Saturday night, June 4/98, 8:45 p.m., at anchor between the coast of Queensland & the Great Barrier Reef on board SS “Chingtu”, Captain Innes. We weighed anchor this morning at 4 o’clock, having had a quiet night’s sleep. Nothing interesting has occurred today. It’s been very windy, otherwise agreeable. The night is very beautiful, full clear moon & starry, Southern X[1] nearly overhead, & the Great Bear, or Plough in view, but the Pole Star is not visible, being low down on the horizon. The constellation Southern X is by no means attractive. Orion, that you can see over Christ Church tower, is by far a finer sight. The sea is very pretty with the moon beams shining so brightly over it, & we can see a great distance around us. Navigation hereaway is very intricate & ships anchor at nights. Shoals, reefs & small islands are numerous & dangerous. We passed a wrecked steamer today on a reef, “Corea” was her name, & wrecked about 3 years ago. We passed only 1 light ship but several skeleton beacons as guides to mariners. The main land, we frequently see, is very pretty & some very high & conspicuous on the shore banks are large patches of what seems to be white sand. The sun bleaches it & it is very distinguishable miles off.
[4:30]
It is cool tonight & I note my thermometer gradually lowers, 79 today. Of course it is now winter in Australia, tho’ on shore it will be much hotter than at sea. As we get nearer the South, of course, the colder it will become. Then it won’t compare with our winters. Daytime is fairly warm, but nights are very cold, so Australians tell me. Some of our party are fishing, but the captain doubts any success. It is not good fishing ground where we are laying. Nearer the reefs is good. Sharks are abundant on this coast. I’ve not seen one in the sea all my travels so far, nor, indeed, many big fish. Porpoises any quantity, & flying fish hundreds.
Our position at noon today was as follows. Lat. S. 12.18 ½ – Long. E. 143.17 ½ Run 151 miles. The distance is 411 miles from Thursday Island to Cookstown, where we are due tomorrow (Sunday).
The only vessel we’ve passed or sighted since the “Colombus” was a pearl fishing lugger yesterday. There isn’t much traffic on this route apparently. It is my intention to leave the Chingtu at Brisbane. She does not go up but a launch comes down, & it is about 2 hours steaming up the river. I will then see Mr. Lockwell’s friend & also, en route to Sydney, I will call Toowoomba & call upon Mrs. Adamson‘s brother, & I will see some country by rail. It is only 500 miles by sea, 48 hours, from Brisbane to Sydney. Tomorrow is Sunday, so you all will be in my thoughts & I know you will all think of me. “Goodnight! Goodnight! Goodnight!” I often see these words. You know where they are!
[4:31]
[1] Southern Cross constellation