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Fiji and the Fijians 1835-1856

Chapter III — charters and cartographers

page 24

Chapter III
charters and cartographers

Jules-Sebastien-Cesar Dumont D'Urville's proper place is among the charters not the discoverers of Fiji. Only a very brief review of the valuable work done by that highly serviceable company of men can be given here; but they deserve much more attention than they have received hitherto for their work was both difficult and dangerous. D'Urville believed that the waters of the Fijian Archipelago were the most dangerous in the Pacific; though it may well be doubted whether Captain Cook had not found an area even more perilous as he groped his way along the east coast of York Peninsula and round Cape York.1 But undoubtedly the seas of the Fijian Archipelago with their isolated reefs in the more open waters, and innumerable coral patches inside the barrier reefs presented extraordinary difficulties and dangers to the old mariners of the sailing days; and the need for reliable charts and maps was very great. All the discoverers but one have left sketches of the islands and reefs which they saw. page 25Tasman made a sketch of the "18 or 19 islands" which came into view a mile or so from the place where he crossed the western side of Nanuku Reef. Heeres and Coote have reproduced it in their edition of Tasman's Journal. On our visits to the spot in 1928 and 1929 we found no difficulty in fixing the positions of the islands and of the mountain tops which he thought to be islands. Bligh's sketch of the large number of islands he saw in 1789 is necessarily rough, and, so far as the two large islands Viti Levu and Vanua Levu are concerned, very incomplete; but he says in his Bog-book that he believes they were both extensive. Captain Wilson's map of the islands and reefs which he saw in the northern part of the Lau group is remarkably accurate. Commander De Salis is of the opinion that his latitudes are very accurate and his longitudes very creditable considering the time at which he sailed. Though I have searched long and carefully through the Admiralty charts at Cornwall House I have not been able to find any sketch, tracing, plan or chart by Captain Cook of Vatoa and the neighbouring reef. Bellinsgauzen's chart of Ono, and the reefs and islets to the south and south-west is clearly and accurately drawn. He took particular pains to fix the position of Beregis (Take Care) Reef to warn mariners of the danger which he himself ran into there one night unawares. But before Bellinsgauzen's discovery of Ono-i-lau2 cartographers had been at work on the already known islands of the archipelago. There is very good reason for believing that William Locker by, who was engaged in collecting sandalwood on the western end of Vanua Levu in 1808 and 1809, made a chart of Mbua Bay district;3 but Mr L. C. Wharton of the British Museum has informed me that although careful search had been made no trace of it could page 26be found up to the end of 1929. It was mainly on the information supplied by Captain James Wilson of the Duff and the sandalwood trading ships that Aaron Arrowsmith compiled his map which was published in 1814. He was the first to give a comprehensive though necessarily incomplete and imperfect representation of the archipelago. He knew nothing of the middle islands to the south and very little about the southern and western coasts of Viti Levu.

While searching through the Pacific charts at Cornwall House I came upon a map of the archipelago by John Oxley the Australian explorer who was appointed Surveyor-General of New South Wales in January 1812. It shows the tracks of ships going to and from Mbua Bay; but as a map of the archipelago it is very incomplete and inaccurate. It serves, however, to remind the historian of the interest taken by the authorities in New South Wales in the sandalwood trade. Colonial ships traded to Mbua Bay, and many of the British and American ships that freighted Fijian sandalwood called at Sydney.4

In his voyage round the world (1803-6) Admiral Adam John Krusenstern did not visit Fiji, but from 1823 to 1825 he was engaged on the compilation of a map of the Pacific with thirty-four charts by order of his Emperor. He was assisted by captains who had first-hand knowledge of places he had not seen himself, and he exercised very great care in compiling the map. The result was a very valuable addition to the cartography of the Pacific. But, of course, there were omissions and mistakes in his charts. D'Urville, who was carrying a copy of Krusenstern's atlas when he visited Fiji in 1827, fixed a course and set his sails after leaving Nukulau Passage so as to be well to the north of Kandavu at daylight next morning. At 10.15 on the night of 5 June he rushed on deck to find himself within a page 27cable's length of the eastern edge of a reef to the north of Kandavu which he, thinking he was the discoverer, called Astrolabe Reef.5

In 1835 Captain R. Crozier of H.M.S. Victor visited the group and made some important amendments of Aaron Arrowsmith's chart published in 1814. The latitude and longitude of several islands were more correctly determined, a far better impression of the size of Viti Levu given and the position of the middle group of islands to the south indicated generally.6

In 1838 Dumont D'Urville paid his second visit to the archipelago, and made some careful investigations in Mbua Bay, and the waters inside the reef from Levuka to Vewa and Mbau. His best service was to mark the channel past the island of Moturiki on the way to Vewa. His map of the archipelago was drawn by Vincendon Dumoulin, the hydrographie engineer on board the Astrolabe. Its most conspicuous defect is the misplacing of the island of Mbengga immediately to the north of Kandavu where Ono-i-kandavu should be.

In 1840 Captain E. Belcher of H.M.S. Sulphur made soundings in Rewa Roads. His sketch of the harbour is in the collection at Cornwall House.

Charles Wilkes, commander of the United States Exploring Expedition, spent four months in the archipelago from May to August 1840, and made extensive surveys in nearly every part, for which he has received great praise from the hydrographers of the British Admiralty. Considering the very limited time at his disposal he did well; but it was a physical impossibility to make accurate surveys of every part of the archipelago in so short a time, notwithstanding the valuable assistance rendered by his lieutenant-page 28commanders. Wilkes did far more than any of his predecessors especially in the Lau group, the Yasawas, and on the west and north coasts of Vanua Levu; but the claim which he made on page 319 of the third volume of his Narrative of the Expedition cannot be conceded. "The shortness of the time we spent in the group," he says, "may perhaps incline some to doubt the accuracy of our surveys. I am, however, well satisfied myself that, with the exception of the south side of Kandavu every portion of the group has been as thoroughly examined as is necessary for any nautical purpose or for those of general geography." No captain sailing among the islands of the archipelago to-day would admit the claim here made by Captain Wilkes; and no man who compares the charts made on the bases of his surveys, with the British or American charts that are used to-day will be able to agree with him. It could not possibly be done in the time.

The surveys made by the British Admiralty in Fijian waters have extended over a period of eighty years and they are not quite finished yet. If the reefs were continuous the task would have been comparatively easy; but it is those isolated reefs that D'Urville speaks about, and still more the coral patches inside the reef encircling or partly encircling the islands that necessitate so many careful soundings and examinations. To make Fijian waters safe for navigation was a colossal undertaking.

The first British commander who was given a special commission to make careful surveys of harbours, to find safe anchorages within the reefs and indicate clearly the passages and channels by which ships might reach them was Captain, afterwards Admiral Sir Mangles Denham, F.R.S. He was at work in Fiji just toward the close of the great missionary period in 1855 and 1856. Accurate surveys were made of Simonoff and Michaeloff reefs near Ono-i-lau, Vatoa, page break
Map of the Fijian ArchipelagoSent to London in 1847 by Thomas Williams

Map of the Fijian Archipelago
Sent to London in 1847 by Thomas Williams

page 29Moala, Matuku, Mbatiki, Nairai, Ngau, Totoya, Ovalau, Wakaya and Makongai. He did his work so well here and in other parts of the Pacific that he was knighted for "his long and meritorious services in the Herald on the Pacific station." His name will be found on the charts used to-day by navigators in Fiji.

Into the work of later British commanders who continued his policy of thorough we cannot enter here. Our period closes with the year 1856.

But we must not take our leave of these patient, painstaking and courageous men who have been engaged for over a century on this work without a tribute of respect. The British charts of to-day have effected a marvellous transmutation. Time was when these reef-strewn seas were nerve-wracking terrors to the local and visiting navigators. In some exceptional circumstances they are still: even British charts cannot remove dire apprehensions in hurricanes, or in sudden calms where currents are uncertain. But at all other times the reefs are no longer menaces; they have been transmuted into sheltering barriers behind which ships may find safe anchorages. Five minutes after being tossed rudely in a plunging, tumbling sea the prostrate passenger finds relief from his misery in a ship riding on an even keel. This can be enjoyed now with a feeling of security because of the accuracy and reliability of British charts.

It was not so in the forties of last century. Missionaries and traders in those days were beset with uncertainty and danger contending with the elements and the uncharted reefs in frail canoes and small cutters while making their way to distant and little-known islands. The missionaries had a tolerably correct idea of the relative positions of the islands as the map sent home by Thomas Williams in 1847 will show; but it was the lack of accurate knowledge of isolated reefs and coral patches that exposed them to the page 30hidden dangers. It was fortunate for them that the native captains with whom they frequently sailed in their canoes—sometimes in voyages extending over hundreds of miles—were skilful sailors. It is not easy for the modern traveller, making his voyages in ships well found, and with plenty of power within themselves, to realize the disabilities under which these men had to carry on the work of their extensive circuits; but it is hoped that the information supplied in this book will help the reader to recall much that has been forgotten. For my own part I willingly acknowledge that had it not been for the assistance rendered me by up-to-date British charts many of my investigations could not have been carried to a successful issue. Even when I had reached the spot with a clear knowledge of the problem under consideration I could not have found a satisfactory solution without the assistance of British charts, and, frequently, the kindly offices of a commander and the navigator serving under him.

1 In the account of his Voyage au pole sud et dans l'Océanie 1837-40 D'Urville says: "L'Archipel Viti est sans contredit le plus dangereux du grand Océan, il se compose d'une multitude d'iles et ilots parsemées d'un grand nombre de récifs de coral à fleur d'eau." In a letter to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty dated 23 October 1770 Captain Cook giving a summary of his first voyage of discovery says: "On the 10th of June we struck upon a reef of rocks where we lay 23 hours, and received some very considerable damage…. We were obliged to take shelter in the first port we met with where we were detained repairing the damage … until the 4th of August … and afterwards coasted the shore to the northward through the most dangerous navigation that ever ship was in until the 22nd of same month when being in the latitude of 10° 30' S. we found a passage into the Indian Sea between the northern extremity of New Holland and New Guinea."

2 Ono-i-lau must not be confounded with Ono-i-kandavu immediately to the north of Kandavu.

3 See the Journal of William Lockerby by Sir Everard im Thurn and Leonard C. Wharton, p. civ of the Introduction.

4 See Sir Everard im Thurn's Introduction to the Journal of William Lockerby.

5 See Dumont D'Urville's Journal of his first voyage under date 5 June 1827.

6 A map showing these amendments is supplied by Sir Everard im Thurn in his edition of the Journal of William Lockerby.