A Voyage to Terra Australis — Volume 1 by Matthew Flinders
page 112 of 569 (19%)
page 112 of 569 (19%)
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So far as this examination extended, the general form of the coast was
found to correspond with that of the old chart; nor was any material error found in Nuyts' latitude. A further, and more extended confirmation of the Dutch navigator's discovery, and of its having been well laid down, considering the period at which it was done, was obtained in the following year. D'ENTRECASTEAUX. 1792. The French rear-admiral BRUNY D'ENTRECASTEAUX, having been sent out with the ships _La Recherche_ and _L'Espérance_ in search of the unfortunate La Pérouse made the south coast of New Holland on Dec. 5, 1792, about twenty-eight leagues to the north-west of Cape Chatham.* The coast, from the South-west Cape to the longitude of Termination Island, was explored by the admiral, with all the minuteness that the state of the weather could permit; and he was, generally, able to keep the shore closer abord than captain Vancouver had done, and to supply the deficiencies in his chart. The broken land to the north of Termination Island was found to be conformable to what Nuyts had laid down: it made part of a very extensive group of islands, one of which afforded timely shelter to the French ships on Dec. 9, from a gale which had arisen at south-west. [*When the Investigator sailed, the journal of _M. Labillardière_, naturalist in D'Entrecasteaux's expedition, was the sole account of the voyage made public: but M. DE ROSSEI one of the principal officers, has since published the voyage from the journals of the rear-admiral and it is from this last that what follows is extracted.] They remained a week at this anchorage, whilst the naturalists explored the surrounding country, and the surveyors examined such of the islands |
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