The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. V. Being the First of the Third VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. V. Being the First of the Third Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
At noon, our latitude was 43° 47ʹ S., longitude 147° E; and the
situation of the lands round us, as follows: An elevated round-topped
hill bore N. 17° W.; the south-west Cape N. 74° W.; the Mewstone, W. 1/2
N.; Swilly Isle or Rock, S. 49° E.; and the south-east or South Cape, N.
40° E. distant near three leagues. The land between the south-west and
the south capes is broken and hilly, the coast winding, with points
shooting out from it; but we were too far off; to be able to judge
whether the bays formed by these points were sheltered from the
sea-winds. The bay which appeared to be the largest and deepest, lies to
the westward of the peaked hill above-mentioned. The variation of the
compass here, was 5° 15ʹ E.
At six o’clock in the afternoon we sounded, and found sixty fathoms’
water, over a bottom of broken coral and shells. The South Cape then
bore N. 75° W., two or three leagues distant; Tasman’s Head N. E.; and
Swilly Rock S. by W. 1/2 W. About a league to the eastward of Swilly, is
another elevated rock, that is not taken notice of by Captain Furneaux.
I called it the Eddystone, from its very great resemblance to that
light-house. Nature seems to have left these two rocks here, for the
same purpose that the Eddystone light-house was built by man, viz. to
give navigators notice of the dangers around them. For they are the
conspicuous summits of a ledge of rocks under water, on which the sea,
in many places, breaks very high. Their surface is white with the dung
of sea-fowls; so that they may be seen at some distance, even in the
night. On the north-east side of Storm Bay, which lies between the South
Cape and Tasman’s Head, there are some coves or creeks, that seemed to
be sheltered from the sea-winds: and I am of opinion, that were this
coast examined, there would be found some good harbours.
Soon after we had sight of land, the westerly winds left us, and were
succeeded by variable light airs and alternate calms, till the 26th at
noon. At that time a breeze sprung up and freshened at south-east, which
put it in my power to carry into execution the design I had, upon due
consideration, formed, of carrying the ships into Adventure Bay, where I
might expect to get a supply of wood, and of grass for the cattle; of
both which articles we should, as I now found, have been in great want,
if I had waited till our arrival in New Zealand. We therefore stood for
the bay, and anchored in it at four o’clock in the afternoon, in twelve
fathoms’ water, over a bottom of sand and ouse. Penguin Island, which
lies close to the east point of the bay, bore N. 84° E.; the
southernmost point of Maria’s Islands bore N. 76° 1/2 E.; and Cape
Frederic Henry, or the north point of the bay, bore N. 33° E. Our
distance from the nearest shore was about three quarters of a mile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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