Show GREAT BARRIER LURES SAVANTS vast submarine reef of coral off australia prepared hy by national geographic society D C TF THE sea wont went dry along the IF I 1 cast coast of queensland a thousand JL miles of coral amale maze would he be revealed the great barrier reef of australia must not be imagined as a continuous structure like the great wall of china it Is formed ty by innumerable reefs bad and a map of just one section resembles a complex jigsaw jig saw puzzle then there are the isles mountainous and forested of the inner zone and the atolls and cays that are true coral islands for nearly a century the great barrier lias has intrigued science by the problems that it presents to geologists arid naturalists natura lists it has lured such masters of marine zoology as alexander and A 0 mayer from america and recently a british expedition broke camp after a year on captain cooks first coral island in all the seven seas there is nothing so wonderful as this vast submarine curtain of coral the largest corsi coral reef in tile the world whose nature and origin remain half veiled in mystery tourists Touris ls from many lands and thousands of australians have made the voyage through alias grand canal the area between the mainland with its purple hills and the outer Bar A calm and pleasant trip during a portion of the year it may be perilous in the cyclone season many abany launches and fishing craft have hate been wrecked among adiong the coral or gone down in the heart of a storm within the barrier but navigation Is no longer the nightmare it was to the early voyagers before the reef mazes had been mapped and routes safe for even large vessels discovered danger exists still but tile the old fear has gone the haunting fear of disaster in the realm of coral surf Is amazing spectacle majestic Is the meeting of rollers of the ocean and the great barrier on days when the sunlit water behind the coral bastion Is calm enough for a canoe mountainous waves pound the reefs unceasingly the surf on the outer barrier at high tide when the broad reefs crests are hidden presents an amazing spectacle A long line of boiling surf springing up in mid ocean without any apparent cause Is the late charles ch arles medleys Hed leys description that great naturalist whose knowledge of the carrier barrier was uarl devot edthe last tow few years ot of his life to the study of its problems swain reefs far south mark the beginning of the great carrier barrier outer system farther north the linear reefs are developed they are some miles in length and up to half a mile across with broad separ separating lAting channels A lighthouse on lady elliot islet marks the southern limit of coral formed land a broad platform of solid coral halt half a mile in circumference then comes an archipelago I 1 the bunker group followed by the capricorn group popular resort now of naturalists natura lists and almost a picnic ground for hollday holiday makers from the mainland within the tropics the maze Is multiplied ti from a hill bill at co cooktown Cook town y you 0 u may see as captain cook did in 1770 the shadows of the coral reefs wl wherever eri you look out to sea the navigator alio iio explored 2000 miles of the east coast of australia was ignorant of the existence of coral in those waters when his ship struck on endear our reef at night had the weather been stormy she must have been lost for coral fangs had pierced her hull rut cut calm sea enabled the sailors to patch up the bark by fo and cook sailed her to the beach for careening and repairs meanwhile gazing from the hilltop he discovered the coral with a seaworthy ship again he won a way out of the maze gaining open ocean through one of the great openings in the barrier HP he escaped many dangers only to meet with oth ers a few days later the endeavour becalmed oft off the outer barrier vias aas borne to toward vard the reef slie site rose at last on a huge wave and seemed doomed to destruction with only the breadth of a wave between her and the coral cut but a light air of wind up and the ship was saved cook claimed the coast captain cook sought eagerly for an opening and found ills his providential channel ue ile was in the grand canal once more and with infinite care took the bark to torres strait landing on an island which be fumed mimed posses slon he be claimed the whole eastern coast of australia for britain in the name of kill king george III A memorial to captain cook has been reeled on possession Is islan d by the federal government ern ment a simple obelisk bearing a tablet of bronze eligh ct cc pomander of the bounty and his bis eighteen men inn who were falth faith ful made that memorable open boat voyage from tahitian waters to res to horation ration lor atlon island within the great liar bar her aler in 1789 the mutineers muti kutlik i rs vict victims lins reached the rea at midnight or rath er came within sound of tile the surf and two days later found a passage to safety the boat voyage wai contin conlin lie aed d along the oust cast coast of queens land and through torres strait to lo timor these old time pt allous loiis loag caes oa ts es lire are discussed wit in pitr ut alii and antl round the e crimp fire on a coral isle the atalic way turn from cooks discoveries ilse virles and blight amazing boat voyage to the recent loss of a launch or the fate of a large steamer r unk sunk in a cyclone within itla a 0 few miles of tile the mainland the grand canni varies in width from 20 to SO miles there are two reg regions lons ho heowener weNer the inner one la is narrow an and fairly free from the perils which make the outer zone impossible for shipping only small craft are navigated nal nai gated abed among the reefs of the outer zone lug buggers agers are sailed along the chan nels dels with coral fangs threatening destruction st sailed often where the reefs nr are e uncharted to in the quest for sea slugs find and pearl and shell Jn japanese 0 j n many of these venturesome craft many blany beautiful islands the depth of the sea outside the great harrier ts is profound arofo ind but in ID tw tile zone one where coastal steamers go safely it varies from about ten fathoms to twenty the outer zone Is much deeper up to seventy fathoms it is between these two zones that the mountainous islands lie many of then them beautiful and some sime the homes of happy people over hundreds of miles of sea they are strung close together or with long gaps between thousands of folk who make the va winter inter tour to queensland from southern ports say they have been to the great barrier reef whereas they have merely sailed among the lofty islands maybe without land landing iDIZ even on fin an atoll or a cay the low coral isles beyond the high ones of granite only the few who go north venture to seek lie actual barrier where that long lone of thundering surprises surf rises in mid ocean there Is charm in the grand canal trip and life Is pleasant on the favored islands where a bungalow buri galow may nestle amid tropical fruit trees and palms with a creek singing near on its little journey to the sea men alen have lived half a lifetime on a harrier barrier reef isle without desire to wander it may be a lotus eating life or one of healthy work and play as you please rich nich men and poor men are lured to the region beach combers are rare now yet here and there one meets with the cheerful loafer who takes to a task only at the urge of sheer necessity spain though placed her part in pl pi loneer navigation of australasian seas in three ships under admiral de NEW 1 I k 1 1 ot A 1 T 0 I 1 KE A W r cc riad alm K a 7 U 3 1 7 77 99 CC s 6 L US 11 IV J the great barrier reef quiros sailed for the south pacific from callao the captain ot of one was luls luis de torres whose nam name e lives forever as that of the strait between australia and new guinea nis his vessel became separated from the other two and torres was probably the first european to sight cape york peninsula the northernmost point of australia and prince ot of wales island but torres discovery was a secret from the world until when among the archives at manila the record of its ills great voyage was found by the british they gave honor bonor where it was due naming the strait after its discoverer explored by scientists scientific investigation of the great barrier reef began when IT II II if S fly cruised ill ID the coral sea and other waters her voyage extended over several eral years 1842 1810 and J blete beete jukes was the naturalist on board her a geologist whose interests were not confined to rocks jukes wrote the first description of the great barrier which remains one of the best general accounts we aie have of this geographical wonder the great barrier reefs are thus found to form a long submarine buttress or curtain along the northeastern coast of au australla australia rising in ID general precipitously from a ey cry great depth but resting towards tile the north on the ground of torres strait and towards the south on the bank stretching stretched off from sandy cape if it were to be laid dry this great barrier would be found to have a considerable sid erable resemblance to an a gigantic and irregular for titivation a steep glacis crowned with a broken parapet wall and carried from one rising ground to another the bastions of projecting and detached reefs would increase this resemblance captain cooks description of a coral reef forgotten by all perhaps but readers of the great navigators voyages Is worth quoting A reef such as one speaks of here her is scarcely known in europe it 11 Is I 1 a wall of coral rock kock rising almost perpendicularly out of the unfathomable ocean always alays at high water waler generally 7 or 8 feet and dry in places nt at low water the large waves of the vast ocean meeting with so sudden a resistance makes a most 11 terrible surf breaking moa mountains ills |