PASSAGE FROM THE CAPE TO AUSTRALIA.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 413, 30 March 1850, Page 2

PASSAGE FROM THE CAPE TO AUSTRALIA.

Masters of ships bound to Auit'alia may derive some useful information, on making the passage, fiom the Cape, in the following:— " Extract from the remarks of H. M. S. Havannak, Cap'ain Erskine, from tbe Cape of Good Hope 'o Sydney." " There aeem» to be a general notion among' masters of ships at present that that passage is best niuda by getting into high southern latitudes, in which v-'sterly winds blow very steadily and constantly. Bit that this it not always the case a glance at the Uai annah's log will show, as it will be seen that, keeping always to the northward of 39 ° , she made the paisuge in the unusually short period of thirty-four days As her route was determined by a careful attention to the changes of the barometer and Bympiciometer, a few remarks on this subject may not lie unserviceable. From what I have heard of the prey i ing winds of the Southern Indian Ocean, I wai led to believe that they consisted genernlly of a isries of revolving gales, travelling to the eastward, their centres (at tun time of the year),

keeping about the parallel of 40 ° , and I imaging that by running in the northern or left-hand semicircle of these gales, a ship might profit by the whole of their weilerly portion. My reasons weie as follows. Flinder, rol. 1, chap. 3, p. 46, says— ' Having made this passage three times before, I was satisfied of the impropriety of running in a southern latitude, particularly when the sun is in the other hemisphere, &c., not only from the winds — these being often stronger than desired — but because they will not blow so steadily from the westward.' In latitude 42 ° • I have expeiienced heavy gales from the north and from the south, and even from the eastwaid, in the months of June and July.' He continnei — ' It may mny not be improper to anticipate upon the voyage so far as to state what was the result of kepping i" the parallel of 37 - in the month of November. Prom the Cape of Good Hopr to the Island of Amsterdam the winds were never so strong as to induce the Investigator to close-reef topsails, and on the other hand, the calms amounted to no more than seven hours in nineteen days. The average distance on the log-book in direct course! — for we had no foul winds — was 140 milei a day, and the Investigator was not a frigate, but a collier-built ship, and deeply laden. In the following twelve days ran from Amsterdam to the southwest coast of New Holland ; the same results attended m, and 150 miles a day was the average distance, without leeward or calm. The Australian Directory also lays (page l f I di not know on whose authority) ' Ships fiona the Cape of Good Hope, bound to Port Jackson, should run down their longitude on the parallel of 39 ° south, where the wind blows almost constantly from some western quarter, and generally wiih not to mush (strength as to prevent sail being carried to it. In a higher latitude the weather is frequently more boi6terous and stormy, and sudden changes of wind, with much squally weather, a 2 almost con«tantly to be expected.' I might quote other authorities, leading one to infer that by keeping so far to the southward, a ship would probably encounter either the proximity to the centre of tteb c storms cr the •emicinle of foul winds. I choose, accordingly, the parallel between 38 ° and 39 ° , and had I not wished to make the Island of Amsterdam, would have kept even the northward of that, probably with advantage. By inspecting our log, it will be seen that after profiting by two short rotaory gales, the progress of which was most exactly shewn by the glass, the ship ran from the 16th to the 21st of July in one, the glass visibly rising more or less, and the wind veering, as she outstripped or fell short of the velocity of the storm's travel; and that on the night of the 17th, on rounding to for lf hour to allow the centie to pass, when it blew very hard, the glass rose almost immediately, but ceased doing so after we bo r e up and oveitook the storm. On the 2lst the ceutre got ahead, the wind shifting to southward of weB f , and glass rising, having run about 1185 miles in five days, or nt the rate of nearly ten knots an hour. — { Although I could afterwards get no precise account of the weather which followed this date along the south coast of Amsterdam, further than that it had blown very hard, I have no douot that (as I expected) this gale swept the whole of that coast, as on closing it on the 28th, instead of the usual easterly current of a mile, or more, an hour— we found on that day a set N. 73 ° W. fourteen miles; on the 29th W. 27 miles ; J on the3"oth N. 41 °W. 13 miles— the reflux evidently of the itorna wave ; whilst on the 4th of August the current had returned iti old course of N. 45 ° E. 20 miles. On examining, after our arrival at Sydney, the logs of two merchant ships — the Fairlie, of London, and the Ganges, of Liverpool, winch made the passage about ths same time at ourselves, but a degree or more to the southward, I found they had occasionally northeast winds, while we had gales ; and both ships, from these causei, were unable to fetch the entrance to Bass's Straits, and were forced to go round Van Diemen's Land— a loss of time of at least four of five days. Ai far as my own limited experience goeii, these remarks only refer to the open ocean— the winds evidently sometimes being nullified by the neighbourhood of the land, &c. ; although Flinders account of the usual progress of the gales in Bass's Straits describes perfect rotatory storms. In our case the southerly gale which took us thiouph the Straits, and thence rapidly up the coast to Port Jackson, was certainly not of this description— as, although it blew very heavy on the night of the 4th Auguit, it veered for an hour or two lo the S. S. W., the glass only fdll to 20 • 48, rising very soon afterwardi, when the wind esumed its old direction.— Nautical Magazine.