A VOYAGE TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE
September 1788 to January 1789
The Sirius leaves Port Jackson.--Sails for the
Cape of Good Hope, by the Eastern Passage.--Falls in with many
large islands of ice.--Casts anchor at Robin's Island.--Tables of
the winds, weather, etc.-
In the month of September, Governor Phillip signified to me,
that it was his intention very soon to dispatch the Sirius to the
Cape of Good Hope, in order to purchase such quantity of
provisions as she might be capable of taking on board; and that
she might be made as light as possible for that purpose, he
desired I would land eight or ten of her guns and carriages, with
any other articles which I judged the ship could spare, for the
time she might be absent, and which might answer the purpose of
lightening the ship and the making of room.
In consequence of this order, eight guns, with their
carriages, and 24 rounds of shot for each gun, 20 half barrels of
powder, a spare anchor, and various other articles, were put on
shore at Sydney-cove: he also directed that I should leave the
ship's long-boat behind for the use of the settlement: this order
I confess I with reluctance obeyed, as the want of such a boat
has often been very severely felt; at the same time I was desired
to endeavour, on my arrival at the Cape, to purchase such a boat
for the settlement; and that written directions for that and
other purposes would be given me, when I received my final
instructions. Whilst upon this subject, I thought it a proper
opportunity to represent, that the Sirius was (except in the
carpenter's department,) perfectly ready for sea; but the
carpenter's crew, together with the carpenter of the ship
himself, having all been employed constantly on the business of
the settlement, since our arrival in this country, the ship had,
in consequence, been much neglected in that department; and as
she was soon to go to sea, it was highly necessary that those
people should be immediately sent on board to prepare her for a
voyage.
We had, it is true, (upon my representing the absolute
necessity of having the ship's decks and sides caulked,) employed
an old man, the carpenter's yeoman, and a convict caulker, upon
the weather work of the ship; but that work, we had afterwards
reason to know, had not been so well executed as it might have
been, had the carpenter of the ship been permitted to stay on
board and attend so necessary a duty.
On Tuesday the 30th of September, I received my final orders,
and on Wednesday the Ist of October, unmoored the ship; the
governor and his family dined on board, and the wind being
easterly, we got under weigh and worked down to the lower
anchorage, where we came to, intending to take advantage of the
land wind in the morning to put to sea. The Golden Grove
store-ship also came down and anchored below, having on board
provisions and other stores, for Norfolk Island; she had also on
board a number of men and women convicts for that island; I think
twenty men and twelve women, together with six marines and three
seamen from the Sirius. In the evening, the governor and the
other gentlemen who were with him took their leave, and early in
the morning of the 2d, with the wind at south-west, we sailed out
of the harbour.
As I have not at any time, when speaking of this harbour,
given any description of it, or any directions for sailing into
it, I will take this opportunity.
The entrance of the harbour of Port Jackson has nothing in its
appearance, when six leagues from the land, by which it may be
known; your latitude will be your most infallible guide to this
harbour, or indeed to any other upon this coast. Steer in for the
land, which here lies about north by east half east and south by
west half west; keep as near as you can in latitude 33° 50'
south; the entrance, when you come near, will show itself, by the
heads on each side, which are high, steep, perpendicular cliffs,
of a light reddish colour; a ship bound in here, may run in
without fear between the heads, which are distant from each other
one mile and three quarters; there is nothing in the way, and the
shore pretty steep to on each side; the sea breaking, which it
does even in fine weather, will show any rocks which may lie near
under the shore. Steer in between the heads for a high bluff
point, which is called Middle Cape or Head, and is steep to,
until you open to the southward of you a very extensive arm of
the harbour.
If the wind be sufficiently large to run up this branch,
(which lies by compass south-west by south) on either shore, haul
round the east-most point of this arm, which is called the Inner
or South Head; it is a low rocky point; give it a birth of
two-thirds of a cable, and steer right in for the first sandy
cove above it, on the same side, called Camp Cove; keep at a
convenient, but small distance from the shore, in three and a
half and four fathoms, and observe, that right off this cove, and
near mid-channel, lies a patch of rocks, which appear at
half-tide; the shoaling toward them is gradual all round, upon a
smooth sandy bottom; it is rocky only about half a cable's length
from the dry part; you may keep near the upper point of Camp
Cove, in six and seven fathoms, and from thence steer directly up
the harbour. If you intend to go on the west shore, and to leave
this patch of rocks to the eastward of you, steer in as before
for Middle Head, and when within a cable's length of it, steer up
for the next point above it, on the same side, observing not to
make too free with that point, as it is rocky something more than
half a cable's length off. In this channel, which is much the
best, being rather broader than the eastern channel, you will
have four, four and a half, and five fathoms. When you are above
this second point, on the west shore, you may take what part of
the channel you please, or anchor wherever you wish, there being
nothing in the way from shore to shore.
The chart will certainly be the best guide in going in. If the
wind should be southerly, a stranger would not venture to work
up, but he might anchor with safety in the north part of the
harbour, which he will perceive by the chart, to which I would
refer him, rather than to a written description*.
[* For an accurate survey of this harbour, see a
Chart of Port Jackson, by Captain Hunter, in Phillip's Voyage,
4to. Edition.]
We were no sooner clear of the harbour, than the wind veered
more to the southward, and began to blow strong, with thick,
hazy, and dirty weather; and, what gave me privately a good deal
of concern, the carpenter reported, that the ship, which had
hitherto been very tight, now made water. This piece of
information, with such a voyage as the Sirius was now entered
upon, was no doubt very unwelcome; and more particularly so, when
it was considered, that the ship's company, from having been long
upon salt diet, without the advantage of any sort of vegetables,
were not so healthy and strong as a leaky ship might require.
I had often observed, that when this voyage, upon which we
were now entered, was the subject of conversation, in company
with the governor, he always spoke in favour of the passage round
Van Diemen's land, and to the westward; but when I signified a
wish that he would direct by what route I should endeavour to
perform the voyage, he declined that; and said that I should be
governed by circumstances, and that he should leave it to my
discretion and judgment; at the same time expressing his opinion
strongly in favour of the western route; which I confess I was a
little surprised at, as it had never yet been attempted, not even
by ships employed in that kind of service which leaves it in
their power to make experiments.
I do not say that the passage from Van Diemen's land to the
Cape of Good Hope, by the westward, is impracticable, as that
remains yet to be tried; but from my own experience of the
prevalence of strong westerly winds across that vast ocean, I am
inclined to think it must be a long and tedious voyage; and at
the same time so very uncertain, that the time for which the
Sirius was victualled, (for four months, and of some articles not
more than two weeks, for the number of men on board; having left
a considerable quantity of our provision for the use of the
settlement,) and the nature of the service she was going upon,
which was no doubt of considerable consequence to the colony, was
not an opportunity for trying such an experiment; as the
consequence of a disappointment would have been, that I must have
returned again to Port Jackson for a fresh supply of provisions,
and the season for another passage would have been too far
advanced. I therefore determined, judging from the experience of
those who had before made the eastern passage, to pass to the
southward of New Zealand and round Cape Horn.
We stood off to the eastward, determined as early as possible
to get an offing of fifty or sixty leagues; the wind continued to
the southward, with the same hazy and squally weather, until the
5th, when it shifted to south-south-east; by this time we were
about 70 leagues from the coast, which enabled us to tack and
stand to the south-west: with this change of wind from the
south-west to the south-east quarter, the same squally and
unsettled weather continued. The ship upon the larboard tack made
much more water than on the starboard, so much as to render it
necessary to pump her every two hours, to prevent too long a
spell; she made in general from ten to twelve inches in two
hours.
There was reason to conjecture, from this difference on the
opposite tacks, that the leak was somewhere about the starboard
bow, and near the surface of the water, and if it proved so, I
had a hope that we might, the first moderate weather, with smooth
water, be able to come at and stop it. I was the more sanguine in
this expectation, as the carpenter, in a few days after,
discovered it to be under the after part of the fore-channel, a
little below the surface of the water; and seemed to think it
proceeded from one of the butt-bolts being corroded by the
copper, which I now understood had never been taken off since the
ship's being first sheathed, which was now more than eight
years.
On the 6th, the weather cleared up, and both Mr. Bradley and
myself had a few distances of the sun and moon, by which our
longitude was 157° 10' east, by the time-keeper 156° 55'
east, and by account 156° 17' east; the latitude 34° 49'
south; variation per Azimuth 11° 40' east. At noon, the wind
got round to east and east by north, with which I steered
south-south-east; still favouring our endeavours to get to the
southward; it next came to north-east and north, and in latitude
40° 33' south, it came to north-west, but the weather still
continued squally and unsettled. As the weather began now to be
rather cold, and as in the track I meant to prosecute my voyage
by I might expect to have it considerably colder, and
consequently the ship's company would require a shift of
cloathing, slops were served to all who stood in need of them.
On the 9th, we were near as far to the southward as Van
Diemen's Land, or South Cape of New Holland; and the wind being
apparently settled in the south-west quarter, I steered a course
for the south cape of New Zealand. From Port Jackson to Van
Diemen's Land we had run parallel to the coast, at the distance
of 60 leagues from it, and have not seen any thing; so that we
may venture to say, that there are no islands lie off that part
of the coast, at the above distance from it. On the afternoon of
this day (9th) we had several good setts of distances of the sun
and moon, by which our longitude was 157° 26' east, by the
time-keeper 157° 19' east, and by account 157° 48' east;
the latitude 43° 30' south; the thermometer was now 57°.
On the 12th, we passed the south cape of New Zealand, but the
weather being very hazy and squally, we did not attempt to make
it, but kept a degree and a half to the southward of it; here we
met with vast numbers of birds of various kinds, mostly aquatic,
such as albatrosses, pentada birds, divers, peterels, and a
variety of gulls; some of a kind I had not before seen during the
voyage, very large, of a dark brown or mouse colour; and another
sort not quite so large, with a white body, dark wings, and the
head of a light blue or lead colour: much sea-weed was also seen
here in very large patches.
We now had the wind fresh from the north-west quarter, with
frequent squalls, attended with rain, and the weather cold. We
found the variation of the compass 40 leagues south-south-east
from the south cape of New Zealand, to be 16° 54' east. Mr.
Worgan, the surgeon, having recommended the essence of malt to be
served at this time to the ship's company, a certain quantity of
wort was made every morning, and a pint served to each man.
On the 15th, by an observation of the moon's distance from the
star aquila, our longitude was 171° 16' east, the latitude
was 50° 45' south, and the variation of the compass 16°
20' east; longitude by the time-keeper 171° 32' east, and by
account 172° 10' east. From this time to the 22d, we had
light and variable winds, sometimes from the south and
south-east, and sometimes from the northward, with moist and hazy
weather.
On the 22d, the wind inclined from the westward, and the weather
became fair; we had this day a set of distances of the sun and moon,
which gave our longitude 182° 46' east, the time-keeper 182° 37' east,
and the account 184° 10' east; the latitude 51° 03' south; the variation
was now 13° 45' east, and the thermometer 48°. For three successive days
we had lunar observations, by which it appeared that the reckoning a
few days before had been more than a degree and a half to the
eastward of the observations and time-keeper; but by our last
distances of the sun and moon (26th) the ship was gaining on the
account; these differences seem wholly to proceed from the sea,
occasioned by the prevailing winds for the time; the easterly
variation was decreasing, being now only 11° 00' east, in
latitude 52° 42' south, and longitude 196° 11' east. We
now very frequently heard the divers in the night, and as often
saw them in the day; it is really wonderful how these birds get
from or to the land, at such an immense distance from it as from
800 to 1000 leagues: they undoubtedly lay their eggs, and hatch
them on shore, and yet we plainly perceived that those we met
were of the penguin kind, and could not fly: from the slow
progress such a bird can make in the water, it might be supposed
that it would take them many years (were instinct to point out
the direct and shortest course for them) before they could
possibly reach any land, unless there are islands in these seas,
and not far from our track, which have not yet been
discovered.
I endeavoured, in sailing from New Zealand to Cape Horn, to
keep as much as possible in a parallel between the tracks of the
Resolution and Adventure; so that if any island lay between the
parallels in which these ships sailed, we might have a chance of
falling in with them. We have bad very variable weather for some
days past, with equally variable winds, and a confused jumble of
a sea, which the very frequent shifting of the wind
occasioned.
On the 2d of November, by a lunar observation, we were in
longitude 214° 27' east; the time-keeper gave 214° 19'
east, and by account 213° 02' east; the latitude 55° 18'
south, the variation was here 11° 00' east, and the height of
the thermometer was 50°. From the 2d to the 6th, we had the
winds from north by west to north-north-east: on the 6th and 7th,
we had very good observations for the longitude by the sun and
moon; the former gave 223° 57' east, and the latter 227°
58' east; the longitude by account was 226° 20' east, the
latitude 56° 12' south: the variation increased again, being
in this situation 12° 20' east, thermometer 46°.
From the 7th until the 17th, the weather was very variable,
and the wind very unsettled, between the south-east and
south-west quarters, attended with strong gales and dark hazy
weather, with frequent showers of snow and hail; the thermometer
was down at 42° in the cabin, where we sometimes had a fire,
but in the open air it was at 35°; the showers were commonly
accompanied with heavy gusts or squalls of wind. Notwithstanding
we were, with these winds from the southward, subject to snow and
hail, yet we frequently found that some of the gales which had
blown from the northward were attended with a more piercing
degree of cold. On the 18th, the weather became more moderate and
fair, and the wind shifted to west, with a moderate breeze: we
were now in longitude 261° 50' east, and latitude 55° 23'
south, and had 14° 43' east variation. On the 19th, we found
that the variation had increased, in a run to the eastward of 25
leagues, to 17° 30' east.
On the 22d, we had several good distances of the sun and moon,
and found our longitude to be at noon 280° 22' east, by the
time-keeper 281° 08' east, and by account 283° 09' east;
the latitude was 57° 15' south; the variation of the compass
increased very fast as we approached Cape Horn, being now 20°
30' east; and on the next day (23d) 22° 30' east; but a table
of the variation will be inserted at the end of the chapter,
where it will appear at one view.
We now very frequently fell in with high islands of ice. On
the 24th, we had fresh gales with hazy and cold weather, and met
so many ice islands, that we were frequently obliged to alter our
course to avoid them. On the 25th, we had strong gales with very
heavy and frequent squalls: as we were now drawing near Cape
Horn, and in all the charts of Terra del Fuego which I had seen,
there is an island laid down, bearing from the Cape about
south-south-west, and called Diego Ramirez, distant from the land
ten or twelve leagues; and as I do not find that the existence of
such an island has ever been contradicted by any person who has
sailed round this promontory, I determined to keep as near as
possible in its parallel, the wind being from west-north-west to
west-south-west, and the weather rather hazy; if I should make
it, I could pass either within or without, as might be
convenient; and it would be as good a land-fall as the Cape
itself, as, in case the wind should incline to the southward, we
should have offing enough to clear the land, which, to us who
were upon a service that would not admit of any loss of time, was
of consequence.
At noon on the 26th, we had a good meridian observation, and
were exactly in the parallel of Diego Ramirez; and at eight A. M.
an opportunity offered, for about an hour, for taking a set of
distances of the sun and moon, of which both Mr. Bradley and myself
availed ourselves; the result of which was (taking the mean of
both observations, which agreed within a few miles) 292° 38'
east, at the time of observation; so that we must then have been
very near the place in which this island is laid down, for we
could rely upon the observations: but as nothing appeared, we
hauled in for the land, the looming of which we frequently saw,
but the heavy black squalls which were constantly gathering upon
it, rendered it too indistinct to be able to determine any
particular point.
At this time several long strings of wild ducks flew past the
ship: in the evening the weather cleared a little in the horizon,
and we set the extremes of Terra del Fuego from north by west to
west-north-west, distant about 10 leagues. We continued our
course north-east, and I think we may safely venture to
determine, that there is no island so situated from Cape Horn as
this Diego Ramirez is said to be.
For several days before we made the land, and every day after
we left it, until the 27th, we fell in with a great number of
very high ice islands. Here also we met with divers and seals. We
had got but a very small distance to the eastward of the cape,
when the winds inclined to the northward, and from that to the
north-east, and blew a fresh gale.
From the 27th of November until the 12th of December, we had
the wind constantly in the north-east quarter, which I believe to
be rather uncommon near Cape Horn for such a length of time; as
ships in general, that are bound into the south sea, find it
rather tedious getting to the westward round this cape.
The ship's company now began to show much disposition to the
scurvy, and what made it more distressing, we had nothing in the
ship with which we could hope to check the progress of that
destructive disease, except a little essence of malt, that we
continued to serve to the ship's company. We had only to hope for
a speedy passage to the Cape of Good Hope, where we should,
without a doubt, with the good things which were to be had there,
be able to re-instate their health perfectly: I was so far from
being surprised at this appearance of the scurvy amongst the
company of the Sirius, so soon after leaving her port, that it
was with me rather a matter of wonder that it had not shown
itself sooner; and so it must be with every person who considers
how they had lived since we left the Cape outward bound; during
that time (about 13 or 14 months) they had not tasted a bit of
fresh provisions of any kind, nor had they touched a single blade
of vegetables.
We began now to be subject to hazy moist weather, with
frequent very thick fogs; the latitude 55° 30' south, and
longitude 306° 00' east; the weather was very cold, and very
high islands of ice were seen in every quarter, some of a
prodigious size: for fourteen days after we got to the eastward
of Cape Horn, we were beating to the north-east, anxious to get
so far to the northward as to feel the influence of the summer
sun, by which it was to be hoped and expected our scorbutic
patients might be much relieved. In latitude 52° 30' south,
and longitude 318° 20' east, the wind inclined to the
southward of east, with hazy moist weather, and we steered to the
north-east. We found many large whales here; they seemed to go in
droves of from five and six to fifteen and twenty together,
spouting within a cable's length of the ship, and sometimes so
near that it would have been no difficult matter to harpoon them
from the fore part of the ship as they passed under the bows.
On the 12th of December, Henry Fitz-Gerald, a feaman, departed
this life; he was troubled with a disease in his lungs, but the
scurvy was his principal malady.
On the 13th, in the morning, we passed one of the largest
ice-islands we had seen; we judged it not less than three miles
in length, and its perpendicular height we supposed to be 350
feet.
In latitude 51° 33' south, and longitude 321° 00'
east, the wind seemed set in at south-west, and blew a fresh
steady gale, frequently attended with showers of snow or hail;
the variation of the compass decreased fast, as will appear in
the table annexed. On the 16th the wind shifted suddenly to the
north-west quarter, and blew a steady gale. On the 19th, it blew
very strong from west-north-west, with hazy weather, and frequent
showers of rain, which again changed the wind to the south-west
quarter, and the weather, as usual upon those changes, became
fair and pleasant.
We now seemed to have got out from among the ice-islands, with
which, from South Georgia to the latitude of 46° south, this
ocean seems at this season of the year to be overspread. In
latitude 44° 00' south, we saw the last piece of ice, and in
the whole, we had been twenty-eight days among the ice, and
sailed a distance of 800 leagues. We had run for several days
together, at the rate of from 50 to 60 leagues in the 24 hours,
in a north-east direction; and had passed through a lane or
street, if it may be so called, of ice-islands, the whole of that
distance: in general they were from the size of a country church,
to the magnitude of one, two and three miles in circumference,
and proportionably high.
Were it not that at this season of the year we had in such
high latitudes very short nights, and scarcely an hour which
could be called dark; it would certainly be attended with
considerable danger to run in the night, the ice islands were in
such vast numbers; indeed, we seldom sailed more than three or
four miles, without having several upon each beam. I think the
direction, in which those pieces of ice seemed to have been
driven, is a strong proof of the prevalence of south-west winds
in this part of the ocean. It is highly probable that they had
been formed upon the coast of South Georgia and Sandwich Land,
and separated from the ground early in the spring, or probably in
a gale of wind during the winter. Many of them were half black,
apparently with earth from the land to which they had adhered, or
else, with mud from the bottom on which they had lain: for it is
well known, that ice-islands, after having been driven about at
sea for a length of time, become so light and spungy in that part
which has been immersed in the water, that the upper part becomes
heavier, and thereby they frequently overset, and may, by such a
change, show some part of the ground on which they had rested.
Others had large and distinct portions of them thoroughly tinged
with a beautiful sea-green, or bright verdigrease colour.
In latitude 45° 30' south, and longitude 342° 00'
east, the variation of the compass, which had decreased very
gradually, was only 00° 4' east. We carried on strong
westerly winds with us, which amply compensated for the northerly
and easterly gales which detained us so long between Cape Horn
and South Georgia; and it was exceedingly fortunate for us that
we were so favoured by the winds, for the ship's company were
falling down very fast with the scurvy; and as I have already
observed, we had nothing on board with which we could hope to
check its progress, much less to cure it.
Nothing certainly can promise so fair to effect so desireable
a purpose, as carrying a good stock of various vegetable acids in
every ship, but particularly in ships employed upon such services
as the Sirius was. The elexir of vitriol, hitherto allowed, and
-formerly considered_, not only as a preventive, but as a
cure, was found by no means to answer the purpose of the former,
far less of the latter. The vegetable acids, which might be
provided for the use of ships upon long voyages, I apprehend
would be found to occasion a very small additional expence, if
any; and I am convinced in the end would be found a considerable
saving.
Having on the 25th of December arrived upon the meridian of
Greenwich, from which we had sailed in an easterly direction, and
completed 360° of east longitude, and consequently gained 24
hours, I dropt 360° and repeated, Thursday, 25th
December.
On the 30th, John Shine, a seaman, died of the scurvy.
On the 31st, I had a few sets of distances of the sun and moon, by
which our longitude at noon was 17° 16' east; by Mr. Bradley,
it was 16° 58' east; the mean of both gave 17° 07' east,
and by the time-keeper it was 18° 10' east; and we had not
yet made the land; the latitude was 33° 48' south. This was a
proof that the time-keeper must have altered its rate since we
left Port Jackson; we had then determined it to be losing 4"-77.
This change of its rate, since we left Port Jackson, I had some
time suspected, and attributed it to the effects of the weather
we had off, and near, Cape Horn. This evening we made a short
trip off till midnight, when we tacked and stood for the land
again: Joseph Caldwell, a seaman, died of the scurvy. At
day-light we saw the land; the nearest, or that part which we
were a-breast of, was distant about four leagues, and the Table
Mountain bore south by east about nine or ten leagues; the wind,
for the last twenty-four hours, had been strong from the
southward, and we had, occasioned by there being too much of it,
fallen to leeward.
Nothing could have been more correct than our observations for
the longitude. The wind coming from the sea, we stood along shore
to the southward, and in the afternoon were a-breast of Robin's
Island, but could not fetch round the reef, and into Table
Bay.
The weakly condition of that part of the ship's company, who
were able to do duty upon deck, and the very dejected state of
those who were confined to their beds, determined me, if
possible, to bring the ship to an anchor before night; as the
very idea of being in port, sometimes has an exceeding good
effect upon the spirits of people who are reduced low by the
scurvy; which was the case with a great many of our ship's
company; and indeed, a considerable number were in the last stage
of it.
After endeavouring in vain to weather the reef off the south
end of the island, I bore away, and ran round the north end, and
anchored within, right off the flag-staff and landing-place, in
nine fathoms water, coarse ground; the flag-staff bearing west,
and the south end of the island, just on with the Lyon's
Rump.
[A Table of the winds and weather, etc. on a passage from the coast
of New South Walesto the Cape of Good Hope (by the route of Cape Horn)
in His Majesty's ship Sirius, in the months of October, November and
December, 1788.]
[An Account of Observations for finding the variation of the compass...]
[The tables are included in the HTML version]