Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 2: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822King, Philip Parker
History
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 2: Performed between the years 1818 and 1822
King, Philip Parker
Australia -- Description and travel; Natural history -- Australia
(*Footnote. More perfect specimens were afterwards collected by Mr.
Baxter, and sent, through Mr. Henchman his employer, to my friend Mr.
Brown, the original discoverer of the tree in Captain Flinders' voyage,
and the author of the paper in the appendix at the end of the volume
relating to it.)
(**Footnote. Flinders volume 1 page 60.)
December 1 to February 9, 1823.
Having effected our departure from King George's Sound we proceeded on
our way towards Simon's Bay at the Cape of Good Hope, which we reached on
the 14th January after a passage of forty-six days without encountering a
gale of wind or the occurrence of any event worth recording.
February 9 to April 23.
We left Simon's Bay on the 9th of February and, after touching at St.
Helena and Ascension, crossed the line in 22 degrees 6 minutes West; and
on the 7th of April made the Island of Flores, one of the Azores. On the
same morning we fell in with two French men of war, a frigate and a
corvette, who bore down but, upon showing our colours, hauled their wind
and resumed their course without communicating with us. Between this and
the Channel we were delayed by a succession of northerly winds. The
Lizard Lights were made in the night of the 22nd of April and the
following day we anchored in Plymouth Sound; after an absence of more
than six years.
It may not be considered irrelevant here to make a few brief observations
upon what has been effected by these voyages, and what yet remains to be
done upon the northern coasts of Australia. Beginning with the
north-eastern coast, I have been enabled to lay down a very safe and
convenient track for vessels bound through Torres Strait, and to
delineate the coastline between Cape Hillsborough, in 20 degrees 54
minutes South, and Cape York, the north extremity of New South Wales; a
distance of six hundred and ninety miles. As my instructions did not
authorise my delaying to examine any part of this coast I could not
penetrate into the many numerous and extensive openings that presented
themselves in this space; particularly in the neighbourhoods of Cape
Gloucester, Upstart, and Cleveland; where the intersected and broken
appearances of the hills at the back are matters of interesting enquiry
and research.
My instructions at first confined me between Cape Arnhem and the
North-west Cape, but were subsequently extended to the western coast. The
examination of the northern and part of the north-western coasts, from
Wessel Islands to Port George the Fourth, a distance of seven hundred and
ninety miles, has been carefully made and, with a few exceptions, every
opening has been explored. Those parts in this interval that yet require
examination are some inlets on the south side of Clarence Strait, and one
of more considerable size to the eastward of Cambridge Gulf, trending in
to the south-east: otherways, the coast comprised within these limits has
been sufficiently examined for all the purposes of navigation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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