surmountable; and within a reasonable time: how far it may be advisable to follow their track through the Strait, will appear more fully hereafter.
In the Voyage to the South Seas in H. M. ship Bounty, page 220, captain Bligh says, "I cannot with certainty reconcile the situation of some parts of the coast (near Cape York) that I have seen, to his (captain Cook's) survey;" and from the situation of the high islands on the west side of the Strait, which had been seen from the Bounty's launch, and were now subjected to the correction of the Providence's time-keepers; he was confirmed in the opinion, that some material differences existed in the positions of the lands near Cape York.
BAMPTON and ALT. 1793.
The last passage known to have been made through Torres' Strait, previously to the sailing of the Investigator, was by Messieurs WILLIAM BAMPTON and MATTHEW B. ALT, commanders of the ships Hormuzeer and Chesterfield. Their discoveries were made public, in two charts, by Mr. Dalrymple, in 1798 and 1799; and from them, and captain Bampton's manuscript journal, the south coast of New Guinea, and most of the reefs and islands near it, are laid down in Plate XIII.; after having been adjusted to the observations of captain Bligh, and to those subsequently made by me in the Investigator and Cumberland. The journal was obtained through the kindness of Mr. Arrowsmith; and, though no courses and distances be given, and the differences from the charts be sometimes considerable, it is yet so interesting in many points, that I have judged the following abridgement would be acceptable, as well to the general, as to the nautical, reader.
The Hormuzeer and Chesterfield sailed together from Norfolk Island; with the intention of passing through Torres' Strait, by a route which the commanders did not know to have been before attempted. June 20, 1793, in the evening, being in latitude 10° 24' south, and longitude 144° 14' east (by captain Bampton's chart), a dry reef was seen extending from W. ½ S. to N. W. by W., distant four or five miles, and breakers from the mast head at N. by E. ½ E. An island (Murray's), which appeared to be large and woody, was also seen, and bore N. W. ½ W. The ships got ground in 60 fathoms, and hauled the wind to the eastward, till midnight; when, having no bottom at 70 fathoms, they lay to, till morning.
June 21. The Hormuzeer's long boat was sent ahead; and, at ten o'clock, the ships bore away northward. At noon, the latitude was 9° 30'. The course was altered, at three, to the north-west; and at dusk, they hove to, for the night: soundings from 70 to 56 fathoms. The same course being resumed on the 22nd, the latitude, at noon, was 8° 48'; and the depth 30 fathoms, on a bottom of sand, mud, and shells. From noon to five p.m., when they anchored, the ships appear to have steered W. by S. The land had been seen at one o'clock; and at two, the water had shoaled suddenly, from 30 to 10 fathoms, and afterwards diminished to 5, which continued to the place of anchorage. The land was part of the coast of NEW GUINEA; and the extremes were set at W. by N. ½ N. and N. W. ½ N., six or seven leagues, (in the chart, miles.) The flood tide here, set two miles per hour, towards the land; and the rise, by the lead line, was nine feet.
June 23. The ships got under way with the weather, or ebb, tide, a little before noon: latitude 8° 52'. At four o'clock, the wind blew strong at south-east, with thick weather, and they anchored in 9 fathoms, blue mud; having made a course of E. N. E. nearly parallel to the coast. They remained here till the next afternoon; when the Hormuzeer having parted her cable, both ships stood to the north-eastward, along the land, until midnight; at which time they wore to the south-west, in 30 fathoms. At daylight of the 25th, the depth had decreased to 16 fathoms; and they stretched north-eastward again, with little variation in the soundings. The latitude, at noon, was 8° 10'; and the ships continued their course upon a wind, keeping as much to the east as possible; and the soundings having increased to 30 fathoms, at dusk, they hove to; but stretched off, at midnight, on coming into 10 fathoms. In the morning of June 26, they were standing to the eastward; but the wind becoming light at nine o'clock, Mr. Bampton anchored in 9 fathoms, on a muddy bottom, in latitude 7° 55' south. The coast of New Guinea was then seen to extend from N. N. W. ½ W. to E. N. E.; and the south end of a reef, running off from the western extreme, bore W. by S. ½ S., two leagues.
The land here forms a large, unsheltered bay; and an opening nearly at the head, bearing N. ½ E., appeared like the entrance of a considerable river; but an officer, who was sent in a boat to sound, saw breakers stretching across. The soundings were regular, from 9 to 6 fathoms, within a mile or two of the shore; when there was only twelve feet; and the surf which rolled in, made it impossible to land. The country round the bay is described as level and open, and of an agreeable aspect.
On the return of the boat the ships weighed, and stretched southward until June 27, at noon. The latitude was then 9° 1'; and a sand bank was seen from the mast head, bearing S. W. ½ W. They then wore to the north-eastward; and continued upon that course until the 28th, at dusk; when the land of New Guinea being in sight as far as E. by N., the same, apparently, which had been set from the anchorage on the 26th, they stretched off till two in the morning and then in again, towards the land.
Captain Bampton had followed the coast of New Guinea thus far, in the hope of finding a passage to the northward, between it and Louisiade; but the trending of the land so far to the east, and the difficulty of weathering it, from the current being adverse, obliged him to give up that hope. A consultation was then held; and a determination made to attempt the passage through the middle of Torres' Strait.
At the time the ships hauled their wind to the southward, the latitude was 8° 3'; the longitude, from three distances of the sun and moon, 145° 23'; and the depth of water 40 fathoms, on a muddy bottom. They had no soundings from that time to July 1, at one a.m.; when there was 35 fathoms. At daylight, land, which was the Darnley's Island of captain Bligh, bore S. W. by S. seven or eight leagues; a dry sand was seen in the W. N. W., (probably W. S. W.); and a reef, which appears to have been that of Anchor Key, was six or seven miles distant in the S. E. At four in the afternoon, when Darnley's Island bore W. by N. ½ N. five leagues, and Murray's Island S. E. ½ E. (probably S. S. E. ½ E.) the ships anchored in 22 fathoms, marly bottom; and the boats were sent towards the first Island to sound, and see if it were inhabited. The latitude observed at this anchorage, was 9° 40' south, and longitude from three distances of the sun and moon 142° 58' 30" east.
July 2. The boats returned. Between the ships and the island, they had passed over five different reefs, separated by narrow channels of 11 to 14 fathoms deep. The natives of the island came down in considerable numbers; and exchanged some bows and arrows, for knives and other articles. They were stout men; and somewhat above the common size of Europeans. Except in colour, which was not of so deep a cast, they bore much resemblance to the natives of Port Jackson; and had scars raised upon their bodies in the same manner. The men were entirely naked; but the women, who kept at a distance and appeared small in size, wore an apron of leaves, reaching down, to the knee. Many cocoa-nut trees were seen in the lower parts of the island.
When the boats returned, they were followed by four canoes. One of them went along-side of the Chesterfield; and an Indian ventured on board, on a sailor going into the canoe, as a hostage for him. Most of these people had their ears perforated. The hair was generally cut short; but some few had it flowing loose. It is naturally black; but from being rubbed with something, it had a reddish, or burnt appearance. These Indians, so far as they could he understood, represented their island to abound in refreshments; and it was, therefore, determined to send another boat to make further examination.
July 3. Mr. Shaw, chief mate of the Chesterfield, Mr. Carter, and captain Hill of the New-South-Wales corps, who was a passenger, went away armed, with five seamen in a whale boat; and were expected to return on the following day; but the 4th, 5th, and 6th, passed, without any tidings of them; although many signal guns had been fired.
On the 7th, two boats, manned and armed, under the command of Mr. Dell, chief mate of the Hormuzeer, were sent in search of the whale boat. On reaching the island, Mr. Dell heard conch shells sounding in different parts; and saw eighty or ninety armed natives upon the shore. To the inquiries, by signs,
