An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island

by John Hunter

We were in all, on board that little vessel, one hundred and twenty-three souls, victualled for sixteen weeks. We had a very long voyage before us. It was my wish, if possible, to avoid touching at Batavia, in order to prevent sickness among our people, in the very crouded state they were in, which, at the season we should probably be there, was much to be dreaded. I had expressed a desire to pass through amongst the Molucca Islands, and endeavour to call at Timor, for the purpose of watering, and getting such other articles as could be had there; as by the time we could arrive among those islands, the easterly wind would be set in strong; and from thence, to have proceeded as far as I could with the provisions I had, either to the Mauritius, or the Cape of Good Hope.

We therefore could not afford to lose much time in an attempt to call at Norfolk Island; three weeks, however, we persevered in endeavouring to reach it, and had arrived within twenty-five leagues of it, when the wind set in strong from the eastward. I now called the officers and the master of the ship together, to consider of our situation, with respect to water and provisions. We had been fitted out in a very hasty and careless manner, with water-casks built from old worm-eaten staves, which had been laying exposed to the sun for more than a year; so that by the time we had arrived within the above distance of the island, we had lost by leakage full three weeks water, and had every reason to fear the loss of much more from the same cause: it was not therefore time, with a heavy sailing vessel, to attempt beating to windward, in order to reach a place, which we knew we could not gain without a change of wind; and the very great difficulty and uncertainty of getting a supply of water there, determined every one's opinion in favour of bearing away to the northward.

Much time had already been lost in making the attempt, we therefore steered to the northward, intending to pass between the New Hebrides and Nova Caledonia; but in this intention we were disappointed. Upon making the Isle of Pines, (on the 23d of April,) which lies off the south end of New Caledonia, (the island bore when we made it north,) the wind blew so strong from the northward of east, that we could not weather and pass to the eastward of it. We had not Cook's Second Voyage on board, so that we had no account of this land, and as I had always understood that the Isle of Pines was a small inconsiderable spot, with many tall pine-trees upon it, we all concluded, that, what afterwards proved really the island was the land which Captain Cook had called the Prince of Wales's Foreland, and is the south-west part of New Caledonia.

We had moreover farther reason to believe this to be the case, from the circumstance, that from this land to the south-east there lay a low island on which grew high pine-trees; from which circumstance, we considered it to be the Isle of Pines; and being unable, as I have already observed, to weather it, we bore away, intending to run along the western coast of New Caledonia: this mistake had nearly proved of fatal consequences to us, for after we had coasted along for a few leagues, and had been employed in taking angles for ascertaining the shape of the coast, as we sailed along it, land was discovered a-head; upon which the course was altered: soon afterwards, more land was seen still a-head, and as we hauled up to avoid it, more land and broken keys or low islands were discovered a-head, and as far to windward as the eye could reach; we consequently hauled our wind, and stood towards it, in order to discover our situation with more certainty.

We soon found that we had sailed into a very deep bay, formed between the Isle of Pines to the eastward, and a most dangerous reef on the west, which extended from the high land or south-west point of New Caledonia, not less than ten or eleven leagues, and was nearly that distance in a south-west direction from the high part of the Isle of Pines: in this situation there was no alternative; for we must either beat to windward to go round the reef, find a channel through it, or go on shore: the first, therefore, we determined to attempt, so we made all the sail the ship could bear, and stood towards the reef, and it being then evening we wished to ascertain our exact situation before dark.

We found the reef composed of a number of low islands or keys, and many rocks above the water, and of considerable breadth; in short, there was not the smallest hope of passing through it, the sea broke very high on every part of it, which we could reach with the eye from the mast-head. As soon as it was dark, and we thought ourselves near enough to it, we tacked, and kept every person upon deck during the night. We had, during the time we were running to leeward and making observations on the coast, passed by a number of low islands, covered with trees or shrubs, and had observed they were all surrounded with a reef, which the sea broke upon, and among these little islands were many reefs, which appeared only by the breaking of the sea: we were then thoroughly sensible of our mistake, and that the land which we had taken from its extent to be a part of New Caledonia, was the Isle of Pines; and that the height which we had steered down for, and thought to be a part of the coast which Captain Cook had not seen, was what he called the Prince of Wales's Foreland, and was the farthest land he had seen to the westward.

We kept working to windward all night, between that extensive reef to the westward, and those small keys and reefs which lay between us and the land, and of which I have since observed, Captain Cook, in his sketch, takes no notice; the outer reef he marks, but leaves a large open space between it and the land, which describes the reef to be a round cluster of rocks above and under water: he probably had not an opportunity of observing this dangerous place so near to the land as we had: there may be a channel to the leeward between the inner end of this reef and the shore, but it had very little the appearance of it; as we saw many low shrubby islands between us and the shore, to which they were probably connected by a reef under water, which, at the distance we were from it, could not be ascertained.

At day-light in the morning of the 24th, we observed with no small degree of pleasure, that we had gained ground to windward; but this we knew was not owing to any weatherly qualities in the ship, but to the wind having varied several points during the night, and of which we had availed ourselves: by noon we were so far to windward as to perceive the utmost extent of the reef to the southward under our lee, and we had a prospect of weathering it; we, of course, carried a press of sail, and did weather it about two or three miles: when a-breast of it, the highest part of the Isle of Pines was just to be seen above the horizon, which was very clear, and it bore by compass north-east by north, distant ten or eleven leagues; having passed without the reef, at noon we observed our latitude to be 23° 7' south, so that the south extremity of this dangerous reef lies in latitude 23° 00' south nearly: as soon as we were fairly clear of this situation, we bore away to the westward.

The Isle of Pines, so far from being an inconsiderable spot, as I had believed, is not less than 14 or 15 miles over in a south-east and north-west direction; it is high and remarkable in the middle, being quite a pointed hill, sloping towards the extremities, which are very low; the low land had many tall pine-trees upon it; these trees, in length, seemed exceedingly to surpass those of Norfolk Island, but their branches did not appear to extend so far from the body of the tree.

We continued to steer to the north-westward without seeing any thing, and when we had reached the latitude of 19° 00' south, which is supposed to be as far to the northward as any part of New Caledonia extends, we hauled to the north-east, so as to pass between Queen Charlotte's Islands and that large track of land which had been seen by Monsieurs Bougainville and Surville formerly, and lately by Lieutenant Shortland, in the Alexander Transport, and more recently still by Lieutenant Ball, in his Majesty's armed tender Supply. The part seen by Lieutenant Ball is, I believe, more to the southward, than that seen by the French, and is no doubt the same as that seen by Lieutenant Shortland; but the one sailed along the east, the other along the west side of it. It is highly probable that there is a continuation of the same track, and it is farther probable, by the breaks which have been observed in it, that it is a chain of islands extending in a south-east and north-west direction, and very nearly connected with the coast of New Guinea.