PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY 

 . OF LONDON. 



SESSION 1866. ' 



Eleventh Meeting, May 12, 1856 — continued. 



2. On Steam Communication between England, Australia, and the 

 Cape of Good Hope. By Captain J. Lort Stokes, r.n., f.r.g.s. 



The question of a steam packet line to Australia has been thoroughly- 

 discussed, in all its bearings, for more than ten years, and it has at 

 length become necessary to select some one particular route without 

 further delay. Captain Stokes urges afresh the claims of a line to 

 Singapore, through Torres Strait. He remarks on the populous 

 Archipelago it would traverse, its relation to the French settlement of 

 New Caledonia, and the outlet that it would afford to the Australian 

 squatters, who are stretching onwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria — a 

 region which he believes to be congenial both to Europeans and to 

 their cattle, and to offer an advantageous site for a penal settlement. 

 He considers the dangers of Torres Strait to have been much over- 

 rated ; the passage recommended has no sharp turns, and can be navi- 

 gated in the night time, except for about 100 miles. If a second steam 

 packet route could be supported, he would recommend one from Aden 

 to Mauritius, and thence across to Australia; it might be connected 

 with a branch line along the east coast of Africa to the Cape of Good 

 Hope, by way of Mauritius. 



The route across the Indian Ocean, by Diego Garcia, is a little 

 shorter than that by Torres Strait, but it crosses a hurricane track, 

 stormy seas, and a wide extent of profitless ocean. 



Sailing Directions, ^c. — As rather an exaggerated notion of the dangers of Torres 

 Strait appears to be entertained, the following details of the passage which I recom- 

 mend may be acceptable : — 



Ships coming from the westward should arrange to make Booby Island before 

 daylight, and, through the tranquil seas of the Asiatic Archipelago, steamers may 

 reckon on doing so with some certainty. To facilitate the approach to Booby 

 Island by night, it is proposed to erect a light there ; although, from its elevation, 

 isolated position, and bold character, there is no difficulty in making it at any time. 

 Hence the track proceeds through Prince of Wales Channel, the entrance to which 

 is a mile in width, having a sunk reef on its northern side, which it is proposed to 

 mark plainly by two buoys. In every other part of the track the passage is much 

 wider, varying from 3 miles in only a very few places, to 10 and 20 miles gene- 

 rally, and free from hidden dangers, except in the single case of the western 

 entrance. 



K 



