160 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



J. Lort Stokes, who succeeded Wickham in the command in 



An interesting link with the last important surveying voyage 

 was found at Port Stephens, where Wickham and his officers were 

 the guests of CAPTAIN PHILLIP PARKER KING, who was settled as 

 Superintendent of the AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURAL COMPANY. 

 This company, in about eighty years of usefulness, up to the present 

 date has contributed greatly to the industrial progress of Australia. 

 (SEE MAP E.) 



In crossing Princess Charlotte Bay, Wickham identified the 

 " remarkable level-topped hill " called by Captain Cook, JANE'S 

 TABLELAND. (SEE MAP B.) 



At the northern extremity of Lloyd Bay, he surveyed Cook's 

 CAPE WEYMOUTH and Bligh's RESTORATION ISLAND, which he 

 observed were of granite. 



In BOYDONG ISLAND, he recognised the scene of the massacre 

 of the castaways on the second raft from the " Charles Eaton" 

 (SEE MAP A.) 



Sailing, as Cook had done, between Reefs Y and Z, and between 

 the Brothers and Albany Islands, the " Beagle " was headed for 

 MOUNT ADOLPHUS ISLAND, where (in Blackwood Bay) the anchor 

 was dropped on 12th July. From Mount Adolphus Island, she 

 sailed west, past POSSESSION ISLAND, into ENDEAVOUR STRAIT. In 

 this neighbourhood, channels about the WALLIS ISLANDS and Cape 

 Cornwall (PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND) were surveyed. Wickham 

 called the largest of the Prince of Wales Islands COOK ISLAND, but 

 the name has not been adopted in official cartography. 1 



A few days afterwards, the " Beagle " passed BOOBY ISLAND, 

 on her way to Port Essington. Some particulars regarding this 

 island recorded by Stokes are worthy of preservation. The island, 

 he says, is 30 feet above sea-level and is composed of porphyry. 

 The famous " POST OFFICE " was started in 1835 by Captain Hobson, 

 of the " Rattlesnake " (afterwards Governor of New Zealand), who 

 also erected a flagstaff on the island. 



Wickham's observations and experiences during the rest of this 

 voyage may be briefly alluded to. 



Leaving PORT ESSINGTON on ^.th September, 1839, he called at 

 PORT DARWIN (i2tb September), and then he and Stokes explored 

 the VICTORIA RIVER in boats. (ADMIRALTY CHART, No. 2759 A.) 

 Afterwards, on landing at POINT PEARCE, near the mouth of that 

 river, to correct his chronometers, Stokes was speared in the left 



1 Discoveries in Australia, with an Account of the Coasts and Rivers Explored and 

 Surveyed during the Voyage of H. M.S. " Beagle " in the Years 1837-43, by Command of the 

 Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. By Captain J. Lort Stokes, Commander, R.N. 

 London, 1846. 



3 The " group " name of Prince of Wales Islands has been dropped, and the largest 

 island alone is now known as Prince of Wales Island, the others having received dis- 

 tinctive names, such as Wednesday, Hammond, Horn, and so on. 



