THE DUTCH DISCOVER AUSTRALIA 235 



ship Trial ran on these rocks in the night time, in fine 

 weather, without having seen land, and, since the heavy 

 swells caused the ship to run aground directly, so that 

 it got filled with water, the forty-six persons afore mentioned 

 put off from her in the greatest disorder, leaving ninety- 

 seven persons in the ship, whose fate is known to God 

 alone." The Governor-General shows that the adoption 

 of the new route the Eastward course of four thousand 

 miles from the Cape makes it " necessary that great 

 caution should be used, and the best measures taken 

 in order to avoid such accidents." The Englishmen 

 say that they " met with this accident through following 

 the course of our ships ; and they intended to dissuade 

 their countrymen from imitating their example." 



The broken islands are duly marked in the Map of where were 

 Gerritz, in Latitude 20, and in Longitude due South of 

 the West end of Java, exactly where the Englishmen 

 had stated that they had been wrecked. And the curious 

 thing is that, from that day to this, islands have never 

 been seen in that locality. Dutch captains searched for 

 them in vain. Flinders in 1803 spent some days in un- 

 successful quest. King had a similar experience in 1829 ; 

 and he came to the conclusion that probably the rocks 

 on which the Trial was wrecked were Barrows Island, 

 Trinonville Island, or one of the numerous reefs around 

 them. These places are on the Latitude that the English- 

 men named. The Longitude is quite wrong. " But," 

 writes King, " during the month of July the current sets 

 with great strength to the Westward, and might occasion 

 considerable errors in ship-reckonings, which 'in former 

 days were so imperfectly kept that no dependence can 

 be placed upon them." * The story illustrates the fact 

 that should always be in the minds of students of the 

 early voyagers : their Latitudes are generally right, but 

 their Longitudes are the result of guess-work. 



The " Masters " at home had already " earnestly en- Coen 

 joined " that yachts should be sent " for the purpose 

 of making discovery of the South-land " ; and it seemed discovery. 



1 King, vol. ii. p. 444. 



