New Zealand
Index
Search
Contact us
which he preferrd to standing into a bay with an on shore wind. Upon the strengh of conjecture only again, when he came the lengh of cape Maria Van Dieman he observd hollow waves to come from the NE, from whence he concluded it to be the northermost part of the Land, which we realy found it to be: Lastly, to his eternal credit be it spoken, tho he had been four months absent from Batavia when he made this land, and had saild both Westward and Eastward, his longitude (allowing for an Error of in that of Batavia as he himself has stated it) differs no more than from ours, which is corrected by an innumerable number of observations of the Moon and Sun &c. as well as a transit of Mercury over the Sun; all calculated and observd by Mr Green, a mathematician of well known abilities, who was sent out in this ship by the Royal Society to observe the transit of Venus. Thus much for Tasman: it were much to be wish’d however that we had a fuller account of his voyage than that publis’d by Dirk Rembranse, which seems to be no more than a short extract; and that other navigators would Imitate him in mentioning the Latitudes and Longitudes in which they account the places from whence they take their departure to be situated; which precaution, usefull as it is, may almost be said to have been usd by Tasman alone.
 |
Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from State Library of NSW Transcription of Banks's Journal page (vol. 2) 162, February 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-banks_remarks-192.html