68 THE ENGLISH AT THE DERWENT. 



Lieut. Hayes' ships reached Storm Bay in the year 1794. 

 He had heard of the visit of the French to. these shores 

 two years before, but knew nothing of what D'Entre- 

 casteaux had done. He explored and surveyed the 

 approaches of the Derwent, and sailed up that river 

 nearly as far as Bridgewater; while, in the belief that he 

 was making an original discovery, he gave new names 

 to various localities. These have in some instances 

 superseded those bestowed by his predecessor D'Entre- 

 casteaux. Thus it is to Hayes that we owe the name of 

 the Derwent, which has replaced the French appellation 

 of the Riviere du Nord, and D'Entrecasteaux Channel 

 was long known to the English by the name of Storm 

 Bay Passage, which it bears on Hayes' chart. Other 

 names which are still remembered ai'e Betsey's Island, 

 Prince of Wales Bay, Mount Direction, and, lastly, 

 Risdon Cove.* It is said that Risdon Cove and River 

 were named by him after one of the oflS.cers of the ship, 

 but this I have not been able to verify.t 

 Flinders' j^ ^^g in the early spring of the year 1798 that 



oyage, Governor Hunter gave to Flinders — then a voung 



Intro., p. loo. T- r-TTTiro -rt T i t.t /•v/h-ti 



Lieutenant oi H.M.b. Meliance — the Norjolh,l a little 

 colonial sloop of 25 tons, to try to solve the vexed 

 question of the existence of a strait between New 

 Holland and Van Diemen's Land. Flinders secured 

 Dr. George Bass as his companion in the expedition, and 

 on the 7th October, 1798, the Norfolk sailed from Port 

 Jackson with a crew of 8 volunteei's, taking twelve 

 weeks' provisions. They examined the North Coast of 

 Tasmania, entering Port Dalrymple, and sailed for the 

 first time through the Straits, to which, at Flinders' 



* Adamson's Peak, Mount Lewis, Cornelian Bay, Taylor's Bay, 

 Court's Island, Fluted Cape, Ralph's Bay, were also named by 

 Hayes. 



+ Mr* Justin Browne informs me that Risdon is a name borne by 

 a county family of Devonshire ; (see " Marshall's Genealogist's 

 Guide," p. 524), and that it occurs also as a place name in 

 Gloucestershire, (see also Burke's Armoury, Ed. 18.) The popular 

 derivation from a supposed " Rest-down " may perhaps be credited 

 to the fancy of the enterpiising and pugnacious printer, Andrew Bent. 

 So far as I have been able to discover, it first occurs in " Bent's 

 Tasmanian Almanac " for 1827. It has been copied by West and 

 other writers. 



X The Norfolk, which has the credit of having first circumnavi- 

 gated Van Diemen's Land, was built at Norfolk Island, of the pine 

 for which that island is celebrated. She was afterwards used by 

 Flinders in his exploration of Moreton Bay. Labilliere's Early 

 History of Victoria. Vol. i, p. 26. 



