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In 1797 Bass left Sydney in a
whaleboat. He took with him 6 sailors and 6 weeks' supply of food.Before
reaching Western Port, he came across a party of 7 escaped convicts and
promised to rescue them on his return. He then sailed on to Western Port
on the southern coast of Australia. Strong winds forced him to stay here
for nearly 2 weeks. Bass suspected that there must be a strait
of water separating the mainland from Tasmania (then called
Van Diemen's land). He rescued the convicts on his way back and sailed
back to Port Jackson, after exploring 300 miles of previously unknown
coastline.
In 1798, Bass and Flinders set off
in the Norfolk to sail around Van Diemen's Land. The Norfolk was the first
boat to be built in the colony and was built by the prisoners on Norfolk
Island. Bass and Flinders discovered and explored the Tamar River. They
then spent another 3 weeks mapping the north coast of Tasmania before they
sailed down the west coast. They sailed down the Derwent River where
Hobart now stands and then set sail for Sydney. They had proved that Van
Diemen's Land was an island by sailing right round it. Flinders named the
strait, Bass Strait, after George Bass. The discovery of this strait meant
that ships could save days when sailing to England, by sailing
straight along the south coast, rather than right around the bottom of
Tasmania. This was their last voyage together. Bass sailed from Sydney in
1803 to travel to South America. He disappeared and was never heard of
again.
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information on George Bass, go to: |
