Page 352

Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere, Vols. II - III

Table of Contents On this day ... 23 - 24 November 1769 Endeavour Voyage Maps James Cook's Journal Ms 1, National Library of Australia Transcript of Cook's Journal Joseph Banks's Journal Sydney Parkinson's Journal Mercury Bay to the Bay of Islands Index Search Contact us

Mercury Bay to the Bay of Islands (continued) On the 23d, the wind being contrary, we kept plying down the river, and at seven in the evening, got without the N.W. point of the islands lying on the west side of it. The weather being bad, night coming on, and having land on every side of us, I thought it most advisable to tack, and stretch in under the point, where we anchored in nineteen fathom. At five in the morning, of the 24th, we weighed, and made sail to the N.W. under our courses and double reefed top-sails, the wind being at S.W. by W. and W.S.W. a strong gale and squally. As the gale would not permit us to come near the land, we had but a slight and distant view of it from the time when we got under sail till noon, during a run of twelve leagues, but we never once lost sight of it. At this time, our latitude, by observation, was 36° 15’ 20", we were not above two miles from a point of land on the main, and three leagues and an half from a very high island, which bore N.E. by E.: in this situation we had twenty-six fathom water: the farthest point on the main that we could see bore N.W. but we could perceive several small islands lying to the north of that direction. The point of land of which we were now a-breast, and which I called POINT RODNEY, is the N.W. extremity of the river Thames; for under that name I comprehend the deep bay which terminates in the fresh water stream, and the N.E. extremity is the promontory which we passed when we entered it, and which I called CAPE COLVILLE, in honour of the Right Honourable Lord Colville. Voyaging Accounts © Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 355 - 356, 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/352.html