Twofold Bay

“ Waiting for a ship might be a tedious affair, for Twofold Bay is not much frequented. Numbers of ships pass by without touching. After due reflection and discussion, Glenarvan had nearly decided to follow the coast road to Sydney, when Paganel made an unexpected proposition.
The geographer had visited Twofold Bay on his own account, and was aware that there were no means of transport for Sydney or Melbourne. But of the three vessels anchored in the roadstead one was loading for Auckland, the capital of the northern island of New Zealand. ”

“ Leaving Twofold Bay upon a favourable shift of wind, the sloop proceeded to the southward, and on the 17th made a small cluster of islands, in latitude 38 degrees 16 minutes, which now bears the name of Kent's Group (a compliment to the commander of his Majesty's ship Supply) . These are six or seven in number, and of various sizes. Their height is very considerable, and as irregular in figure as can well be imagined in land whose hummocks are no one of them more lofty than another. ”

“ They spout, "breach," and "sound" like other Cetaceans, and are of the same migratory habits as the two "schools" which haunt Twofold Bay, always leave there about November 28th to cruise in other seas, returning to their headquarters early in July, when the Humpback and Finback Whales make their appearance on the coast of New South Wales, travelling northwards to the breeding-grounds on the Brampton Shoals, the coast of New Guinea, and the Moluccas.
The whaling station at Twofold Bay is the only one in the Colony—the last remnant of a once great and thriving industry. ”

“ It is only as you drink in each fresh beauty that its wonderful loveliness takes possession of you. The more you explore its creeks and coves--forming altogether 260 miles of shore--the more familiar you become with each particular headland or reach, the greater your enchantment. You fall in love with it, so to speak, and often I look up at the water-colour sketch of Double Bay which hangs over my dining-room mantelpiece, and hope the hope which partakes of expectation, that before long I shall see Sydney Harbour again. ”

“ Still it increased the danger of approaching the shore, and the bay afforded no shelter to the wind then blowing. We flew rapidly on; the dim outline of the coast became more and more distinct. At length we could distinguish some lofty headlands directly ahead.
Charley White knew that two such headlands mark the entrance to Port Jackson, but he reminded me that there is a third, which forms the side of False Bay, and that more than one ship had run in there, and that instead of finding a sheltering harbour they had been thrown against the rugged cliffs which form its sides. ”

“ Two-fold Bay is not, of itself, worthy of particular interest; but as nothing larger than boats can find shelter in any other part of this coast, from Jervis Bay, in latitude 35° 6′, round to Corner Inlet, or to Furneaux's Isles in 401⁄2°, it thereby becomes of importance to whalers, and to other ships passing along the coast.
Besides its latitude, Two-fold Bay may be known by Mount Dromedary, which will be seen, in moderately fine weather, at the distance of fifteen or sixteen leagues to the northward; and also by the land behind the bay lying more in hummocks than elsewhere. ”

“ Viewed from the sea, the coast chosen for the new landing seems comparatively flat and gentle, seemingly, though not really, easy to land upon, but with no good military position near it. It looks as though once, long ago, the sea had thrust far inland there, in a big bay or harbour stretching from the high ground to the north of Suvla to the left of the Anzac position. This bay, if it ever existed, must have been four miles long and four miles across, a very noble space of water, ringed by big, broken, precipitous hills, into which it thrust in innumerable creeks and combes. ”

“ The chief disadvantage experienced by those who are sent to Norfolk Island, is the want of a good landing place. The bay which has been used for this purpose is inclosed by a reef of coral rock, through which there is a passage only for a boat; and during the tide of flood, when the wind is westerly, the landing is rather dangerous. In one of the debarkations a midshipman, who was ordered to lie within the reef, that he might attend the boats coming to shore, imprudently suffered his own boat to drive into the surf, and was lost, with four men. ”

“ 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 ”

“ On the 19th of this month, Lieutenant Ball arrived in the Supply from Norfolk Island. He had made that island on the 29th of February, but was five days off the coast before a place could be found at which it was possible to land the stores and provisions. So completely do the rocks surround the island, that it was not easy to find a place even to land a man. At length, however, they succeeded, having discovered at the south-west end, a small opening in a reef that runs across a bay. Here the people, provisions and stores were all put on shore in perfect safety. ”

“ In and out of this harbour small sailing-vessels make their way; and certain scattered cottages, the Bridport Arms Inn, and some few recent houses, all standing in the sands and minute gravel of the Chesil Beach, which ends here, make believe that West Bay is a seaside resort. On either side of it the cliffs rise to great heights, and are partly of a friable, earthy nature, yellow in hue. ”

“ Passengers on the Clyde can transfer at Exploits to the Home without returning to Lewisporte. The eccentric sculptured cliffs of Leading Tickles appear beyond Fortune Harbour. Springdale, at the mouth of Hall's Bay, is the starting point for noted trout and salmon streams. The Home continues across Green Bay to Nipper's Harbour where weird-looking rocks rising out of the sea remind one of scenes about Brigus. This coast is so pregnant with minerals that in places the ore may be seen glittering beneath the water. ”

“ We saw that an islet, unmarked on any chart, rose in the middle of the bay, while a reef of rocks, apparently coral, extended right round the bay, parallel to the beach, and at a short distance from it. Some of these rocks were above the surface of the water, some just below, and others—the most dangerous—further down, so that it was only occasionally that the sea broke upon them. The pirate in his confession had spoken of a channel he had discovered through this reef, situated under the Sugarloaf, at the eastern extremity of 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. ”

“ The shores are difficult to land upon, from the shoals extending so far off.
On the western side of this harbour there are several inlets and deep bays, but too shoal to be of any service. The eastern shore of the harbour is formed by PERON'S PENINSULA, which separates it from HAMELIN'S HARBOUR. It is sixteen leagues long and five leagues wide. DAMPIER'S BAY, at the north-west end, contains several sandy bays, where boats may almost always land. It is here that the French had their observatory. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ On each projection of the coast, the bank of coral clinkers immediately above the beach has been levelled, and a pillar built, perhaps breast-high. These are not sepulchral; all the dead being buried on the inhabited side of the island, close to men’s houses, and (what is worse) to their wells. I was told they were to protect the isle against inroads from the sea—divine or diabolical martellos, probably sacred to Taburik, God of Thunder.
The bay immediately opposite Equator Town, which we called Fu Bay, in honour of our cook, was thus fortified on either horn. ”

“ For many years there was a military post on the west shore of the bay, two and a half miles distant. The customs office, trade with the people at the fort and the scattered population along the shore of the Strait of Fuca, as well as of the more thickly inhabited Whidbey and Camano Islands, with some local lumbering and ship-building enterprises, kept the Port Townsend people fairly prosperous during the period from 1852 to 1888, and not only that, in an oyster-like content, but with a wide-awake, intelligent, courteous, and modish spirit. ”

“ The soil seems to be very rich; the country well clothed with wood, particularly on the lee side of the hills; plenty of water which falls from the rocks in beautiful cascades, for two or three hundred feet perpendicular into the sea; but they did not see the least sign of any place to anchor in with safety. Hoisted in the boat, and made sail for Frederick Henry Bay. From noon to three p.m. running along shore E. by N., at which time we were abreast of the westernmost point of a very deep bay, called by Tasman, Stormy Bay. ”

“ The ponds and lagoons, which are to be found at the back of most of the beaches, are frequented by ducks, teal, herons, red-bills, and some small flights of the curlew and plover. The bay seemed to be well stocked with fish; and our success with hook and line made us regret having no seine, for the hauling of which many of the beaches are particularly well adapted. It is not improbable that Two-fold Bay, like some of the open bays on the east coast of Africa, may be frequented by whales at certain seasons: of this I have no decisive proof ”

“ 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*. ”

“ The fishermen of this lonely coast, landing on dark nights, with nothing else to guide them as to their whereabouts, can always readily settle the point by handling this shingle, and by use can tell within a mile of the particular spot.
The story of West Bay’s struggle against this insidious enemy is an old one. In 1722 the Bridport authorities procured an Act of Parliament empowering them to restore and rebuild the haven and port, the piers and landing-places, in order to bring the town to that ancient and flourishing state whence it had declined. ”

“ And no progress was made until the next morning, when, having a fresh breeze, we reached an anchorage in a bay on the north side, and close under the base of Mount Bedwell. On our way we steered through strong tide-ripplings in which, at times, notwithstanding the strength of the breeze, the cutter was quite ungovernable. Off the bay is a low mangrove island which I had the pleasure to name after the Reverend James W. Burford, of Stratford, Essex, and the bay in which we had anchored was called after W. Aiton, Esquire, of the Royal Gardens at Kew. ”

“ Being detained with drift-ice at the mouth of the bay, we pitched our tent on shore. We examined the bay more minutely. It extends to the West to a considerable depth, and is not protected by any islands, except a few rocks, at some distance in the sea. The surrounding mountains are very high, steep, and barren, and verdure is found only in the vallies. Here the arnica montana, which the Missionaries have found of great use among the Esquimaux, grows in great abundance. Salmon-trout are caught in every creek and inlet. ”