ing on the stern frame: about 100 yards off was her stem
with part of her forecastle deck, and some of her bow timbers; these were
the only connected parts remaining; the rest of her timbers, decks,
masts, and yards were lying in a confused heap between them. By creeping
under her stern, upon which her name was painted, she was found to be The
Frederick, which ship we remembered to have sailed from Port Jackson
during the early part of last year; search was made for any articles that
might be useful to the survivors but nothing was found: the only part
belonging to a boat that was noticed was a rudder, from which great hopes
were entertained that the crew were enabled, by means of their boats, to
escape from this inhospitable coast and effect an arrival at some
habitable port. Timor appeared to us to be the only probable place, but
we were there last June and nothing had then been heard of them. That the
crew had been upon the island was certain, for oars and spars were found
erected in the fissures of the rocks at the projections of the cape,
evidently placed there by the crew to attract the attention of vessels
passing. The mizen mast and main topmast had been cut away, and there
were a few marks of the axe upon her mainmast. The natives appeared to
have taken notice of the ironwork, for some spike nails were found about
their fireplaces; these traces, however, were not very recent, nor was it
probable that any natives were upon the island at the time of our visit.
The hills about Cape Flinders and the low shores of the bay in which we
found the wreck furnished Mr. Cunningham with a large collection of
plants and seeds, and among them was a species of melaleuca, not hitherto
known, and which Mr. Cunningham has described under the name of Melaleuca
foliosa; he also found a mimusops, and a grevillea (Grevillea gibbosa)
remarkable for its ligneous spherical capsules: and on the sandy shore at
the south end of the bay we found and procured a large quantity of the
bulbous roots of a crinum (angustifolium?).
July 15.
In a bay to the southward of the cutter's anchorage some mud oysters were
found, which were not ill flavoured. Shellfish was abundant on the flats
in Wreck Bay but we were unsuccessful with the hook and line, although
surrounded by fish of various descriptions.
July 16.
On the 16th, as soon as day dawned, we left this anchorage. At sunset we
anchored at the bottom of Princess Charlotte's Bay, in three
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