September 1787 to January 1788
Prospercus passage from Rio to the Cape--Account of the Harbours there--The
Cape of Good Hope not the most Southern point--Height of Table Mountain
and others--Supineness of the European nations in neglecting to occupy the
Cape--Live stock laid in--Departure--Separation of the fleet--Arrival of the
Supply at Botany Bay.
4 September 1787
A Prosperous course by sea, like a state of profound peace and
tranquility in civil society, though most advantageous to those who enjoy
it, is unfavourable to the purposes of narration. The striking facts
which the writer exerts himself to record, and the reader is eager to
peruse, arise only from difficult situations: uniform prosperity is
described in very few words. Of this acceptable but unproductive kind was
the passage of the Botany Bay fleet from Rio de Janeiro to the Cape of
Good Hope; uniformly favourable, and not marked by any extraordinary
incidents. This run, from about lat. 22° south, long. 43 west of London,
to lat. 34° south, long. 18° east of London, a distance of about four
thousand miles, was performed in thirty-nine days: for having left Rio on
the 4th of September, on the 13th of October the ships came to anchor in
Table Bay. Here they were to take their final refreshment, and lay in
every kind of stock with which they were not already provided. In this
period no additional lives had been lost, except that of a single convict
belonging to the Charlotte transport, who fell accidentally into the sea,
and could not by any efforts be recovered.
13 October 1787
Table Bay, on the north-west side of the Cape of Good Hope, is named from
the Table Mountain, a promontory of considerable elevation, at the foot
of which, and almost in the centre of the Bay, stands Cape Town, the
principal Dutch settlement in this territory. This Bay cannot properly be
called a port, being by no means a station of security; it is exposed to
all the violence of the winds which set into it from the sea; and is far
from sufficiently secured from those which blow from the land. The gusts
which descend from the summit of Table Mountain are sufficient to force
ships from their anchors, and even violently to annoy persons on the
shore, by destroying any tents or other temporary edifices which may be
erected, and raising clouds of fine dust, which produce very troublesome
effects. A gale of this kind, from the south-east, blew for three days
successively when Capt. Cook lay here in his first voyage, at which time,
he informs us, the Resolution was the only ship in the harbour that had
not dragged her anchors. The storms from the sea are still more
formidable; so much so, that ships have frequently been driven by them
from their anchorage, and wrecked at the head of the Bay. But these
accidents happen chiefly in the quaade mousson, or winter months, from
May 14 to the same day of August; during which time few ships venture to
anchor here. Our fleet, arriving later, lay perfectly unmolested as long
as it was necessary for it to remain in this station.
False Bay, on the south-east side of the Cape, is more secure than Table
Bay, during the prevalence of the north-west winds, but still less so in
strong gales from the south-east. It is however less frequented, being
twenty-four miles of very heavy road distant from Cape Town, whence
almost all necessaries must be procured. The most sheltered part of False
Bay is a recess on the west side, called Simon's Bay.
The Cape of Good Hope, though popularly called, and perhaps pretty
generally esteemed so, is not in truth the most southern point of Africa.
The land which projects furthest to the south is a point to the east of
it, called by the English Cape Lagullus; a name corrupted from the
original Portugueze das Agulhas, which, as well as the French appellation
des Aiguilles, is descriptive of its form, and would rightly be
translated Needle Cape. Three eminences, divided by very narrow passes,
and appearing in a distant view like three summits of the same mountain,
stand at the head of Table Bay.--They are however of different heights, by
which difference, as well as by that of their shape, they may be
distinguished. Table Mountain is so called from its appearance, as it
terminates in a flat horizontal surface, from which the face of the rock
descends almost perpendicularly. This mountain rises to about 3567 feet
above the level of the sea. Devil's Head, called also Charles mountain,
is situated to the east of the former, and is not above 3368 feet in
height; and on the west side of Table Mountain, Lion's Head, whose name
is also meant to be descriptive, does not exceed 2764 feet. In the
neighbourhood of the latter lies Constantia, a district consisting of two
farms, wherein the famous wines of that name are produced.
Our voyagers found provisions less plentiful and less reasonable in price
at Cape Town than they had been taught to expect. Board and lodging,
which are to be had only in private houses, stood the officers in two
rix-dollars a day, which is near nine shillings sterling. This town, the
only place in the whole colony to which that title can be applied with
propriety, is of no great extent; it does not in any part exceed two
miles: and the country, colonized here by the Dutch, is in general so
unfavourable to cultivation, that it is not without some astonishment
that we find them able to raise provisions from it in sufficient
abundance to supply themselves, and the ships of so many nations which
constantly resort to the Cape.
When we consider the vast advantages derived by the Dutch colonists from
this traffic, and the almost indispensible necessity by which navigators
of all nations are driven to seek refreshment there, it cannot but appear
extraordinary, that from the discovery of the Cape in 1493, by Barthelemi
Diaz, to the year 1650, when, at the suggestion of John Van Riebeck, the
first Dutch colony was sent, a spot so very favourable to commerce and
navigation should have remained unoccupied by Europeans. Perhaps all the
perseverance of the Dutch character was necessary even to suggest the
idea of maintaining an establishment in a soil so burnt by the sun, and
so little disposed to repay the toil of the cultivator. The example and
success of this people may serve, however, as an useful instruction to
all who in great undertakings are deterred by trifling obstacles; and
who, rather than contend with difficulties, are inclined to relinquish
the most evident advantages.
But though the country near the Cape had not charms enough to render it
as pleasing as that which surrounds Rio de Janeiro, yet the Governor,
Mynheer Van Graaffe, was not far behind the Viceroy of Brazil in
attention to the English officers. They were admitted to his table, where
they were elegantly entertained, and had reason to be pleased in all
respects with his behaviour and disposition. Yet the minds of his people
were not at this time in a tranquil state; the accounts from Holland were
such as occasioned much uneasiness, and great preparations were making at
the fort, from apprehension of a rupture with some other power.
In the course of a month, the live stock and other provisions were
procured; and the ships, having on board not less than five hundred
animals of different kinds, but chiefly poultry, put on an appearance
which naturally enough excited the idea of Noah's ark. This supply,
considering that the country had previously suffered from a dearth, was
very considerable; but it was purchased of course at a higher expence
considerably than it would have been in a time of greater plenty.
12 November 1787
On the 12th of November the fleet set sail, and was for many days much
delayed by strong winds from the south-east.
25 November 1787
On the 25th, being then only 80 leagues to the eastward of the Cape,
Governor Phillip left the Sirius and went on board the Supply tender;
in hopes, by leaving the convoy, to gain sufficient time for examining
the country round Botany Bay, so as to fix on the situation most
eligible for the colony, before the transports should arrive. At the
same time he ordered the agents for the transports, who were in the
Alexander, to separate themselves from the convoy with that ship,
the Scarborough and Friendship, which, as they were better sailors
than the rest, might reasonably be expected sooner: in which case,
by the labour of the convicts they had on board, much might be done
in making the necessary preparations for landing the provisions and
stores.
Major Ross, the Commandant of Marines, now left the Sirius, and went on
board the Scarborough, that he might accompany that part of the
detachment which probably would be landed first. Captain Hunter, in the
Sirius, was to follow with the store-ships, and the remainder of the
transports; and he had the necessary instructions for his future
proceedings, in case the Supply had met with any accident. Lieutenant
Gidley King, since appointed Commandant of Norfolk Island, accompanied
Governor Phillip in the Supply.
3 January 1788
From this time to the 3d of January, 1788, the winds were as favourable
as could be wished, blowing generally in very strong gales from the
north-west, west, and south-west. Once only the wind had shifted to the
east, but continued in that direction not more than a few hours. Thus
assisted, the Supply, which sailed but very indifferently, and turned
out, from what she had suffered in the voyage, to be hardly a safe
conveyance, performed in fifty-one days a voyage of more than seven
thousand miles. On the day abovementioned she was within sight of the
coast of New South Wales. But the winds then became variable, and a
current, which at times set very strongly to the southward, so much
impeded her course, that it was not till the 18th that she arrived at
Botany Bay.