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[DUTCH navigators became acquainted with the west coast of Australia through alterations made in the sailing directions with which they were furnished by the East India Company. Originally they followed the course which their Portuguese predecessors had pursued; that is to say, after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, they ran up the east African coast as far as Madagascar, and then turned east across the Indian Ocean. But in 1611 Hendrik Brouwer discovered that by steering due east after leaving the Cape he had the benefit of favourable winds and avoided the calms of the tropics. He recommended an easterly passage for three thousand miles, and then a northerly course. Dutch captains were ordered to take this course after 1613. One of them, Dirk Hartog, in the ship Eendracht, in 1616, ran further east than the sailing directions ordered, and found himself off Shark's Bay, where he set up a post with a plate upon it recording that his ship arrived there on October 25, 1616. The Company then amended its sailing directions, issuing those here printed, indicating that ships should make for the land of the Eendracht before setting a course for Java.]
By the instructions for the sailing in the autumn from the Netherlands to Java, amongst other things it is also enjoined: "The Cape of Good Hope being doubled, it is thought good that you sail in the E. direction between 36° and 39° S. lat., until you have reached a point eight hundred miles E. of the Cape of Good Hope; that you then direct your course as much N. as E., in such a manner that, on reaching 30° S. lat., you should find yourself about 950 or 1000 m. from the Cape of Good Hope.
"These 950 or 1000 m. from the Cape being attained, it is advisable-wind and weather permitting-that you bear down upon the land Eendraght at 27° S. lat., or more to the N., so as to take thence such a course as will enable you to clear the Tryals Shoals, lying about 20° S. lat., without danger, and to touch at the south coast of Java with ease, in order to have the weather gauge of the Straits of Sunda, and thus reach these straits without loss of time. It must be understood that this is E about the time when the east monsoon blows south of the line, and that the said 900 or 1000 miles E. of the Cape may be reached between the beginning of March and the end of September. Observe that the distance between the Cape and the land of Eendraght is, in reality, much shorter than the chart shows; and it may happen, by the aid of currents, that the route may be found even shorter than it really is, so that the land might be reached in much less time than we are led to expect. Remember, also, that the land of Eendraght has, south Of 27° lat., many perilous sandbanks, and that the soundings are of sharp rocks. Consequently extreme caution, and the constant use of the lead at night and in stormy weather, is indispensably necessary, as at seven, six, or five miles from the coast the soundings are found to be one hundred, eighty, or seventy fathoms."
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