CHAPTER XVI 



THE "HORMUZEER" AND "CHESTERFIELD" 

 (BAMPTON AND ALT) 



1793 



FROM NORFOLK ISLAND. MURRAY ISLANDS SIGHTED. NEW GUINEA SIGHTED. 

 FAILURE TO PASS BETWEEN NEW GUINEA AND LOUISIADE ARCHIPELAGO. DARNLEY 

 ISLAND. NATIVES APPROACH IN CANOES AND BARTER Bows AND ARROWS FOR 

 KNIVES, ETC. Two OFFICERS OF THE " CHESTERFIELD " AND A PASSENGER LOST. 

 " HORMUZEER'S " BOAT IN SEARCH. NATIVES IN AMBUSH. TREACHEROUS ATTACK. 

 LANDING PARTY. DARNLEY AND NEIGHBOURING ISLANDS TAKEN POSSESSION OF. 

 EVIDENCE OF MURDER OF THE MISSING MEN. PUNISHMENT. STEPHENS' ISLAND. 

 HOSTILE NATIVES. CAMPBELL'S ISLAND. BRISTOW ISLAND. STEPHENS' ISLAND. 

 NEWS OF MISSING MEN OBTAINED FROM A NATIVE. Six WERE KILLED AND FOUR 

 WOUNDED. THE WOUNDED MEN ESCAPE IN BOAT AND REACH TIMOR LAUT, 

 TENIMBER GROUP. DUNGENESS AND WARRIOR ISLANDS. SHIPS GO THROUGH 

 BASILISK PASS. GABBA ISLAND. MOUNT CORNWALLIS. TURN-AGAIN ISLAND. 

 TALBOT ISLAND. DELIVERANCE ISLAND. THROUGH THE " PERA'S " " DRY 

 BIGHT" AND CLEAR OF TORRES STRAIT. 



" f ^HE last passage known to have been made through Torres 

 Strait previously to the sailing of the ( Investigator, 9 ' 

 A says Flinders (Terra Australis, I, xix) " was by 

 Messieurs WILLIAM BAMPTON and MATTHEW ALT, 

 Commanders of the ships ' Hormuzeer ' and ' Chesterfield.' Their 

 discoveries were made public in two charts by Mr. Dalrymple in 

 1798 and 1799, an< ^ fr m them, and Captain Bampton's manu- 

 script journal, the south coast of New Guinea and most of the reefs 

 and islands near it are laid down in Plate XIII, after having been 

 adjusted to the observations of Captain Bligh and those subse- 

 quently made by me in the ' Investigator ' and ' Cumberland.' ' 

 Flinders then gives an abridgement of BAMPTON'S JOURNAL, which 

 I further condense. 



The " Hormuzeer " and " Chesterfield " sailed from NORFOLK 

 ISLAND with the intention of passing through TORRES STRAIT by a 

 route which the Commanders did not know to have been before 

 attempted. (SEE MAP A.) 



Late on 2otb June, 1793, MURRAY ISLANDS were seen, bearing 

 NW.iW. The following day the course was changed to the north. 

 At the point where the change was made, the latitude was io2o'S. 

 and the longitude 144 5o'E., according to Flinders. It is doubtful 

 whether it was the intention of the Commanders to attempt a 



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