river that empties itself into this bay, and bears the same name, is much resorted to by the Saulteaux. Several of them visited us in the evening, with a supply of fresh fish, for which they were liberally paid; and a share of our supper, and our news, made the poor fellows quite happy. ”

“ The bays and islands, which have been visited by foreign navigators, retain their names on European or Japanese charts. Some [194] of these are not very complimentary, as Deception Bay, Insult Island, and False River. At Basil’s Bay, named after Captain Basil Hall, Gutzlaff also landed in 1832, planted potatoes, and left seeds and books. The archipelago to the northwest was, in 1866, named after the Prince Imperial, who met his death in Zululand in 1878. Prince Jerome’s Gulf is well known as the scene of the visits of the Rover and the Emperor, with the author of “A Forbidden Land” on board. ”

“ And previous to the act of the city of Duluth, presently to be mentioned as the foundation of this suit, it was the only passage for vessels into and out of the bay. There was here in this bay a natural harbor where vessels could anchor in safety, and it was the only one on Lake Superior within fifty or sixty miles of its western limit. Here grew up Superior City, at which all vessels landed which came by the great lake system so far west. Outside of the bay and east of Minnesota Point the lake was rough, and there was no protection for vessels from the winds and waves. ”

“ A small, gray-stone house, not unlike a gamekeeper's lodge, stood behind this wall on the summit of the finger, flanked by two giant firs, lifting their brown, naked bodies, without a limb, two hundred feet into the sky.
The Captain of the Cleavewaive hesitated to put the Duke ashore in a place so evidently deserted. He pointed out that the bay was merely a private yacht harbor, used doubtless in summer, but now in the autumn abandoned for the winter. There was no boat of any kind to be seen in the bay, and no evidence that the place was inhabited. ”

“ This was the top of the dangerous ridge of rocks known to the fishermen as the "ragged reef o' Mansie." When the wind blew from the east the waves would break upon it like thunder, and the spray would be tossed far over my house and up to the hills behind. The bay itself was a bold and noble one, but too much exposed to the northern and eastern gales, and too much dreaded for its reef, to be much used by mariners. ”

“ They are found on the Labrador Coast, on Coppermine River, on the shore of the Arctic Sea, and on the Alaskan peninsula. Dressed in sealskin clothing and dwelling in huts of snow, hastening from place to place in their sledges drawn by wolf-like dogs called "Eskies" or "Huskies," these people have found themselves comparatively independent of Hudson's Bay Company assistance. Living largely on the products of the sea, they have shown great ingenuity in manufacturing articles and implements for themselves. ”

“ Life on the shores of Hudson Bay is as unchangeable as the shores and scenery of the coast are monotonous. The swampy, treeless flats that surround the Bay simply change from the frozen, snow-clad expanse which stretches as far as the eye can see in winter, to the summer green of the unending grey willows and stunted shrubs that cover the swampy shores. For a few open months the green prevails, and then nature for eight months assumes her winding sheet of icy snow. ”

“ Somewhat to Ducie's surprise, the _Belle Rose_ instead of turning northward and so making for the harbour of St. Helier, kept on her westerly course, and shot clean past the entrance, and so kept on till Elizabeth Castle was passed on the right, and both the boats found themselves skirting the outer edge of St. Aubin's Bay and Normont Point could be seen stretching out a rocky hand as if to bar their way. Ducie was puzzled, but said nothing. Could it be the mulatto's intention to skirt the western side of the island and make for Guernsey? But he would be no better off there than at Jersey. ”

“ Having passed the strait, he continued westward, passing the south end of Coats island, which he named Cary’s Swan’s Nest, and reached the western side of the bay, to the northward of Chesterfield inlet, where he named the land ‘Hopes Checked,’ because his progress westward was thus arrested. Turning south, he followed the coast to the mouth of the Nelson river, where he wintered. His crew suffered greatly from scurvy, but an abundant supply of birds and fish in the spring recruited the strength of the men sufficiently to allow them to continue the voyage. ”

“ Had the boys known it, they were, in their camp near the head of Kaludiak Bay, not more than thirty miles distant across the mountain passes to the head of Uyak Bay, which makes in on the west side of the island, and which was the first great inlet to be searched by the boat crews of the Bennington. The total coast-line of so large a bay is hundreds of miles in extent, and broken with many little coves, each of which must be visited and inspected, for any projecting rock point might hide a boat or camp from view. ”

“ The light-coloured limestone forms the bottom of the harbour, and gives the water a dangerous looking, light tinge, which is quite misleading, as the depth is sufficient for the largest ships. The east and west sides of the harbour are bounded by high cliffs, while at the northern end the land is low, and it is not far across it to the bay on the northern coast lying directly west of Cape Clarence. ”

“ A change of wind the same night drove the ice back into the bay, and from the hotel windows we saw and commiserated four vessels locked fast, their crews and passengers suffering from cold and short rations for four days. The change of wind made us glad of our fur jackets.
Duluth, situated on the rocky north, or Minnesota, shore of the extreme western end of Lake Superior—otherwise St. Louis Bay—was apparently planned in expectation of its one day becoming the principal centre of commerce between America and Canada—in short, the great capital of the lakes. Everything is on a large scale. ”

“ Their camp was pitched on the south shore of Hudson’s Bay, many leagues to the west of Rupert House, not far from the Moose River. Looking north was the wide expanse of the bay, dotted with sterile islands here and there; to the east were the barren steppes of Labrador, and all round them the calm, incisive air of a late September, when winter begins to shake out his frosty curtains and hang them on the cornice of the north, despite the high protests of the sun. ”

“ Its eastern and southern shores are indented by numerous bays, one of which, Long Hope, forms a natural harbour 4 m. long, with a breadth varying from 1⁄4 m. to more than 1 m., affording to any number of vessels a haven of refuge from the roughest weather of the Pentland Firth. Off the eastern coast lie the islands of Graemsay, Cava, Risa, Fara, Flotta and Switha, while the peninsula of South Walls, forming the southern side of the harbour of Long Hope, is an island in all but name. Red and yellow sandstone cliffs, sometimes over 1000 ft. in height, stretch for 10 to 12 m. ”

“ At the western extremity of Canada, upon the waters which fall into Lake Winnipeg and which in the great river of Port Nelson discharge themselves into Hudson Bay, is a country which the Indian traders represent as fertile, and of a climate far more temperate than the shores of the Atlantic under the same parallel, and not more severe than that of Germany or Poland. ”

“ Hudson Strait never freezes over. The greater part of the year it is filled with an immense pack which never consolidates into a continuous floe. As there are no large bays along the northern shore of that strait, no land floes of great importance are formed. Only the Bay of Qaumauang, North Bay, and Behm Bay (the bay of Quaiirnang and that east of Akuliaq) are covered with floes which are of importance to the natives. The bays east of Akuliaq and the large fjords of that region form a comparatively large body of ice. ”

“ They anchored at nine o'clock in eight fathoms water, over a soft bottom, Point Venus bearing north-north-east, and One Tree Hill south by east, half east, distant from shore about half a mile. On approaching the bay, they could perceive a prodigious number of the natives on Point Venus, and round the beach, and several canoes put off from the shore, the Indians waving pieces of white cloth and making signs for them to come into the bay. ”