(*Footnote. The geological formation in the neighbourhood of this place will be found in Volume 1.)
CRAGGY ISLAND.
The entire month of July was occupied by the repairs of the ship, and the surveying operations; when we sailed from the Tamar and examined the passage at the eastern entrance of the strait, between Craggy Island and Flinders, which we found perfectly free from danger--a fact of great importance, as it had, hitherto, been reported full of sunken rocks. The Beagle passed a mile and a half from the south side of Craggy Island in 25 and 28 fathoms. This passage has a depth of 26 and 27 fathoms, and is six miles wide, whilst between Wright's Rock and Kent Group the width is nearly eleven miles. There appears, by the ripplings, to be foul ground between Craggy Island and Endeavour Reef, and the space intervening has, accordingly, been marked as one shoal in the chart.
THE BEAGLE ORDERED HOME.
Leaving the eastern entrance of the strait, we ran up to Sydney, for the supplies that had not arrived from England on our last visit; we now found them waiting for us, together with orders for the Beagle to return to England. Fortunately, however, the survey of Bass Strait was in such a forward state, thanks to Sir John Franklin's kind assistance in lending the Vansittart, that I could take upon myself the responsibility of waiting a few months to complete it.* I was, however, compelled by the brief interval of time allowed me, and the urgent demand that existed for a correct chart of the whole strait, to work on a smaller scale than I could have wished. It seemed to me that detached portions on a very large scale would be of far inferior utility to a complete survey on a comparatively small one.
(*Footnote. This step was approved of by the Commander in chief.)
It was not, however, my being prevented from completing Bass Strait in the manner most satisfactory to myself that occasioned the greatest part of the regret that accompanied this summons for the old Beagle to wend her way homewards; for we were thus also deprived of the opportunity of gratifying our desire to explore the southern parts of New Guinea, which we had always looked forward to as one of the most interesting parts of our voyage, containing elements of excitement sufficient to cheer the hearts that were yearning for home, and a character of novelty that would have amply compensated for whatever fatigue and exertion we might have experienced. On many occasions, during the heavy and monotonous part of our labours, the anticipated delights of discovery refreshed our imaginations and elevated our spirits, imparting to our most irksome occupations an interest that did not belong to them, but was borrowed from those hoped-for scenes of adventure on the unvisited shores of New Guinea to which we believed that each dull day's hard work brought us nearer. But it was not destined to be our lot to add any more new lands to the geography of this part of the world; and H.M.S. Fly and Bramble had been commissioned at home for surveying service in Australasia. This expedition, under the command of Captain F.P. Blackwood, arrived at Sydney on the 10th of October, whilst we were there, and sailed soon after our departure, to commence tracing the outer Barrier Reefs, a service attended with no ordinary risk, but which has been happily completed, and a beacon erected to show vessels the best entrance, without a mishap.
Since the early part of this work was written this valuable addition to the survey of New Holland has induced an enterprising master of a merchant vessel to try the eastward passage through Torres Strait. As a proof of the practicability of this route I may state, that the above vessel passed through Torres Strait in January, went to Sydney, and returned for another cargo to Ballytown, in Allas Strait, by the May following. This passage, an account of which has been published in the Nautical Magazine, was made through the Barrier Reef by Captain Blackwood's Beacon on Raines Islet; but as this is out of the limits of the westerly monsoon, a better passage, doubtless, would have been effected by following a more northerly route, as recommended by Captain Blackwood.*
(*Footnote. See Nautical Magazine for December 1845.)
STEAM COMMUNICATION BETWEEN INDIA AND AUSTRALIA.