[Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia] [Volume 2 of 2] by Phillip Parker King]@TWC D-Link bookNarrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia] [Volume 2 of 2] CHAPTER 5 67/583
A rocky reef extends for two miles to the southward of islet 7.
Roe manuscript.) 8, 9, and 10, are low, woody islets: 8 is five miles to the eastward of Cairncross Island; 9 and 10 are to the northward of 8. 11 is also low and woody, but its position was not clearly ascertained. ORFORDNESS is a sandy projection of the coast under Pudding-pan Hill (of Bligh) the shape of which, being flat-topped, is very remarkable: the hill is in latitude 11 degrees 18 minutes 30 seconds, and longitude 142 degrees 43 minutes 35 seconds. The country between Cape Grenville and Cape York is low and sandy, with but few sinuosities in its coast line: it is exposed to the trade wind, which often blows with great strength, from South-East and South-East by East. ESCAPE RIVER, in 10 degrees 57 1/2 minutes, is an opening in the land of one mile in breadth, trending in for two or three miles, when it turns to the north, and is concealed from the view; the land on the north side of the entrance is probably an island, for an opening was observed in Newcastle Bay, trending to the south, which may communicate with the river.
The entrance is defended by a bar, on which the Mermaid was nearly lost.
(Volume 1.) The deepest channel may probably be near the south head, which is rocky.
The banks on the south side are wooded, and present an inviting aspect. NEWCASTLE BAY is nine miles in extent by six deep; its shores are low, and apparently of a sandy character; at the bottom there is a considerable opening bearing West 1/4 North eight miles and a half from Turtle Island. Off the south head of the bay is TURTLE ISLAND, a small rocky islet on the east side of an extensive reef, in latitude 10 degrees 54 minutes, and longitude 142 degrees 38 minutes 40 seconds; it is separated by a channel three miles wide from reef x, which has a dry sand at its north end, in latitude 10 degrees 53 minutes, and longitude 142 degrees 42 minutes, it has also some dry rocks and a mangrove bush on the inner part of its south end. Four miles to the north of x are two shoals y and Z, both of which are covered; y is two miles and a half long, and three miles and a quarter; neither of them appeared to be a mile in width; the north-west end of z, when in a line with Mount Adolphus, bears North 19 degrees West. Off the north head of Newcastle Bay, which forms the south-east trend of the land of Cape York, is a group of high rocky islands, ALBANY ISLES; and immediately off the point is a reef, which extends for about a mile; half a mile without its edge, we had ten fathoms. The islets 12, 13, and 15, were only seen at a distance. THE BROTHERS, so called in Lieutenant Bligh's chart, are two high rocks upon a reef. ALBANY ISLES contain six islands, of which one only is of large size; the easternmost has a small peak, and a reef extends for less than a quarter of a mile from it; the peak is in latitude 10 degrees 43 minutes 45 seconds, and longitude 142 degrees 35 minutes 5 seconds. YORK ISLES is a group about seven miles from the mainland; the principal island, which is not more than two miles long, has a very conspicuous flat-topped hill upon it, MOUNT ADOLPHUS,* in latitude 10 degrees 38 minutes 20 seconds, and longitude 142 degrees 36 minutes 25 seconds.
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