British Publication "China Pilot," 3rd Edition (1861)

The following is an excerpt from the 3th edition of China Pilot, which was published by Hydrographic Office of the British Admiralty in 1861:

Table of Contents

Chapter I. Monsoons, Typhoons, Gales, and Tides in the China Sea, and on the East Coast of China; and General Remarks on Making Passages. Chapter II. Approaches to Canton River, including Hong Kong. Chu Kiang or Canton River, and Si Kiang or West River. Chapter III. East Coast of China. Hong Kong to Amoy. Chapter IV. East Coast of China. Amoy to the White Dog Islands, including the Pescadores. Chapter V. East Coast of China. White Dog Islands to Nimrod Sound. Chapter VI. East Coast of China. Nimrod Sound to the Yang-tse Kiang, including the Chusan Archipelago. Chapter VII. East Coast of China. Whang-Hai or Yellow Sea; Gulfs of Pe-chili and Liau-tung; and West and South Coasts of Korea. Chapter VIII. Pratas Island and Reef: North Coast of Luzon; and Babuyan, Bashi, Formosa, Meiaco-sima, and Lu-chu Islands. Chapter IX. Islands South-East, East, and North of the Lu-chu Group; and off the South-East Coast of Nipon. Chapter X. Japan and Kuril Islands, and South-East Coast of Kamchatka. Chapter XI. Sea of Japan; Gulf of Tartary; Gulf and River Amur; Saghlin Island; La Perouse Strait; and Sea of Okhotsk.

In Chapter 11

The SEA of JAPAN is bounded on the east and south by the Japan islands, and on the west and north-west by the coasts of Korea and Tartary. It is about 900 miles long, N.N.E. and S.S.W., and 600 miles wide, East and West, at its broadest part. Surrounded by land on all sides, this sea is only accessible by the following narrow passages: To the south by the Korea Strait, which connects it with the China sea; to the east by Laperouse and Tsugar straits, by which it communicates with the Pacific; and to the north by the Gulf of Tartary, through which it communicates with the Sea of Okhotsk by the Gulf of Amur. The Boungo and Kino channels which lead into the Suwo Nada, at the south-west end of Nipon, and the connection of the Suwo Nada with Korea strait north of Kiusiu island, are as yet little known(page 376). GULF of TARTARY. From Cape Disappointment, in lat. 45°40.5′N., the coast of Tartary trends to the north-east, and forms with the west coast of Saghalin island a long channel named by Laperouse, the Manche or strait of Tartary. Strictly speaking, however, it should still be the Gulf of Tartary, as the strait can hardly be considered to begin until the parallel of about 51°N. On the parallel of Castries bay the coasts of Tartary and Saghalin converge rapidly; and abreast of Cape Catherine, in 51°57′N., they are only 7 miles apart; 17 miles farther north, between Capes Lazaref and Pogobi, they approach to within 3.5 miles; and this is the gorge of the strait, and the entrance into the Gulf of Amur(page 400).

MATU SIMA (Dagelet island of the French and Dajette of the Russian charts) is by the Russian frigate Pallas in lat. 37°22′N., long. 130°56′E. It is of circular form, about 20 miles in circumference, and its peak, rising from the centre of the island, is 2,100 feet above the sea level. Its shores are cliffy and almost inaccessible.

LIANCOURT ROCKS are named after the French ship Liancourt, which discovered them in 1849; they were also named Menalai and Olivutsa rocks by the Russian frigate Pallas in 1854, and Hornet islands by H.M.S. Hornet in 1855. Captain Forsyth, of the latter vessel, gives their position as lat. 37°14′N., long. 131°55′E., and describes them as being two barren rocky islets, about a mile in extent N.W. by W. and S.E. by E., and a quarter of a mile apart, and apparently joined together by a reef. The western islet, elevated about 410 feet above the sea, has a sugar-loaf form; the easternmost is much lower and flat-topped. The water appeared deep close-to, but they are dangerous from their position, being directly in the track of vessels steering up the Sea of Japan for Hakodadi.

TAKO SIMA or Argonaut island, marked doubtful on the charts, does not exist in the position assigned to it, in 37°52′N., and 129°53′E. In the year 1852, the French corvette Capricieuse twice crossed this position without perceiving any land.