28 August 1770

Joseph Banks's Journal: Daily Entries

Table of Contents On this day ... 28 August 1770 Endeavour Voyage Maps James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia Transcript of Cook's Journal Sydney Parkinson's Journal The authorised published account of Cook's Voyage by John Hawkesworth 1770 Index Search Contact us Search for in Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine

28 August 1770 28. Still Standing to the Northward the water shoaling regularly. Vast quantities of the little substances mentiond yesterday floating upon the water in large lines a mile or more long and 50 or 100 yards wide, all swimming either immediately upon the surface of the water or not many inches under it. The seamen who are now convinc'd that it was not as they had thought the spawn of fish began to call it Sea sawdust, a name certainly not ill adapted to its appearance. One of them, a Portugese who came on board the ship at Rio de Janerio, told me that at St Salvador on the Coast of Brasil where the Portugese have a whale fishery he had often seen vast quantities of it taken out of the stomachs of whales or Grampus's there taken. In the afternoon the Soundings became most irregular starting sometimes at once from 18 to 7 fathoms. At 4 the Land was seen from the Mast head but at Sun set was not seen from the deck. During the night we stood off and on far from satisfied with our soundings. Voyaging Accounts © Derived from State Library of NSW 1998 Transcription of Banks's Endeavour Journal page (vol.2) 308, 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/banks/17700828.html