5 June 1770

James Cook's Journal: Daily Entries

Table of Contents On this day ... 5 June 1770 Endeavour Voyage Maps James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia Joseph Banks's Journal Sydney Parkinson's Journal The authorised published account of Cook's Voyage by John Hawkesworth 1770 Index Search Contact us Search for Nautical Term in Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine...

5 June 1770 Tuesday 5th Winds between the South and East a very gentle breeze and serene weather   At 6 oClock AM we were abreast of the western point of land above mentioned / distant from it 3 Miles / which I have named Cape Upstart because being surrounded ^with low land it starts or riseth up singley at the first making of it / Latitude 19°..39' Longde 212°..32' Wt / it lies west-north-west 14 Leagues from Cape Gloucester - - - and is of a height sufficent to be seen 112 Leagues, but it is not so much of a Promontory as it appears to be because on each side of it near the Sea is very low land which is not to be seen unless you are pretty well in with the shore,     inland are some tolerable high hills or Mountains which like the Cape afford but a very different barren prospect - Having past this Cape we continued standing to the westward and north-west as the land lay under an easy sail untill having from 16 to 10 fath water untill 2 oClock in the A.M. when we fell into 7 fathom   upon which we hauled our wind to the northward judging our selves to be very near the land ^as so we found for at day light we were little more than 2 Leagues off  what decived us was the lowness of the land which is but very little higher than the surface of the Sea but in theis ^low Country were some hills - At Noon we were in 15 fathom water and about 4 Leagues from the land- our Latitude by observation was 19°..12' So Cape Cape Upstart bore So 38° 30' East distant 12 Leagues, Course and distance saild sence yesterday noon N. 48°..45' - 53 Miles - At and before noon some very large smooks were seen rise up out of the Lowland - At sun rise in I found the Variation to be 5°..35' Easterly - at sun set last night the same needle gave near 9°, this being close under Cape Upstart I judged that it was owing to Iron ore or other Magnetical matter lodged in the earth — Voyaging Accounts © Transcription by Paul Turnbull of National Library of Australia, Manuscript 1 page 251, 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/cook/17700605.html