Port Essington

“ Had the fence before alluded to by me been run across the neck, and an out-station formed there, we should have had further acquaintance with the natives of the main, besides other advantages that would necessarily have accrued.
As it seemed extremely probable that the course of events would not again permit the Beagle to visit Port Essington, we naturally experienced some regret on our departure, and were led to speculate, with interest, on its future destiny. A young settlement, so remote and solitary, cannot fail to awaken the liveliest sympathy in the voyager. ”

“ This head is fronted by a reef of some extent, which similar to the other at the entrance of Port Essington, cannot be distinguished, owing to the muddy colour of the water; it is therefore necessary that the lead should be kept constantly going when in its vicinity. When daylight broke, we found no fresh arrival to greet our anxious gaze, the Britomart being still the only guardian of the port. Her solitary aspect at once destroyed our hopes of supplies, and on reaching the settlement our fears proved to have too much foundation. ”

“ The vessel conveying them unfortunately struck on a reef near the Northumberland Isles during the night, and Father Anjello was the only one of his party saved, and reached Port Essington in a most destitute condition. Nothing daunted, however, he commenced his labours among the blacks, by first acquiring the native language,* in which he ultimately became so proficient as to understand it thoroughly. A hut was built for him at a place called Black Rock, near the entrance of the harbour, at the distance of 14 miles from the settlement. ”

“ It is much to be hoped that if Port Essington should ever become a place of much trade, that these people will be more civilized, as from the easy communication, in either monsoon, Timor Laut will be much frequented by the settlers at Port Essington, in order to procure the tropical productions abounding there, which they would not find on the Australian coasts. The Arrou islands, for the same reason, will hold out great inducements to traders, as the timber found there is infinitely superior, for most purposes, to any found on the Cobourg peninsula. ”

“ At Port Essington it was possible we should be able to get a supply of both, as a ship might have arrived during our absence. Moreover it was highly important, that we should make known without delay, the discovery of a river of such magnitude as the Adelaide, distant only seventy miles from the settlement.
* Nothing shows the flat nature of a country more than the tortuous course of a stream passing through it. ”

“ Proceeding towards Port Essington, we experienced a constant current setting between N.W. and W., from half to three quarters of a knot an hour, except when crossing the mouth of the Gulf of Carpentaria, when from the indraught its direction was changed to W.S.W. The winds were as Captain King has described them, veering from S.S.E. in the morning, to E. in the evening, and blowing fresh towards the middle of the day. ”

“ The natives in the neighbourhood of Port Essington are, like all others on the continent, very superstitious; they fancy that a large kind of tree, called the Imburra-burra, resembling the Adansonia, contains evil spirits. Here, also, as I have elsewhere observed, they fancy that after death they reappear as whites; the bones of the dead are frequently carried from place to place. ”

“ The next morning we were off Cape Croker and at noon were passing Port Essington; the projecting heads of which, at the distance of four or five leagues, have the appearance of being two small islands, for the land at the back and on either side is too low to be seen. Between Port Essington and Cape Van Diemen we steered so as to see several parts of the coast of Melville Island in order to compare their relative meridional distances with those of last year's survey. ”

“ A most dangerous enemy grew up amongst us in the irresistible impatience to come to the end of our journey; and I cannot help considering it a great blessing that we did not meet with natives who knew the settlement of Port Essington at an earlier part of our journey, or I am afraid we should have been exposed to the greatest misery, if not destruction, by an inconsiderate, thoughtless desire of pushing onward. ”

“ These he clearly proved, as we have subsequently done, to be without much foundation; but we ourselves do not so much deplore the leaving of Raffles Bay, perhaps an ill-chosen site, but rather that the settlement was not removed instead of being given up. When the anxieties and difficulties which universally accompany the formation of a new settlement are reflected on, the regret we have already expressed will be more easily understood. When Port Essington was located, all these had to be suffered over again ”

“ The latitude of it according to our observations was 11 degrees 15 1/2 minutes South and longitude West of Port Essington 22 1/2 miles, being 4 1/2 less than is given in Captain King's chart, the North-West extreme of the Peninsula being there placed too far from Port Essington, and the North-East point, Cape Croker, too near, it would appear that the discrepancy was chiefly in the position of Port Essington, with respect to the northern extremes of the Peninsula, as Captain King and ourselves only now differ two miles in the distance between Cape Croker and Popham Bay, ours being the greater. ”

“ The loss of a ship is always looked upon as a most untoward event, on the occasion of a new settlement being formed, and is ever forcibly imprinted upon the memory of all ship-masters. This was felt to a most serious extent at Swan River; and many masters of vessels in speaking of Port Essington, have at once expressed their fear of proceeding thither, deterred by the loss of the Orontes. ”

“ Fitzmaurice's great sufferings by a little rest, that our stay was lengthened to September 7th, when we left in the morning.* By noon we had cleared the heads of Port Essington, and a course was then shaped for the supposed Sahul Shoal, the northern and central parts of which we passed over without finding any remarkable decrease in the soundings.† The winds were singularly light from the eastward, until we approached Timor, the S.W. end of which we saw in the morning of the 15th,‡ when, after passing through Samow Strait,** we anchored in 13 fathoms off Coepang ”

“ In hauling up to the southward, round the N.W. extreme of the discoloured water, the soundings were as follows, 17, 12, and 19 fathoms, with rocky bottom. The Cape bore when in the least depth S. 58° E. nine miles.
We were fortunate in having such good means of determining the longitude of Cape Croker, by observation of a twilight star when in the meridian, and others with the sun soon afterwards. These both agreeing, place the Cape 271⁄4 miles east of Port Essington, instead of 20, as it is laid down in the chart. This discovery is of vital importance to ships proceeding to Port Essington ”

“ In short, I believe, as I stated some years ago in a Colonial paper, that there is probably no vessel in Her Majesty's navy, no matter where serving, the men of which are not better supplied with all the necessaries and comforts of life than are the residents at Port Essington. ”

“ Their feelings, no doubt, were much of the same kind with those experienced by a "white fellow," who, with the intention of impressing the wandering savages with a favourable idea of his prowess, fires a musket among a numerous flock of cockatoos, without doing any damage.
As the brig could not get under weigh, in consequence of the wind setting in to blow from the W.N. W., we embraced the opportunity of taking a further view of Port Essington (where, had the settlement been originally formed, it is probable that it might have now been in a flourishing state) ”

“ Departure from the North Coast of New Holland—Buckle's Isle proved not to exist—The Governor Phillips strikes on a Coral Rock—Arrival at Coupang— Transactions there—Departure—Savu—Benjoar—Arrival at Swan River—Freemantle—Melville Water—Mount Eliza—Perth. We left Port Essington (as already mentioned) on the morning of the 31st of August, for Coupang, where Captain Barker purposed to close all accounts that might have been left unsettled by the late Mr. Radford. ”

“ There is always a feeling of pride and pleasure engendered by the thought that we are in any way instrumental to the extension of man's influence over the world which has been given him to subdue. In the present instance, the success of our last cruise and the state of preparation in which we were now in for a longer one, caused us to take our departure from Port Essington in far higher spirits than on the former occasion. ”

“ Tools and everything are carefully put out of their reach each night. The Success's men conclude their assistance to us this day. Three guns only are mounted. Mr. Hicks reports his having been in Port Essington some days, and that the harbour is very superior, in every respect, to this; the soil much better, and exceeding good water in wells. He also states, he found one small stream. The natives made an attack upon him, and his party, and hurt one man considerably by a blow on the arm with the waddy. The party retreated, and fired in return. ”

“ Within the entrance are extensive sandbanks, leaving between them and the south shore a narrow, and in some parts deep, channel, subject to a rapid stream of tide. Port Stephens may be considered a large estuary, about fifteen miles in length, contracted near the centre to a width of about a mile, which is further lessened by the presence of a woody islet, the same I have before alluded to. Nearly two miles within this narrow the Beagle anchored off the settlement of the Australian Agricultural Company, a straggling village called Carrington, on the western shore of the harbour. ”

“ It is unnecessary for a transient visitor to enlarge upon the birds of Port Essington, as in Mr. Gould's work we have the result of the labours of an individual who spent months collecting in the neighbourhood.
The spot selected for our observations was Government House, where nearly a hundred observations with the sun and stars were made for latitude, the mean result being 11 degrees 22 minutes 21 seconds South, which strange to say, was nearly 15 seconds greater than Captain Stanley and Mr. ”

“ Several shoals and much shoal water were noticed in Newcastle Bay.
At 4 p.m., we anchored in Blackwood Bay, in a depth of 10 fathoms. Point Dicky bearing S. half a mile, and Mount Adolphus N.E. In the evening a plan was made of this very convenient stopping place for ships, and all the angles taken to the N.W. extremity of the group, place them a mile and a half to the eastward of their position in the chart. Observations were also obtained near Point Dicky, which we found to be in lat. 10° 383⁄4' S. and long. 10° 28' E. of Port Essington. ”

“ The mainland falling so much back soon after passing Port Bowen, we could form no idea of its character, but certainly what we had seen did not leave a favourable impression of its apparent fertility. ”

“ The salt estuary of the Exe runs up boldly from Exmouth, a mile broad, past Lympstone; and then, suddenly contracting, reaches Topsham, which was in other days a place of considerable importance, where ships were built and a great deal done in the Newfoundland trade; and in the smuggling trade too. Now the old shipyards are forgotten, and Topsham, which, among other things, was formerly the port of Exeter, is merely a relic, in course of being submerged by Exeter’s suburbs. ”

“ Climb the higher parts for a bird's-eye view of the city, and the scene is entrancing. We look down upon the calm-flowing Exe threading its way through the valley till it debouches at Exmouth; on the riverside beneath us is the quay, with coasting schooners and barges moored alongside, and sundry bales of merchandise heaped upon the wharf, as though the people were playing at commerce to remind the world at large that Exeter was once an important port, although some ten miles from the river's mouth. ”

“ This has been a lucky day for the Essex. She has captured a prize that will bring all hands money with which to tassel our handkerchiefs, if it be so the Nocton reaches a home port, and Captain Porter has the credit of gathering in fifty-five thousand dollars from the enemy; but I question if any aboard have been so fortunate since sunrise as you and me, for we have suddenly become shipmates with the one man among all the crew who is able to put us on a better footing with those who have lorded it over us. ”

“ Let those who are ready to do their duty like men, by remaining on board when we go to meet the enemy, step over on the starboard side—I mean those who are not only willing, but eager, to get the good ship Essex under way when the order may be given to do so."
In a twinkling every man jack of us was lining the starboard rail, looking curiously behind to see who would dare show himself mutinously inclined.
No one remained on the port side, and Captain Porter looked pleased ”

“ Just as the dangers of the sea sometimes rendered it safer to dispatch pressed men from seaport towns by land—as at Exmouth, where the entrance to the port was in certain weathers so hazardous as to bottle all shipping up, or shut it out, for days together—so the dangers peculiar to the land rendered it as often expedient to dispatch them from inland towns by water. ”

“ Above the beach with the lazily lapping waves, modern Port Royal straggles upon the low, sandy point, a sleepy, sun-drenched spot of no importance save as a barracks and quarantine station. It is hard to realize, as one strolls through the roughly paved lanes or across the broiling-hot parade-ground, that this was once the chief port in the West Indies, the richest city in the New World, and one whose name was synonymous with every deviltry and vice known to man. ”