The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765 Part 15

The council of the said yachts, finding they could not run on an eastern course, after discovering and surveying Arnhem's Land twenty miles to westward, resolved to steer their course northward again past the islands of Timor and Tenember, and thus return to Banda, where they arrived on July 7...

E.

_Instructions for Tasman, 1644._

...The third voyage was undertaken from Amboyna in the month of January 1623 with the Yachts Pera and Arnhem, commanded by Commander JAN CARSTENS, for the purpose of entering into friendly relations with the inhabitants of the islands of Key, Arou and Tenimber, and of exploring Nova Guinea and the South-lands, on which occasion alliances were made with the islands aforesaid and the south-coast of Nova Guinea was further discovered...but owing to untimely separation the Yacht Arnhem, after discovering the large islands of Arnhem and Speult, returned to Amboyna unsuccessfully enough, while the Yacht Pera, continuing her voyage, navigated along the south coast of Nova Guinea as far as a shallow bay in 10 degrees, and afterwards along the west coast of the same land as far as Cape Keer-Weer, whence she further explored the coast to southward as far as 17 degrees near the Staten river, where she saw the land stretching farther to westward, after which she returned again to Amboyna...

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XV.

(1623) VOYAGE OF THE s.h.i.+P LEYDEN COMMANDED BY SKIPPER KLAAS HERMANSZ(OON) FROM THE NETHERLANDS TO JAVA.--FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

_Journal kept on board the s.h.i.+p Leyden from the Texel to Batavia, 1623._

Laus Deo. This 9th day of July, A.D. 1623 in the s.h.i.+p _Leyden_...

On the 15th do. Lat.i.tude 27 15'; during the last twenty-four hours we sailed 16 miles East by North and East-north-east...At noon we saw a large dead fish floating near our s.h.i.+p, with a great many birds perched on its carcase.

On the 16th do. Lat.i.tude 26 27'; sailed 16 miles in 24 hours North by east...

On the 17th do. Lat.i.tude 27 23'; from last night sailed 16 miles East-south-east...

On the 18th do. Lat.i.tude 27 25'; sailed 24 miles East-south-east, East by South and East-north-east, on the whole keeping an eastward course...

On the 19th do. Lat.i.tude 27' 20'. sailed due east 20 Miles in 24 hours...

On the 20th do. Lat.i.tude 27 20' sailed 20 miles these 24 hours North-east, East-north-east and East, with a light breeze, fair weather, and a West-south-west wind; course held east.

On the 21st do. in the morning we sighted Eendrachtsland in Lat.i.tude 27 at about 6 miles' distance South-west by west; we sounded off it in 61 fathom fine gravel bottom, the land showing outwardly like Robben Island in the Taffel Bay; at noon in Lat.i.tude 26 43' we shaped our course to northward, and afterwards drifted in a calm.

On the 22nd do. Lat.i.tude 26` 36, sailed and drifted about 4 miles, at about 8 miles' distance North~north-west from the land. We sighted everywhere a hilly coast with large bays, with low-lying land in between, the whole covered with dunes; we drifted in a calm, our course being North-west by West.

On the 23rd do. Lat.i.tude 26 3'; during the last twenty-four hours we mostly drifted in a calm at about 3 or 4 miles' distance from the coast; here we sighted a large inlet, looking like a river or bay. We sounded in 80 fathom, good sandy bottom; in the afternoon there was a light breeze from the South-south-west, our course being North-west by West. In the evening we saw the farthest extremity of the land north by east at six miles' distance from us.

On the 26th do. Lat.i.tude 25 48', we did our best to keep off the land, which extended North-north-west and East-south-east. The land looked like the west-coast of England with many reddish rocks; out at sea there were plenty of cliffs and sunken rocks; at noon the wind went round to South-west afterwards to the south; we held our course North-west by North. In the evening the endmost land lay North by east of us at about 7 miles' distance.

On the 27th do. WILLEMTGEN JANSZ., wedded wife Of WILLEM JANSZ. of Amsterdam, mids.h.i.+pman, was delivered of a son, who got the name of SEEBAER VAN NIEMELANT. At noon Lat.i.tude 24 15', sailed northward both in a calm and with variable winds, generally on a North-by-west course...[*]

miles, our course being north, and the wind south with a fine breeze.

[* Left blank.]

On the 29th do. Lat.i.tude 20 56'.

On the 30th do. Lat.i.tude 18 56'; the wind being east, we could not get higher than north. We saw a good deal of rock-weed floating about, and plenty of fish near the s.h.i.+p...

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XVI.

(1624) DISCOVERY OF THE TORTELDUIF ISLAND (ROCK).

A.

_Daily Register [*] of what has happened here at Batavia from the first of January, A.D. 1627._

[* This Daily Register has been edited by me ('s Gravenhage, Nijhoff, 1896).]

...On the 21st [of June] there arrived here from the Netherlands the advice-yacht Tortelduiff...which had left the Texel...on the 16th of November, 1623...

B.

_Hessel Gerritsz Charts, 1627 [*] (Nos. 4 and 5.--VII, C, D)._

[* The situation of Tortelduif island was accordingly known as early as 1677. The voyage Of 1623-1624 is the only one made to India by the s.h.i.+p of that name (see LEUPE, Zuidland, p. 48). If we take for granted that this s.h.i.+p gave its name to the island (rock), which is highly probable, then the name must have been conferred in 1624. The note of interrogation in the text is only meant to ward off the charge of over-hasty inference on my part.]

XVII.

(1626) VOYAGE OF THE s.h.i.+P LEIJDEN, COMMANDED BY SKIPPER DANIEL JANSSEN c.o.c.k, FROM THE NETHERLANDS TO JAVA.--FURTHER DISCOVERY OF THE WEST-COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

Copy of the Journal kept by me DANIEL JANSSEN c.o.c.k, Captain and Skipper of the s.h.i.+p LEIJDEN, which set sail on the 17th of May 1625, of all that has occurred during the voyage.

Praise G.o.d. April 1626.

26 do. Lat.i.tude 29 degrees, sailed 36 miles...

27 do. Lat.i.tude 27 2/3 degrees, sailed 28 miles; course held north-east; the wind being south and south-west, I had the top-gallants set. G.o.d grant what is best for us. Amen. Course kept North-north-east.

28 do. In the morning we took the sun's azimuth: between 7 and 8 degrees to northward, the rise being 16 degrees. We sighted land, being the Southland, at 10 miles' distance. We found a strong current here, with a depth Of 40 fathom. The current set to eastward or straight against the land. In the evening we shaped our course to North-west.

29 do. Lat.i.tude slightly under 26. the weather was calm, so that we ran along the coast, North and at times North-north-west. In the evening I saw the endmost (?) land north-east of me; the wind blowing from the south.