Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia eBook

Philip Parker King
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 366 pages of information about Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia.

Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia eBook

Philip Parker King
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 366 pages of information about Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia.

October 30 to 31.

From this to the 31st we had made little progress to the eastward; but in the afternoon a breeze set in from West-South-West and brightened our prospects:  our water being now nearly expended, no time was to be lost, and we steered for the Strait of Rottee in order to pass through that of Samow; but the wind was so light that, not being sufficiently advanced before dark, we bore up, and passed round the west side of Pulo Samow with a breeze from South-East which continued during the night...

1819.  November 1.

And by daylight had carried us near the north-west end of the island; at nine a.m. the sea breeze set in from South-West and West, and gradually increasing, we happily succeeded in arriving off the town of Coepang where we moored at one-fifth of a mile from the flagstaff of Fort Concordia, bearing South 14 1/2 degrees East.

Mr. Roe went on shore soon after anchoring to wait upon the Resident, and to inform him of the purport of our visit:  he found that our former friend Mr. Hazaart was at Batavia, and that his place was temporarily supplied by Mr. Halewyn; from whom we experienced such assistance and attention as enabled us to complete our wood and water and to obtain refreshments for the crew by the eighth day.

November 1 to 9.

The refreshments consisted of sheep, coconuts, limes, bananas, mangoes, and the Jaca fruit.  The sheep weighed from twelve to sixteen pounds and were charged at about seven shillings and seven pence each.  Limes were very scarce, and oranges, pompions, and other vegetables which were most wanted, were not to be procured at this season.  Honey was very plentiful and good and was preferred by our people to the gulah, of which we got large quantities last year.

The weather during the first three or four days of our stay was fine but afterwards damp and showery with a succession of land winds, which affected us all with colds; so that we lost no time in leaving the bay the moment that our wants were supplied, which was at sunset on the ninth.

From the secretary to the government we obtained information that Captain de Freycinet of the French Corvette L’Uranie had visited Coepang in October last, and remained there fifteen days.  L’Uranie was fitting out at Toulon when we left England in 1817 for a voyage round the world, and was expected on her way to touch upon the western coasts of New Holland; but it appeared that the only place which Captain De Freycinet visited was Shark’s Bay on the western coast; he remained there a short time for the purpose of swinging his pendulum, and of completing the astronomical observations that had been previously made during Commodore Baudin’s voyage.  We also heard that the master and four of the crew of the ship Frederick, the wreck of which we had seen at Cape Flinders, had arrived at Coepang in a ship that was in company with her at the time of the accident; but what became of the Frederick’s longboat, which left the wreck with twenty-three of the crew, in company with the master’s boat, in which were ONLY FOUR OR FIVE people, never afterwards transpired.

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Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.