Try for Deep Sea Soundings.
Arrive at Hobart Town.
H.M.S. Rattlesnake, one of the old class of 28-gun ships, was commissioned at Portsmouth on September 24th, 1846, by the late Captain Owen Stanley, with a complement of 180 officers and men. The nature and objects of the intended voyage will best be conveyed to the reader through the medium of the following instructions from the Admiralty, for the use of which I am indebted to Lieutenant C.B. Yule, who succeeded to the command of the Rattlesnake, upon the death of our late lamented Captain, at Sydney, in March 1850, after the successful accomplishment of the principal objects of the expedition.
BY THE COMMISSIONERS FOR EXECUTING THE OFFICE OF LORD HIGH ADMIRAL OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, ETC.
Whereas, it being the usual practice of vessels returning from the Australian Colonies, or from the South Sea, to proceed to India through Torres Strait; and most of those vessels preferring the chance of finding a convenient opening in the Barrier Reefs to the labour of frequent anchorage in the Inshore Passage, it was thought fit to send out an expedition under Captain Francis Blackwood, to determine which was the best opening that those reefs would afford, and to make such a survey thereof as would ensure the safety of all vessels which should continue to adopt that mode of reaching the Strait:
And whereas, although that specific object was successfully achieved by the survey of Raine Island Passage, and by the erection of a durable beacon there to render it the more accessible, yet it appears that much is still to be done in those seas in order to make the approach to the Strait more secure and certain, as well as to afford the choice of another entrance farther to the northward in case of vessels overshooting the latitude of Raine Island by stress of wind, or current:
We have, therefore, thought proper to appoint you to the command of the Rattlesnake, for the purpose of carrying out these objects; and you are here by required and directed, when that ship is in every respect ready for sea, to proceed in her to Madeira for the verification of your chronometers--from thence to Simon's Bay at the Cape of Good Hope, for a supply of water, and to land the 50,000 pounds you have been ordered to convey to that colony; then to make the best of your way to the Mauritius, to land the treasure (15,000 pounds) entrusted to your charge for that island; and having so done, to proceed to King George Sound for the purpose of carrying its exact meridian distance to Sydney, where you will lose no time in preparing for the execution of the important service entrusted to you.
The several objects of that service have been drawn up under our direction by our Hydrographer; but notwithstanding the order in which they are placed, we leave to your own discretion the several periods of their performance, and likewise the times of your return to Sydney to revictual and refit--being satisfied that your zeal in pushing forward the survey will never outstrip your attention to the health and comfort of your crew.
You will take the Bramble and her tender, the Castlereagh, under your orders, and employ them in those places which require vessels of a lighter draft of water than the Rattlesnake. They are to be attached as tenders to the Rattlesnake, and to be manned from that ship; and such of the present crew of the Bramble as may have served five years continuously, and volunteer to remain on the surveying service in Australia, are to be entered in the Rattlesnake under the provisions of the Act of Parliament. The books of the Bramble are to be closed, and she is to be considered as no longer in commission; and you are here by authorised, after being joined by her and by the Castlereagh, to enter ten supernumerary seaman for wages and victuals in the Rattlesnake (making her total complement 190) to enable you effectively to man the said two tenders.
In stretching off from the Barrier Reefs to the eastward, in order to explore the safety of the sea intervening between them and Louisiade and New Guinea, you will have occasion to approach those shores, in which case you must be constantly on your guard against the treacherous disposition of their inhabitants, all barter for refreshments should be conducted under the eye of an officer, and every pains be taken to avoid giving any just cause of offence to their prejudices, especially with respect to their women.