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By tk *DNR wants help determining where manatees roam in Georgia *Tour boats may ply Dismal *Fleet blessing draws hundreds to river *Ponce Inlet water taxi plan still afloat
Travel Diary London P 2.
I was able to stay at the Overseas League Club, available to members of the Dominions at 5 shillings a night, which was a cheap price for a bed and breakfast in expensive London, which was just as well, as a Midshipman, my daily pay was a mere 6 shillings. I called at the House of Commons at the appointed hour, was met by Phoebe's father and given a wonderful conducted tour of this place, both the House of Commons and the House of Lords reeking of history. A fine lunch in the Member's Dining room followed, and I felt quite privileged, but conspicious in my Midshipman's uniform amongst a number of very senior officers from all three services. At a dance held at the Overeas Club, I heard that famous number "In the Mood" played for the first time by the resident band, of course it went on to sweep both Britain and the rest of the world. This time was just before Christmas, and one evening off blasted the Air Raid sirens, I had been subjected to air raids in Liverpool where my ship HMAS Australia was in dry dock, and had not liked the experience. I hated being cooped up in an air raid shelter and preferred to take my chances on the open streets, but this time I was not given any option, but was bustled down into one of the London underground Tube stations with a host of other locals. As many as 170,000 people sought relief from the air raids by nightly sleeping down in a Tube Station, for many it became a ritual and a way of life. I hated it, and could hear the AA guns engaging the incoming German Bombers, and then the occasional crash of a bomb exploding, it was all over in about an hour, and I was released from my dungeon, and could suck in the fresh night air once again. The blackout made it quite difficult to make one's way around the streets at night, especially as it was my first time in this city. My visit was soon over, and I caught the train north back to Lime Street Station at Liverpool, to find that this city had been subjected to three nights of intense bombing, and was really in a mess. By chance, London faced a devastating Blitz on the night of the 29th. of December 1940, I had been lucky at both ends of my journey. The Dutch Explorers P 1. Early Dutch Explorers on the Australian Coast. The first Europeans to visit Australia were not the English navigators but came from Holland. During the 15th. and 16th. centuries it was the Spanish, Portuguese and the Dutch seamen that pushed back the exploration frontiers. After finding South America, it was Magellan who first sailed into the Pacific Ocean, and New Guinea was first sighted by the Portuguese, and as early as 1605, the Dutch vessel Duyfken made the first landfall on the Australian coast. This ship sailing along the south coast of New Guinea and into the Torres Strait turned southwards to sail along the Cape York Peninsula. In 1616, Dirk Hartog in Eendracht came upon islands off the West Australian coast, the largest of which bears his name, and he nailed up a pewter plate to a post to record his visit here. In 1618, some of Zeewulf's crew landed on the coast nearby Hartog Island, and the Dutch ship Leeuwin made a landfall on the South West corner of Australia to name Cape Leeuwin in 1622. It is at this spot that the Indian Ocean cojoins the great Southern Ocean, and it is a wild and windswept place. Jan Carstanz with the ships Pera and Arnhem, was next in 1623, exploring the area named after one of the vessels Arnhem Land, but the crew of the latter ship all mutinied leaving Carstanz in Pera to continue alone. A number of other Dutch ships continued to reach Australia, and chart some of the coastline, these include Gulden Zeepaert, Vyaneu and the infamous Batavia. This last ship, brand new and owned by the Verende de Ort-Indische Compagnie ( VOC ) was on her maiden run making for Batavia. She was ship wrecked on a reef off the Westernern Australia coast on the 4th. of June 1629. The crew made it to a nearby small coral island devoid of food or water, and the merchant leading the expedition Pelseart, sailed one of the ship's boats to Batavia, returning in a larger ship to rescue the survivors. In the interim, a mutiny had taken place, and the mutineers murdered many of the survivors to reduce the numbers dependent on the small amount of food and water salvaged from Batavia, so that they might survive. Pelseart on his return tried the ring leaders, and hung a number of them, first cutting off their hands prior to their hanging. Some of the mutineers were returned to Batavia where the Governor General extracted a dreadful vengeance on them. Abel Tasman had been sent by van Dieman to explore Terra Austalis, he made his first sighting on the west coast of Tasmania which was then named van Dieman's Land in 1642 after his boss, he then went on to discover New Zealand. Two years later Tasman sailed north along Cape York Peninsula. The subsequent map indicates the various Dutch explorers, where and when they landed on the Australian coast. My country might well speak Dutch rather than English, it took the British explorer Captain James Cook until 1770 to discover and claim for England the east coast of Australia.
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