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
WIDE BAY, the entrance of which is in latitude 25 degrees 49 minutes, was
examined by Mr. Edwardson, the master of one of the government colonial
vessels; he found it to be a good port, having in its entrance a channel
of not less than three fathoms deep; and to communicate with Hervey's
Bay, thus making an island of the Great Sandy Peninsula.
INDIAN HEAD is in latitude 25 degrees 1 minute, and longitude 153 degrees
23 minutes.
...
APPENDIX A. SECTION 2.
DESCRIPTION OF THE WINDS AND WEATHER, AND OF THE PORTS, ISLANDS, AND
COAST BETWEEN BREAKSEA SPIT AND CAPE YORK.
NORTH-EAST COAST.
The south-east trade is occasionally suspended near the shore by
north-easterly winds during the months of June, July, and August, the
only season that I have any experience of the winds and weather upon the
north-east coast; the weather is generally thick and cloudy, and often
accompanied with showers of rain, particularly during the two first
months.
In the neighbourhood of Breaksea Spit in May, 1819, we
experienced a fresh gale from the westward, after which it veered
to south-east with thick rainy weather: and in the neighbourhood
of Cape Capricorn, in June, 1821, we had a fresh gale from the
north-east. Among the Northumberland Islands, we have experienced
westerly winds, but they blew in light breezes with fine weather.
Even as far as Cape Grafton the wind cannot be said to be steady.
To the north of this point, however, the winds are always
constant from the southward, and seldom or ever veer to the
westward of south, or to the eastward of South-East by East; they
generally are from South-South-East: fresh winds cause the
weather to be hazy, and sometimes bring rain, which renders the
navigation among the reefs in some degree dangerous. In my last
voyage up the coast, on approaching Cape York, the weather was so
thick that we could not see more than a quarter of a mile ahead;
we, however, ran from reef to reef, and always saw them in
sufficient time to alter the course if we were in error. In such
a navigation cloudy dull weather is, however, rather an advantage
than otherwise, because the reefs, from the absence of the glare
of the sun, are more distinctly seen, particularly in the
afternoon, when the sun is to the westward. Later in the season
(August 1820) we had more settled weather, for the wind seldom
veered to the southward of South-South-East, or eastward of
East-South-East; and this weather accompanied us from Breaksea
Spit, through Torres Strait.
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