On this day ...
26 - 28 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
Passage from New South Wales to New Guinea
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At six in the morning, we weighed again and stood west, having, as usual, first sent a boat ahead to sound. I had intended to steer N.W. till I had made the south coast of New Guinea, designing, if possible, to touch upon it; but upon meeting with these shoals, I altered my course, in hopes of finding a clearer channel, and deeper water. In this I succeeded, for by noon our depth of water was gradually increased to seventeen fathom. Our latitude was now by observation 10° 10’ S.; and our longitude 220° 12’ W. No land was in sight. We continued to steer west till sunset, our depth of water being from twenty-seven to twenty-three fathom: we then shortened sail, and kept upon a wind all night; four hours on one tack, and four on another. At day-light, we made all the sail we could, and steered W.N.W. till eight o’clock, and then N.W. At noon, our latitude by observation was 9° 56’ S.; longitude 221° W.; variation 2° 30’ E. We continued our N.W. course till sunset, when we again shortened sail, and hauled close upon a wind to the northward: our depth of water was twenty-one fathom. At eight, we tacked and stood to the southward till twelve; then stood to the northward with little sail till day-light; our soundings were from twenty-five to seventeen fathom, the water growing gradually shallow as we stood to the northward. At this time we made sail and stood to the north, in order to make the land of New Guinea: from the time of our making sail till noon, the depth of water gradually decreased from seventeen to twelve fathom, with a stoney and shelly bottom. Our latitude by observation was now 8° 52’ S. which is in the same parallel as that in which the southern parts of New Guinea are laid down in the charts; but there are only two points so far to the south, and I reckoned that we were a degree to the westward of them both, and therefore did not see the land, which trends more to the northward. We found the sea here to be in many parts covered with a brown scum, such as sailors generally call spawn. When I first saw it, I was alarmed, fearing that we were among shoals; but upon sounding, we found the same depth of water as in other places. This scum was examined both by Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander, but they could not determine what it was: it was formed of innumerable small particles, not more than half a line in length, each of which in the microscope appeared to consist of thirty or forty tubes; and each tube was divided through its whole length by small partitions into many cells, like the tubes of the conferva: they were supposed to belong to the vegetable kingdom, because upon burning them they produced no smell like that of an animal substance. The same appearance had been observed upon the coast of Brazil and New Holland, but never at any considerable distance from the shore. In the evening a small bird hovered about the ship, and at night, settling among the rigging, was taken. It proved to be exactly the same bird which Dampier has described, and of which he has given a rude figure, by the name of a Noddy from New Holland. [See his Voyages, vol. iii. p. 98. Tab. of Birds, Fig. 5.]
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 651 - 652, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/651.html