OF THE WINDS AND CURRENTS, AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PORTS, ISLANDS, AND COAST BETWEEN PORT JACKSON AND BREAKSEA SPIT.
EAST COAST.
The south-east trade cannot be said to blow home upon that part of the coast of New South Wales, which lies between Breaksea Spit and Port Jackson, except during the summer months when winds from that quarter prevail and often blow very hard; they are then accompanied by heavy rains and very thick weather: generally however from October to April they assume the character of a sea-breeze and, excepting during their suspension by south-easterly or westerly gales, are very regular. In the month of December strong south-easterly gales are not uncommon; and in February and March they are very frequent.
In the month of December hot winds from the north-west will sometimes last for two or three days, and are almost always suddenly terminated by a gust of wind from the southward. The most prevailing winds, during all seasons, are from the south, and are probably oftener from the eastward of that point than from the westward. The current always sets to the southward, and has been found by us on several occasions to set the strongest during a South-East gale. The general course of the current is in the direction of the coast, but this is not constant; for, between Port Stevens and to the southward of Port Jackson, it sometimes sets in towards it. In a gale from the South-East in the month of December 1820, it must have been setting as much to the westward as South-West. This should be attended to, particularly in south-easterly gales, and an offing preserved to provide against the wind's veering to East-South-East and East by South, which is often the case; and then the current, setting upon the weather-bow, will place the vessel, in a dark night, in considerable danger. The rate of the current is generally about one mile per hour, but it sometimes though rarely runs at the rate of nearly three knots.
To the eastward in the space between New South Wales and New Caledonia the current sets to the North-West, which carries a great body of water into the bight between the former and New Guinea; but as Torres Strait offers but a very inconsiderable outlet the stream is turned, and sets to the southward until it gradually joins the easterly current which, from the prevalence of westerly winds, is constantly running between Van Diemen's Land and Cape Horn.
The tides in this interval are of little consequence and in few places rise higher than six feet at the springs, excepting where they are affected by local circumstances.
There are but few places of shelter upon the east coast between Port Jackson and Breaksea Spit: Captain Flinders points out Broken Bay, Port Hunter for small craft, Port Stephens, Shoal Bay for vessels not exceeding fifty tons, and Glass House (Moreton) Bay. There are however other anchorages that might be resorted to in the event of being thrown upon a lee shore, which are equally good with Port Hunter, Shoal Bay, and Glass House Bay.
There is an anchorage behind Black Head to the north of Point Stevens which Lieutenant Oxley discovered to be an island; Port Macquarie also affords shelter for small vessels; and on the north side of Smoky Cape there is good shelter from southerly or south-easterly winds: but the whole of these, excepting Broken Bay, are only attainable by small vessels. A large ship must keep an offing; and as the coast is not at all indented the wind must blow very hard, and the ship sail very badly, to be placed in danger. Wide Bay however is a very good port, and affords a safe and secure shelter; the anchorage being protected by a reef which fronts it.
PORT JACKSON.
The Lighthouse, or Macquarie Tower, is in latitude 33 degrees 51 minutes 11 seconds South and longitude 4 minutes 29.8 seconds east of Sir Thomas Brisbane's Observatory at Sydney, or 151 degrees 19 minutes 45 seconds East of Greenwich. It is a revolving light and may be seen at the distance of ten leagues. The Inner South Head bears from it North 20 degrees West* and is distant about two thousand five hundred yards. The North Head bears from the Inner South Head North 53 degrees East by compass, about two thousand four hundred and forty yards; and the narrowest part of the entrance, which is between the Inner North and South Heads, is a little more than eight hundred yards, so that there is abundance of room to work in should the wind blow out of the Port. On arriving off the lighthouse, steer in between the North and South Heads until you are past the line of bearing of the Outer North, and the Inner South Heads: then haul round the latter, but avoid a reef of rocks that extends for two hundred yards off the point, and steer for Middle Head, a projecting cliff at the bottom of the bay, until the harbour opens round the Inner South Head; you may then pass on either side of the Sow and Pigs; but the eastern channel, although the narrowest, is perhaps the best; but this, in a great measure, depends upon the direction of the wind. The eastern channel is the deepest. The Sow and Pigs, or Middle Ground, is the only danger in Port Jackson: it is a bank of sand and rocks, of about eight hundred yards in length, by about three hundred and fifty in breadth: its length being in the direction of the harbour; a very small portion of it is dry, and consists of a few rocks, upon which the sea almost always breaks; they are situated upon the outer end of the shoal, and are in the line of bearing of the Outer North and the Inner South Heads. The south-western tail of the bank is chiefly of sand, with rocks scattered about it; but, on the greater portion of it, there is twelve feet water; it gradually deepens to three and a quarter fathoms, which is beyond the rocky limits of the shoal. To sail through the Western Channel, which is from one-third to half a mile wide, steer towards George's Head, a high rocky head, about three quarters of a mile above Middle Head, keeping it in sight upon the larboard bow, and the sea horizon open between the points of entrance, until you are within the line of bearing between a small sandy beach on the western shore and Green Point; the latter is a grassy mound, the south head of Camp Cove. Then steer for George's Head, and gradually round it: when you have passed the line of bearing between it and Green Point, and opened the sandy beach of Watson's Bay, steer boldly up the harbour. In rounding Point Bradley, there is a rocky shelf that runs off the point for perhaps one hundred yards. Pass on either side of Pinch-gut Island, and, in hauling into Sydney Cove, avoid a rocky reef that extends off Point Bennelong for rather more than two hundred yards into the sea.