[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 79/583
The shore is rocky for a mile off, and the south point has a rocky shoal projecting to the West-North-West for a mile and a quarter. DARCH'S ISLAND is separated from Croker's Island by a navigable strait two miles wide; near the reef at the north-east end we had six fathoms, but in mid-channel the depth was as much as eleven fathoms.
A considerable reef projects off the east end for more than a mile.
The island is about two miles and three-quarters long, and is thickly wooded; its north point is in latitude 11 degrees 7 minutes 30 seconds. RAFFLES BAY forms a good port during any season; it is seven miles deep, and from two to three broad: beyond High Point the depth is not more than three fathoms and a half.
The anchorage is however quite safe. The bay to the eastward of Point Smith, which has a reef extending from it for nearly a mile, has a shoal opening at its bottom of very little importance.
At the north-east end of the bay, separated from the point by a channel a mile wide, and more than five fathoms deep, is a small sandy island, with a reef extending for a mile off its north end. PORT ESSINGTON, the outer heads of which, Vashon Head and Point Smith, are seven miles apart, is an extensive port, thirteen miles and a quarter deep, and from five to three wide; independent of its Inner Harbour, which, with a navigable entrance of a mile wide, is five miles deep and four wide.
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