'History of the Indian Navy. (1613-1863).' [‎200] (241/590)

200
HISTORY OF THE INDIAN NAVY.
dians of 130° and 139° East long., contains the tracks of the
'Panther' and 4 Endeavour.' The north-west part of New
Guinea, with some trifling omissions, contained within these
limits and the adjacent islands, are laid down in this chart but
we have no detail of the coast on a larger scale. The name of
" McCluer's Inlet," is an abiding reminiscence of the visit
of the great hydrographer, and " Assassination Creek," of the
unhappy murder of Mr. Nicholson, surgeon of the c Panther.'
Although, as we have already observed, Captain McChier's
hydrographical labours in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and on the West
coast of India, have long since been superseded by those of
his brother officers of a later generation, they were verified, so
far as they went, as surprisingly accurate by so competent an
authority as Captain Jervis, Surveyor-General of India; and,
although his survey of the New Guinea coast may have been
superseded, for aught we know, by those of other officers, yet it
is not just that his achievements in the then virgin field of
marine surveying should be ignored, as has been the fashion by
repent writers. We trust, therefore, that this imperfect record
of them, gleaned after much research, will place Captain
McCluer in his true light before the world, as a Marine
Surveyor second only in eminence, and in the extent and value
of his labours, to Captain Cook, to whose self-sacrificing
character, indeed, his bears a remarkable resemblance.
In 1793 Lieutenant John Hayes w 7 as appointed to the com
mand of a surveying expedition, consisting of the vessels 4 Duke
of Clarence' and 'Duchess,' which w T ere dispatched to explore
the coast of Van Dieman's Land. He surveyed this island, now
known as Tasmania, the Derwent river, on which Hobart
lown now stands, the south-west side of New Caledonia, a
terra incognita, which, though it was discovered by Captain
Cook, who took possession of it in the name of his Sovereign, we
have unwisely permitted the French to colonise; also the south
east and north coasts of New Guinea, Gillolo, Batchian, and
others of the Molucca islands, Timor, the whole north and south
east face of Java, from Cape Sandano westward, and, having
passed through the Straits of Madura, presented the first instance
of the progress of a British ship through that intricate channel.
During this expedition he adopted such humane and judicious
measures in his intercourse with the savage inhabitants of some
ot the places explored, that not a single life was lost in either
side in a quarrel. Unhappily, the results of these complete and
protracted surveys, extending over a period of between two and
three years, was nil, for the ship taking home Lieutenant
Hayes manuscript charts and memoirs, was captured by a
I rench man-of-war, and they were taken to Paris, where we
are informed by a relative of his, they were seen by a British
officer, soon after the peace, in a public institution. The loss