Journals of Australian Explorations eBook

Augustus Gregory
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 458 pages of information about Journals of Australian Explorations.

Journals of Australian Explorations eBook

Augustus Gregory
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 458 pages of information about Journals of Australian Explorations.

20th October.

At daylight we found ourselves high and dry, only a narrow channel a few yards wide being left.  Having walked over the mud to Dixon Island to breakfast, the vicinity was examined for water, but without success.  At 6 a.m. the tide came in again so rapidly that it was not without some little difficulty that we gained our boat, when the wind set in so strongly from the south-west that, after several hours’ almost ineffectual attempts to work to windward, we again landed not two miles from our last night’s anchorage, the character of the country being equally unfavourable for landing, as it was cut up by deep mangrove creeks running far up the valleys into the steep rocky hills, forming a difficult and unpromising country.  The breeze having moderated and shifted a point more to the westward, we again attempted to beat out into the bay, but by 9 p.m. had not made more than three miles, when we landed for the night, leaving two of the party in charge of the boat to keep her off the rocks when the tide fell.

21st October.

The wind and tide being now in our favour, by 3.30 a.m. we took to our boat, and arrived on board the Dolphin by 10, when she was very soon got underweigh for the purpose of taking her closer in to ship the horses; light and variable winds, however, prevented our working more than a mile nearer the landing cove by sundown, when we dropped anchor for the night.

22nd October.

With a light west wind the Dolphin was worked into eleven feet water, one and a quarter miles off the point near the cove; the vessel drawing over ten feet, brought the mud up to the surface in our wake.  Eight horses were soon swam off without much difficulty, as we all had now some little experience in this sort of work.

Embark for fremantle.

23rd October.

By 2 p.m. the remaining six horses and equipment of the Expedition were all safely shipped, and a conspicuous intimation of our sojourn on the coast having been painted in large white letters on a pile of granite rocks near the south corner of the cove, we took our final departure, getting the Dolphin underweigh by 4, with a light westerly wind, which carried us through the passage between Hauy and Delambre Islands by 7, when we hauled up and stood to north-north-west.

24th October.

The wind still holding to the west, we made but little progress, the Dolphin being only a good sailer in smooth water, or running before the wind.

Latitude 19 degrees 12 minutes south at noon.

25th October.

By noon observations we were only in latitude 18 degrees 42 minutes; longitude 113 degrees 32 minutes.

26th October.

The wind veering slightly to the south, we were able to make by noon to latitude 18 degrees 46 minutes 30 seconds; longitude 111 degrees 47 minutes 30 seconds.

27th October.

From this time to the 3rd November the winds continued to blow almost uninterruptedly from the south and eastward, which carried us as far west as longitude 101 degrees east, and latitude 31 degrees south, where we met with westerly winds, which enabled us to run up to within sight of Cape Naturaliste by the 8th.

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Journals of Australian Explorations from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.