Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia — Vol. 1 / Performed between the years 1818 and 1822

by Philip Parker King

July 13.

At four o'clock the next morning the cutter was found to have drifted at least half a mile to leeward, but whether during the first or middle part of the night it was not easy to discover; had the island Number 2 been a quarter of a mile nearer, we should have had little chance of escaping shipwreck, for the night was very dark, and her distance did not exceed that when she was brought up by veering cable. As it was we were so near to the rocks that in making preparations to weigh, we had every reason to expect at least the loss of our anchor. We succeeded, however, in heaving short, and hoisting the sails without starting it; but it soon after tripped, and the cutter at the same time casting the wrong way, I was on the point of ordering the cable to be cut from the bows, when the wind so favoured us as to enable the cutter to weather the reef; all sail was instantly made and happily we succeeded both in clearing the reef, which we passed at the distance of a cables' length, and saving our anchor, which was quickly hove up and secured.

After escaping this danger our course was directed to pass outside of Noble Island, in our way to which four small wooded isles were left inshore of our track, and named, at Mr. Roe's request, after Captain Sir Christopher Cole, K.C.B. Between this group and Noble Island two dry sands were observed. Cape Bowen, so named by Lieutenant Jeffreys, is a remarkable projection in the hills, but not on the coast, for it rather forms a bay. To the northward of it the hills fall back with some appearance of a rivulet, but the sandy beach was traced from the masthead, and the opening, if any, was suspected to be a stream communicating with Ninian Bay. To the eastward of our course, abreast of Point Barrow, is a shoal, s, about three miles long, whose rocks showed their heads above the water; beyond this the weather was too hazy to observe anything.

Point Barrow is eleven miles to the northward of Cape Bowen, and is a narrow promontory forming the south head of a deep bay which I intended to anchor in and examine; for it bore the name of PORT Ninian in Lieutenant Jeffrey's chart; but on entering it our soundings rapidly decreased to three and a half fathoms long before Point Barrow sheltered us from the wind. After steering over to the north side and ascertaining that the shoal water extended across the bay we stood out again, and resumed a course along the most rugged and most stony land I ever saw; the stones are all of rounded form and heaped up in a most extraordinary and confused manner, as if it were effected by some extraordinary convulsion of nature. Might they not have been of diluvian origin? This promontory was named by Lieutenant Jeffreys, Cape Melville. At half past one o'clock we passed between the straggling rocks which lie off the Cape and Pipon Island; and as we hauled round Cape Melville into Bathurst Bay the soundings suddenly decreased upon the edge of a bank, and our endeavours to find anchorage here were unsuccessful; we therefore stood across the bay towards Cape Flinders which is the extremity of a group of islands of high and rugged character forming the western head of Bathurst Bay.

On approaching the Cape we saw with surprise the wreck of a vessel thrown upon the rocks, with her masts and yards lying around her in the greatest confusion; her hull was divided; the stem and forecastle deck were lying in one place, and her stern frame with part of her quarterdeck in another. At some distance from her there were some things like two boats hauled up on the beach, but not the least sign of her crew.

As it was too late in the evening to examine any further we passed on, and, rounding the Cape, anchored on its west side under a flat-topped hill, in ten fathoms and a half, sandy mud.

July 14.

The next morning Mr. Bedwell and Mr. Cunningham accompanied me to examine the wreck. On pulling round the Cape we found it impossible to land near her on account of the surf which, from the freshness of the wind blowing directly upon the place where she was thrown up, was breaking heavily; we therefore landed on the opposite side of the bay and walked round to examine the boats; but on reaching the place we found they were canoes of the natives, of similar construction to that seen on the beach at Endeavour River. In one of them was the apparatus for striking turtles which has been noticed by Captain Cook.* Woodcut 4 is descriptive of the instrument and of the manner in which it is used.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth Coll. volume 3 page 232.)

On the branch of a tree near at hand were three turtles' heads; and since they had been placed there the young branches had expanded, causing us to wonder at first how the heads could have passed over them. These remains of a turtle feast did not assimilate with our ideas of the character of the Aborigines of this country, and it was then thought much more probable to be a relic of the crew of the wrecked vessel; we have, however, since frequently noticed the same thing, which could only have been left by the natives. After examining the canoes we proceeded round the bay towards the wreck; in our way to it we passed over a long coral flat which had been left dry by the ebbing tide.