A history of previous discoveries on the south coast of New Guinea.
HISTORY OF PREVIOUS DISCOVERIES ON THE SOUTH COAST OF NEW GUINEA.On May 26th, we sailed from Moreton Bay--but, before entering into the details of this, the most interesting portion of the Voyage of the Rattlesnake, a brief but connected account of the progress of discovery on the south-east coast of New Guinea, and the Louisiade Archipelago, will enable the reader more clearly to perceive the necessity then existing for as complete a survey of these shores and the adjacent seas as would enable the voyager to approach them with safety. A glance at any of the published charts will show a vague outline of coast and islands and reefs, with numerous blanks--a compilation from various sources, some utterly unworthy of credit; and of the inhabitants and productions of these regions, nothing was known beyond that portion at least of them were peopled by a savage and warlike race.
LUIZ VAEZ DE TORRES.The first navigator who saw the shores in question, appears to have been Luiz Vaez de Torres, in the Spanish frigate La Almiranta, coming from the eastward, in August 1606. In latitude 11 1/2 degrees South, Torres came upon what he calls the beginning of New Guinea, which, however, appears to have been a portion of what is now known as the Louisiade Archipelago. Being unable to weather the easternmost point of this land (Cape Deliverance) he bore away to the westward along its southern shores. "All this land of New Guinea," says he, in his long-forgotten letter to the king of Spain (a copy of which was found in the Archives at Manila, after the capture of that city by the British, in 1762) "is peopled with Indians, not very white, much painted, and naked, except a cloth made of the bark of trees. They fight with darts, targets, and some stone clubs, which are made fine with plumage. Along the coast are many islands and habitations. All the coast has many ports, very large, with very large rivers, and many plains. Without these islands there runs a reef of shoals, and between them (the shoals) and the mainland are the islands. There is a channel within. In these parts I took possession for your Majesty."We went along 300 leagues of coast, as I have mentioned, and diminished the latitude 2 1/2 degrees, which brought us into 9 degrees. From hence we fell in with a bank of from three to nine fathoms, which extends along the coast above 180 leagues. We went over it along the coast to 7 1/2 South latitude, and the end of it is in 5 degrees. We could not go further on for the many shoals and great currents, so we were obliged to sail out South-West in that depth to 11 degrees South latitude."By this time Torres had reached the Strait which now bears his name, and which he was the first to pass through. He continues: "We caught in all this land twenty persons of different nations, that with them we might be able to give a better account to your Majesty. They give much notice of other people, although as yet they do not make themselves well understood."*(*Footnote. Burney's Chronological History of Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean Volume 2 Appendix page 475.)
M. DE BOUGAINVILLE.M. de Bougainville, in June 1768, with two vessels, La Boudeuse and L'Etoile, was proceeding to the eastward towards the coast of Australia, when the unexpected discovery of some detached reefs (Bougainville's reefs of the charts) induced him to alter course and stand to the northward. No land was seen for three days. "On the 10th, at daybreak," says he, "the land was discovered, bearing from east to North-West. Long before dawn a delicious odour informed us of the vicinity of this land, which formed a great gulf open to the south-east. I have seldom seen a country which presented so beautiful a prospect; a low land, divided into plains and groves, extended along the seashore, and afterwards rose like an amphitheatre up to the mountains, whose summits were lost in the clouds. There were three ranges of mountains, and the highest chain was distant upwards of twenty-five leagues from the shore. The melancholy condition to which we were reduced* neither allowed us to spend some time in visiting this beautiful country, which by all appearances was rich and fertile, nor to stand to the westward in search of a passage to the south of New Guinea, which might open to us a new and short route to the Moluccas by way of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Nothing, indeed, was more probable than the existence of such a passage."** Bougainville, it may be mentioned, was not aware of the previous discovery of Torres, which indeed was not published to the world until after our illustrious navigator Cook, in August, 1770, had confirmed the existence of such a strait by passing from east to west between the shores of Australia and New Guinea.(*Footnote. They were beginning to run short of provisions, and the salt meat was so bad that the men preferred such RATS as they could catch. It even became necessary to prevent the crew from eating the LEATHER about the rigging and elsewhere in the ship.)
(**Footnote. Voyage autour du Monde par la Fregate du Roi La Boudeuse et la Flute l'Etoile en 1766 a 1769 page 258. See also the chart of the Louisiade given there, which, however, does not correspond very closely with the text.)
The Boudeuse and Etoile were engaged in working to windward along this new land (as it was thought to be) until the 26th, when, having doubled its eastern point, to which the significant name of Cape Deliverance was given, they were enabled to bear away to the North-North-East. The name of Gulf of the Louisiade was bestowed by Bougainville upon the whole of the space thus traversed by him, extending between Cape Deliverance and that portion of (what has since been determined to be) the coast of New Guinea of which he gives so glowing a description, and calls the Cul de Sac de l'Orangerie upon his chart.
CAPTAIN EDWARDS.The next addition to our knowledge of these shores was made in August, 1791, by Captain Edwards in H.M.S. Pandora, shortly before the wreck of that vessel in Torres Strait, when returning from Tahiti with the mutineers of the Bounty. In the published narrative of that voyage the following brief account is given. "On the 23rd, saw land, which we supposed to be the Louisiade, a cape bearing north-east and by east. We called it Cape Rodney. Another contiguous to it was called Cape Hood: and a mountain between them, we named Mount Clarence. After passing Cape Hood, the land appears lower, and to trench away about north-west, forming a deep bay, and it may be doubted whether it joins New Guinea or not."* The positions assigned to two of these places, which subsequent experience has shown it is difficult to identify, are:Cape Rodney: Latitude 10 degrees 3 minutes 32 seconds South, Longitude 147 degrees 45 minutes 45 seconds East.Cape Hood: Latitude 9 degrees 58 minutes 6 seconds South, Longitude 147 degrees 22 minutes 50 seconds East.**(*Footnote. Voyage round the world in His Majesty's frigate Pandora, performed under the direction of Captain Edwards in the years 1790, 1791 and 1792 by Mr. G. Hamilton, late surgeon of the Pandora, page 100.)
(**Footnote. Ibid page 164. Krusenstern assumes these longitudes to be 45 minutes too far to the westward, adopting Flinders' longitude of Murray's Islands, which differs by that amount from Captain Edwards'.)
CAPTAINS BLIGH AND PORTLOCK.In the following year, Captains Bligh and Portlock, in the Providence and Assistance, conveying breadfruit plants from Tahiti to the West Indies, saw a portion of the south-east coast of New Guinea, when on their way to pass through Torres Strait. A line of coast extending from Cape Rodney to the westward and northward about eighty miles, the latter half with a continuous line of reef running parallel with the coast, is laid down in a chart by Flinders,* as having been "seen from the Providence's masthead, August 30th 1792."(*Footnote. Flinders' Voyage to Terra Australis Atlas Plate 13.)
ADMIRAL D'ENTRECASTEAUX.The northern portion of the Louisiade Archipelago was yet unknown to Europeans, and for almost all the knowledge which we even now possess regarding it, we are indebted to the expedition under the command of Rear-Admiral Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, who, on June 11th, 1793, with La Recherche and L'Esperance, during his voyage in search of the unfortunate La Perouse, came in sight of Rossel Island. The hills of that island were enveloped in clouds, and the lower parts appeared to be thickly wooded with verdant interspaces. A harbour was supposed to exist in the deep bay on the north coast of Rossel Island, but access to it was found to be prevented by a line of breakers extending to the westward as far as the eye could reach. D'Entrecasteaux passed Piron's Island, which he named, as well as various others, and on St. Aignan's observed several huts, and the first inhabitants of the Louisiade whom they had seen, for, at Renard's Isles, a boat sent close in to sound, had observed no indications of natives, although smoke was afterwards seen rising from the largest of the group. At the Bonvouloir Islands, they had the first communication with the natives, who came off in a very large canoe and several others which approached near enough for one of the officers of L'Esperance to swim off to them. The natives showed much timidity and could not be induced to come on board the frigate. Some sweet-potatoes and bananas were given in return for various presents. No arms were seen among them, and these people did not appear to understand the use of iron.* The remainder of the voyage does not require further notice here, as the D'Entrecasteaux Isles of the charts belong to the north-east coast of New Guinea.(*Footnote. Voyage de Bruny D'Entrecasteaux envoye a la recherche de la Perouse. Redige par M. de Rossel, ancien Capitaine de Vaisseau, tome 1 page 405 et seq. See also Atlas.)
In June 1793, Messrs. Bampton and Alt, in the English merchantships Hormuzeer and Chesterfield, got embayed on the south-east coast of New Guinea, and after in vain seeking a passage out to the north-east, were forced to abandon the attempt and make their way to the westward, through Torres Strait, which they were no less than seventy-three days in clearing. Among other hydrographical results, was the discovery of large portions of the land forming the north-west shores of this bay, extending from Bristow Island to the northward and eastward for a distance of 120 miles.M. RUALT COUTANCE.In 1804, M. Rualt Coutance, commanding the French privateer L'Adele, made several discoveries on the south-east coast of New Guinea which were recorded by Freycinet, from the manuscript journal of Coutance, in the history of Baudin's voyage.* A portion of this is unquestionably the land seen by Captain Bligh in 1792--but in addition detached portions of the shores of the great bight of the south-east coast were seen, as in the neighbourhood of Freshwater Bay and elsewhere.(*Footnote. Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes, execute sur les corvettes Le Geographe, Le Naturaliste, et la goelette La Casuarina--pendant les annees 1801 a 1804, sous le commandement du Capitaine de vaisseau N. Baudin. Redige par M. Louis Freycinet. Navigation et Geographie page 462 and Atlas plate 1.)
Mr. Bristow, the master of an English merchant vessel, visited the northern part of the Louisiade Archipelago in 1806, but added nothing of consequence to our knowledge of the group, although various islands were named anew, as if discoveries of his own. His Satisfaction Island is clearly Rossel's, and Eruption Island is St. Aignan's of D'Entrecasteaux.*(*Footnote. See Krusenstern's Recueil de Memoires Hydrographiques etc. page 154.)
CAPTAIN DUMONT D'URVILLE.Since Bougainville's voyage the southern shores of the Louisiade remained unvisited until the year 1840, when Captain Dumont d'Urville, with the French corvettes L'Astrolabe and La Zelee, during his last voyage round the world, determined upon attempting their exploration. On May 23rd, the expedition (coming from the eastward) rounded Adele Island and Cape Deliverance, at the distance of about twenty miles. Next morning, the thickness of the weather prevented them from clearly distinguishing the features of the land. They steered towards South-east Island, but found close approach prevented by an immense continuous reef, supposed to be part of that seen on the previous day to the southward of Rossel Island. On Conde's Peninsula, some natives and a small village were observed. In the evening a long line of islands (the Calvados group) appeared to the north, and the reef, which before had been continuous, with the exception of some small openings, now existed only as a few isolated patches. D'Urville stood off to sea for the night, and next morning passed close to some low woody islets (Montemont) enclosed by a reef stretching to the eastward, and supporting upon it many scattered islands covered with verdure. Bougainville's chart was found of very little assistance; in the evening, however, they recognised the low wooded isle which he had called Ushant. Several high rocks (Teste Isles) in sight when they stood off for the night served next morning as a connecting point.On the 26th, a crowd of small islands, mostly inhabited, were seen at a short distance off, and in the background some high mountain summits were visible. Approaching more closely, D'Urville observed numerous channels intersecting the coast which they appeared to divide into a multitude of islands, and it seemed doubtful whether the land seen belonged to the Louisiade or to New Guinea. On the 27th, the two ships reached the Cul de sac de l'Orangerie--the appearance of the land at this place was considered to "agree perfectly with the pompous description" of Bougainville. D'Urville would willingly have searched for an anchorage here, but sickness prevented him from delaying much longer on this coast. Many canoes had been seen during the day, and one with six men at length came off, followed by some smaller ones, each carrying two or three people. The natives could not be induced to venture on board, and for a long time hesitated to receive some presents conveyed to them on a plank, in return for coconuts, a stone axe, and some shells. These natives appeared to be unarmed; by signs they invited the Frenchmen to visit them on shore. D'Urville was now anxious to determine whether, as represented by his charts,* a passage existed between this portion of the Louisiade of Bougainville, and what was then considered to be the south-east extremity of New Guinea, in the neighbourhood of Cape Rodney. Next day, however (28th) a high chain of mountains was seen to occupy the space assigned to the supposed passage. On the 29th, a barrier reef was found extending to the eastward in the direction of the coastline; they were unable to clearly identify Cape Rodney and Point Hood, of the English charts. In the evening D'Urville saw a chain of high mountains which he named Mount Astrolabe, and a well marked headland (Cape Passy) beyond which the coast appeared to trend to the northward. The expedition now shaped a course for Torres Strait, having in seven days made a running survey extending over a space of 450 miles in length, without anchoring or communicating with the inhabitants.**(*Footnote. This matter had been discussed by the Russian Admiral Krusenstern; see Receuil de Memoires Hydrographiques pour servire d'analyse et d'explication a l'Atlas de l'Ocean Pacifique page 60. Also in his Atlas, a general chart of the Pacific Ocean, and two others of New Guinea, and the Louisiade Archipelago, published in 1824.)
(**Footnote. Voyage au Pole Sud et dans l'Oceanie sur les corvettes L'Astrolabe et la Zelee pendant les annees 1837 a 1840. Sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont D'Urville. Histoire du Voyage tome 9 pages 208 a 215. Atlas Hydrographique Plate 1.)
CAPTAIN F.P. BLACKWOOD.During his survey of the northern and eastern entrances of Torres Strait, Captain F.P. Blackwood, in H.M.S. Fly, spent two months in 1845, upon the south-east coast of New Guinea, 140 miles of which, including that part seen by Bampton and Alt in 1793, was surveyed as completely as the time and means would permit. This country presented a great sameness of aspect; low muddy shores covered at first with mangroves, and, further back, with dense forests, were found to be intersected by numerous channels of fresh water, the mouths, there is reason to suppose, of one or more large rivers, of which this great extent of country is the delta. Great mudbanks, extending from ten to twenty miles out to sea, prevented approach except in the boats. Several of these channels were entered by the surveying parties, and one (Aird River) was ascended by Captain Blackwood to the distance of twenty miles from its mouth. Many villages were seen scattered along the coast and on the river banks. The natives, apparently closely resembling the Torres Strait Islanders, appeared to be a savage and warlike race, and refused to have any friendly intercourse with the white men, whose boats they attempted to cut off on various occasions. They seemed to be perfectly naked, and their principal weapons were observed to be bows and arrows and wooden sword-like clubs.*(*Footnote. Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of H.M.S. Fly, commanded by Captain F.P. Blackwood, R.N. by J.B. Jukes, Naturalist to the Expedition, volume 1 page 282 etc.)
LIEUTENANT C.B. YULE.In the following year, a further addition to the survey of the south-east coast of New Guinea was made by Lieutenant C.B. Yule, while in command of H.M. Schooners Bramble and Castlereagh. This survey was commenced at Cape Possession, and continued to the westward and northward as far as Cape Blackwood, where the Fly's work ended, a distance equal to two degrees of longitude.* Many large river mouths were observed, the fresh water on one occasion extending two or three miles out to sea. The country had ceased to present the low monotonous appearance shown to the westward, and had become more broken with wooded hills, and on the extreme east, ranges of lofty mountains were seen in the distance; one of these (Mount Yule) attains an elevation of 10,046 feet. Landing was attempted only once, on which occasion the whole party--their two boats having been capsized in the surf, and their ammunition destroyed--were set upon by a large body of natives and plundered of everything, even to their clothes, but not otherwise injured, although completely at the mercy of these savages
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SOMERSET CAPE YORK. Lithograph.
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