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Source.—Voyage to Terra Australis (Matthew Flinders, 1814), Introduction, pp. xcvi-xcvii, cxix-cxliii

The first coastal explorations after the establishment of Sydney were conducted by Bass and Flinders. Together they discovered the Hunter River; Bass in a second voyage discovered Western Port; and again together they sailed through Bass Strait, proving Tasmania to be an island.

1795. On arriving at Port Jackson, in September it appeared that the investigation of the coast had not been greatly extended beyond the three harbours; and even in these some of the rivers were not altogether explored.

In Mr. George Bass, surgeon of the Reliance, I had the happiness to find a man whose ardour for discovery was not to be repressed by any obstacle, nor deterred by danger; and with this friend a determination was formed of completing the examination of the East Coast of New South Wales, by all such opportunities as the duty of the ship and procurable means could admit.

Projects of this nature, when originating in the minds of young men, are usually termed romantic; and so far from any good being anticipated, even prudence and friendship join in discouraging, if not in opposing them. Thus it was in the present case; so that a little boat of eight feet long, called Tom Thumb, with a crew composed of ourselves and a boy, was the best equipment to be procured for the first outset. In the month following the arrival of the ships, we proceeded round in this boat, to Botany Bay; and ascending George's River, one of two which falls into the Bay, explored its winding course about twenty miles beyond where Governor Hunter's survey had been carried.

The sketch made of this river and presented to the Governor with the favourable report of the land on its borders, induced His Excellency to examine them himself shortly afterward; and was followed by establishing there a new branch of the colony, under the name of Banks' Town.

1796. We sailed out of Port Jackson early in the morning of March 25, and stood a little off to sea to be ready for the sea breeze.

The sea breeze, on the 27th, opposed our return; and learning from two Indians that no water could be procured at Red Point, we accepted their offer of piloting us to a river which, they said, lay a few miles further southward, and where not only fresh water was abundant, but also fish and wild ducks. These men were natives of Botany Bay, whence it was that we understood a little of their language, whilst that of some others was altogether unintelligible. Their river proved to be nothing more than a small stream, which descended from a lagoon under Hat Hill, and forced a passage for itself through the beach; so that we entered it with difficulty even in Tom Thumb. Our two conductors then quitted the boat to walk along the sandy shore abreast, with eight or ten strange natives in company.

After rowing a mile up the stream, and finding it to become more shallow, we began to entertain doubts of securing a retreat from these people, should they be hostilely inclined; and they had the reputation at Port Jackson of being exceedingly ferocious, if not cannibals. Our muskets were not yet freed from rust and sand, and there was a pressing necessity to procure fresh water before attempting to return northward. Under these embarrassments we agreed upon a plan of action, and went on shore directly to the natives. Mr. Bass employed some of them to assist in repairing an oar which had been broken in our disaster, whilst I spread the wet powder out in the sun. This met with no opposition, for they knew not what the powder was; but when we proceeded to clean the muskets, it excited so much alarm that it was necessary to desist.

On inquiring of the two friendly natives for water, they pointed upwards to the lagoon; but after many evasions our barica was filled at a hole not many yards distant.

The number of people had increased to near twenty, and others were still coming, so that it was necessary to use all possible expedition in getting out of their reach. But a new employment arose upon our hands; we had clipped the hair and beards of the two Botany Bay natives at Red Point; and they were showing themselves to the others, and persuading them to follow their example. Whilst, therefore, the powder was drying, I began with a large pair of scissors to execute my new office upon the eldest of four or five chins presented to me; and as great nicety was not required, the shearing of a dozen of them did not occupy me long. Some of the more timid were alarmed at a formidable instrument coming so near to their noses, and would scarcely be persuaded by their shaven friends to allow the operation to be finished. But when their chins were held up a second time, their fear of the instrument—the wild stare of their eyes—and the smile which they forced, formed a compound upon the rough savage countenance, not unworthy the pencil of a Hogarth. I was almost tempted to try what effect a little snip would produce; but our situation was too critical to admit of such experiments.

Everything being prepared for a retreat, the natives became vociferous for the boat to go up to the lagoon; and it was not without stratagem that we succeeded in getting down to the entrance of the stream, where the depth of water placed us out of their reach.

In 1798 Mr. Bass sailed (in a whaleboat) with only six weeks' provisions; but with the assistance of occasional supplies of petrels, fish, seal's flesh, and a few geese and black swans, and by abstinence he had been enabled to prolong his voyage beyond eleven weeks. His ardour and perseverance were crowned, in despite of the foul winds which so much opposed him, with a degree of success not to have been anticipated from such feeble means. In three hundred miles of coast from Fort Jackson to the Ram Head he added a number of particulars which had escaped Captain Cook; and will always escape any navigator in a first discovery, unless he have the time and means of joining a close examination by boats, to what may be seen from the ship.

Our previous knowledge of the coast scarcely extended beyond the Ram Head; and there began the harvest in which Mr. Bass was ambitious to place the first reaping-hook. The new coast was traced three hundred miles; and instead of trending southwards to join itself to Van Diemen's Land, as Captain Furneaux had supposed, he found it, beyond a certain point, to take a direction nearly opposite, and to assume the appearance of being exposed to the buffetings of an open sea. Mr. Bass, himself, entertained no doubt of the existence of a wide strait, separating Van Diemen's Land from New South Wales; and he yielded with the greatest reluctance to the necessity of returning, before it was so fully ascertained as to admit of no doubt in the minds of others. But he had the satisfaction of placing at the end of his new coast, an extensive and useful harbour, surrounded with a country superior to any other known in the southern parts of New South Wales.

A voyage expressly undertaken for discovery in an open boat, and in which six hundred miles of coast, mostly in a boisterous climate, was explored, has not, perhaps, its equal in the annals of maritime history. The public will award to its high-spirited and able conductor, alas! now no more, an honorable place in the list of those whose ardour stands most conspicuous for the promotion of useful knowledge.

1798. Mr. Bass had been returned a fortnight from his expedition in the whaleboat; and he communicated all his notes and observations to be added to my chart. There seemed to want no other proof of the existence of a passage between New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land, than that of sailing positively through it; but however anxious I was to obtain this proof, the gratification of my desire was required to be suspended by a voyage to Norfolk Island in the Reliance.

In September following, His Excellency, Governor Hunter, had the goodness to give me the Norfolk, a colonial sloop of twenty-five tons with authority to penetrate behind Furneaux's Islands; and should a strait be found, to pass through it, and return by the south end of Van Diemen's Land. Twelve weeks were allowed for the performance of this service, and provisions for that time were put on board; the rest of the equipment was completed by the friendly care of Captain Waterhouse of the Reliance.

I had the happiness to associate my friend Bass in this new expedition, and to form an excellent crew of eight volunteers from the King's ships.

THE WEST END OF THE STRAIT

The south-west wind died away in the night; and at six next morning, Dec. 9, we got under way with a light air at south-east. After rounding the north-east point of the three-hummock land, our course westward was pursued along its north side.

A large flock of gannets was observed at daylight, to issue out of the Great Bight to the southward; and they were followed by such a number of the sooty petrels as we had never seen equalled. There was a stream of from fifty to eighty yards in depth, and of three hundred yards or more in breadth; the birds were not scattered, but flying as compactly as a free movement of their wings seemed to allow; and during a full hour and a half, this stream of petrels continued to pass without interruption, at a rate little inferior to the swiftness of the pigeon. On the lowest computation, I think the number could not have been less than a hundred millions; and we were thence led to believe that there must be, in the large bight, one or more uninhabited islands of considerable size.

From the north-east point of the three-hummock land, the shore trended W. 1° N. three miles; then S. 39° W. four miles, to a rocky point forming the south-west extremity of what was then ascertained to be Three-hummock Island. The channel which separates it from the land to the west is, at least, two miles in width, and is deep; so that it was difficult to conjecture how the Indians were able to get over to the island. It was almost certain that they had no canoes at Port Dalrymple, nor any means of reaching islands lying not more than two cable lengths from the shore; and it therefore seemed improbable that they should possess canoes here. The small size of Three-hummock Island rendered the idea of fixed inhabitants inadmissible; and whichever way it was considered, the presence of men there was a problem difficult to be resolved.

The coast on the west side of the channel lies nearly south, and rises in height as it advances towards the cliffy head, set on the 6th p.m. The north end of this island is a sloping rocky point; and the first projection which opened round it, was at S. 32´ W., five or six miles. Beyond this there was nothing like mainland to be seen; indeed, this western land itself had very little the appearance of being such, either in its form, or in its poor starved vegetation. So soon as we had passed the north sloping point, a long swell was perceived to come from the South-west, such as we had not been accustomed to for some time. It broke heavily upon a small reef, lying a mile and a half from the point, and upon all the western shores; but although it was likely to prove troublesome, and perhaps dangerous, Mr. Bass and myself hailed it with joy and mutual congratulation, as announcing the completion of our long-wished-for discovery of a passage into the Southern Indian Ocean.

We had a fine breeze at east; and our course was directed for a small, rocky island, which lies W. 1/2 N. 6 miles from the north point of the barren land. This land appeared to be almost white with birds; and so much excited our curiosity and hope of procuring a supply of food, that Mr. Bass went on shore in the boat whilst I stood off and on, waiting his return. No land could be seen to the northward, and the furthest clearly distinguishable in the opposite direction was a steep island at the distance of four leagues.

Mr. Bass returned at half past two, with a boat-load of seals and albatrosses. He had been obliged to fight his way up the cliffs of the islands with the seals, and when arrived at the top, to make a road with his clubs amongst the albatrosses. These birds were sitting upon their nests, and almost covered the surface of the ground, nor did they any otherwise derange themselves for the new visitors, than to peck at their legs as they passed by. This species of albatross is white on the neck and breast, partly brown on the back and wings, and its size is less than many others met with in that sea, particularly in the high southern latitudes. The seals were of the usual size, and bore a reddish fur, much inferior in quality to that of the seals at Furneaux's Islands.

Albatross Island, for so it was named, is near two miles in length, and sufficiently high to be seen five or six leagues from a ship's deck: its shores are mostly steep cliffs.

The north-west cape of Van Diemen's Land, or island as it might now be termed, is a steep black head, which, from its appearance, I call Cape Grim. It lies nearly due south, four miles from the centre of Trefoil, in latitude 40° 44´; the longtitude will be 144° 43´ East, according to the position of Albatross Island made in the Investigator. There are two rocks close to Cape Grim, of the same description with itself. On the north side of the Cape the shore is a low sandy beach, and trends north-eastward three or four miles; but whether there be sufficient depth for ships to pass between it and Barren Island, has not, I believe, been yet ascertained. To the south of the Cape the black cliffs extend seven or eight miles, when the shore falls back eastward to a sandy bay of which little could be perceived.

1799. To the strait which had been the great object of research, and whose discovery was now completed, Governor Hunter gave, at my recommendation, the name of Bass Strait. This was no more than a just tribute to my worthy friend and companion, for the extreme dangers and fatigues he had undergone in first entering it in the whale-boat, and to the correct judgment he had formed from various indications, of the existence of a wide opening between Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales.