No. I. 



SCHOUTEN ISLAND. 



Hobart Town, I5th August, 1848. 

 Sir, 



Having now visited, and examined with all the 

 care and precision of which circumstances would admit, 

 several of the Coal Basins of the Island, I have the 

 honor to report my observations upon them to be sub- 

 mitted to His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor. 

 And I have first to notice that at Schouten Island. 



This coal is situated on the northern shore of the 

 Schouten Island, in Geographe Strait, about | of a mile 

 west from the anchorage laid down in the charts. 



Vessels may anchor within 250 or 300 yards of the 

 coal ; and being then much nearer to the inner than to 

 the outer end of the strait, they are sheltered from the 

 long heavy roll of the external ocean. 



The only quarter from which mischief need be at all 

 apprehended is that of Swansea, bearing about N.W., 

 the direction of the prevalent wind, in which there is an 

 open " fetch" of several miles across Oyster Bay. Not- 

 withstanding this, it would not be necessary for vessels 

 to shift their anchorage unless during the very heaviest 

 gales, when they might run under cover of the point on 

 the opposite side of the strait, or bring up nearer the 

 whalers' anchorage, in either of which places the shelter 

 would be complete. 



