The year of 1606

1606 was the year of the first sighting by Europeans of what’s today known as Australia. There were three things of interest that happened. They were;

1. Willem Janszoon (with the VOC Dutch East Indies) sailed a section along the west side of Cape York
2. Pedro Ferdinand de Quirós (under Spanish flag) discovered an island in Vanuatu
3. Luís Vaz de Torres (under Spanish flag) sailed through the Torres Strait

This blog post follows the consequences of point #2 – the discovery of an island in Vanuatu. You might be wondering – what does the discovery of an island in Vanuatu have to do with the discovery of Australia? The answer is – a lot!

The Vanuatu Island of Espiritu Santo

Quirós led the first European expedition that sighted the islands around Espiritu Santo in 1606. This is of special interest for me because my great grandmother was from one of those nearby islands. When I lived in Brisbane, I often went to Vanuatu. When I first went to Vanuatu, I was surprised to read in a travel brochure that Espiritu Santo is an abbreviation for “La Australia del Espíritu Santo“. My first thought was – why is there a Spanish-sounding island named after Australia? And why have I never heard of it?

Quirós named La Australia del Espíritu Santo on a 1605-1606 voyage to search for the theoretical southern continent. Luís Vaz de Torres was also on this voyage, but they left the island separately. On this expedition, Quirós founded a settlement in what is today “Big Bay” in Espiritu Santo. He called the settlement New Jerusalem.

Here’s Quirós’s description of the bay, and of it having two rivers;

The front of the bay, which is to the S., is 3 leagues long, and forms a beach. In the middle there is a river which was judged to be the size of the Guadalquivir at Seville. At its mouth the depth is 2 and more fathoms ; so that boats and even frigates could enter. It received the name of the “Jordan.” On its right is seen the Southern Cross in the heavens, which makes the spot noteworthy. To the eastward, at the corner of this bay, there is another moderate-sized river called “Salvador,” into which the boats entered at their pleasure to get water. The waters of both rivers are sweet, pleasant, and fresh. The one is distant from the other a league and a half, consisting of a beach of black gravel, with small heavy stones, excellent for ballast for a ship. Between the said two rivers is the port. The bottom is clean, consisting of black sand, and here a great number of ships would have room up to 40 brazas.

The voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606. Translated and edited by Sir Clements Markham

According to Torres who was on the last ship to leave, their presence only lasted 50 days.

We named it the bay de San Felipe y Santiago, and the land del Espiritu Santo. There we remained fifty days

Early Voyages to Terra Australis, now called Australia, Major, R. H. (Ed.)

It ended because of fighting with the Ni-Vanuatu people and infighting. The infighting was so bad, Quirós upped and left other ships behind in the middle of the night. The downfall of the settlement is a whole story in itself.

Quirós had taken possession of the lands for the Spanish crown. He also took possession for the Most Holy Trinity, the Catholic Church, St. Francis and his Order, John of God and his Order and the Holy Ghost.

The excerpt below is from “The voyages of Pedro Fernandez de Quiros, 1595 to 1606.” It was translated and edited by Sir Clements Markham, and published in 1904 shortly after the federation of Australia The introduction describes it as so – “This work is very rare. There is no copy in the British Museum. There was one in the Library at Lima.”

Possession in the name of His Majesty.

Finally, I take possession of this bay, named the Bay of St. Philip and St. James, and of its port named Santa Cruz, and of the site on which is to be founded the city of New Jerusalem, in latitude 15 10′, and of all the lands which I sighted and am going to sight, and of all this region of the south as far as the Pole, which from this time shall be called Australia del Espiritu Santo, with all its dependencies and belongings ; and this for ever, and so long as right exists, in the name of the King, Don Philip, third of that name King of Spain, and of the eastern and western Indies, my King and natural Lord, whose is the cost and expense of this fleet, and from whose will and power came its mission, with the government, spiritual and temporal, of these lands and people, in whose royal name are displayed there his three banners, and I hereby hoist his royal standard.

Quirós has discovered a this new land at latitude 15 10′ S. He seems to think that the land extends to the south pole.

The “Memorials”

After the failed settlement and returning to Europe, Quirós repeatedly wrote to the King because he wanted funding for further expedition. These letters are called memorials. There were at least 50 of them, but most have been lost. These memorials contain more information about Quiros’s voyages.

There is a bit of argument going on whether Quirós named this island Australia or Austrialia. My own opinion is that Quirós probably didn’t care either way. But as the British usurped the Dutch claim of New Holland partly by appropriating the name “Australia” – this later put an extra political dimension on the argument. I will write more about this in part 2 of this post. An interesting paper was written about this by Rupert Gerritson. Gerritson found and reproduced (below) the original in the Navy archives in Madrid. In the original proclamation – Austrialia has been edited to Australia as you can see in the image below…

This edit itself, when published, translated and transcribed differently – became a source of confusion.

Various texts to do with this 1605-1606 voyage sat in Spanish Naval archives (in Madrid and Manila) for a long time. A small fraction of the memorials that Quirós wrote were translated and published in Europe. As the memorials were originally written to convince the Spanish King to fund an expedition, the value of the discovered land in terms of value and size was inflated. European audiences were influenced by the the over-blown accounts of the lands discovered by Quirós. The legend of the terra australis incognito was conflated with these discoveries of La Australia/Austrialia del Espíritu Santo, and consequently the unknown south land became over-blown. A small, typical Melanesian island became an entire lost world in the minds of European imagination.

The NSW State library recently spent a million bucks on buying what might have been the very first original memorial. It’s currently be part of a “Maps in the Pacific” exhibition. This memorial is believed to be from 1607 – very shortly after Quirós returned. It’s a very rare document, it was not published in Europe but was quoted in some older Spanish texts. I can’t find any transcriptions of it, but the NSW State Library has scans online – so I went through it myself and found something very interesting that I have reproduced below;

atendiendo Señor, qesta mi ofrenda es el primero descubrimento de grandes tierras, que por mandado de V. Magestad las he buscado, y hallado, a cuya felice memoria de V. Magestad, por el apellido de Austria le di por nombre la Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, porque en su mismo dia tomé la posession d ella, y lo que puede sonar un nuevo mundo en los oydos de amigos y enemigos, en los tiempos presentes y venideros

paying attention to my Lord that my offering is the first discovery of great lands, which by order of Your Majesty I have sought them, and found, in whose happy memory of Your Majesty, by the surname of Austria I gave the name of the Austrialia del Espiritu Santo, because on the same day I took possession of her, and what a new world may sound like in the ears of friends and enemies, in the present and future times

My transcription/google translate of Fernandez de Quirós Memorial No. 1, 14 Dec 1607, NSW State Library

In this very early, and possibly the very first memorial, Quirós clearly spells it Austrialia, and gives a reason behind the name as referring to the House/surname of Austria. King Philip IV belongs to the House of Habsburg, known in Spanish as Casa de Austria. If this name Quirós gave in-turn influenced the naming of Australia (explored more in pt 2 of this post), it may be that Australia is indirectly named after Austria.

Some interesting related trivia; in the German language;

• Austria is called Österreich which literally means “eastern realm”.
• The German slang word Ossi sounds almost like Aussie; it means a person from the former East Germany.

The latin adjective australis on the other-hand, means southern.

The discovery of manuscripts by the British

Whilst translating some Spanish documents captured in the British occupation of Manila in 1762, Dalrymple had found Luis Váez de Torres’ testimony proving a passage south of New Guinea now known as Torres Strait. This discovery led Dalrymple to publish the Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean in 1770–1771, which aroused widespread interest in his claim of the existence of an unknown continent. Meanwhile, James Cook had been appointed in his place to lead an expedition to the South Pacific which in 1770 discovered the east coast of Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Dalrymple

More than a century after Quirós, Alexander Dalrymple put together many accounts of various voyages, and by the process of elimination found where the unknown south continent may lie. The paths of Abel Tasman’s voyage (which widely circumnavigated New Holland), and of Torres’ passage through the Torres Strait have an intersection point. It leaves behind a defined search area to find the unknown continent.

Darymple was not the only one looking and theorising. This chart below by French hydrographer Jacques Nicolas Bellin is contemporary of the time. It interestingly shows a Terre Du St. Esprit – Découverte en 1606 par Fernand de Quir as lying connected with New Holland at approximately latitude 15 S. The two rivers as described by Quiros – le Jordan and R. S. Sauveur are marked. It does not show the Torres Strait.

It’s no secret that Darymple’s work inspired Cook’s voyage. I hypothesise that the charting of the east coast of New Holland was planned from the very start of the voyage. The not-so-secret instructions given to Cook were; that after charting New Zealand he shall to return to England by the most convenient route. This leaves room for the secret secret instructions – ’emergency repairs’, and side-trips snooping around New Holland – which oh-so-conveniently – lies between New Zealand and the closest repair port in Batavia.

Faked problems with the HMS Endeavour?

On Bellin’s theoretical chart above, Terra Du St. Esprit is shown at approximately the location of Cooktown. This matches the latitude of 15 10’S given by Quirós himself.

After successfully avoiding major damage by reefs for more than half of the Queensland coast, Cook’s major run-in with a reef happens the same day of his arrival of latitudes of Quiros’ lands! I quote below the entire day’s entry. His journal indicates he is well aware of being at this latitude.

Monday 11th.

Wind at East-South-East, with which we steer’d along shore North by West at the distance of 3 or 4 Leagues off, having from 14 to 10 and 12 fathoms water. Saw 2 Small Islands in the Offing, which lay in the Latitude of 16 degrees 0 minutes South, and about 6 or 7 Leagues from the Main. At 6 the Northermost land in sight bore North by West 1/2 West, and 2 low, woody Islands, which some took to be rocks above Water, bore North 1/2 West. At this time we shortened Sail, and hauld off shore East-North-East and North-East by East, close upon a Wind. My intention was to stretch off all Night as well to avoid the danger we saw ahead as to see if any Islands lay in the Offing, especially as we now begun to draw near the Latitude of those discover’d by Quiros, which some Geographers, for what reason I know not, have thought proper to Tack to this land. Having the advantage of a fine breeze of wind, and a clear Moon light Night in standing off from 6 until near 9 o Clock, we deepned our Water from 14 to 21 fathoms, when all at once we fell into 12, 10 and 8 fathoms. At this time I had everybody at their Stations to put about and come to an Anchor; but in this I was not so fortunate, for meeting again with Deep Water, I thought there could be no danger in standing on. Before 10 o’Clock we had 20 and 21 fathoms, and Continued in that depth until a few minutes before 11, when we had 17, and before the Man at the Lead could heave another cast, the Ship Struck and stuck fast. Immediately upon this we took in all our Sails, hoisted out the Boats and Sounded round the Ship, and found that we had got upon the South-East Edge of a reef of Coral Rocks, having in some places round the Ship 3 and 4 fathoms Water, and in other places not quite as many feet, and about a Ship’s length from us on the starboard side (the Ship laying with her Head to the North-East) were 8, 10, and 12 fathoms. As soon as the Long boat was out we struck Yards and Topmast, and carried out the Stream Anchor on our Starboard bow, got the Coasting Anchor and Cable into the Boat, and were going to carry it out in the same way; but upon my sounding the 2nd time round the Ship I found the most water a Stern, and therefore had this Anchor carried out upon the Starboard Quarter, and hove upon it a very great Strain; which was to no purpose, the Ship being quite fast, upon which we went to work to lighten her as fast as possible, which seem’d to be the only means we had left to get her off. As we went ashore about the Top of High Water we not only started water, but threw overboard our Guns, Iron and Stone Ballast, Casks, Hoop Staves, Oil Jarrs, decay’d Stores, etc.; many of these last Articles lay in the way at coming at Heavier. All this time the Ship made little or no Water. At 11 a.m., being high Water as we thought, we try’d to heave her off without Success, she not being afloat by a foot or more, notwithstanding by this time we had thrown overboard 40 or 50 Tuns weight. As this was not found sufficient we continued to Lighten her by every method we could think off; as the Tide fell the ship began to make Water as much as two pumps could free: at Noon she lay with 3 or 4 Streakes heel to Starboard; Latitude observed 15 degrees 45 minutes South.

CAPTAIN COOK’S JOURNAL DURING HIS FIRST VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD MADE IN H.M. BARK “ENDEAVOUR” 1768-71 Edited by Wharton

Cook refers to “some Geographers, for what reason I know not, have thought proper to Tack to this land“ which would presumably include Bellin. Did Cook think there’s a possibility that “some geographers” were correct – that the French knew something the British did not, and that Cook has now arrived at the site of New Jerusalem?

Perhaps English hydrographers advising on the voyage gave advice on where to look, and secretly sent him up the coast of New Holland to check it out. If so, the instructions would be along the lines of – Look for two rivers in a single bay at about 15 degrees south.

The Endeavour River – where Cook carried out his repairs, lies at 15 27’S. There are two rivers in the area, which are named the Endeavour River and Annan River. With a bit of creative interpretation – this is a bay with two rivers, and it is at the right latitude. It’s definitely not where Quirós landed – the orientation and shape is wrong for starters – however from all the places on this area of coastline, this place fits the well-worn descriptions of Quirós’s La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo the best.

Cook stayed in the Endeavour River from 14 June 1770 until 4 August 1770. This is 51 days. This is one day more than the 50 days Torres stayed in Big Bay. It seems the entire purpose of this lengthy stay was to camp there longer than the Spanish expedition.

But Cook should not be caught making landfall here. This point of land is arguably part of New Holland and already a Dutch possession. For him to openly make landfall on the mainland and snoop around isn’t wise. It doesn’t fit his excuse of being on a scientific expedition heading for Batavia for repairs. Hitting the reef gave him a good excuse to land there, and buy time to check the place out to see if there is any sign of the abandoned settlement.

Yes, Cook did openly land on other mainland parts of the coast, for example in Botany Bay and Bustard Bay (Town of Seventeen Seventy). But he had a good excuse in those cases because they both lay east of the eastern-most point discovered by Tasman. They are undiscovered. But this area is west of Tasman’s discoveries, and also getting close to the Dutch-charted and named Gulf of Carpentaria, so there is reason to be extra cautious.

Part 2 to follow…