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‘The First Navigation of Torres Strait’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Geoffrey C. Ingleton
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Extract

Captain Brett Hilder first published in 1973 his controversial theory that Torres used Endeavour Strait on his famous and perilous voyage through the intricate waters of the strait that now bears his name. This was the subject of his Macquarie University thesis of 1976, The voyage of Torres along the southern coast of New Guinea in 1606 and he has summarised his findings in a paper published in the September 1977 issue of this Journal. It now seems essential to question the validity of some of his assertions.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Navigation , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , May 1978 , pp. 232 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1978

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References

REFERENCES

1Hilder, Brett (1973). The discovery of Torres Strait in 1606. Navigation (Sydney), 4, 153.Google Scholar
2Hilder, Brett (1977). The first navigation of Torres Strait. This Journal, 30, 459.Google Scholar
3Anglicised, the formula was (length between perpendiculars × ½ beam × depth of hold) less 5 per cent, the whole divided by 8. The linear measurements were in codos, or Castilian linear cubits, and equivalent to about 22½ inches. The calculation gave the ship's capacity in toneles machos, and to obtain tonnage in toneladas, an arbitrary fifth was added. At that period the proportions between length between perpendiculars, beam and depth of hold were approximately 6:2:1. (See interesting details by Colin Martin in The Mariner's Mirror, Vol. 63, No. 4.)Google Scholar
4Relacion de Don Diego de Prado, published by the Hakluyt Society in 1930, under the title of New Light on the Discovery of Australia &c., translated by G. F. Barwick and edited by Henry N. Stevens. Prado, who accompanied Torres in a passenger capacity, had originally been in the San Pedro y Pablo but, disagreeing with Quiros, had transferred to the San Pedrico at the Island of Taumaco in the Duff Group. The original manuscript was written about ten years after the voyage had been completed; but it seems certain that it was, to a large extent, copied from a narrative made at the time of the voyage. Prado was not always a reliable witness and was, unfortunately, vague and brief on navigational matters. His descriptions of subjects that interested him are good, especially his accounts of the ports and people discovered in S.E. Papua. His maps of these ports are reliable in the general aspect. Regrettably, the general map of the voyage, once known to exist, is missing.Google Scholar
5See Cook's Debt to Torres. Some Notes on the History of the Exploration and Cartography of Torres Strait, by J. W. Forsyth, 1955 (Mitchell Library mss.); The Use of Torres' Charts by 17th Century Cartographers, by J. E. O'Hagan (The Australian Geographer, Vol. VIII, 1961); Some Early Maps relating to the Queiros. Torres Discoveries of 1606, by Father Celsus Kelly (Congresso Internacional de Histori dos Descubrimentos, Lisbon, 1961).Google Scholar
6The Letter of Torres, 12 July 1606, preserved in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid and translated by G. F. Barwick in New Light on the Discovery of Australia as revealed by the Journal of Captain Don Diego de Prado y Tovar, Hakluyt Society, 1930.Google Scholar
7The Australian Encyclopaedia, article ‘Exploration by Sea’, Sydney, 1958.Google Scholar
8Royal Australian Historical Society Journal & Proceedings, Vol. XVI, 1930.Google Scholar