On this day ...
22 - 23 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
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After we had come to an anchor, I sent away the Master in the long-boat to sound, who, upon his return in the evening, reported, that there was a bank stretching north and south, upon which there were but three fathom, and that beyond it there were seven. About this time it fell calm, and continued so till nine the next morning, when we weighed, with a light breeze at S.S.E. and steered N.W. by W. for the small island which was just in sight, having first sent the boats ahead to sound: the depth of water was eight, seven, six, five, and four fathom, and three fathom upon the bank, it being now the last quarter ebb. At this time, the northermost island in sight bore N. 9 E. Cape Cornwall E. distant three leagues, and Wallis’s Isles S. 3 E. distant three leagues. This bank, at least so much as we have sounded, extends nearly N. and S. but to what distance I do not know: its breadth is not more than half a mile at the utmost. When we had got over the bank, we deepened our water to six fathom three quarters, and had the same depth all the way to the small island ahead, which we reached by noon, when it bore S. distant about half a mile. Our depth of water was now five fathom, and the northermost land in sight, which is part of the same chain of islands that we had seen to the northward from the time of our first entering the streight, bore N. 71 E. Our latitude, by observation, was 10° 33’ S. and our longitude 219° 22’ W.: in this situation, no part of the main was in sight. As we were now near the island, and had but little wind, Mr. Banks and I landed upon it, and found it, except a few patches of wood, to be a barren rock, the haunt of birds, which had frequented it in such numbers, as to make the surface almost uniformly white with their dung: of these birds, the greater part seemed to be boobies, and I therefore called the place BOOBY ISLAND. After a short stay, we returned to the ship, and in the mean time the wind had got to the S.W.; it was but a gentle breeze, yet it was accompanied by a swell from the same quarter, which, with other circumstances, confirmed my opinion that we were got to the westward of Carpentaria, or the northern extremity of New Holland, and had now an open sea to the westward, which gave me great satisfaction, not only because the dangers and fatigues of the voyage were drawing to an end, but because it would no longer be a doubt whether New Holland and New Guinea were two separate islands, or different parts of the same.
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© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 617 - 619, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/617.html