The Naval Pioneers of Australia by Louis Becke
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page 20 of 256 (07%)
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afloat a buccaneer--of which he has given us details in his _Voyage round
the Terrestrial Globe_. In March, 1686, Dampier in a little barque, the _Cygnet_, commanded by Captain Swan, quitted the American coast and sailed westward across the Pacific. On this voyage the _Cygnet_ touched at the Ladrones, the Bashee Islands, the Philippines, Celebes, Timor, New Holland, and the Nicobar Islands. Here Dampier left his ship and worked his way to England, which he reached in 1691. (The _Cygnet_ was afterwards lost off Madagascar.) He had brought home with him from Mindanao a tattooed slave, whom he called the "Painted Prince Jeoey," and who was afterwards exhibited as the first painted savage ever seen in England. "Jeoey," who died at Oxford, is the "painted Prince Job" mentioned by Evelyn. It has been stated that the _Cygnet_ touched at New Holland. This land was sighted on January 4th, 1688, in what Dampier says was "latitude 16ยท50 S. About three leagues to the eastward of this point there is a pretty deep bay, with abundance of islands in it, and a very; good place to anchor in or to haul ashore. About a league to the eastward of that point we anchored January the 5th, 1688, two miles from the shore." A modern map of West Australia will show the West Kimberley goldfield. To the west of the field is the district of West Kimberley, and upon the coast-line is the Buccaneer Archipelago. The bay in which Dampier anchored is still called Cygnet Bay, and it is situated in the north-west corner of King's Sound, of which "that point" to which "we went a league to the eastward" is named Swan Point, while a rock called Dampier's Monument more particularly commemorates the buccaneer's visit. The ship remained in Cygnet Bay until March 12th, and during that time the |
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