"At 5 A.M. Of The 13th, We Weighed Anchor With Light Variable Airs And
Got Clear Out Of The Cove By Ten, When We Found A Moderate Breeze From
North-East, And We Made All Possible Sail To The Southward."
Grant then gives his opinion of Jervis Bay, a place destined to be much
more important in the future of the continent, as it will serve as port
to Canberra, the seat of the Australian Government.
"It is worthy of
remark that Jarvis's Bay* (* i.e. Jervis Bay.) or sound is large,
commodious and easy of access, affording shelter from all winds and
having room for upwards of 200 sail of ships with plenty of wood and
water. When this bay comes to be more known, it will be found eligible
for vessels bound to Port Jackson after a long passage from England...and
will be the means of saving many lives."
From Jervis Bay the Lady Nelson continued her voyage southwards and, on
the 19th of March, off Point Hicks, she met with a strange sail which
proved to be the ship Britannia, Captain Turnbull, from England, bound
for the whale fishery. She was going to Sydney to refit, and thus gave
Grant an opportunity to send a letter to Governor King. He wrote as
follows:
POINT HICKS, NORTH BY EAST 12 MILES.
"18th March, 1801.
"SIR, - Seeing a vessel to windward, and judging you would wish to hear of
us...I sit down to write you a few lines before she joins us, as I
suppose she is bound to Sydney, and from her situation, I presume she is
one more who has come through the Straits.
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