When Captain James Cook sailed his ship The Endeavour into a narrow creek in May, 1770, he had no marker buoys to guide him, no maps to give him depth and no motor to keep him out of trouble. He would have had a man up a crows nest and another with a lead and line measuring the water depth.
Yesterday when we sailed Roo Bin Esque into the channel Captain Cook eventually named Round Hill Creek we had every available modern technology to guide us plus two purring 40 horsepower diesel engines. My heart rate still spiked as we came through the shallows with a two meter sea and the wind at 25 kts abeam us. My admiration for those early mariners increases daily.
Safe habour must have been even more precious two hundred and forty three years ago. This view yesterday was a very welcome sight after the conditions during the day.
Idyllic 1770
Roo Bin Esque resting at anchor
So true, Jo, he was a man ahead of his time.
I loved the book ‘Longitude’ by Dava Sobel about the making of those early chronometers. No doubt Captain Cook would have had a much more difficult time without his!
Lol, Sandy, someone else had drawn it in the sand and Zeus had done a dance before I could stop him. The light was perfect for the shot 🙂
Thanks, Noreen, the sunsets have been wonderful.
Zeus doesn’t get seasick, but whatever he ate that upset his tummy was thankfully only a 24 hr bug. It would have been a trip to the vets if it had gone on any longer…
I remember thinking the same thing about Captain Cook when we sailed Malaika from Scarborough to Darwin in 2007. Threading our way through the inside reef, with depth sounder, chart plotter, forward reading sonar and charts, really made me appreciate how good a navigator he was.
Mind you – he had all the cutting edge technology of the day, such as a chronometer to figure out longtitude! Apparently he went out and bought one with his own money before he left England.
Sounds like it’s all going really well!
Whose doggy footprints would they be?
The sunset is lovely Helene. I hope the weather isn’t too rough for you all. What do you give a dog for sea sickness? I’m enjoying following your adventure but fishing is enough for me.
Noreen
And thanks for following our journey, Kerrie. It’s a tiny slice of the wonderful country we’re lucky enough to live in 🙂
You’re getting a view of Australia that not many are fortunate enough to see, Helene. Thanks for sharing it with us 🙂