["Shipping", The Brisbane Courier (Qld.), Monday 25 May 1874, page 2]
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Cruise of H.M.S. Beagle.--The Beagle left Sydney on Octobe 1,..
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Left Port Darwin in on the 26th. November, and arrived at Tien Tsin Bay on the 19th December, having experienced head winds all the passage. This place is generally known as the Nichol Bay settlement, which tends to mislead strangers visiting this coast, as there is no settlement in Nichol Bay, which is a mangrove bight, about thirty miles further to the westward, very shoal, and affording no shelter. The creek running up from Tien Tsin Bay, on which the township of Cossack is situated, is known as Butchers Inlet, and the whole is called Port Walcott. This is the head quarters of the pearlshell fishery on the north west coast. The town of Roebourne, about twelve miles N.N.E.[sic] from Cossack, is the principal place in the district, and there is a Government Resident there. Copper and lead have been found in large quantities a few miles from Roebourne, and lately several specimens of gold have been found in the copper. There is splendid pasture land in this part of Western Australia; the cattle and sheep are in prime condition. The want of water is the great drawback, the only spring for miles being the one on which Roebourne is situated, from which, nearly all the water used in Cossack has to be conveyed in casks. The pearl shelling has been carried on from the Dampier Archipelago to the east side of Exmouth Gulf, but it appears likely that shells will be found all along the north coast, as they are known to exist in Camden Harbor. There were about thirty vessels employed in the fishery, varying from cutters of ten or twelve tons to schooners of 100. The larger vessels employ Malays, while the small ones are content with the natives of the country, but the latter are by far the best divers, and the expense of employing them is not nearly so great. Unfortunately, the supply is not equal to the demand. All the vessels have done very fairly, and some remarkably well, the shells are of fair size and sound, but very few pearls have been obtained this season.
The Beagle left Poit Walcott on January 3, and visited the pearling grounds, the extent of which is mentioned above, remaining there and cruising among the islands until the 9th. February, when she returned to Port Walcott. The employers of Malay labor seemed much pleased to see a man-of-war on the coast, as owing to the seizure of the Gift, schooner, last year, they are rather apprehensive of the Malays. However, they appeared well disposed and peaceful this year, but incredibly lazy. One case of refusing work occurred in a small cutter, the Waterlily but nothing of any consequence. This part of the coast is a perfect labyrinth of shoals and reefs, and, as there are no charts of it, it is very difficult navigation for a stranger. On the return of the Beagle to Port Walcott, it was found that Colonel Warburton, the South Australian explorer, had arrived there, having passed through some months of frightful hardships. The Beagle left Port Walcott on the 18th February, and anchored in Sharks Bay on the 7th March, having stopped two days at Beadon, one of the mouths of the Ashburton River, to complete water.
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There is a very extensive pearl fishery carried on in Shark's Bay, the fishing population numbering about 200 or 300, of whom a large portion are Malays. The pearls are principally straw colored, and few have been found of any size, quantity not quality being the order of the day. The shells have been getting rather scarce lately, and many seem disposed to leave the place. The work is carried on by dredging; the shells are then thrown into pits until they open, when the fish are taken out put into tubs to rot, where they remain for about four or five days, and are then searched for the pearls. The refuse is left about in heaps, as are also the shells, which have little or no commercial value) and tho consequence is that the stench about the encampments is something indescribable. The flies are innumerable, and other insects are also reported to exist. Altogether, Shark s Bay is not the most delightful place in the world. The Beagle left Shark's Bay on the 10th March,..
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