A Voyage to Terra Australis — Volume 1: Undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802 and 1803, in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland schoonerFlinders, Matthew
History
A Voyage to Terra Australis — Volume 1: Undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802 and 1803, in His Majesty's ship the Investigator, and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland schooner
Flinders, Matthew
Australia -- Discovery and exploration; Voyages and travels
It has appeared to me, that to show the direction and strength of the
winds, with the kind of weather we had when running along these coasts,
would be an useful addition to the charts; not only as it would enable
those who may navigate by them alone to form a judgment of what is to be
expected at the same season, but also that it may be seen how far
circumstances prevented several parts of the coast being laid down so
correctly as others. This has been done by single arrows, wherever they
could be marked without confusion; they are more or less feathered,
proportionate to the strength of wind intended to be expressed, and the
arrows themselves give the direction. Under each is a short or abridged
word, denoting the weather; when this weather prevailed in a more than
usual degree a line is drawn under the word, and when in an excessive
degree there are two lines. Single arrows being thus appropriated to the
winds, the tides and currents are shown by double arrows, between which
is usually marked the rate per hour.
On the land, the shading of the hills gives a general idea of their
elevation, and it has been assisted by saying how far particular hills
and capes are visible from a ship's deck in fine weather; this will be
useful to a seaman on first making the land, be a better criterion to
judge of its height, and those hills not so marked may be more nearly
estimated by comparison. Behind different parts of the coast is given a
short description of their appearance, which it is conceived will be
gratifying to scientific, and useful to professional men. The capes and
hills whose positions are fixed by cross bearings taken on shore or from
well ascertained points in the track, as also the stations whence
bearings were observed with a theodolite, have distinguishing marks;
which, with all others not before in common use, are explained on the
General Chart, Plate I.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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