On this day ...
26 May 1770
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
Range from Botany Bay to Trinity Bay
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At six in the morning we weighed, with a gentle breeze at South, and stood away to the N.W. between the outermost range of islands and the main, leaving several small islands between the main and the ship, which we passed at a very little distance: our soundings being irregular, from twelve to four fathom, I sent a boat ahead, to sound. At noon we were about three miles from the main, and about the same distance from the islands without us: our latitude by observation was 23° 7’ S.: the main land here is high and mountainous; the islands which lie off it are also most of them high, and of a small circuit, having an appearance rather of barrenness than fertility. At this time we saw smoke in many places at a considerable distance inland, and therefore conjectured that there might be a lagoon, river, or inlet running up the country, the rather as we had passed two places which had the appearance of being such; but our depth of water was too little to encourage me to venture where I should probably have less. We had not stood to the northward above an hour, before we suddenly fell into three fathom; upon which I anchored, and sent away the Master to sound the channel which lay to leeward of us, between three northermost island and the main: it appeared to be pretty broad, but I suspected that it was shallow, and so indeed it was found; for the master reported at his return that in many places he had only two fathom and an half, and where we lay at anchor we had only sixteen feet, which was not two feet more than the ship drew. While the master was sounding the channel, Mr. Banks tried to fish from the cabbin windows with hook and line: the water was too shallow for fish; but the ground was almost covered with crabs, which readily took the bait, and sometimes held it so fast in their claws, that they did not quit their hold till they were considerably above water. These crabs were of two sorts, and both of them such as we had not seen before: one of them was adorned with the finest blue that can be imagined, in every respect equal to the ultramarine, with which all his claws, and every joint was deeply tinged: the under part of him was white, and so exquisitely polished that in colour and brightness it exactly resembled the white of old china: the other was also marked with the ultramarine upon his joints, and his toes, but somewhat more sparingly; and his back was marked with three brown spots which had a singular appearance. The people who had been out with the boat to sound, reported, that upon an island where we had observed two fires, they had seen several of the inhabitants, who called to them, and seemed very desirous that they should land. In the evening, the wind veered to E.N.E. which gave us an opportunity to stretch three or four miles back by the way we came after; which, the wind shifted to the South, and obliged us again to anchor in six fathom.
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© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 524 - 525, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/524.html