him of the chimney cones of the glass foundries he knew in Yorkshire. Further north
they found a bay with good anchorage and on the adjacent sandbanks shot a species
of bustard as big as a turkey, which turned out to be good eating, and it was agreed to
call the place Bustard Bay. After they passed the Tropic of Capricorn they found some
familiar species of tropical plants and Banks writes:
We landed near the mouth of a large lagoon which ran a good way into the country and sent
out a strong tide; here we found a great variety of Plants, several however the same as those
we ourselves had before seen in the Islands between the tropics and others known to be
natives of the East Indies, a sure mark that we were upon the point of leaving the Southern
Temperate Zone and for the future we must expect to meet with plants etc. a part of which
at least have been seen by Europeans.As they continued their voyage northwards the Endeavour and its crew were
unknowingly sailing into trouble. The Great Barrier Reef stretches over 2300
kilometres from the Tropic of Capricorn near Townsville to the tip of Cape York at the
northernmost point of Australia. The gap between the coast and the reef is widest in
the south and gradually narrowed as they sailed north. On 9 June, Cook had taken the
risk of sailing at night, under a full moon, when at 11 pm the Endeavour ran aground
and as Cook explains:
Having the advantage of fine breeze of wind and a clear moonlight night ... we deepened
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.The Endeavour had run aground on a coral reef which had punched a hole in the
keel and she was rapidly taking on water. The crew, including Banks and his party,
worked the pumps all that night, all the next day and again the following night, while
trying to keep their vessel afloat. Banks describes their ordeal:
At night the tide almost floated her but she made waters so fast that three pumps hard
worked could but just keep her clear and the 4th absolutely refused to deliver a drop of
water. Now, in my opinion, I entirely gave up the ship and packing up what I thought I(^36) Where Australia Collides with Asia
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