Thirty three years of adventure in Australian area waters, 1928-1960.

These adventures of one Dirk Hartog--a Dutch navigator of the 16th century--are founded on the narratives of the early explorers in the South seas, from records in the library of Sidney, N.S.W. Strange and thrilling experiences are recounted--though with little distinction in the telling--which will appeal to men and boys. Show Excerpt e morning after my capture by the black cannibals of New Holland, at daybreak, I was driven, out of the gunyah in which I had passed the night, to be looked at by the tribe, who had now collected in great numbers, and who encircled me with a ring of hazel eyes. Their complexion was black, their hair woolly, and many of them were quite naked, as though they lived in a state of brute nature. There did not appear to be anyone in recognized authority among them, for they all talked their outlandish jargon at the same time, and, presently, they began to search me for such small articles of personal property as I possessed. My engraving tools and a sailor's sewing kit, given me by Anna, were taken from me, but to my great good fortune they did not rob me of my dagger-knife, or my flint and steel which lay concealed in the inner pocket of my leathern belt, nor of a lock of Anna's hair which I carried in a silken bag round my neck; and in the possession of which I found much comfort in my present predicament. My clot

This new edition includes a discussion of theories about traditional methods of navigation developed during recent decades, the story of the renaissance of star navigation throughout the Pacific, and material about navigation systems in Indonesia, Siberia, and the Indian Ocean.

Excerpt from Heroes of the South Seas Almost everybody has heard of Captain Cook, the famous old navigator who used to go cruising round the world, hunting up all sorts of queer places and queer people and opening the way for other explorers. It was in the year 1769, on one of his voyages, that he came across two neighboring groups of isl ands in the Southern Pacific, one of which had been first seen by an Englishman through the eyes of Captain Wallis, who called it the Geor gian Group, after King George of England. Captain Cook, however, did not stop to draw distinctions, but gave the whole cluster the name of the Society Islands, in honor of the Royal Society of London, and though for a while the two groups were commonly known as the Windward and the Leeward Islands they are now both included under the title bestowed upon them by Captain Cook. The largest island, Tahiti, has a circuit Of one hundred and forty miles, and contains about six hundred square miles. It is made up Of two rounded peninsulas joined by a narrow isthmus, and is crowned by a high mountain peak called The Diadem. The inhabitants were found to be tall and stout, with brown skin and dark eyes, and they seemed merry and good-natured; but underneath they were very bad indeed, and thought nothing Of stealing, or of telling lies, or even Of killing anybody with whom they happened to be vexed, or whom they wished to put out of the way. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.