Shark Bay

“ Three whale-boats having been procured, an engagement was made with Captain Long of the American whaler Russel, of New Bedford, to convey my party and the boats to some point to the northward of Shark Bay, and there land us, together with a supply of provisions sufficient for five months. My intention was to form a provision depot in some island, and from that point to commence operations by the examination of the undiscovered portions of the bay ”

“ Wolston and Captain Gould, the boatswain and Fritz and Jack and Frank surveyed Shark’s Island on foot. Almost all round the coast it was easily accessible on little beaches lying between the projecting points of the coast-line. The best protected part was that commanded by the battery knoll, which rose at the south-west extremity, overlooking Deliverance Bay. At its foot there were enormous rocks, among which it would be very difficult to effect a landing. Everywhere else, light boats, such as these pirogues were, could find quite enough water to enable them to reach land. ”

“ After the discovery of the Gascoyne the plan I made up my mind to follow was to examine rapidly the coast as far as Cape Cuvier, to return from that point to Bernier Island and refit; then once more to visit the Gascoyne properly equipped, and thoroughly explore the adjacent district to the distance of fifty or sixty miles inland; and lastly to examine the unknown portion of Shark Bay which lay to the southward of us.
At 6 A.M. the thermometer stood at 76 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, and this and the temperature during our stay in Shark Bay proves that the climate there is very warm. ”

“ The mouth of this sound, which I call’d Shark’s Bay, lies in about twenty-five degrees south latitude, and our reckoning made its longitude from the Cape of Good Hope to be about 87 degrees; which is less by about one hundred and ninety-five leagues than is usually laid down in our common draughts, if our reckoning was right, and our glasses 143did not deceive us. As soon as I came to anchor in this bay, I sent my boat ashore to seek for fresh water ”

“ Of the anchorages in Shark's Bay, the most convenient appears to be that in Dampier's Bay, at the north-west end of Peron's Peninsula, as well on account of the excellency of the holding-ground, as the facility of procuring fuel. The Naturaliste remained a long time at this anchorage, and never experienced any ill effect from the winds. The distance from the shore was six miles, and the depth six fathoms, fine sandy bottom. The sea was so clear, that the anchor was easily distinguished. The Naturaliste found only occasion to moor with a kedge, merely to keep the cable clear of the anchor. ”

“ On the afternoon of the 12th, while steaming across Shark's Bay, a strong breeze sprang up right in our teeth, and we accordingly anchored, two hours before sunset, in smooth water under the lee of the north end of Dirk Hartog Island. We were within half a mile of the shore, which consisted of sandstone cliffs about 150 ft. high, and dunes of blown sand covered with rough grass and scattered bushes; nothing like a tree being visible, although such parts of the interior of the island as could be seen from the ship appeared to be fairly well clothed with grass and herbage. ”

“ In turning to windward, go no nearer to the Sow and Pigs than three and a quarter fathoms, unless your vessel is small; nor within two hundred yards of the shore, for although it is bold in most parts close to, yet there are some few straggling rocks off the south point of Watson's Bay, and also some round Shark's Island. There is good anchorage in all parts of the harbour, when within Middle and the South Heads. There is also anchorage in North Harbour, but not to be recommended, for the swell sometimes rolls into the mouth of the harbour ”

“ A week after leaving Shark's Bay they came across the entrance to what looked like a good sized harbour. On either side trees were growing, and it was an inviting place, providing the passage was safe. Phil Danks sent out a boat to take soundings, and on their return the man in charge reported there was plenty of water, but that the bottom was rocky and covered with coral. His opinion was that a big coral reef existed all along the coast, which at low tide would be dangerous. ”

“ When we got out of the bay, I perceived the wind was driving us towards Shark's Island, which, being directly before the bay, forms two entrances to it. I intended to go round it, and disembark there, if possible, that I might look out for some trace of the ship, but we found this impossible; the sea ran too high; besides, we should have been unable to moor our canoe, the island not affording a single tree or anything we could lash it to, and the waves would soon have carried it away. ”

“ Two sharks swam up to them, and one of them, with a blow of his tail, turning round the same way, tripped one of them into the water, which was very deep. His comrade was very much frightened, and ran to the barracks to tell the story. About a week afterwards, a schooner was in Sandy Bay, on the other side of the island, and the people seeing a very large shark under the stern, put out a hook with a piece of pork, and caught him ”

“ Though sharks occur and are sometimes common in the Red Sea, a native does not look round for them before going [68] overboard, though if one should be seen, diving is over for the day. To one locality, named Shark Island, divers will not go for fear of these beasts, but diving is continually going on in a bay where several sharks are captured each year. I have only heard of one fatality, in which case a man’s feet were taken off and he bled to death after regaining his canoe. ”

“ Captain Gould and his party numbered eight, and a child, to be rowed to Shark’s Island. True, the distance was only a bare two miles.
“Well, we will pack in somehow,” John Block said; “we mustn’t have to make two trips.”
“Besides,” Fritz added, “in another hour the flood tide will make itself felt, and as it sets towards Deliverance Bay, not very far from Shark’s Island, it will not be a very big job for us to get there.”
“Everything is for the best,” the boatswain replied, “and that is beginning to become evident.”
There was no question of pushing the boat down to the sea ”

“ It appears that apprehensions of interruption were once entertained from a prior settlement from France; these fears are however, removed by that nation having fixed on a point, to colonize, in latitude 25 deg. south, (which is distant north of the Swan River 400 miles) called Shark's Bay, within which there is an inlet called Freycinet's Harbour. The country in this neighbourhood much resembles the western coast. ”

“ A small blue shark took the bait, and in despair one of them dashed over the boat’s side to seize the fish; his leg was caught by one of the others, and they succeeded in saving both man and hook. They eventually reached Twofold Bay, on the coast of New South Wales, and were then apprehended, conveyed to Sydney, and thence sent back to Van Diemen’s Land; tried, and received sentence of death; but this was subsequently commuted to transportation for life to Norfolk Island. ”

“ The waters of the bay are not blue, but a reddish-brown, and are serrated with the fins of the spotted shark, which lurk in its depths; for the feed in this bay is sometimes abundant, not only when the gale is upon the sea, but more often when men come together. ”

“ I durst therefore adventure no farther, but steer’d out the same way that we came in; and in a short time had ten fathom (being then about four leagues and a half from the shore) and even soundings. I steer’d away E.N.E. coasting along as the land lies. This day the sea breezes began to be very moderate again, and we made the best of our way along the shore, only in the night edging off a little for fear of sholes. Ever since we left Shark’s Bay we had fair clear weather, and so for a great while still. ”

“ But as we were forced away from the land by southerly winds as we approached the N.W. Cape, and as there was no certainty of procuring water, I have been obliged to content myself with the report of a whaler who went in there and found it to be the mouth of a large inlet conveying a vast body of water into the interior, occasionally, I imagine, even as far as the neighbourhood of the north-east shore of Shark's Bay, as Captain Grey speaks of finding there extensive plains of mud and sand, at times evidently flooded by the sea and presenting no limit in a north-east direction. ”

“ The above seems to be all that is worth taking from M. De Freycinet's account as regards the navigation of Shark's Bay. The coasts of the harbours of Henry Freycinet and Hamelin are much more detailed by him, and there is also much valuable information upon various heads, particularly as to meteorological observations, and the productions of the land and sea, and a curious example of the effect of a mirage ”

“ About the mouth there is much good pastoral land, which has been taken up and is in course of occupation. The mouth of the river covered by Babbage island forms a harbor accessible by the Southern channel to vessels drawing 14 feet. Sharks Bay will probably become the centre of the trade of the Upper Murchison, as well as of the Gascoigne; it is a vast sheet of water having a low Eastern coast of about 130 miles covered by mangrove flats on the South of the Gascoigne, and rising in the sandhills of Lyell's Range to the North, unbroken, save by the mouth of that river. ”

“ It is now determined to send off a vessel direct to Sharks Bay, and thence to commence a search north and south along the coast—which is of such a nature that it cannot be approached from sea except at two or three points all the way up there. It is awful to contemplate the sufferings of the wretched survivors. ”

“ After touching at Brazil, which was almost obligatory as part of the sailing voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, he sailed on a direct course from South Africa to the west coast of Australia, which he reached at the place christened by himself Sharks Bay. The land everywhere [164] appeared generally low, flat, and even, but with steep cliffs to the sea—a desolate coast, without trees, shrubs, or grass. After coming to an anchor in what is now called Dampier Bay he went on shore with his men, carrying pickaxes and shovels to dig for water, and axes to cut wood. ”

“ Toward evening the wind came round to south south-west blowing very strong, which sent a heavy sea rolling into the bay, and occasioned the Scarborough to pitch very much. The wind still blowing strongly into the bay, Captain Marshall sent his boat on shore on the 7th, to bring off the sick people, which they accomplished with much danger and difficulty; in the mean time, every thing was got ready for sea, the Captain being determined to get away the moment the wind shifted to south or south by east, so that they could clear the west part of the island. ”

“ In January four convicts stole a whaleboat and sundry small articles belonging to the establishment at Fremantle. They proceeded to sea, and were believed to have taken a southerly course. This was not so; after a run of eight days the fugitives reached Sharks Bay, their intention being to make the northern islands. While men from the Hashemy were taking in guano at Sunday Island in Sharks Bay, the mate observed a European watching them. He hailed the stranger, who explained that he had come from Perth on foot and swam across to the island. ”

“ Sharks are fairly numerous in all of the ports visited by the ships which carry the mail from New Zealand [325] and Australia to the islands of the Southwestern Pacific, and it is rarely that one of these steamers is seen at anchor without from one to half a dozen lines dangling from its stern. Watching a shark line is a tedious business, but it is strictly necessary in order that the fisherman may know when the monster is hooked. ”

“ In all the equatorial islands of the North and South Pacific, shark fishing is a very profitable industry to the natives, and every trading steamer or sailing vessel coming into the ports of Sydney or Auckland from the islands of the mid-Pacific, always brings some tons of shark fins and tails and shark skins. ”

“ Standing at the door of Bluefields, which from a slight elevation, commands a wide prospect of the beautiful Bay, I have often watched, in the evening,—while the sun, sinking among his gilded piles and peaks of cloud on the horizon-sea, leaves the air refreshingly cool and balmy, while the dying sea-breeze scarcely avails to break the glassy reflection of the surface,—the straggling flocks of Pelicans, from a dozen to forty or fifty, passing slowly along over the shore. ”

“ As it was necessary to give the horses a few days' rest previous to swimming them off to the ship, I started this morning in the life-boat, accompanied by Captain Dixon and Messrs. Brown, Harding, and Walcott, to examine the eastern shores of the bay, for the purpose of ascertaining whether a more suitable spot for a landing place and site for a future town could be found in that quarter. Leaving the Dolphin at 5.30 a.m., we ran to the eastward with a light south wind, passing, at six miles, two small islands in the mouth of the small bay into which the Nickol River discharges itself. ”

“ The bay of Atuona, narrow between high cliffs covered with cocoanut-trees, was the scene of my lessons. The tide came booming into this cove from the Bay of Traitors, often with bewildering force, and a day or two a month as gently as the waves at Waikiki. The river spread a broad mouth to drink the brine, and the white sand was over-run by the flowered vines that crept seaward to taste the salt. No house was in sight, no man-made structure to mar the primitive, as our merry crew of boys and girls sported naked in the surf, fished from the rocks, or lay upon the shining beach. ”