Narrative of the Voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake Volume I Part 4

1900 : 0 38 11.

2000 : 0 41 5.

2100 : 0 44 3.

2200 : 0 47 38.

2300 : 0 50 47.

2400 : 0 53 57.

2500 : 0 57 6.

2600 : 1 0 51.

2700 : 1 6 15.

2800 : 1 12 25.

2900 : 1 20 27.

3000 : 1 26 34.

3100 : 1 32 45.

3200 : 1 39 49.

3300 : 1 45 37.

3400 : 1 52 47.

3500 : 1 59 56.

ARRIVE AT HOBART TOWN.

On June 24th we entered Storm Bay, and next day arrived at Hobart Town.

None of our Australian colonies--I had previously seen them all--reminded me of the mother country so much as Tasmania. The clearings on the sh.o.r.es of the Derwent looked very pretty, and almost English, particularly the spire of a small church peeping out from among the trees.

CHAPTER 1.2.

Arrive at Sydney.

Bramble is attached to the Expedition.

Survey Entrance of Port Jackson and Twofold Bay.

Sail upon our First Northern Cruise.

Arrive at Moreton Bay.

Proceedings there.

Natives at Moreton Island.

Arrive at Port Curtis.

Settlement of North Australia.

Excursions made in Neighbourhood.

Natural Productions.

Call at the Percy Isles.

Port Molle and Cape Upstart.

Unable to find Fresh Water.

Return to Sydney.

Recent Occurrences there.

Sail for Ba.s.s Strait.

Visit Port Phillip and Port Dalrymple.

Inspect the Lighthouses of the Strait.

We left Hobart Town for Sydney on July 8th. On the night of the 15th, saw the fine revolving light on the South Head of Port Jackson, and next morning anch.o.r.ed at Farm Cove. Our stay in Sydney was protracted to a period of nearly three months. During this time, in consequence of previous arrangements, the schooners Bramble, Lieutenant C.B. Yule, and Castlereagh, Lieutenant D. Aird, were paid off. Both these vessels had been left in December, 1845, by Captain F.P. Blackwood, of H.M.S. Fly, to continue the survey of New Guinea (as will afterwards be more particularly alluded to) and had long been awaiting our arrival. The Castlereagh, originally purchased in Sydney, being reported to be quite unfit for surveying purposes, was sold to her former owner; and the Bramble was recommissioned as tender to the Rattlesnake, and continued under the command of Lieutenant Yule. Ten additional men were entered on board, increasing our complement to 190 officers and men, of whom 36 were placed on board the schooner. After a thorough refit, both vessels were at length quite ready for sea.

SURVEY ENTRANCE OF PORT JACKSON.

Meanwhile a minute survey was made by Lieutenants Dayman and Simpson of the inner entrance to Port Jackson, where a reef, called the Sow and Pigs (distinguished by a beacon and a light vessel) in the middle of the pa.s.sage, leaves only a narrow available channel on either side. The exact boundaries of them, with the depth of water, were to be determined, especially to ascertain whether a line-of-battle s.h.i.+p, with her full armament, could pa.s.s into the harbour. The shoalest part of the west channel was found to have 21 feet, and of the east 24 feet at low-water (the rise and fall of tide being from 5 to 8 feet); consequently, at high-water there would be room for a three-decker to enter.* This work was in connection with a proposed dry dock** on c.o.c.katoo Island, above Sydney, towards the expenses of which the Imperial Government were willing to contribute, provided it were made of such a size as to be available for large steamers and line-of-battle s.h.i.+ps.

(*Footnote. It was found by comparison with Lieutenant Roe's survey, made 25 years before, that the inner edge of the shoal had extended considerably to the southward.)

(**Footnote. This has for several years been under construction; its importance will appear more evident, when it is considered that a large vessel in the Australian colonies requiring repairs, which cannot be effected by the process of heaving down, will find no suitable place nearer than Bombay.)

In compliance with a requisition from Sir Charles Fitzroy, the Governor of New South Wales, Captain Stanley, in the Bramble, paid a visit to Twofold Bay, 200 miles to the southward of Sydney, a place of rising importance as a harbour, also in connection with whaling establishments, and the extensive adjoining pastoral district of Maneroo. The bay was resurveyed, with a view to test the comparative merits of the two towns.h.i.+ps there--one founded by government, the other by private enterprise. After all, I believe, the advantages afforded by each of the rival establishments are so equally divided, that the question still remains an open one.

SAIL UPON FIRST NORTHERN CRUISE.

October 11th.

After a protracted stay in Sydney of very nearly three months, we were at length enabled to start upon our first cruise to the northward, the object of which was to make a survey of Port Curtis and part of the Insh.o.r.e Pa.s.sage leading up to Torres Strait. The Rattlesnake and tender got under weigh soon after daybreak and ran out of Port Jackson to the northward with a fine South-east wind. In the evening the Bramble parted company, her present destination being Port Stephens, for the purpose of running a meridian distance, and ours Moreton Bay.

One day, while off Cape Byron, an interesting addition to zoology was made in a small floating sh.e.l.lfish, which has since proved to const.i.tute a new genus,* throwing light, I am informed, upon many fossil univalves in the older formations; and a rare bird of the noddy kind (Anous leucocapillus) perched on the rigging towards evening, and was added to the collection; for even the beauty and innocence of a tired wanderer like it was insufficient to save it from the scalpel.

(*Footnote. This mollusc, allied to Litiopa, Professor E. Forbes has done me the honour to publish in the Appendix as Macgillivrayia pelagica.)

ARRIVE AT MORETON BAY.

On October 18th we anch.o.r.ed in Yule's Roads, Moreton Bay in 12 fathoms, sand, about a mile off sh.o.r.e, and remained there for sixteen days. During our stay, some additions were made to render more complete the former survey of this important sheet of water. Buoys were laid down to mark the intricate channels of the north entrance, now preferred for its greater safety to the south entrance, although lengthening by about 50 miles the pa.s.sage to or from Sydney. The wreck of a steamer, and loss of most of those on board, had not long before caused a great sensation, and forcibly attracted attention to the dangers of the southern entrance.

Moreton Bay is an expanse of water 45 miles in length, and 20 in greatest width, enclosed between the mainland and Stradbroke and Moreton Islands.

It is open to the northward, but sheltered on the eastward by the two islands forming that side, which run nearly north and south. The Brisbane river enters the bay about the middle of its western side, and, having been the means of opening up an immense extent of the finest pastoral country, it has conferred a considerable degree of importance upon the place as a harbour, although beset with numerous shoals and narrow winding pa.s.sages, through which the tides run with great force. The entrance to the river has a depth of only 10 or 11 feet at high-water, consequently, is available for small vessels only; the best anchorage for larger ones is five miles distant. The banks are constantly s.h.i.+fting, and the channel is intricate. When to this is added that the settlement--consisting of the towns.h.i.+ps of North and South Brisbane, and Kangaroo Point, is situated 14 miles from the river mouth--it was not surprising that a proposal had been made to establish a trading port elsewhere in the bay, so that the wool and other produce of the district, might be s.h.i.+pped direct for England.

PROCEEDINGS THERE.

For this purpose, Cleveland Point (at the south-east side of the bay) had been suggested, and the Colonial Government requested Captain Stanley's opinion on the subject: which is as follows. "This," says he, "is the worst possible place I ever saw for such a purpose; from the proposed site of the town, a low rocky point only a few feet above the level of high-water, projects for more than a mile in the sea; and from both sides of this, mudflats, that become dry at low-water, extend for a very considerable distance. The anchorage off this point must be of necessity in the stream of tide, which, when it sets against even a moderate breeze, causes a heavy sea. And as the point affords no shelter whatever for boats, it will be absolutely necessary to build a breakwater, at least as far out as three fathoms at low-water."

MORETON ISLAND.

Moreton Island, under the lee of which the Rattlesnake was at anchor, is 19 miles in length, and 4 1/2 in greatest breadth. It consists for the most part of series of sandhills, one of which, Mount Tempest, is said to be 910 feet in height; on the north-west portion a large tract of low ground, mostly swampy, with several lagoons and small streams. The soil is poor, and the gra.s.s usually coa.r.s.e and sedge-like. All the timber is small, and consists of the usual Eucalypti, Banksiae, etc. with abundance of the cypress-pine (Callitris arenaria) a wood much prized for ornamental work. The appearance along the sh.o.r.es of the Panda.n.u.s or screw-pine, which now attains its southern limits, introduces a kind of intertropical appearance to the vegetation. Among the other plants are three, which merit notice from their efficacy in binding down the drift sand with their long trailing stems, an office performed in Britain by the bent gra.s.s (Arundo arenaria) here represented by another gra.s.s, Ischaemum rottboellioide: the others are a handsome pink-flowered convolvulus (Ipomoea maritima) one stem of which measured 15 yards in length, and Hibbertia volubilis, a plant with large yellow blossoms.

PORPOISES AT MORETON BAY.

Among the marine animals of Moreton Bay are two cetacea of great interest. The first of these is the Australian dugong (Halicore australis), which is the object of a regular fishery (on a small scale however) on account of its valuable oil. It frequents the Brisbane river and the mudflats of the harbour, and is harpooned by the natives, who know it under the name of Yung-un. The other is an undescribed porpoise, a specimen of which, however, I did not procure, as the natives believed the most direful consequences would ensue from the destruction of one; and I considered the advantages resulting to science from the addition of a new species of Phocoena, would not have justified me in outraging their strongly expressed superst.i.tious feelings on the subject. We observed that whenever a drove of these porpoises came close insh.o.r.e, a party of natives followed them along the beach, and when a shoal of fish, endeavouring to avoid their natural enemies, approached within reach, the blacks rushed out into the water with loud cries, and, keeping their bag nets close together, so as to form a semicircle, scooped out as many fish as came within reach.

Our seining parties from the s.h.i.+p were usually very successful, but only at one particular time of tide, or during the young flood. Sharks are numerous close to the beach, but are generally small and harmless; one of the natives however had lost his foot at the ankle joint, from the bite of one.

NATIVES.

There were then no white residents upon Moreton Island, but we found a party of about twenty natives encamped near the watering place. Some of the men were rather good specimens of the race, but the reverse was the case with the females; although the latter on the first day of our meeting them evinced a desire to cover their persons, they afterwards went about as naked as the men--but the female children wore a small fringe in front. The married women had lost the last joint of the little finger of the right hand--one had three half-caste children. The huts of these natives are of simple construction, yet comfortable enough, and perfectly waterproof--a framework of sticks in a dome-like form is covered with bark of the tea-tree (Melaleuca) and branches of trees.

While procuring materials for a vocabulary, I found that even this small party contained individuals of two tribes, speaking different dialects.

It was curious to observe that although these natives had had much intercourse with Europeans, a party of them who came on board, could not be persuaded to go below; and one strong fellow (One-eye, as he called himself) actually trembled with fear when I laid hold of him by the arm, to lead him down to the main-deck.

November 4th.

Sailed from Moreton Bay for Port Curtis in company with the Bramble. The wind being at north, we had to beat out through the narrow channel leading between the banks of the north entrance, probably never before attempted by a square-rigged vessel.