An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk IslandHunter, John
History
An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island
Hunter, John
New South Wales -- History -- Sources
Between Point Hunter and Point Ross, there is a large, though
not a deep, bay, with several fine sandy beaches; but without the
beaches, there runs a reef parallel with the shore, which seemed
to prevent any landing on it; and, as we were opening the weather
side of the island, and a great swell running, which prevented us
from pulling the boat a-head, we returned along shore, and
endeavoured to land on a stony beach to the westward of the
cascade, but could not: we then rowed to the north-east point of
the island, off which lies a cluster of high rocks; I called them
Cook's rocks, in memory of the late Captain James Cook, who
discovered this island, and landed near these rocks in 1774: but
we found landing impossible, on account of the surf, which broke
every where, though this may not be the case in fine weather. In
the evening we returned on board, without being able to set our
feet on shore.
During the night, we had light winds from the south-west; and
a current, or tide, had set us a considerable distance to the
north-east of the island; which, at eight o'clock the next
morning, bore south-east, eight miles distant: from this time,
until three in the afternoon, we were employed in working up
under the north-east point of the island, where we anchored in
nineteen fathoms, distant from the nearest shore one mile. A boat
was hoisted out, and after two attempts, I landed with Lieutenant
Ball, on the side of a large rock, which lies close to the shore,
at the west end of a small stony beach; it must have been on this
rock that Captain Cook landed, as there is no other place at this
side of the island, where it is possible to attempt a landing at
any time, and that is only practicable here, from half ebb to
half flood, in very fine weather, and the wind off the island. As
it was near the evening when we landed, we very soon returned on
board again, with a quantity of sorrel that we had gathered. We
found this a very improper place to land either people or stores,
it being impracticable to get them further than the beach, and
there was no fresh water near it.
At day-light in the morning of the 3d, I left the Supply, and
went in her boat along with Mr. Cunningham, to examine the
south-west side of the island, which we rowed round, until we
opened Phillip and Nepean Isles off the south point; but it blew
too hard, and there was too great a sea running for us to pull
the boat any farther, so that at two in the afternoon we returned
on board.
There is only one place on this side of the island, where
landing is at all practicable, and that is in a small bay just
within the west point: the bottom of it is a fine sandy beach,
but the surf broke on it with such violence, as to put landing
out of the question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account