THE KNOWSLEY HALL.
The island of Amsterdam, on which the captain of the British ship Vancouver saw smoke and lights on the 16th December last which led him to believe that, as the island is known to be uninhabited, the crew of a shipwrecked Vessel, probably the Knowsley Hall, 3iad found refuge on it, is the northernmost of an isolated group lying in the South Indian Ocean, in about the same latitude as the Caps of Geod Hope and the south-western corner of Australia, and about niidway between the two points, but somewhat nearer the latter than the former. The island was, as Ifar as is known, first seen in 1623 by the Dutch ship Leyden; and in 1633 it waa named New Amsterdam Island by the famous Anthonio Van Diemen, •after the ship in which he was sailing when he saw it, and which was called the Nieuw Amsterdam. It was visited in 1837 by Captain Wickham, in her JMajesty's ship Beagle, and is stated by tim to be 2685 ft. high, four milea long from east to west, and about four miles "Wide from North to south. The island is in parts covered with a light sandy : soil, producing tall grass and shrubs, 'and there is a small drain of water half fttaite inland oh the leeward side of the .island, but otherwise there is little on It to support a shipwrecked crew.
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Bibliographic details
Kumara Times, Issue 1138, 22 May 1880, Page 3
Word Count
235THE KNOWSLEY HALL. Kumara Times, Issue 1138, 22 May 1880, Page 3
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