Journals Of Two Expeditions Of Discovery In North West And Western Australia Volume 1 (Of 2) by George Grey (read book txt) 📕

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (To Kolaina And Back To The Gascoyne Examine The Coast To The North Of The Gascoyne) Pg 235

More,  Then,  Was The Scene Repeated Of Dancing In A Boat With Maddening

Speed Upon Furious Rollers,  Until These Break And It Is Borne In,

Followed By A Mass Of Foam Far Higher Than The Stern,  Which Appears

Eagerly To Pursue For The Purpose Of Engulfing It.

 

Beaching Boats.

 

There Is No Scene In Nature More Exciting Or Which In A Greater Degree

Calls Forth One's Energy Than The Beaching Of A Boat In A Dangerous Surf.

Never Did I On Such Occasions Take The Steer-Oar For The Purpose Of

Running The Boat In But Many Contending Feelings Rushed Through My Mind,

And After A Few Moments Settled Down Into The Calm Which Springs From The

Conviction That The General Safety In Coming Dangers Depends Altogether

Upon The Coolness And Resolution With Which They Are Met,  And Never More

So Than In Beaching A Boat When Once You Are Among The Foaming Waters; In

You Must Go; To Retreat Is Impossible,  And Nothing Is Left But That Each

One Silently And Steadily Do His Duty,  Regardless Of The Strife And Din

Of Raging Waves Around. The Only Plan To Adopt Is For All To Give Way

Strongly And Steadily,  Let What Will Take Place,  Whilst The Boat-Steerer

Keeps Her Head Straight For The Beach. A Huge Roller Breaks Right Into

The Boat And Almost Swamps It,  A Man Is Knocked Over And Loses His Oar,

Heed Not These Things; Let Each Man Mind His Own Oar And Nought Else,  And

Give Way Give Way Strongly,  Until The Boat Grounds,  Then In A Moment Each

Quits His Oar And Springs Into The Water,  And Ere The Wave Has Retired

The Boat Is Partially Run Up; Another Wave Succeeds,  And The Operation Of

Running Up Is Repeated Until She Is High And Dry. Had Our Boats Been

Swamped In The Surf,  Even If We Had Escaped With Our Lives,  Our Position

Would Have Been Fearful; Left Without Food Or Resources In An Unknown And

Savage Country So Far Beyond The Reach Of Man's Assistance. When

Therefore I Again Saw The Boats Safely Beached,  And My Little Party

Drying Themselves Over A Fire,  My Breast Filled With Thankfulness To That

Providence Who Had Again Watched Over Our Safety.

 

Adjacent Country Explored.

 

Sunday March 17.

 

It Blew Half A Gale Of Wind From The Southward All Night,  And Next

Morning Such A Surf Was Breaking Upon The Beach That To Have Attempted To

Move Would Have Been Madness. Here We Were Therefore Once More Kept

Prisoners Upon This Dreary Coast; The Country Was Exactly Similar To That

Lying Immediately To The North Of It,  With These Two Exceptions,  That The

Range Of Sandhills Was Less Elevated,  And That We Could Not Here Find

Fresh Water. The Morning Was Passed In Searching For It; In The Middle Of

The Day I Read A Few Appropriate Chapters In The Bible To The Men,  And In

The Afternoon I Explored The Country But Discovered Nothing Whatever Of

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (To Kolaina And Back To The Gascoyne Examine The Coast To The North Of The Gascoyne) Pg 236

An Interesting Nature.

 

Launch The Boats,  And Enter Northern Mouth Of The Gascoyne. Character Of

The Country.

 

March 18.

 

The Wind Was Much Lighter This Morning And The Surf Not So Heavy; We Made

A Successful Attempt To Launch The Boats Just Before Sunrise. The Wind

Still Blew From The Southward,  And We Found A Heavy Sea Running Outside.

The Men However Exerted All Their Energies And Just Before Sunset We

Reached The Northern Mouth Of The Gascoyne,  And Found A Very Good Passage

Into It With Twelve Feet Water At Low Ebb-Tide; But The Other Boat,  Not

Following Our Track,  Stuck Fast On A Sandbank,  Where She Was Soon Left

High And Dry,  And The Tide Fell So Fast That We Had A Great Deal Of

Trouble In Getting Her Afloat Again.

 

Babbage Island.

 

The Bar Once Passed There Are Three And Three And A Half Fathoms In This

Land-Locked Creek Even At Low Water; The Portion Of Babbage Island Which

Is Between It And The Sea Appears To Be Nothing But A Shifting Bed Of

Sand,  And The Mainland A Delta,  Covered With Mangrove Swamps And Brackish

Lagoons,  At Least For About A Mile Back.* We Lay Down Upon The Sand Close

To The Boats,  Which Were Left At Anchor With A Boat-Keeper In Each,  And

Found Great Difficulty In Collecting Driftwood Enough To Make Our Fires.

 

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (Footnote) Pg 237

(*Footnote. In The Year 1667 The Dutch Commodore Vlaming Appears To Have

Visited These Coasts And To Have Ascended A River Which Might Have Been

The Gascoyne. The Account Of His Exploration Is Thus Briefly Given By

Flinders (Terra Australis Volume 1 Introduction Page 61) After Relating

The Arrival Of His Two Ships Off Cape Inscription At The North End Of

Dirk Hartog's Island He Proceeds:

 

No Mention Is Made By Valentyn Of The Ships Entering The Road,  Nor Of

Their Departure From It; But It Should Seem That They Anchored On

February 4th. On The 5th Commodore Vlaming And The Commander Of The

Nyptang Went With Three Boats To The Shore,  Which Proved To Be An Island.

They Found Also A River,  And Went Up It Four Or Five Leagues,  Amongst

Rocks And Shoals,  When They Saw Much Water Inland,  As If The Country Were

Drowned,  But No Men,  Nor Anything For Food,  And Wherever They Dug The

Ground Was Salt. They Afterwards Came To Another River,  Which They

Ascended About A League,  And Found It To Terminate In A Round Basin,  And

To Be Entirely Salt Water. No Men Were Seen,  Nor Any Animals,  Except

Divers,  Which Were Very Shy; And The Country Was Destitute Of Grass And

Trees. Returning Downward On The 10th,  They Saw Footsteps Of Men And

Children Of The Common Size,  And Observed The Point Of Entrance Into The

River To Be A Very Red Sand.)

Volume 1 Chapter 16 (To Kolaina And Back To The Gascoyne Examine The Coast To The North Of The Gascoyne) Pg 238

 

March 19.

 

The Wind Still Blew Pretty Fresh From The Southward; We However Had No

Surf To Impede Us And Therefore Got Under Weigh Soon After Dawn. The Men

Pulled Away Cheerfully And,  Although This Was Very Hard Work On Account

Of The Headwind And Sea,  We Experienced No Great Difficulty Until We Had

Rounded Point Whitmore,  At The North Of Babbage Island,  Where We All At

Once Found Ourselves In Broken Water,  So Very Shoal That Between Each

Breaker The Boat Was Bumped With Great Violence Against The Bottom,  And

Must Have Been Very Soon Stove In Had We Not Speedily Got Into Deeper

Soundings.

 

Anchor In Southern Entrance Of The River.

 

About 2 P.M. We Neared The Southern Mouth Of The Gascoyne,  Pulled Two

Miles Up It,  And Anchored About A Mile And A Half To The South Of Our

Former Position. The Men,  Although It Was Very Warm And They Had Been

Pulling Hard All Day,  Had As Yet Only Had About A Wine-Glass Full Of

Water Each,  I Therefore Lost No Time In Sending Off A Watering Party; And

The Remainder Of Us Collected Samphire Which Grew Abundantly Hereabouts

And Forms A Fair Article Of Food For Hungry Men.

 

The Remainder Of The Evening Was Occupied In Completing Our Water And In

Endeavouring To Get A Shot At Some Pelicans,  But Although Numerous They

Were Too Wary,  And My Feet Were Covered With Such Dreadful Sores From Bad

Diet And Being Constantly In The Salt Water That I Could Not Walk To Any

Great Distance In Search Of Game.

 

Complete Our Water.

 

The Completion Of Our Supply Of Water Was A Very Great Matter And,  As We

Had Now Got So Far To The Southward As To Make Our Fetching The Northern

Extremity Of Bernier Island Almost A Matter Of Certainty,  However

Strongly It Might Blow,  I Determined To Effect The Passage The Next Day.

Indeed I Could Not Have Delayed It For Our Provisions,  Bad As They Were,

Were Almost Exhausted,  And The Men Were Already Much Reduced From The

Scarcity And Bad Quality Of Their Food.

 

 

Volume 1 Chapter 12 (From The Gascoyne To Gantheaume Bay Sail From The Gascoyne) Pg 239

March 20.

 

When We Pulled Out Of The Gascoyne This Morning The First Streak Of Dawn

Had Not Lit Up The Eastern Horizon,  We However Managed By Creeping Along

The Southern Shore To Get Out To Sea,  And There Anchored Until It Was

Light Enough To See The Compass. I Found A Very Heavy Sea Running Outside