A moderate trade wind, coming generally from S. E. in the first part, and E. N. E. in the latter part of the day, carried us to the longitude of the northern Cape Van Diemen; beyond that, the winds were light and variable, and frequently at south-west, which alarmed me lest the unfavourable monsoon should set in before we could get far enough to be out of its influence. Nov. 6 at noon [SUNDAY 6 NOVEMBER 1803], our latitude was 9° 28' south, longitude 127° 12' east (Atlas, Plate XVI), and I was surprised to see already the high land of Timor extending from N. ½ W. to W. N. W.; the first was probably the north-east extremity of the island, and distant about twenty-three leagues, but the high land in the latter bearing could scarcely be nearer than thirty-five leagues. This distance, with ten feet elevation of the eye on the schooner's deck, would give the height to be more than 9000 feet, had it been seen in the horizon, but it was perceptibly above, and this land is therefore probably not much inferior to the peak of Teneriffe. I did not measure its altitude above the horizon with a sextant, or the elevation might have been more nearly ascertained.
The westward current had hitherto not exceeded half a mile an hour; but the next day it was one mile, and on the day following [TUESDAY 8 NOVEMBER 1803] one and a quarter to the W. S. W. We had then regained the trade wind, and our situation at noon was 10° 3½' south and 125° 15' east; the northern part of Timor was obscured by haze, the nearest land visible bore N. 75° W. about eight leagues, and the southern extreme W. 5° S. On the 9th [WEDNESDAY 9 NOVEMBER 1803], the round hill upon Rottee came in sight, and bore S. 78° W. at noon, when our latitude was 10° 32¼' south and longitude 124° 0' east. We carried all sail to gain Samow Strait before dark; but it was eight o'clock when we hauled round the low south-west point of Timor, in soundings from 6 to 14 fathoms, within a quarter of a mile of the reef. There were lights on both shores, which were useful in directing our course up the strait; but having unfavourable winds, the northern outlet was not quite reached at noon next day [THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER 1803]; and it was near five in the evening before we anchored abreast of Fort Concordia. This was the thirtieth day of our departure from Wreck Reef, and two days might be deducted from them for the deviations and stoppages made for surveying; the indifferent sailing of the schooner was also against making a quick passage, for with all the sail we could set, so much as six knots was not marked on the log board; yet notwithstanding these hindrances, and the much greater of my six-weeks voyage in the boat to Port Jackson and twelve days stay at Wreck Reef, the Bridgewater had arrived at Batavia only four days before we anchored in Coepang Bay. Had not the unfortunate accident happened to the Porpoise, I have little doubt that we could, with the superior sailing of that ship, have reached the longitude of Java Head on the fortieth, perhaps on the thirty-fifth day of our departure from Port Jackson.
[AT TIMOR. COEPANG BAY.]
Mynheer Geisler, the former governor of Coepang, died a month before our arrival, and Mr. Viertzen at this time commanded. He supplied us with almost every thing our situation required, and endeavoured to make my time pass as pleasantly as was in his power, furnishing me with a house near the fort to which I took the time keeper and instruments to ascertain a new rate and error; but my anxious desire to reach England, and the apprehension of being met by the north-west monsoon before passing Java, induced me to leave him as soon as we could be ready to sail, which was on the fourth day. The schooner had continued to be very leaky whenever the wind caused her to lie over on the side, and one of the pumps had nearly become useless; I should have risked staying two or three days longer, had Coepang furnished the means of fresh boring and fitting the pumps, or if pitch could have been procured to pay the seams in the upper works after they were caulked; but no assistance in this way could be obtained; we however got a leak stopped in the bow, and the vessel was afterwards tight so long as she remained at anchor.
Mr. Viertzen informed me that captain Baudin had arrived at Coepang near a month after I had left it in the Investigator, and had sailed early in June for the Gulph of Carpentaria; and I afterwards learned, that being delayed by calms and opposed by south-east winds, he had not reached Cape Arnhem when his people and himself began to be sickly; and fearing that the north-west monsoon might return before his examination was finished, and keep him in the Gulph beyond the extent of his provisions, he abandoned the voyage and steered for Mauritius in his way to Europe.
The situation of Fort Concordia is considered to be 10° 9¼' south and 123' 35' 46" east, according to the observations made in the Investigator (see Ch. IX). I took altitudes with a sextant and artificial horizon on the 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th, for the rate of the time keeper, which, with its error from mean Greenwich time at noon there on the last day of observation, was found to be as under:
Earnshaw's No. 520, slow 0h 32' 59.91" and losing 36.74" per day.
From the first observation on the 11th p.m., the longitude given with the rate from Wreck Reef, was 123° 48' 34", or 12' 48" too far east; but on using a rate equally accelerated from that found at Wreck Reef to this at Coepang, the time keeper will differ only 0' 40" to the east, which is the presumable amount of its irregularities between Oct. 6 at noon and Nov. 11 p.m., or in 36.2 days. The longitudes of my track from Wreck Reef to Timor have been corrected agreeably to the accelerated rate, with the further allowance of a part of the supplemental error 0' 40", proportionate to the time of each observation; but in Torres' Strait, the situations are fixed from a medium of the longitudes so obtained and of those of the Investigator with the corrections specified in Ch. VI., preceding; the difference between them no where exceeding 1½' of longitude.
[FROM TIMOR. TOWARDS MAURITIUS.]
MONDAY 14 NOVEMBER 1803