PORT JACKSON, which lies three leagues to the northward, and was found to
be one of the finest harbours in the world.

A history of this establishment at the extremity of the globe, in a
country where the astonished settler sees nothing, not even the grass
under his feet, which is not different to whatever had before met his
eye, could not but present objects of great interest to the European
reader; and the public curiosity has been gratified by the perusal of
various respectable publications, wherein the proceedings of the
colonists, the country round Port Jackson, its productions, and native
inhabitants, are delineated with accuracy, and often with minuteness. The
subject to be here treated is the progress of maritime geographical
discovery, which resulted from the new establishment; and as the
different expeditions made for this purpose are in many cases
imperfectly, and in some altogether unknown, it has been judged that a
circumstantial account of them would be useful to seamen, and not without
interest to the general reader. These expeditions are, moreover,
intimately connected with the Investigator's voyage, of which they were,
in fact, the leading cause.

(Atlas, Plate VIII.)

The first advantage to maritime geography which arose from the new
settlement, was a survey of Botany and Broken Bays and Port Jackson, with
most of the rivers falling into them. Botany Bay had, indeed, been
examined by captain Cook; but of the other two harbours, the entrances
alone had been seen. This survey, including the intermediate parts of the
coast, was made by captain John Hunter, and was published soon after its
transmission to England by governor Phillip.