Mobile Bay

“ These were swift vessels that brought goods from Europe to the South. The Union fleet did all it could to stop them, but they could not be stopped at Mobile from outside, so Farragut was told to fight his way inside the bay. And that is what he did.
Mobile Bay is like a great bell, thirty miles long and fifteen miles wide. There are two islands at the mouth, so that the entrance is not more than a mile wide. And on each of these islands was a strong fort, which had been built by the government before the war. The Confederates had taken possession of these forts and had big guns in them. ”

“ The shores of Mobile Bay, which is very wide, are low and overgrown with wood, before us lay a long island, called Isle Dauphine, by the unfortunate Delasalle, who discovered it. Mobile point lies to the left, where, after sunset, we beheld the light in the light-house. There stood on this point in the late war a small fort, called Fort Bowyer, which the present Lieutenant-Colonel, then Major Lawrence, gallantly defended, with a garrison of one hundred and thirty men, against eight hundred disembarked English sailors and Seminole Indians, under Major Nichols. ”

“ The island of Dauphin lies west of the entrance, which is defended by Forts Morgan and Gaines, and on the east is Mobile Point, the station of a lighthouse with a revolving light. The bay has also an outlet on the southwest through Grant's Pass, communicating with Mississippi Sound, used by steamers of light draught, and the regular course of the Mobile and New Orleans steamers. ”

“ We are informed that the citizens of Mobile contemplate the erection of a splendid hotel on Dauphin Island, at the entrance of Mobile bay, immediately by which the steamboats pass on their way between Mobile bay and New-Orleans; and as the Mobilians seldom seriously contemplate any thing without carrying it into execution, we expect that in another year a common ground will be furnished, where the citizens of the two cities of the south-west may meet for their common amusement. ”

“ 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. ”

“ After rounding Vashon Head, we steered to the westward, along the northern side of the Peninsula, and early in the afternoon anchored in Popham Bay, one point of which is formed by the North-West extreme of the Peninsula, a low projection with one tall mangrove growing on the point, and fronted by an extensive coral reef, past which a two-knot tide sweeps into the gulf of Van Diemen. On the eastern side of this projection is a snug boat or small-craft harbour, much frequented by the Malays, who call it Blue-mud Bay. It may be recognized by a little island lying off its mouth. ”

“ It is beautifully situated on the north-west shore of the Mount's Bay, on a declivity jetting into the sea. The lands in its vicinity having a substratum of hornblende rock and slate, are not exceeded in fertility by any soil in the kingdom; a belt of land around the town, which consists of about a thousand acres, producing an annual rent of £10,000! The town is well defended by surrounding hills from the fury of Atlantic storms. It is large and populous, containing more than six thousand inhabitants. ”

“ Running into this is merely a brook not deep enough for boats except at full tide. The circuit of the bay is about a league. On one side of the entrance to this bay there is a point which is almost an island, covered with wood, principally pines, and adjoins sand-banks, which are very extensive. On the other side, the land is high. There are two islets in this bay, which are not seen until one has entered, and around which it is almost entirely dry at low tide. This place is very conspicuous from the sea, for the coast is very low, excepting the cape at the entrance to the bay. ”

“ We anchored on the north shore, off a sandy bay, which I think as good a birth as any in the bay; Cape Banks bore east-south-east, and Point Solander south-south-east, the ground clear and good. The wind, either from the north-east or south-east quarters, set in a prodigious sea. Higher up the bay there is a spot of four fathoms, where a few ships might be laid in tolerable security, but they must be lightened, to enable them to pass over a flat of twelve feet, and that depth but of narrow limits. ”

“ Table Bay in itself is not very imposing; is a bad roadstead, and vessels intending to make any stay at the colony, go round to Simon's Bay, which is a safe roadstead within the larger one called False Bay. Numerous windmills along the shore are remarkable objects, and prove the scarcity of water to grind the corn. It is a feature in the economy of Southern Africa, that streams, which are torrents at one season, become almost dry beds in the other. ”

“ Down the slope of Campeachy Bay the whole coast is fever-stricken and bare of all comfort; nor is there brook or fresh water, unless you dig deep in the sand, save one spring about two hundred yards from the shore, where “you may see a small dirty path that leads to it through the mangroves.” Forests rise from the marshes, rivers skulk behind great sandbars; the place smells of pirates, and their light-draft brigs thread the innumerable salt lagoons, that Laguna of the Tides, perhaps, where “small vessels, as barks, periagoes, or canoes may sail.” ”

“ From here a low island, level with the surface of the water, runs toward the east-northeast, ending at a point where the mountains divide. The second channel, which is quite large and capable of being sounded, immediately trends northeast, one quarter east, until it reaches the dividing point in the mountains where it enters a canyon, following the direction mentioned.
All this bay, which is called the round [bay] —although it is not such—is bordered by rough mountains without trees except two groves in the coves which are situated to the southwest. ”

“ The journey to the bay by stage requires two days, with a stop at Camp Stranahan, on New River. You will obtain more fun, though, if you take the schooner at Lake Worth and sail down the Atlantic, a distance of eighty miles. Going south the boat hugs the shore to avoid the northward flow of the Gulf Stream. During the autumn the band at the Royal Poinciana Hotel, at Palm Beach, can be plainly heard. The freight and passenger boats that run between the lake and the bay generally use Bear Cut entrance to the bay. ”

“ The bay of Megillones, guarded by a lofty promontory on the south, and commanding a view of ridge after ridge of mountains stretching out to the north, has a beautiful sweep, and is enlivened by the abundance of seals and sea-lions, who wallow and bark to one another in the long, slow rollers of the Pacific. The beach is excellent for bathing, but the water so cold that only in the hotter part of the year do the Englishmen, who manage the railway and its machine works and who retain here the national love of salt water, find it suitable for anything more than a plunge in and out again. ”

“ The land from Channel Point trends to the South-South-East, and forms a tolerably deep bight of low, sandy land, terminated by Cliff Head, a high rocky projection well furnished with trees. In this bay there is probably an opening, but it is small and lined with mangroves. After passing Channel Point the depth rapidly decreased, and as we crossed a shoal which runs off from the south-east end of Peron's South Island and extends deeply into the bay, we carried from two and three-quarters to three and a half fathoms. ”

“ What is required, they say, is communication and the presence of a community.
Big Bay, which we first entered, misled by the haze along the shore, although it appears on the chart as a mere indentation of the coast-line, compared with the magnificent harbours to the southward, is a fine crescent bay of considerable depth, and with a long-extending shelter on its north side, consisting of a line of table land, terminating in a low spit and a reef of rocks. It is possible for a mistake to be made as to the identity of the two bays, going by the chart of the mere coast-line ”

“ Off the South-East end of Legendre Island the sea is very full of reefs and dry rocks, but between Hauy and Delambre Islands there is a safe channel of nine and ten fathoms deep.
The bay in which we had anchored was called, at Mr. Roe's request, Nickol's Bay; it is open only to the North-East, and affords safe shelter, with good holding-ground. At the bottom of the bay, on both sides of a projecting point of land, on which three round-backed hills were conspicuous, the coast falls back, and forms two bights, the western of which is backed by very low land, lined with mangroves ”

“ The soundings, as far as they could be examined, were very regular, with a bottom of slimy sand; the depth, for a considerable extent round the middle of the bay, is from thirteen to fourteen fathoms. The west side, and the head of the bay, is a white sandy beach; the eastern shore is bold and rocky. There is a small ledge or shoal in the middle of the entrance, bearing about south from the second point on the north shore, on which there was conjectured to be twenty feet water*. ”

“ There are dogs upon this island two feet high, with sharp ears.
Having seen several rings and buttons upon the natives, we concluded that they must have had some communication with the Indians in the Streights of Magellan; but they appeared to be unacquainted with Europeans.
The Bay of Good Success is about three miles in extent, from east to west; two miles in breadth; is defended from east winds by Staten-land, Near the shore it is very foul, and full of rocks; abounding with great quantities of sea weed. ”

“ SOUTH WEST BAY affords good anchorage in five and six fathoms at a mile from the shore, and vessels may anchor at a quarter of a mile off the beach in three fathoms muddy bottom. At the north end of the bay are the Bottle Rocks separated from the point by a channel two and a quarter fathoms deep. The Bottle Rock was one of our fixed points, and is placed in latitude 11 degrees 37 minutes 24 seconds, and longitude 133 degrees 19 minutes 40 seconds. The bay affords a convenient place for wooding and watering ”

“ This would be almost as healthy a locality as the former, although, of course, it would not have the advantage of the pure and bracing breezes from the Indian Ocean.
The remainder of the bay may be pronounced a dead flat, extending into the interior for many miles; and, in viewing the bay, the simplest idea of self-preservation, which, we are told, is the first law of nature, would at once suggest that in such a locality there were only the two above named places for the erection of a town. ”

“ Sailing thence to the southward towards the large island, we discovered a very large bay, well peopled, and very fertile in yams and fruits, hogs and fowls. They are all black people and naked. They fight with bows, darts and clubs. They did not choose to have peace with us, though we frequently spoke to them and made presents; and they never, with their goodwill, let us set foot on shore.
This bay is very refreshing, and in it fall many and large rivers. It is in 15 2/3° S. latitude, and in circuit it is twenty-five leagues. ”

“ The soil seems productive, if cultivated, but the whole extent of the coast is bordered by sands or downs. In no part were any remarkable trees noticed, much less any of an aromatic and spice kind.
The second bay after the Rooseboom's Bay just described between Tigers and Wolfs-point, visited by our countrymen, has the appearance of a wide river, but is salt; as however nothing remarkable was found there, we shall let the journal of the skipper, on the date May 12th, speak for itself, it being described in the account of the commander of the Waijer, under the name of the Bessia River. ”

“ On the north side of the Columbia are a number of resorts, to reach which from Astoria the tourist steams, as I have said, about a dozen miles to Baker's Bay, stopping at Fort Stevens en route. The jetty thrown out by the south channel of the Columbia has caused the north channel, close under Cape Disappointment, to be filled with the sand thrown over by the current of the river to the north side. This was formerly the entrance used by sailing vessels, which, in the early part of this century, came in under the shelter of the Cape and anchored in Baker's Bay, where they lay in safety. ”

“ At ten o'clock we sailed out of the bay. This bay was named Port Hunter; its latitude is 4° 7' 30" south, and longitude 152° 42' east; although it is not large, it is convenient and safe at this season; it lies on the north-west part of the island, and you may anchor in any part of it, from twenty-five to fifteen fathoms, but the shoal-water has the worst ground: in twenty fathoms it is soft, with loose patches of coral; the watering place is on the east side, but as the tide flows up to the place from whence the fresh water issues, it is best to fill from half ebb to half flood. ”

“ If we pursue the coast, and, turning round the western extremity of our island, trace its outline as it proceeds northerly, and then easterly to the Bay of St. Ives, a very different country presents itself; instead of the undulating curves, and luxuriant herbage of the southern shores, the land is generally high,—the vallies short, narrow, and quick of descent, and the whole landscape affords a scene of incomparable cheerlessness ”