The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765 Part 14

MARCH.

On the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th we skirted the land with the wind and course aforesaid, and came to anchor at about a mile's distance from the land. I went ash.o.r.e in person with the pinnaces duly manned and armed...[*]

[* What follows in the original is an almost verbatim transcript of the corresponding pa.s.sages in the authentic journal.]

(Keerweer formerly mistaken for islands)

To this place or part of the land where the aforesaid happened, we have in the new chart given the name of Keer-Weer [Turn-again], seeing that the land here bends to S.W. and West, in 7 Lat.i.tude; the place, which has formerly been mistaken for a group of islands by the men of the yacht Duijfken in the year 1606 [*], lies about 50 miles S.E. by East of Aro...

[* The pa.s.sage in the text furnishes interesting evidence respecting the voyage of the yacht Duifken in 1606; a fact that has so often been called in question, or even flatly denied.]

On the 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st [of March]

[*] with a W.N.W. wind in 2, 2, 3 and 4 fathom, we got clear of the shallows which we had previously run into as into a trap; we managed to do so by tacking and taking advantage of the current, so that in the evening of the 21st aforesaid we came to anchor in 7 fathom near an islet situated one mile or upwards S. and N. of the mainland...

[* A comparison with the authentic journal at the dates given, will enable the reader to ascertain the points which the yachts had then reached.]

On the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th [of April] we tried on divers courses, such as S.E. and S.E. by E., to make the land of Nova Guinea, until on the 8th aforesaid in the night-time we ran in between certain reefs, where by G.o.d's providence the yachts were preserved from taking harm; after which on the 12th aforesaid we sighted the land of Nova Guinea in 11 45', our yachts being in 13 fathom, clayey bottom.

On the 18th [of April], after running southward between 5 and 6 miles, we saw a large number of blacks on the beach; we therefore dropped anchor and sent the skipper ash.o.r.e with the two pinnaces; who, by offering them pieces of iron and strings of beads, caused some of the blacks to draw near, so that he could lay hold of one of them, whom with the help of his men (who met with little resistance) he carried on board...

On the 5th, 6th and 7th [of May] we skirted the coast as before on a northward course, and repeatedly endeavoured to effect a landing, but were in every case treated by the savages in hostile fas.h.i.+on, and forced to return to the yachts...

On the 11th [of May] we sailed close insh.o.r.e past a large river (which in 1606 the men of the yacht Duijfken went up with the boat, on which occasion one of them was killed by the arrows of the natives), situated in 11 48' Lat., to which river we have in the new map given the name of...[*]

Always continuing Their High Mightinesses' etc. obedient and affectionate servant J. CARSTENSZOON.

[* Carpentier, erased in the original MS. Cf. my Life of Tasman, p. 100, note 4.]

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D.

CHART MADE BY THE UPPER STEERSMAN AREND MARTENSZ. DE LEEUW, WHO TOOK PART IN THE EXPEDITION [*].

[* The original of this chart, of which a full-sized reproduction is given in _Remarkable Maps_, II, 5, is preserved in the State Archives at the Hague. There would seem to have been still more charts of this voyage: see VAN DIJK Carpentaria, p. 37, note 3.]

[Map No. 7. Kaart van den opperstuurman AREND MARTENSZ. DE LEEUW, der Zuidwestkust van Nieuw Guinea en der Oostkust van de Golf van Carpentaria (Chart, made by the upper steersman Arend Martensz. De Leeuw, of the Southwest coast of New-Guinea and the East-coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria)]

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2.

VOYAGE OF THE ARNHEM ALONE UNDER THE COMMAND OF VAN COOLSTEERDT, AFTER THE s.h.i.+P PERA AND HERSELF HAD PARTED COMPANY ON THE 27TH OF APRIL, 1623.

A.

_Letter from the Governor of Banda to the Governor-General Pieter De Carpentier, May 16, 1623._

n.o.ble, Wors.h.i.+pful, Wise, Valiant and very Discreet Sir,

The day before yesterday...we sighted...a s.h.i.+p. We forthwith presumed it to be Mr. Carstens, or perhaps one of the Yachts Pera or Arnehem...The s.h.i.+p turned out to be the Arnehem, which during the preceding night had lost her rudder...

(They) have not done much worth mentioning, for at the place where the chart [*] they had with them, led them to expect an open pa.s.sage, they did not find any such, so that they could not get to the island they wished to reach...[**]

[* It is highly probable that this is another allusion to a chart of the voyage of Willem Janszoon with the Duifken in 1605-1606, because other doc.u.ments concerning this expedition of the Arnhem and the Pera put it beyond a doubt that they had on board a chart of the voyage of the s.h.i.+p Duifken. In that case the pa.s.sage in the text proves that Willem Janszoon already suspected the existence of Torres Strait, since the "open pa.s.sage" can hardly refer to anything else.]

[** The remaining part of the letter refers to the time when the two s.h.i.+ps were still together, and contains nothing new.]

Done in the Castle of Na.s.sauw at Nera in the island of Banda, this 16th of May, A.D. 1623. (signed) ISACK De BRUNE.

B.

_Letter from the Governor-General Antonio Van Diemen to "Commander"

Gerrit Thomaszoon Pool, February 19, 1636._

Wors.h.i.+pful, Provident, very Discreet Sir,

With the present we also [*] send you a chart of the coasts made A.D.

1623 by the Yachts Pera and Arnhem, together with a small map of the South-land as surveyed by divers s.h.i.+ps coming from the Netherlands, both of which may be of use to Your Wors.h.i.+p [**]...

Done in the Castle of Batavia, February 19, A.D. 1636.

(signed) ANTONIO VAN DIEMEN

[* _Vis_. together with the Instructions of Febr. 19 for Pool's expedition to the Southland; see _infra_.]

[** To wit, with a view to the voyage just referred to.]

C.

_Instructions for Pool, Febr. 19, 1636._

...Failing ulterior instructions, we desire you to sail as quickly as possible from Banda to Arnhems and Speultsland, situated between 9 and 13 degrees Southern Lat.i.tude, discovered A.D., 1623, as you may further see from the annexed chart [*]...

[* This, then, is the chart of the "coasts made A.D. 1623 by the yachts _Pera_ and _Arnhem_"; for the "small map" handed to Pool, in the second place referred to in the above letter of Febr. 19, 1636, refers to surveyings of the west-coast of Australia by s.h.i.+ps going from the Netherlands to India, and can therefore have nothing to do with the expedition of 1623. Arnhems- and Van Speults-Land were accordingly discovered on the voyage of the Pera and the Arnhem. Now the journal of the Pera shows that she did _not_ discover them, so that we are led to the conclusion that Arnhems- and Van Speults Land were discovered by the s.h.i.+p Arnhem.]

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D.

_Letter from the Governor-General and Councillors to the Managers of the E.I.C., December 28, 1636._

...[The s.h.i.+ps of Pool's expedition touched at] the native village of Taranga, situated at the south-western extremity of Arouw, and then sailed southward, hoping to be able to run on an easterly course in order to execute their orders; they, however, met with strong south-east winds and very high seas besides; in 11 degrees S.L. they discovered vast lands, to which they gave the names of Van Diemen's and Maria's Land, and which we suspect to be Arnhems or Speults's islands, though they extend in another direction than the latter [*].

[* Cf. as regards the situation of Arnhem's and Van Speult's Lands my Lite of Tasman, pp. 101 and 102, and the charts there referred to. Of the Nolpe-Dozy chart, of which there is question in note 4 on p. 102 of the book just mentioned, a reproduction will be found in _Remarkable Maps_, with a note by myself.]