XXX 
INTRODUCTION. 
[Prior Discoveries. 
Bligh and In the Voyage to the South Seas in H. M. ship Bounty, page 220, 
P °i792. CK ' captain Bligh says, " I cannot with certainty reconcile the situation 
" of some parts of the coast (near Cape York) that I have seen, to 
" his (captain Cook's) survey;" and from the situation of the high 
islands on the west side of the Strait, which had been seen from the 
Bounty's launch, and were now subjected to the correction of the 
Providence's time-keepers ; he was confirmed in the opinion, that 
some material differences existed in the positions of the lands near 
Cape York. 
Bampton The last passage known to have been made through Torres' 
1793. ' Strait, previously to the sailing of the Investigator, was by Messieurs 
William Bampton and Matthew B. Alt, commanders of the ships 
Hormuzeer and Chesterfield. Their discoveries were made public, in 
two charts, by Mr. Dalrymple, in 1798 and 1799 ; and from them, 
and captain Bampton's manuscript journal, the south coast of New 
Guinea, and most of the reefs and islands near it, are laid down in 
Plate XIII. ; after having been adjusted to the observations of 
captain Bligh, and to those subsequently made by me in the Investi- 
gator and Cumberland. The journal was obtained through the 
kindness of Mr. Arrowsmith; and, though no courses and distances 
be given, and the differences from the charts be sometimes con- 
siderable, it is yet so interesting in many points, that I have judged 
the following abridgement would be acceptable, as well to the 
general, as to the nautical, reader. 
The Hormuzeer and Chesterfield sailed together from Norfolk 
Island ; with the intention of passing through Torres' Strait, by a 
route which the commanders did not know to have been before 
attempted. June 20, 1793, in the evening, being in latitude io° 24/ 
south, and longitude 144 0 14' east (by captain Bampton's chart), a 
dry reef was seen extending from W. \ S. to N. W. by W., distant 
four or five miles, and breakers from the mast head at N. by E. ~ E. : 
An island (Murray's), which appeared to be large and woody, was 
