A Voyage to Terra Australis Volume II Part 31

[EAST COAST. STEERING NORTHWARD.]

(Atlas, Plate I.)

The winds were light, and mostly from the eastward during the first two days of our quitting Port Jackson; and not being able to get far enough from the land to avoid the southern current, it had r.e.t.a.r.ded us 35' on the 12th at noon [FRIDAY 12 AUGUST 1803], when the islands of Port Stephens were in sight. On the following day the wind became more steady in the south-western quarter, and as our distance from the land increased, the current abated; and on the 15th, when the lat.i.tude was 27 27', longitude 156 22', and distance from the coast about fifty leagues, the set was something in our favour. The wind was then at south, and our course steered was north for twenty-four hours, then N. by W.; and on the 17th at noon [WEDNESDAY 17 AUGUST 1803] we were in lat.i.tude 23 22', longitude 155 34', and had the wind at S. E. by S. (Atlas, Plate X.)

Soon after two o'clock, the Cato being some distance on our larbord quarter made the signal for seeing land. This proved to be a dry sand bank, which bore S. S. W. about three leagues; and the Porpoise sailing faster than the other s.h.i.+ps, they were directed to keep on their course whilst we hauled up to take a nearer view of the bank. At three o'clock, when it bore S. by E. five or six miles, we hove to and sounded but had no bottom at 80 fathoms. The _Cato's Bank_, for so it was named, is small and seemed to be dest.i.tute of vegetation; there was an innumerable quant.i.ty of birds hovering about, and it was surrounded with breakers; but their extent seemed very little to exceed that of the bank, nor could any other reef near it be discovered. The situation was ascertained to be nearly 23 6' south, and 155 23' east; and we then made sail after the Bridgewater and Cato, to take our station ahead of them as before.

Some apprehensions were excited for the following night by meeting with this bank but as it was more than two degrees to the eastward of the great Barrier Reefs, we thought it unconnected with any other, like the two discovered by captain Ball and Mr. Bampton, further towards the north end of New Caledonia. I had, besides, steered for Torres' Strait in the Investigator, from reefs several degrees to the westward, without meeting with any other danger than what lay near the Barrier or belonged to the Strait; and by the time we had rejoined the s.h.i.+ps in the evening, the distance run from the bank was thirty-five miles, and no other danger had been descried. It did not therefore seem necessary to lose a good night's run by heaving to; and I agreed with lieutenant Fowler, that it would be sufficient to make the signal for the s.h.i.+ps to run under easy, working sail during the night--to take our usual station ahead--and to charge one of the Investigator's warrant officers with the look-out on the fore castle. These precautions being taken, and the top sails double reefed, our course was pursued to the N. by W., with a fresh breeze and cloudy weather; and at eight o'clock the lead was cast, but no bottom found at 85 fathoms. The Bridgewater was then about half a mile on the starbord, and the Cato a mile on the larbord quarter; and their distance seeming to increase at nine, when our rate of going was eight knots, the fore sail was hauled up to keep them in sight: wind then at S. E. by E.

[EAST COAST. WRECK REEF.]

In half an hour, and almost at the same instant by the Investigator's carpenter on the fore castle, and the master who had charge of the watch on the quarter deck--breakers were seen ahead. The helm was immediately put down, with the intention of tacking from them; but the Porpoise having only three double-reefed top sails set, scarcely came up to the wind. Lieutenant Fowler sprang upon deck, on hearing the noise; but supposing it to be occasioned by carrying away the tiller rope, a circ.u.mstance which had often occurred in the Investigator, and having no orders to give, I remained some minutes longer, conversing with the gentlemen in the gun room. On going up, I found the sails shaking in the wind, and the s.h.i.+p in the act of paying off; at the same time there were very high breakers at not a quarter of a cable's length to leeward. In about a minute, the s.h.i.+p was carried amongst the breakers; and striking upon a coral reef, took a fearful heel over on her larbord beam ends, her head being north-eastward. A gun was attempted to be fired, to warn the other vessels of the danger; but owing to the violent motion and the heavy surfs flying over, this could not be done immediately; and before lights were brought up, the Bridgewater and Cato had hauled to the wind across each other.

Our fore mast was carried away at the second or third shock; and the bottom was presently reported to be stove in, and the hold full of water.

When the surfs permitted us to look to windward, the Bridgewater and Cato were perceived at not more than a cable's length distance; and approaching each other so closely, that their running aboard seemed to us inevitable. This was an aweful moment; the utmost silence prevailed; and when the bows of the two s.h.i.+ps went to meet, even respiration seemed to be suspended. The s.h.i.+ps advanced, and we expected to hear the dreadful crash; but presently they opened off from each other, having pa.s.sed side by side without touching; the Cato steering to the north-east, and the Bridgewater to the southward. Our own safety seemed to have no other dependence than upon the two s.h.i.+ps, and the exultation we felt at seeing this most imminent danger pa.s.sed, was great, but of short duration; the Cato struck upon the reef about two cables length from the Porpoise, we saw her fall over on her broad side, and the masts almost instantly disappeared; but the darkness of the night did not admit of distinguis.h.i.+ng, at that distance, what further might have happened.

Turning our eyes toward the Bridgewater, a light was perceived at her mast head, by which we knew she had cleared the reef; and our first sensations were, that the commander would certainly tack, and send boats to our a.s.sistance; but when a little reflexion had enabled us to put ourselves in his place, it became evident that he would not choose to come so near the reef in the night, blowing fresh as it did; and still less to send his boats and people into the breakers, to their certain destruction.

The Porpoise had very fortunately heeled towards the reef so that the surfs which struck against her turned-up side, flew over without was.h.i.+ng any thing off the decks; and the smooth appearance of the water under the lee, afforded a prospect of being able to get the boats out on that side.

The experiment was tried with a small four-oared gig, and succeeded; but a six-oared cutter was jerked against the sheet anchor by the violence of the shocks, and being stove, was filled with water.

It was by no means certain how long the s.h.i.+p, being slightly built and not in a sound state, might hold together; it was therefore deemed expedient to lighten her, that she might drive further up the coral bank and lie more easily. On sounding, the depth was found to be 17 fathoms on the windward side, but no more than a few feet on the reef; and Mr.

Fowler ordered the main and mizen masts, and the starbord anchor to be cut away; but on my suggesting to him the possibility of driving over the reef, with the rise of tide, and sinking in deep water as the Pandora had done, the lightening of the s.h.i.+p was not prosecuted further.

Beyond the smooth water close under the lee, there was a line of breakers, and further on the sea appeared to be tranquil; it therefore seemed probable that boats might approach the s.h.i.+p on that side, and if this information could be conveyed to captain Palmer of the Bridgewater, that something might be speedily done towards saving the crew; and as it was likely that my influence with him might be greatest, and being a pa.s.senger in the Porpoise no charge made my presence on board immediately necessary, I proposed to make the attempt in the gig, to which Mr. Fowler a.s.sented. The boat being obliged to lie at a little distance from the s.h.i.+p, to prevent being stove, I jumped over-board and swam to her; and we pushed through the breakers to the smooth water, receiving two or three surfs by the way, from which we hardly escaped sinking. On examining into the condition of the boat, I found nothing to bale out the water, and only two oars which did not belong to it; and instead of the proper crew of four men, there were only three; but under the thwarts were stowed away three others, the armourer, a cook, and a marine, who did not know how to handle an oar. These last were set to baling with their hats and shoes, and we rowed towards the Bridgewater's light, keeping under the lee of the breakers. That s.h.i.+p was standing from us, and I saw that any attempt to get nearer before she tacked would be fruitless; and even afterwards, it was much to be doubted whether, with two awkward oars and an overloaded boat, we could make any way against the sea on the windward side of the reef; I therefore determined to remain under the lee of the breakers until she should approach, and to lie near the Porpoise; that in case of her going to pieces before morning, we might save some of the people. In rowing back we met the cutter, which the men in her, having got the leak partly stopped, had pushed off without an officer, and were going they scarcely knew whither; they furnished us with a third oar, and I desired them to keep close to the gig, near the wreck, until morning.

We found the bottom here to be coral rock, and the water so shallow, that a man might stand up in many places without being over head.

I wished to have got on board the s.h.i.+p, to let them know of the boats being safe and what we had discovered of the reef; but the breakers between us, and the darkness of the night cut off all hope of communication before morning. They burned blue lights every half hour, as a guide to the Bridgewater; but her light was lost to us in the boats at eleven o'clock, and after two in the morning [THURSDAY 18 AUGUST 1803] it was no longer seen from the Porpoise. At that time it appeared to be low water, and the s.h.i.+p lay so much more quiet than before, that the apprehension of her going to pieces before daylight had much subsided; to be prepared, however, for the next flood, Mr. Fowler employed his people during the night in making a raft of the spare top masts, yards, etc., with short ropes all round it, by which the people might hold on; and a cask of water, with a chest containing some provisions, a s.e.xtant, and the Investigator's log books, were secured upon the raft.

In the small gig we were quite drenched, the south-east wind blew fresh and cold., and the reflexions excited by the great change so suddenly made in our situation. with the uncertainty of what had befallen the Cato and even the Bridgewater, did not tend to make this long night pa.s.s more agreeably. My thoughts were princ.i.p.ally occupied in devising plans for saving ourselves, under the apprehension that we might see no more of the Bridgewater; but not to discourage the people, I spoke of every body getting on board that s.h.i.+p in the morning, and of continuing our voyage to England, as not at all doubtful.

Of the poor Cato, we could neither see nor hear any thing. It appeared that captain Park, when meeting the Bridgewater on opposite tacks, stopped setting his main sail and bore away to leeward had he persevered, both s.h.i.+ps must have come upon the reef together; but by his presence of mind on this occasion, the Bridgewater weathered the breakers and escaped the impending danger. When the Cato struck the reef, it was upon the point of a rock, under the larbord chess tree; and she fell over to windward, with her decks exposed to the waves. In a short time the decks and holds were torn up, and every thing washed away; and the sole place left, where the unfortunate people could hope to avoid the fury of the sea, was in the larbord fore channel, where they all crowded together, the greater part with no other covering than their s.h.i.+rts. Every time the sea struck the Cato, it twisted her about upon the rock with such violent jerks, that they expected the stern, which was down in the water, would part every moment. In this situation, some las.h.i.+ng themselves to the timber heads, others clinging to the chain plates and dead eyes, and to each other, captain Park and his crew pa.s.sed the night; their hope being, that the fore castle of the s.h.i.+p might hold upon the rock till morning, and that the Bridgewater would then send her boats to save them. From the Porpoise they entertained no hope; and until the signal lights were seen, they thought her gone to pieces.

At the first dawning of day, I got on board the Porpoise by the help of the fallen masts. Every body was in good spirits at seeing the s.h.i.+p hold together so well, and finding the boats safe; for the gig, with all in her, had been given up for lost, some one having thought he saw her sink in the breakers. With the daylight appeared a dry sand bank, not more than half a mile distant, sufficiently large to receive us all with what provisions might be got out of the s.h.i.+p; and the satisfaction arising from this discovery was increased by the Bridgewater being perceived under sail, and though distant, that she was standing towards the reef.

On the other side, the appearance of the poor Cato, with the people waving to us from the bowsprit and fore castle, the only parts above water, was truly distressing.

The reef seemed to be a mile in breadth, and it extended in an east and west direction to a distance beyond what could be distinguished from the Porpoise's deck; but there were in it several wide, and apparently deep openings, by which the Bridgewater might run to leeward, and there anchor or lie to, whilst sending her boats to our a.s.sistance. Having made these remarks, I left Mr. Fowler and his people getting up water and provisions; and went to the bank for the purpose of being ready to go off in the gig so soon as that s.h.i.+p should be near enough, and pointing out to captain Palmer the means by which he might take on board the two crews and what else might be saved; but he went upon the other tack soon afterward, and no more was seen of him during the day.

A number of sea-birds eggs scattered over the bank, showed that it was above high-water mark, and I sent the gig back with this intelligence to lieutenant Fowler. Seeing that the Bridgewater did not approach, he ordered the boat to lie opposite to the Cato; and captain Park and his men, throwing themselves into the water with any pieces of spar or plank they could find, swam to her through the breakers; and were then taken to the Porpoise where they received food and some clothing. Several were bruised against the coral rocks, and three young lads were drowned. One of these poor boys, who, in the three or four voyages he had made to sea, had been each time s.h.i.+pwrecked, had bewailed himself through the night as the persecuted Jonas who carried misfortune wherever he went. He launched himself upon a broken spar with his captain; but having lost his hold in the breakers, was not seen afterwards.

At low water, which happened about two o'clock, the reef was dry very near to the Porpoise, and both officers and men were a.s.siduously employed in getting upon it provisions and their clothes; they were brought from thence by the boats, for the depth was several feet at a distance round the bank. Before dark, five half hogsheads of water, some flour, salt meat, rice, and spirits were landed, with such of the pigs and sheep as had escaped drowning; and every man from both s.h.i.+ps had got on sh.o.r.e.

Some of the Cato's sailors appeared in officers uniforms, given to them in the Porpoise; and I was pleased to see that our situation was not thought so bad by the people, as to hinder all pleasantry upon these promotions. Those who had saved great coats or blankets shared with the less fortunate, and we laid down to sleep on the sand in tolerable tranquillity, being much oppressed with fatigue; and except from those of the Cato's men who had been bruised or cut by the rocks, there was not a complaining voice heard on the bank.

The Porpoise's two cutters and the gig were hauled up to high-water mark; but the latter not having been well secured, and the night tide rising higher than was expected, it was carried away, to our great loss. In the morning [FRIDAY 19 AUGUST 1803], we had the satisfaction to see the s.h.i.+p still entire, and thrown higher up the reef; the Cato had gone to pieces, and all that remained was one of the quarters, which had floated over the front ledge of the reef, and lodged near our bank. Of the Bridgewater nothing could be seen; and many fears were entertained for her safety.

For the better preservation of discipline, and of that union between the crews of the Porpoise and Cato and pa.s.sengers of the Investigator, so necessary in our circ.u.mstances, it was highly expedient that they should be put on the same footing and united under one head. The Porpoise was lost beyond a possibility of hope, and the situation of the commander and crew thereby rendered similar to that of their pa.s.sengers; I therefore considered myself authorised and called upon, as the senior officer, to take the command of the whole; and my intention being communicated to lieutenant Fowler, he a.s.sented without hesitation to its expediency and propriety, and I owe to captain Park a similar acknowledgement. The people were then a.s.sembled upon the top of the bank; and I informed the seamen of the Cato, one or two of whom had shown signs of discontent at being ordered to work, that as they doubtless expected to be fed from our provisions, so they must exert themselves to save as much as possible;*

and although they were not in the King's pay, yet as a magistrate acting within the jurisdiction of the Admiralty, I would punish all deviations from obedience and good conduct in them, the same as amongst our own seamen. I ordered the Cato's men, who had saved nothing, to be quartered in the messes of our people, in the proportion of one to three; and directed lieutenant Fowler, who had charge of the provisions, to victual all alike. The surgeon of the Porpoise was ordered to examine the wounded, and give in a list of those really incapable of duty; and a large party, consisting of as many men as the two cutters could contain, went off to the wreck under the command of Mr. Fowler, to disembark provisions and stores.

[* When a merchant s.h.i.+p is lost, the seamen not only cease to be in pay, but lose all wages due to them after the last delivery of the cargo; and the sole interest they have to save the stores, even of their own s.h.i.+p, is for the preservation of themselves, or the prospect of being rewarded by the owners or insurers.]

A top-sail yard was set up and secured as a flag staff on the highest part of the bank, and a large blue ensign hoisted to it with the union downward, as a signal to the Bridgewater. We expected, if no accident had happened, that she would come to relieve us from our critical situation so soon as the wind should be perfectly moderate; but I judged it most prudent to act as if we had no such resource, and this was justified by the event. Captain Palmer had even then abandoned us to our fate, and was, at the moment, steering away for Batavia, without having made any effort to give us a.s.sistance. He saw the wrecks, as also the sand bank, on the morning after our disaster, and must have known that the reef was not all connected, since it is spoken of by him as lying in patches; but he did not seek to ascertain whether any of the openings were pa.s.sable for the Bridgewater, and might enable him to take those on board who had escaped drowning. He bore away round all; and whilst the two hapless vessels were still visible from the mast head, pa.s.sed the leeward extremity of the reef, and hove to for the night. The apprehension of danger to himself must then have ceased; but he neither attempted to work up in the smooth water, nor sent any of his boats to see whether some unfortunate individuals were not clinging to the wrecks, whom he might s.n.a.t.c.h from the sharks or save from a more lingering death; it was safer, in his estimation, to continue on his voyage and publish that we were all lost, as he did not fail to do on his arrival in India.*

[* Against a British seaman filling a respectable situation, these are heavy charges; but Mr. Palmer is himself the authority. The following extracts from his account are taken from a Calcutta paper, the _Orphan_ of Feb. 3, 1804.

The Bridgewater, he says, "was just beginning to draw off, when the Porpoise was scarcely a s.h.i.+p's length to leeward, settling with her head towards us, and her broadside upon the reef; her foremast was gone and the sea breaking over her. At this moment we perceived the Cato within half a cable's length, standing stem on for us. I hailed to put their helm a-starboard, by which means she just cleared us, and luffed up under our stern; had she fallen on board of us the consequences must have been dreadful indeed." On the 18th, "When the day was broke, we had the mortification to perceive the Cato had shared the fate of the Porpoise; the bow and bow sprit of the latter only at intervals appearing through the surf. (The Porpoise and Cato were mistaken for each other.) The latter lay with her bottom exposed to the sea, which broke with tremendous fury over her; not a mast standing. Finding we could not weather the reef, and that _it was too late had it been in our power to give any a.s.sistance_; and still fearing that we might be embayed or entangled by the supposed chain or patches; all therefore that remained for us to do was either by dint of carrying sail to weather the reef to the southward, (meaning the Cato's Bank,) or, if failing in that, to push to leeward and endeavour to find a pa.s.sage through the _patches of reef_ to the northward. At ten a.m., we found by chronometer we had got considerably to the westward; and that it would be impossible, with the wind as it was then blowing strong from the S. E. with a heavy sea, to weather the southern reef; we therefore determined, while we had the day before us, to run to the westward of the northern reef."

"At two p.m. we got sight of the reef bearing N. N. E. At five p.m. _we could perceive the wrecks, and ascertained the westernmost extent of the reef_ to lay in 155 42' 30" east longitude."

"_After pa.s.sing the reef we lay too for the night_; and in the morning we lost sight cc of it, having drifted to the northward."

Such is the substantial part of Mr. Palmer's account, omitting his own fears and congratulations, and his "most painful reflexions on the sufferings of the s.h.i.+pwrecked." Nothing is said of the sand bank; but I have been favoured with a copy of the journal of Mr. Williams, third mate of the Bridgewater, and the following pa.s.sages are taken from it.

"At half past seven a.m. (Aug. 18.) saw the reef on our weather bow, and from the mast head we saw the two s.h.i.+ps, and to leeward of them a _sand bank_. The weather abated much, we set all our sails, and every man rejoiced that they should have it in their power to a.s.sist their unfortunate companions; as there was every probability of our going within two miles of the reef. The morning threatened; but before the wind increased we had time to satisfy ourselves if there were any still in existence; we had nothing to apprehend but what could be seen before we approached so near. The s.h.i.+ps were very distinctly to be seen from aloft, and also from the deck; but instead of rendering them any succour, the captain ordered the s.h.i.+p to be put on the other tack, and said it was impossible to render them any relief. What must be the sensations of each man at that instant? Instead of proceeding to the support of our unfortunate companions, to leave them to the mercy of the waves, without knowing whether they were in existence, or had perished! From the appearance of the wrecks, there was every probability of their existing; and if any survived at the time we were within sight, what must have been their sensations on seeing all their anxious expectations of relief blasted."

"Until our arrival at Bombay, nothing particular occurred, except my being sent on sh.o.r.e at Tillicherry with the account of the loss of the Porpoise and Cato; an account that served for the moment to blind the people. In executing this service, I did, for the first time to my knowledge, neglect my duty, and gave a contrary account; but for this reason--I was convinced that the crews of those s.h.i.+ps were on the reefs, and that this was an erroneous account made by captain Palmer to excuse his own conduct. I left it on sh.o.r.e for the perusal of the inhabitants, after relating the story as contrary as possible. This was the cause of many words; and at length ended with my quitting the s.h.i.+p, and forfeiting my wages and a part of my clothes."

Such was the conduct of Mr. Palmer towards His Majesty's s.h.i.+p Porpoise, and towards the Cato which had given way in the moment of danger that he might be saved. But the officers and crews of the Porpoise and Cato reached England in safety; whilst captain Palmer and the Bridgewater, who left Bombay for Europe, have not been heard of, now for many years. How dreadful must have been his reflexions at the time his s.h.i.+p was going down! Lieutenant Tucker of the navy, who was first officer of the Bridgewater, and several others as well as Mr. Williams, had happily quitted the s.h.i.+p in India.]

The wind blew fresh from the south-eastward on the 18th, and 19th, but on the two following days it was moderate with fine weather; we worked hard on board the Porpoise, and by the 22nd [MONDAY 22 AUGUST 1803] had got most of the water and provisions secured in a large tent made with spars and sails; each mess of officers and men had also their private tent; and our manner of living and working had a.s.sumed the same regularity as before the s.h.i.+pwreck. One of the men whose liberty governor King had granted at my request, being guilty of disorderly conduct, the articles of war were publicly read, and the man punished at the flag staff. This example served to correct any evil disposition, if such existed; the men worked cordially together, and in all respects we preserved the same discipline and order as on board His Majesty's s.h.i.+ps.

Our prospects of receiving succour from the Bridgewater having become very feeble, after two days of moderate weather had elapsed, I called a council of all the officers, to deliberate upon the best means of relieving ourselves from the precarious situation in which our misfortune, and captain Palmer's want of energy and humanity had left us exposed; and it was finally determined, that an officer and crew in the largest of the two six-oared cutters, should endeavour to get to Sandy Cape, sixty-three leagues distant, and from thence along the coast to Port Jackson; and pray His Excellency, the governor, to send vessels to carry us either back to that port or on towards England. But as the safe arrival of the cutter at that season of the year, when strong winds usually prevail from the southward, was a subject of much apprehension; it was resolved that two decked boats, capable of transporting every person remaining on the bank, except one officer and boat's crew, should be immediately laid down by the carpenters, to be built from what was already and might be still further saved from the wreck; and that, if the officer in the cutter did not return with a.s.sistance in two months, the boats should then, or as soon after as they could be ready to sail, proceed to Port Jackson. The first and princ.i.p.al means, however, through which our deliverance was to be expected, being the safe arrival of the cutter, the choice of an officer to conduct her was next considered.

Lieutenant Fowler proposed, and it seemed to be the general wish, that I should undertake the execution of the task; and being satisfied that the preservation of order on the bank, and the saving of the stores would be left in good hands, the hope of being instrumental to the general safety induced me readily to comply. But to provide against sickness and the various accidents which might arise from the natives of the coast or otherwise, it was necessary that two officers should be in the boat; and captain Park of the Cato being desirous of returning to Port Jackson, to make the necessary statements relative to the loss of his s.h.i.+p, he was appointed my second with the general approbation.

The smaller cutter with an officer, his second, and a boat's crew, I proposed should remain with the stores, and in charge of my charts and books for a few weeks longer than the two months; and then go to Port Jackson also, should no vessel arrive before that time. This precaution was necessary, lest any unforeseen occurrence should delay my return to the bank beyond two months, though not prevent it altogether; that the charts, journals, and papers might still be found there, to be taken on to England if wanted. I designed my brother, lieutenant Flinders, for this service; but Mr. Fowler claiming it as the post of honour, I too much respected the principle that influenced him not to accede to his request; and therefore ordered, that the former officer and Mr. John Aken, master of the Investigator, should take charge of the decked boats, with a master's mate in each capable of conducting them to Port Jackson, should illness or any accident happen to either of the officers.

TUESDAY 23 AUGUST 1803

By the evening of the 23rd, the Porpoise was well nigh emptied of all the most essential things; and on a survey being made, there was found sufficient water and provisions on the bank to serve ninety-four men, which was our number, for three months, even at full allowance; although many casks were stove in the hold by the bulging of the larbord side, and much dry provisions spoiled by the salt water. The princ.i.p.al contents of the warrant officers store rooms, as well as the sails., rigging, and spars, were also on sh.o.r.e. My books, charts, and papers had suffered much damage, from the top of the cabin being displaced when the mizen mast fell; all such papers as chanced to be loose on the night of the s.h.i.+pwreck were then washed away by the surfs, and amongst them a chart of the west side of the Gulph of Carpentaria and part of the North Coast, upon which I had been occupied in the afternoon.

Part of my small library shared the same fate; but the rest of the charts, with my log and bearing books and astronomical observations were all saved, though some of them in a wet and shattered state. The rare plants collected on different parts of the south, the east, and north coasts of Terra Australis, for His Majesty's botanic garden at Kew, and which were in a flouris.h.i.+ng g state before the s.h.i.+pwreck., were totally destroyed by the salt water; as were the dried specimens of plants.

Fortunately, the naturalist and natural-history painter, who remained at Port Jackson, had put on board only a small part of their collection of specimens; the great ma.s.s, with the preserved birds, quadrupeds, and insects being kept for a future opportunity. Mr. Westall. the landscape painter, had his sketches and drawings wetted and partly destroyed in his cabin; and my little collection in mineralogy and conchology was much defaced, and one-half lost.

THURSDAY 25 AUGUST 1803

The carpenters were employed until the evening of the 25th, in preparing the cutter for her intended expedition; and the rest of the people in adding to the stores on the bank. As the Porpoise became lighter, the sea threw her higher up on the reef, and she was much shaken; but we hoped the timbers and beams would hold together, at least until the next spring tides, and that every thing would be got out. Of the Cato, nothing but a few scattered fragments had remained for several days before.

Before leaving Wreck Reef, it will be proper to say something of the sand bank to which we were all indebted for our lives; and where the greater part of the officers and people were to remain in expectation of my return from Port Jackson. In the annexed view of it, Mr. Westall has represented the corals above water, to give a better notion of their forms and the way they are seen on the reefs; but in reality, the tide never leaves any considerable part of them uncovered. The length of the bank is about one hundred and fifty fathoms, by fifty in breadth, and the general elevation three or four feet above the common level of high water; it consists of sand and pieces of coral, thrown up by the waves and eddy tides on a patch of reef five or six miles in circuit; and being nearly in the middle of the patch, the sea does no more, even in a gale, than send a light spray over the bank, sufficient, however, to prevent the growth of any other than a few diminutive salt plants. On its north and north-west sides, and at one or two cables length from the reef, there is from 18 to 25 fathoms on a bottom of coral sand; where the Bridgewater might have anch.o.r.ed in safety, so long as the wind remained between S. W. and E. S. E., and received every person from the wrecks, with provisions for their subsistence. The lat.i.tude of the bank was found to be 22 11' south, and longitude by the time keeper No. 520, reduced up from an observation on the afternoon preceding the s.h.i.+pwreck, 155 3'; but this was afterwards found to require correction. This excellent time keeper did not seem to have been affected by the violent motion of the s.h.i.+p; but No. 513 stopped, and Arnold's watch No. 1736 was spoiled by the salt water.

In searching for something wherewith to make a fire on the first night of our landing, a spar and a piece of timber, worm eaten and almost rotten, were found and burnt. The timber was seen by the master of the Porpoise, who judged it to have been part of the stern post of a s.h.i.+p of about four hundred tons; and I have thought it might, not improbably, have belonged to _La Boussole_ or _L'Astrolabe_. Monsieur de la Perouse, on quitting Botany Bay, intended to visit the south-west coast of New Caledonia; and he might have encountered in the night, as we did, some one of the several reefs which lie scattered in this sea.* (Atlas, Plate I.) Less fortunate than we were, he probably had no friendly sand bank near him, upon which his people might be collected together and the means of existence saved out of the s.h.i.+ps; or perhaps his two vessels both took the unlucky direction of the Cato after striking, and the seas which broke into them carried away all his boats and provisions; nor would La Perouse, his vessels, or crews be able, in such a case, to resist the impetuosity of the waves more than twenty-four hours. If such were the end of the regretted French navigator, as there is now but too much reason to fear, it is the counterpart of what would have befallen all on board the Porpoise and Cato, had the former s.h.i.+p, like the Cato, fallen over towards the sea instead of heeling to the reef.

[* La Perouse says, in his letter to M. de Fleurieu, dated Feb. 7, 1789 from Botany Bay, "You will doubtless be glad to learn, that I have not allowed this misfortune (the ma.s.sacre of captain De l'Angle and eleven others at the Navigator's Isles) to derange the plan of the remaining part of my voyage." This plan, as expressed in a preceding letter of Sept. 7, 1787, at Avatscha, was to "employ six months in visiting the Friendly Islands to procure refreshments, _the south-west coast of New Caledonia_, the island of Santa Cruz of Mendana, the southern coast of the land of the Arsacides, with that of Louisiade as far as New Guinea."

_Voyage of La Perouse_, Translation, London, 1799, VOL. II. p. 494-5, 502-3. As La Pe/rouse did not reach the Friendly Isles, it is probable that he began with New Caledonia; and that upon the south-west coast, or in the way to it, disaster befel him.]

An opinion that La Perouse had been lost in this neighbourhood, induced me when examining the main coast to seek carefully at every place, amongst the refuse thrown upon the sh.o.r.es, for indications of s.h.i.+pwreck to windward; and could the search have been then prosecuted to the 15th, or 12th degree of lat.i.tude, I am persuaded it would not have been in vain. Besides the extensive reefs which skirt the western side of New Caledonia, and the Barrier Reefs on the opposite coast of New South Wales, we are now acquainted with the six or eight following distinct banks of coral in the sea between them, exclusive of Wreck Reef and the Cato's Bank.

Two reefs discovered by Bougainville.

Bature de Diane, by the same.

Two reefs further westward, by the Investigator.

b.o.o.by Shoal, towards New Caledonia, by captain H. L. Ball.

Bellona's Shoal, by the s.h.i.+p of that name.