1802
January.
Wednes. 27.
At the termination of the bank and of the second range of cliffs, the coast became sandy, and trended north-eastward about three leagues; after which it turned south-east-by-east, and formed the head of the Great Australian Bight, whose latitude I make to be 31° 29′ south, and longitude 131° 10′ east. In the chart of admiral D'Entrecasteaux, the head of the Great Bight is placed in 31° 36′ and 131° 27′; but I think there is an error at least in the latitude, for the admiral says, "at day break I steered to get in with the land; and the wind having returned to south-east, we hauled our starbord tacks on board, being then four or five leagues from the coast. At eleven o'clock, the land was seen a-head, and we veered ship in 32 fathoms, fine sand."[1] The latitude observed at noon, as appears by the route table, was 31° 38′ 58″; and if we suppose the ship, lying up south-south-west, to have made 2′ of southing in the hour, as marked in the chart, she must have been in 31° 37′ at eleven o'clock; which is within one mile of the latitude assigned to the head of the bight, where the shore curves to the south-east-by-east. This does not accord with the land being only then seen a-head, since the weather appears to have admitted the sight of it at the distance of four or five leagues. If we suppose the admiral, when he veered, to have been eight, instead of one mile from the head of the Great Bight, and the account strongly favours the supposition, it will then agree with my latitude. I had only 27 fathoms in crossing the head; and although it is possible there may be 30 closer in, yet in such a place as this the probability is, that the ship having the greatest depth of water was the furthest from the land.
After steering east-north-east, east, and east-south-east, and having seen the beach all round the head of the Great Bight, we hauled up parallel to the new direction of the coast, at the distance of six- ↑ Voyage de D'Entrecasteaux, par M. de Rossel, Tome I, page 220. The 32 fathoms are, I believe, of five French feet each, making very nearly 30 fathoms English measure.
