In the morning of 22th June, the journey was continued. After many changes in the direction of the course that were necessary. the Adolphus islands North of the Australian mainland came into view and soon thereafter the islands of Thursday Island and Banks island on starboard with the high Mount Augustus.
As the quinine supplies of the ship pharmacy were getting low due to the numerous fever cases and the provisions had to be replenished and „Elisabeth“ had been unable to send news about its well-being and woes home since the departure from Sydney, the commander decided to pay a call to Thursday Island. Thus we passed through the Prince of Wales-Canal between Hammond Island and the North West Reef known to us from our first passage of the Strait of Torres, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon we anchored close to Thursday Island in front of the pilot station of Goode Island in the Normanby Sound, and sent out the steam barge to Thursday Island to buy quinine and supplies and to telegraph home.
The was no longer as beautiful as the day before as fog and rainstorms clouded the horizon.
I saw again, while we were anchoring at the same spot where I had observed a sea eagle during our first stay next to the pilot station, one of those birds circle around the ship. He swooped down on the kitchen garbage, came close to us about four or five times and finally at dusk flew away to Goode Island to rest for the night.
After an absence of three hours the barge returned — unfortunately without a mail package that the commander had announced — and the voyage was continued at 8 o’clock in the evening. We steamed out of Normanby Sound, past the lighthouse ship at Proudfoot Shoal on starboard, out of the island area of the Strait of Torres and reached the Arafura Sea which showed itself again as very calm but made us experience its muggy heat immediately after our entrance in its region. No fresh wind, the smoke rose straight as an arrow into the air, the tiring muggy heat stuck to the ship and in the cabins the temperature was between 28° and 30° Reaumur (35-37.5° Celsius) .
Links
- Location: Thursday Island
- ANNO – on 22.06.1893 in Austria’s newspapers.
- The k.u.k. Hof-Burgtheater is playing „College Crampton“. The k.u.k. Hof-Operntheater is closed from 1 June to 19 July.
The Wiener Salonblatt issue 26, p. 6 notes Franz Ferdinand’s good health and arrival at Thursday Island