WITH THE "INVESTIGATOR" 135 



Dutch Coen River, whose position was very erroneously laid down 

 on the map, on the authority of Flinders, in 12 13' S. It would 

 be impossible now to alter the name of the COEN GOLDFIELD, which 

 has been sanctioned by half a century of usage, but the Department 

 of Lands has begun to call the " COEN RIVER " of the goldfield 

 the SOUTH COEN, in order to minimise the confusion. 



About 1 88 1, the inlet named by Tasman the PRINCE REVIER, 

 and erroneously identified by Flinders as Carstenszoon's COEN 

 REVIER, was renamed the PENNEFATHER RIVER. As the change 

 took place during the administration of the Hon. John Douglas, 

 who used, as Government Resident at Thursday Island, to patrol 

 the pearl fisheries of the Gulf, it was probably made because he 

 had realised the impossibility of the inlet being the real Coen, while 

 at the same time he may have been unaware that it had already 

 been named the Prince by Tasman. 



When Flinders and " the botanical gentlemen " finally rowed 

 out of the supposed Coen River (to which we may henceforth 

 refer as the PENNEFATHER) and rejoined the ship, at 3 p.m., he 

 resumed his narrative : 



" We then steered south-westward along the shore, and soon after sunset anchored 

 in 10 fathoms nearly four miles from the land, which . . . was still low and woody 

 and fronted with a sandy beach." According to the chart, the anchorage was in 

 12 23 'S. 



" Stb November, 1802. Early in the morning we steered along the coast, with 

 good soundings, between 10 and 9 fathoms, muddy bottom. A SANDY POINT, with 

 two hillocks on it, ... was passed at 10 o'clock ; and, seeing a large bight [ALBATROSS 

 BAY. R. L. J.] round it, we tacked to work up. . . . This point is one of the very 

 few remarkable projections to be found on this low coast, but it is not noticed in 

 the Dutch chart. [It is, however (unknown to Flinders), very clearly referred to 

 in Carstenszoon's diary of the voyage of the ' Pera ' on I2th May, 1623. R. L. J.] 

 There is little doubt, however, that it was seen in 1606, in the yacht ' Duyfken? the 

 first vessel which discovered any part of Carpentaria ; and, that the remembrance 

 may not be lost, I gave the name of the vessel to the point. Our observations placed 

 the south extreme of DUYFKEN POINT in 12 35' S. and 141 42" E. [It had already 

 been named ASSCHENS HOEK by Asschens, Skipper of the ' Buijs? who passed it on 

 26th April, 1756. R. L. J.] 



" On the sea breeze setting in at 2 o'clock, we steered into the bight until past 5, 

 when, having no more water than 2\ fathoms, we tacked and stretched out. The 

 bight extends II or 12 miles back from the line of the coast, and there are THREE 

 SMALL OPENINGS in it ; but the shore being so low and in many places overrun with 

 mangroves, these openings are probably no more than drains out of salt swamps or 

 lagoons. The bearings when we tacked in 2\ fathoms were : 



Duyfken Point, south extreme, distant 6 or 7 miles, N. 63 W. 

 A small opening behind it, distant 5 or 6 miles, N. 23 W. 



"[1 

 "W 



A second opening, distant 4 miles, N. 64 E. 

 A third, distant 3 miles, S. 78 E." 



These bearings, taken from the shoals off Urquhart Point, very 

 accurately locate : 



[2] PINE OR NOMENADE CREEK, referred to in Tasman's chart 

 as a wooded inlet (" REVIER MIT BOSCH "). 



