[Sidenote: Eye-draught of Port Melville.]
The eye-draught, with the directions on it, render much further notice here superfluous. The harbour is secure, and sufficiently capacious for a numerous fleet. It extends in a north and south direction for about two miles, varying in breadth and form in a very remarkable manner; at the lower or north end there are two basons of a circular form, and have from nine to fifteen fathoms, soft bottom; these are about one-third of a mile across. At some places the steep rocks which form the banks approach within an hundred yards of one another; here the water is sixteen, eighteen, and twenty fathoms. There are many fine coves, some with shelving shores, and others steep-to. Every part of the harbour is secured from the sea, and many parts from all winds: it is well calculated for the re-equipment of ships, for it is not only secure as an anchorage, but offers conveniences for landing men and stores, and also for heaving down or careening a ship.
[Sidenote: Villages of Cooee and of Oonting.]
There are several large villages on the shores of an extensive bay, communicating with the sea to the north-eastward, at the upper or south end of the line of harbours, and one called Oonting on the west side of the lower harbour; there is another of some extent, on the south side of Herbert's Island, called Cooee.
By permission of Captain Maxwell, I have named this excellent harbour,
Port Melville, in honour of Lord Viscount Melville, First Lord of the
Admiralty.
[Illustration: Draught of PORT MELVILLE on the N.W. side of GREAT LOO-CHOO Island by Captain Basil Hall and the OFFICERS of His Majesty's Sloop LYRA 11th Octr. 1816.]
From the top of a range of hills which we ascended, rising on the south side of the upper bay of Port Melville, we could see the south-west corner of the great western bay, the whole range of Port Melville, and the coasts adjacent.
[Sidenote: Geographical position of Port Melville.]
The latitude of Herbert's Island, which lies directly off the entrance of Port Melville, is 26º 42-2/3' north, by meridian altitude of the sun observed on shore. Its longitude, which is also the longitude of Port Melville, is 127º 55' east, or 17' east of Napakiang observatory. The Sugar Loaf bears from the centre of the island, west 4-1/2º north, about ten miles.
[Sidenote: Coast skirted by coral reefs.]