1 76 NORTHMOST AUSTRALIA 



indicate the route taken by either the " Fly " from Cape Melville 

 or the " Bramble " from Cape Direction. It may be considered 

 the most probable conjecture that both ships got outside of the 

 Barrier Reef, the " Fly " by the MELVILLE PASSAGE, due north 

 of Cape Melville (4-mile Sheet 20 C), and the " Bramble " by 

 " BLIGH'S BOAT ENTRANCE" (15 52' S.), east of Cape Direction. 

 In Wreck Bay, which is an indentation in the outer edge of the 

 Barrier Reef, there were seen (between 26th June and I2tb July), 

 the WRECKS of the " Ferguson " (1840) and "Martha Ridgway " 

 (1841). Three vessels were met on their way to pass through 

 Torres Strait. Two of these, the " Winscales " and the " John 

 Wrenwick" carried sheep, potatoes and ale, and a bargain was 

 made for fresh provisions, which were badly needed, SCURVY having 

 broken out on board ; and it may be added, the fresh food acted 

 like a charm. (SEE SHEET B AND ADMIRALTY CHART, No. 2920.) 



From Wreck Bay, and probably by the line of soundings shown 

 on the chart extending north-westward from the MARTHA RIDGWAY 

 REEF, the flotilla made for the SIR CHARLES HARDY ISLANDS, which 

 were visited on I2th July. (SEE MAP B.) Jukes describes them 

 as composed of a brown siliceous rock, like a flinty slate passing 

 into porphyry, the northmost island rising to 280 feet (modern 

 charts give 320 feet). Thence the route lay by the POLLARD 

 CHANNEL, south of the COCKBURN REEF. 



Jukes and Aird, in the " Midge" arrived at CAPE GRENVILLE on 

 iSth July and ascended the eminence which modern charts name 

 HIGHGATE HILL (249 feet. Jukes gives it as 400). The rock was 

 of the same character as that of the Sir Charles Hardy Islands, and 

 the view comprised a " barren sandy country with low, scrub- 

 covered hills." In fact, this was the dreary stretch of scrubby 

 sand-dunes through which the MACMILLAN RIVER finds its way 

 into MARGARET BAY. 



Probably the " Fly " and her consorts next rounded COCKBURN 

 REEF and surveyed the eastward " course recommended " of the 

 charts, by the " NORTH CHANNEL" to Raine Island. (ADMIRALTY 

 CHART, No. 2354.) 



RAINE ISLAND was visited on 2<)tbjiily, and Blackwood and Jukes 

 spent the night on it. It is described as an oval rim of coral, 

 enclosing a sandbank which rises a few feet above the sea. As 

 a breeding-place for birds it can have few rivals. It was hardly 

 possible to walk or lie down without stepping on a bird or an egg. 

 " The whole island," says Jukes, " stank like a foul hen-roost, and 

 we were covered with bird-lice and ticks. After sleeping in the 

 sand, we dined upon young boobies and frigate-birds' and terns' 



eggs." 



On ist August, the ships anchored in PANDORA ENTRANCE 

 (where the "Pandora" was wrecked in 1791). On the yd, \th 

 and $th, they skirted the outside of the BARRIER REEF to the north- 



