The Logbooks of the Lady Nelson - With the journal of her first commander Lieutenant James Grant by Ida Lee
page 33 of 327 (10%)
page 33 of 327 (10%)
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between the two haycocks or rather sugarloaf-like islands bearing from
south-east 1/4 south. The fifth is a high perpendicular barren cliff which, as we get almost abreast, looked like two islands joined together at the bottom, rising to a sharp edge ragged at the top and resembling a large tower or castle. This island I named The Devil's Tower. An island inshore was observed, it bore west-north-west distant 10 miles: I called it Moncur's Island in compliment to Captain Moncur of the Royal Navy, and another was visible bearing north by east 16 or 17 miles. Land, apparently an island to the southward and eastward we can just see from the masthead. It may be necessary to observe that these bearings were taken at noon, and as it was then a stark calm the vessel was nearly stationary. By a good observation the latitude was 39 degrees 30 minutes, longitude 147 degrees 18 minutes east, calculated from lunar observation 2 days before. But I take it to be correctly 147 degrees east from my making the Ramhead according to the best charts, therefore the bearings are laid down in my chart from 147 degrees east. "Wilson's Promontory was so named by Mr. George Bass of H.M.S. Reliance who was the first navigator that ascertained the real existence of a strait separating Van Dieman's Land from New Holland in his voyage in a whale boat from Sydney to Western Port.* (* "Mr. Bass places Wilson's Promontory in 38 degrees 56 minutes south, Lieutenant Grant in 39 degrees 17 minutes, and Mr. Black in 39 degrees 8 minutes. As Mr. Bass's latitude is by computation from the whale boat, I think a preference may be given to Lieutenant Grant's position, as he had the advantage of a good sextant." P.G.K.) Having made it I set off in one of my boats early in the morning of the 10th* (* Grant now abandons the plan previously used of heading each entry in the diary with the date of the day on which it was written, and includes the dates of the various events in the text of |
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