Artwork Information

The pleasure the crew of the Astrolabe had in finding the watering place in Tasman Bay, which to this day bears the name Watering Cove, is apparent in the reaction recorded in the account. A stream of the “clearest” water is described, which “snakes across the sand flowing into the sea”, noting that at high tide the ship’s rowboat was able to easily meet all the ship’s water needs. The illustration records the other activities of the sailors. Men sit and stand by the stream’s edge doing their washing, a shirt hangs from a tree branch, while to the right a sailor reclines seemingly in idle chatter. In the idyllic setting the crew seem very relaxed, their shirt sleeves and trousers rolled up, with one bathing his feet in the stream.