The History of Australian Exploration from 1788 to 1888 | Page 8

having for his second in
command Luis Vaez de Torres, sailed from Callao with two well-armed
vessels and a corvette. After the discovery of several islands, they came
to a land which Quiros supposed to be the continent he was in search of,
and therefore named it Australia del Espiritu Santo. "At one hour past
midnight," says Torres, in his account of the voyage, "the CAPITANA"
(Quiros' vessel) "departed without any notice given to us, and without
making any signal." This extraordinary conduct was supposed to be the
result of discontent and mutiny amongst the sailors, an outbreak having
already taken place which was not quelled quite so firmly as Torres
advocated. After vainly waiting for many days, Torres set sail, and first
ascertaining that it was only an island where they had been anchored,
he made his way by the dangerous south coast of New Guinea to

Manila, where he arrived in 1607.
Up to the preceding year popular knowledge concerning the South
Land must be looked upon as being mixed up with much that is both
doubtful and hazardous. We now, however, reach the period which may
be regarded as the beginning of the authentic history of the discovery of
New Holland. In 1606 the yacht DUYFHEN sailed from Bantam, and,
coasting along the south-west shore of New Guinea, her commander
unknowingly crossed the entrance of Torres Straits, and continued his
voyage along the eastern side of the Gulf of Carpentaria, under the
impression that it was part of the same country. They sailed nearly to
latitude 14 degrees south, when want of provisions and other
necessaries compelled them to turn back. Cape Keer-Weer (Turn Again)
they named the furthest point reached by them. Their report of the
country was most unfavourable. They described it as being "for the
greatest part desert, but in some places inhabited by wild, cruel, black
savages, by whom some of the crew were murdered, for which reason
they could not learn anything of the land or waters as had been desired
of them."
The name of the captain of the DUYFHEN--the Columbus of the
south--has not been preserved. Ten years after this visit, in 1616,
Captain Dirk Hartog, in command of the ship ENDRACHT, from
Amsterdam, discovered the west coast of Australia. He left a tin plate
on an island in Dirk Hartog's Roads bearing the following inscription:--
"Ao 1616, den 25sten October, is hier vangecommen het schip de
ENDRACHT van Amsterdam, den Oppercoopmen Gilles Mibais van
Luyck; schipper Dirk Hartog, van Amsterdam, den 27sten, dito t' zeijl
gegaen na Bantam, den Ondercoopman Jan Stoyn, Opperstierman
Pieter Dockes, van Bil, Ao 1616."
[Translation.--On the 25th October, arrived here the ship Endraght of
Amsterdam; the first merchant, Gilles Mibais, of Luyck; Captain Dirk
Hartog; of Amsterdam; the 27th ditto set sail for Bantam;
undermerchant Jan Stoyn, upper steersman, Pieter Dockes, from Bil,
Ao, 1616.]

Captain Vlaming, of the ship GEELVINK, found this plate in 1697,
and replaced it with another, on which he copied the original
inscription, and added to it as follows:--
"1697. Den 4den Februaij is hier vangecommen het schip de
GEELVINK van Amsterdam, den Commandeur schipper, Williem de
Vlamingh, van Vlielandt, Adsistent Joan van Bremen, van Coppenhage;
Opperstierman Michiel Blom van Estight, van Bremen. De Hoecker de
NYPTANG, schipper Gerrit Collaert van Amsterdam; Adsistent
Theodorus Heermans van de; d`Opperstierman Gerrit Gerritz, van
Bremen, 't Galjoot t' WESELTJE, Gezaghabber Cornelis de Vlamingh
van Vlielandt; Stierman Coert Gerritz, van Bremen, en van hier gezeilt
met ons vloot den 12do voorts net Zuijtland te ondersoecken en
gedestineert voor Batavia."
[Translation.--On the 4th of February, 1697, arrived here the ship
GEELVINCK, of Amsterdam; Commandant Wilhelm de Vlamingh, of
Welandt; assistant, Jan van Bremen, of Copenhagen; first pilot, Michiel
Bloem van Estight, of Bremen. The hooker, the NYPTANGH, Captain
Gerrit Collaert, of Amsterdam, Assistant Theodorus Heermans, of the
same place; first pilot, Gerrit Gerritz, of Bremen; then the galliot
WESELTJE, Commander Cornelis de Vlaming, of Vlielandt; Pilot
Coert Gerritz, from Bremen. Sailed from here with our fleet on the 12th,
to explore the South Land, and afterwards bound for Batavia.]
In 1801, the boatswain of the NATURALISTE found this plate half
buried in sand, lying near an oaken post to which it had been nailed.
Captain Hamelin, with rare good taste, had a new post made, and the
plate erected in the old spot. Another outward bound ship, the
MAURITIUS, touched on the west coast in 1618, and discovered and
named the Willems River, near the Northwest Cape, probably the
present Ashburton. The LEEUWIN (Lioness), visited the west coast in
1622, and the well-known reef of Houtman's Abrolhos was so-called
after Frederick Houtman, a Dutch navigator of distinction who,
however, never personally visited Australian shores. The next navigator
to the South Land met with an untimely end.