Page 602

Voyages in the Southern Hemisphere, Vols. II - III

Table of Contents On this day ... 13 August 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 Endeavour River to the Northern Extremity of the Country Index Search Contact us

Endeavour River to the Northern Extremity of the Country (continued) The passage or channel, through which we passed into the open sea beyond the reef, lies in latitude 14° 32’ S. and may always be known by the three high islands within it, which I have called the ISLANDS OF DIRECTION, because by these a stranger may find a safe passage through the reef quite to the main. The channel lies from Lizard Island N.E. ½ N. distant three leagues, and is about one third of a mile broad, and not more in length. Lizard Island which is, as I have before observed, the largest and the northermost of the three, affords safe anchorage under the north west side, fresh water, and wood for fuel. The low islands and shoals also which lie between it and the main abound with turtle and fish, which may probably be caught in all seasons of the year, except when the weather is very tempestuous; so that, all things considered, there is not perhaps a better place for ships to refresh at upon the whole coast than this island. And before I dismiss it, I must observe, that we found upon it, as well as upon the beach in and about Endeavour River, bamboos, cocoa nuts, pumice stone, and the seeds of plants which are not the produce of this country, and which it is reasonable to suppose are brought from the eastward by the trade winds. The islands which were discovered by Quiros, and called Australia del Espiritu Santa, lie in this parallel; but how far to the eastward cannot now be ascertained: in most charts they are placed in the same longitude with this country, which, as appears by the account of his voyage that has been published, he never saw; for that places his discoveries no less than two and twenty degrees to the eastward of it. Voyaging Accounts © Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 602 - 603, 2004 Published by kind permission of the Library To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/602.html