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
There is an anchorage behind Black Head to the north of Point Stevens
which Lieutenant Oxley discovered to be an island; Port Macquarie also
affords shelter for small vessels; and on the north side of Smoky Cape
there is good shelter from southerly or south-easterly winds: but the
whole of these, excepting Broken Bay, are only attainable by small
vessels. A large ship must keep an offing; and as the coast is not at all
indented the wind must blow very hard, and the ship sail very badly, to
be placed in danger. Wide Bay however is a very good port, and affords a
safe and secure shelter; the anchorage being protected by a reef which
fronts it.
PORT JACKSON.
The Lighthouse, or Macquarie Tower, is in latitude 33 degrees 51 minutes
11 seconds South and longitude 4 minutes 29.8 seconds east of Sir Thomas
Brisbane's Observatory at Sydney, or 151 degrees 19 minutes 45 seconds
East of Greenwich. It is a revolving light and may be seen at the
distance of ten leagues. The Inner South Head bears from it North 20
degrees West* and is distant about two thousand five hundred yards. The
North Head bears from the Inner South Head North 53 degrees East by
compass, about two thousand four hundred and forty yards; and the
narrowest part of the entrance, which is between the Inner North and
South Heads, is a little more than eight hundred yards, so that there is
abundance of room to work in should the wind blow out of the Port. On
arriving off the lighthouse, steer in between the North and South Heads
until you are past the line of bearing of the Outer North, and the Inner
South Heads: then haul round the latter, but avoid a reef of rocks that
extends for two hundred yards off the point, and steer for Middle Head, a
projecting cliff at the bottom of the bay, until the harbour opens round
the Inner South Head; you may then pass on either side of the Sow and
Pigs; but the eastern channel, although the narrowest, is perhaps the
best; but this, in a great measure, depends upon the direction of the
wind. The eastern channel is the deepest. The Sow and Pigs, or Middle
Ground, is the only danger in Port Jackson: it is a bank of sand and
rocks, of about eight hundred yards in length, by about three hundred and
fifty in breadth: its length being in the direction of the harbour; a
very small portion of it is dry, and consists of a few rocks, upon which
the sea almost always breaks; they are situated upon the outer end of the
shoal, and are in the line of bearing of the Outer North and the Inner
South Heads. The south-western tail of the bank is chiefly of sand, with
rocks scattered about it; but, on the greater portion of it, there is
twelve feet water; it gradually deepens to three and a quarter fathoms,
which is beyond the rocky limits of the shoal. To sail through the
Western Channel, which is from one-third to half a mile wide, steer
towards George's Head, a high rocky head, about three quarters of a mile
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