110 NOTES ON CHARTS OP THE COAST OF TASMANIA. 



latitude off South-east Cape. Then steering north-east, at 

 midday lie was south of Tasman's Head, and passed the night 

 off Storm Bay. He doubled Tasman's Island at 8 o'clock on 

 the morning of the 5th, — ^at noon was off the Yellow Bluffy 

 and must have anchored in Frederik Hendrik Bay, now 

 called Marion Bay, early in the afternoon. 



I do not think that Minders, if he had seen Crozet's chart 

 on this larger scale, would have expressed the flattering 

 opinion above given as to its exactness in the form of the 

 land. The longitudes given on this chart and in the " New 

 Voyage " are so far out as to be inexplicable. On the chart the 

 longitude of the anchorage is given as 141 deg. 30min. east of 

 Paris — this probably being the result of reckoning and 

 observation during the voyage. At the anchorage Crozet 

 says, "I made several observations for longitude and I found 

 it to be 143deg. east of Paris." This is more tha.n 2|deg. out ! 

 In the simpler matter of latitude he is also wrong, giving quite 

 a false impression of the trend of the south coast by making 

 South-west Cape more southerly than South-east Cape. 



But it is in comparing this chart with the one made at the 

 same time, and in similar circumstances by du Clesmeur on 

 board the Castries, that the work of Crozet most shows its 

 inferiority. From the tracks laid down on the respective 

 charts, and from the soundings given, it is evident that in 

 sailing down the west coast the Mascarin was the nearer in 

 shore. Crozet could therefore see the opening into Port 

 Davey, which du Clesmeur could not. This, and perhaps the 

 entrance to D'Entrecasteaux Channel, are the only points in 

 which the Mascarin chart is superior to the Castries one. 



Prom du Clesmeur' s chart it is evident that the Castries had, 

 as usual, outsailed the Mascarin, for she had to lie to to allow 

 Marion to come up. The rocks and high laiid near Mainwaring 

 Cove were, in the distance, taken to be islands. Eocky Point 

 is distinctly and accurately laid down. The De Witt range 

 and the hills on Point St. Yincent which mask the entrance to 

 Port Davey were mistaken for islands, the lower land between 

 them not being seen. If the coast-line be carried along 

 the west side of these mistaken islands and carried back 

 along the eastern side. Point St. Vincent and the entrance to 

 Port Davey will be more accurately shown than on Crozet's 

 chart. All the salient points of the south coast, from the 

 South-west Cape to Tasman's Head, are accurately given with 

 the islands lying off. The far end of the bays and bights, not 

 being seen, are less accurately shown. In Storm Bay and 

 eastward and northward to the anchorage in Frederik Hendrik 

 or Marion Bay, the Castries went further in, and along this 

 part of the course the chart is wonderfully accurate — in fact 

 in some places more accurate than Flinders'. 



It is not often that one has a chance of comparing the 



