H.M.B. Endeavour - The Careening Place

22^nd June

COOK – “At 4 in the pm having got out most of the coals, cast loose the moorings and warped the Ship a little higher up the harbour to a place I had pitched upon to lay ashore for stopping the leak. At 2 o’clock in the am the tide left her which gave us an opportunity to examine the leak.”

BANKS – “In the morn I saw her leak which was very large: in the middle was a hole large enough to have sunk a ship with twice our pumps but here providence had visibly worked in our favour, for it was in great measure plugged up by a stone which was as big as a man’s fist.”

PARKINSON – “…that same rock therefore, that endangered us, yielded us the principal means of our redemption. We lost no time, but immediately set about repairing the ship’s bottom, and in a few days made it sound again.”

BANKS – “The people who were sent to the other side of the water to shoot pigeons saw an animal as large as a greyhound, of a mouse colour and very swift.”

24^th June

COOK – “I saw myself this morning a little way from the Ship one of the animals… I could have taken it for a wild dog, but for its walking or running in which it jumped like a hare or deer; another of them was seen today by some of our people who saw the first, they describe him as having very small legs and the print of a foot like that of a goat.”

BANKS – “A seaman who had been out in the woods brought home the description of an animal he had seen composed in so Seamanlike a stile that I cannot help mentioning it; it was says he “about as large and much like a one gallon cagg [keg], as black as the Devil and had 2 horns on its head, it went but slowly but I dare not touch it”.

26^th June

COOK – “At low-water in the pm the Carpenters finished under the larboard bow and every other place the tide would permit them to come at. Lashed some casks under the Ships bows in order to float her at high-water in the night Attempted to heave her off but could not, she not being afloat partly owing to some of the casks not holding that were lashed under her. I am much afraid that we shall not be able to float her now the tides are taking off.”

BANKS – “Since the ship has been hauled ashore the water that has come into her has of course all gone backwards and my plants which were for safety stowed in the bread room were this day found under water…many were saved but some intirely lost and spoiled.”

27^th June

COOK – “I went in the pinnace up the harbour and made several hauls with the sain but caught only 20 and 30 lb of fish which were given to the sick and such as were weak and ailing.”

30^th June

COOK – “In the pm the Boat returned from hauling the sain having caught as many fish as came to a pound and a half a man. In the AM I sent her out again. I likewise sent some of the young gentlemen to take a Plan of the harbour and went myself upon the hill which is over the south point to take a view of the sea.”[Grassy Hill]

BANKS – “When we came there the prospect was indeed melancholy: the sea every where full of innumerable shoals, some above and some under water, and no prospect of any straight passage out.”

2^nd July

COOK – “Early in the am I sent the Master in the Pinnace out of the harbour to Sound about the shoals in the offing and look for a channel to the Northward.”

3^rd July

COOK – “At high water attempted to heave the Ship off but did not succeed. At noon the Master returned and reported that he had found a passage out to sea between the shoals. He told me that he was 5 leagues out at sea and judged himself to be without all the shoals, which I very much doubt.”

BANKS – “He had in his return landed on a dry reef where he found vast plenty of shell fish so that the boat was completely loaded, chiefly with a large kind of cockles. One of which was more than 2 men could eat.”

4^th July

COOK – “At high water hove the ship afloat.”

BANKS – “An Allegator was seen swimming along side of her for some time.”

6^th July

COOK – “Moored the Ship alongside the beach where the stores lay and in the am got everything in readiness for taking them on board. Mr Banks and Lieut Gore with three men in a small boat went up the River with a view to stay 2 or 3 days to try to kill some of the animals we have so often seen about this place.”

9^th July

BANKS – “We walked for many  miles over the flats and saw 4 of the animals, two of which my greyhound fairly chased, but they beat him owing to the length and thickness of the grass which prevented him from running while they at every bound leapt over the tops of it. We were disappointed of the only good chance we have had of seeing the people since we came here by their unaccountable timidity.”

10^th July

COOK – “In the pm saw seven or eight of the natives on the South [opposite] side of the River and two of them came down upon the sandy point opposite the Ship but as soon as I put off in a boat in order to speak with them they run away as fast as they could.”

BANKS – “AM. Four Indians appeared on the opposite shore; they had with them a canoe made of wood with an outrigger in which two of them embarked and came towards the ship. Cloth, Nails paper was given to them all which they took without shewing the least signs of satisfaction; at last a small fish was by accident thrown to them on which they expressed the greatest joy imaginable, and instantly putting off from the ship made signs that they should bring over their comrades, which they very soon did and all four landed near us, each carrying in his hand 2 lances and a stick to throw them with.”

COOK – “Tupia [The Tahitian priest who joined the ship in Tahiti] soon prevailed upon them to lay down their arms and come and set down by him, after which more of us went to them, made them again some presents and stayed by them until dinner time. One of these men was something above middle age, the other three were young, none of them were above 51/2 feet high and all their limbs proportionately small, they were wholly naked their skins the Colour of wood soot or a dark chocolate and this seem'd to be their natural colour, their hair was black, lank and croppe'd short and neither wooly nor frizled nor did they want any of their fore teeth as Dampier has mentioned those did he saw on the western side of this Country, Some part of their bodies had been painted with red and one of them had his upper lip and breast paint with streakes of white which he called ‘Carbanda’: their features were far from being disagreeable, the Voices were soft and tunable and they could easily repeat many words after us, but neither us nor Tupia could understand one word they said. ”

11^th July

BANKS – “Indians came over again today, 2 that were with us yesterday and two new ones who our old acquaintance introduced to us by their names, one of which was Yaparico. Tho we did not yesterday Observe it they all had the Septum or inner part of the nose bord through with a very large hole, in which one of them had stuck the bone of a bird as thick as a mans finger and 5 or 6 inches long, an ornament no doubt tho to us it appeard rather an uncouth one. They brought with them a fish which they gave to us in return I suppose for the fish we had given them yesterday. Their stay was but short for some of our gentlemen being rather too curious in examining their canoe they went directly to it and pushing it off went away without saying a word.”

12th July

BANKS - Indians came again today and ventured down to Tupias Tent, where they were so well pleased with their reception that three staid while the fourth went with the Canoe to fetch two new ones; they introduced their strangers (which they always made a point of doing) by name and had some fish given them. They received it with indifference, signed to our people to cook it for them, which was done, and they eat part and gave the rest to my Bitch. They staid the most part of the morning but never ventured to go above 20 yards from their canoe. The ribbands by which we had tied medals round their necks the first day we saw them were coverd with smoak; I suppose they lay much in the smoak to keep off the Musquetos. They are a very small people or at least this tribe consisted of very small people, in general about 5 feet 6 in height and very slender;

PARKINSON - On their breasts and hips were corresponding marks like ridges, or seams, raised above the rest of the flesh, which looked like the cicatrices of ill-healed wounds.

BANKS - Their ornaments were few: necklaces prettyly enough made of shells, bracelets wore round the upper part of their arms, consisting of strings lapped round with other strings as what we Call gymp in England, a string no thicker than a packthread tied round their bodies which was sometimes made of human hair, a piece of Bark tied over their forehead, and the preposterous bone in their noses which I have before mentioned were all that we observd.

BANKS - Their language was totally different from that of the Islanders; it sounded more like English in its degree of harshness tho it could not be called harsh neither. They almost continually made use of the word ‘Chircau’, which we conceived to be a term of Admiration as they still used it when ever they saw any thing new; also Cherr, tut tut tut tut tut, which probably have the same signification.

BANKS - Their Canoe was not above 10 feet long and very narrow built, with an outrigger fitted much like those at the Islands only far inferior; they in shallow waters set her on with poles, in deep paddled her with paddles about 4 feet long; she just carried 4 people so that the 6 who visited us today were obliged to make 2 embarkations. Their Lances were much like those we had seen in Botany bay, only they were all of them single pointed, and some pointed with the stings of sting-rays and bearded with two or three beards of the same, which made them indeed a terrible weapon; the board or stick with which they flung them was also made in a neater manner.

BANKS - After having staid with us the greatest part of the morning they went away as they came. While they staid 2 more and a young woman made their appearance upon the Beach; she was to the utmost that we could see with our glasses as naked as the men.

14^th July

BANKS – “Our second lieutenant [Mr. Gore] who was a shooting today had the good fortune to kill the animal that had so long been the subject of our speculation.”

Sydney Parkinson's drawing of a kangaroo

COOK – The head neck and shoulders of this animal was very small in proportion to the other parts; the tail was nearly as long as the body, thick next to the rump and tapering towards the end; its progression is by hopping or jumping..”

BANKS – “…7 or 8 feet at each hop. To compare it to any European animal would be impossible as it has not the least resemblance to any one I have seen.”

15^th July

COOK – “Today we dined of the animal shot yesterday & thought it excellent food.”

17^th July

COOK –“We met with five of the natives and altho we had not seen any of them before they came to us without showing the least signs of fear.”

18^th July

BANKS – “Indians were over with us today and seemed to have lost all fear of us and became quite familiar; one of them at our desire threw his lance – it flew with a degree of swiftness and steadiness that really surprised me, never being above 4 feet from the ground and stuck deep in at a distance of 50 paces. After this they ventured on board the ship and soon became our very good friends.”

COOK –“ Soon after this Mr Banks and I went over to the north side of the river and travelled six or 8 miles along shore to the northward where we ascended a high hill from whence we had an extensive view of the Sea.”[ Mount Saunders]

BANKS – “In which ever direction we turned our eyes shoals innumerable were to be seen and no such thing as any passage to sea but through the winding channels between them, dangerous to the last degree.”

COOK – “After this we returned to the Ship and found several of the natives on board; at this time we had 12 turtles upon our decks which they took more notice of than any thing else in the ship.”

19^th July

BANKS – “Ten Indians visited us today and brought with them a larger quantity of lances than they had ever done before, these they laid up in a tree leaving a man and a boy to take care of them and came on board the ship. They soon let us know their errand which was by some means or other to get one of our turtles of which we had 8 or 9 lying upon the decks. They first by signs asked for one and on being refused shewed great marks of resentment; one who had asked me on my refusal stamping his foot pushed me from him with a countenance full of distain.”

COOK- “As we had no vituals dressed at this time I offered them some bread to eat, which they rejected with scorn as I believe they would have done anything else except turtle. Soon after this they all went ashore. Immediately upon landing one of them took a handful of dry grass and lighted it at a fire we had ashore, and before we well knowed what he was going about he made a large circuit round about us and set fire to the grass in this way and in an Instant the whole place was in flames, luckily at this time we had hardly anything ashore beside the forge and a sow and a litter of pigs one of which was scorched to death in the fire. As soon as they had done this they all went to a place where some of our people were washing and where all our nets and a good deal of our linen were laid out to dry.”

BANKS – “The Captain followed to prevent them burning our linen and the seine.”

COOK –“Here with the greatest obstinacy they set fire to the grass which I and some others who were present could not prevent.”

BANKS – “He had no musquet [musket] with him so soon returned to fetch one for no threats or signs would make them desist. Mine was ashore and another loaded with shot, so we ran as fast as possible towards them..”

19^th July

BANKS – “We ran as fast as possible towards them and came just time enough to save the seine by firing at an Indian who had already fired the grass in two places just to windward of it; on the shot striking him though he was a full forty yards from the Captain who fired, he dropped his fire and ran nimbly to his comrades who all ran off pretty fast. The Captain then loaded his musquet with ball and fired it into the mangroves abreast of where they ran to show them that they were not yet out of our reach, they ran on quickening their pace on hearing the ball and we soon lost sight of them.”

COOK – “As we were appraised of this last attempt of theirs we got the fire out before it got a head, but the first spread like wild fire in the woods and grass. Not withstanding my firing, in which one must have been a little hurt because we saw a few drops of blood on some linen he had gone over, they did not go far from us for soon after we heard their voices in the woods; upon which Mr Banks and I and 3 or 4 more went to look for them and very soon met them coming towards us.

BANKS – “An old man ventured quite to us and said something which we could not understand.”

COOK – “As they had each 4 or 5 darts a piece and not knowing their intention we seized upon six or seven of the first darts we met with.”

BANKS – “On seeing us with our musquets they again retired leisurely..”

COOK – “..and we followed them for near half a mile.”