A Voyage to Terra Australis — Volume 2: 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 2: 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
Latitude observed was 39° 5 1/3'
Wilson's Promontory, the S. W. part, bore N. 16 1/2 E.
Curtis' largest Isle, the top, N. 51 E.
Kent's Group came in sight in the evening; and a little before nine
o'clock the centre of the larger isles was set at N. by E, when the
Pyramid was distant four miles bearing S. ½ W. At eleven, we passed
sufficiently near to the new rock, lying four leagues to the E. S. E. of
the group, to hear the growling of the seals; and land, apparently the
Sisters, was distinguished soon afterward in the S. E., but too
imperfectly to be known. A set of bearings here would have been
essentially useful in fixing the relative positions of these lands, which
remained in some degree doubtful; but I dared not lose an hour's fair
wind to obtain them.
THURSDAY 2 JUNE 1803
On the 2nd of June we lost John Draper, quarter master, one of the most
orderly men in the ship; and it seemed to be a fatality, that the
dysentery should fall heaviest on the most valuable part of the crew. The
wind had then veered against us, to the N. E., as it had done the year
before in nearly the same situation; and it should seem that the
direction of the coast influences it to blow either from N. E. or S. W.
The weather was so hazy, that the hills at the back of the Long Beach
were not seen till the evening of the 3rd; and on the 4th [SATURDAY 4
JUNE 1803] they were still visible, about twenty leagues to the N. 31° W.
A fair breeze sprung up in the night; and at noon next day, the land from
Cape Howe northward extended from S. 65° to N. 72° W., and a hill which
appeared to be the highest of those behind Two-fold Bay, bore W. 1° S.;
our latitude was then 37° 13', and longitude by time keepers 150° 44'
east.
We steered a due north course, closing a little in with the land; at
sunset [MONDAY 6 JUNE 1803] Mount Dromedary bore N. 45° W., and at eight
next morning it was seen bearing S. 30° W., at the distance of twenty
leagues, although the weather was hazy (Atlas, Plate VIII). The shore was
five miles off at noon, when the observed latitude was 35° 17'; the outer
part of Cape George bearing N. 32° E., about eight miles, and the Pigeon
House S. 77° W. We passed the cape at the distance of two miles, having
then but light winds; and at dusk, Bowen's Isle in the entrance of
Jervis' Bay was set at N. 51° W. Hat Hill was abreast of the ship at noon
next day; but the wind had then veered to the northward, and we beat up
until the following noon [WEDNESDAY 8 JUNE 1803] with little advantage,
our situation being then in
Latitude observed. 34° 21 2/3'
Longitude by time keepers corrected, 151 12 1/2
Hat Hill bore S. 70½ W.
Saddle Hill, on Red Point, S. 53 W.
Point Bass, S. 33 W.
North extreme, near C. Solander., N. 3 W.
Nearest shore, distant 8 or 9 miles, N. 72. W.
[EAST COAST. PORT JACKSON]
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