SHARK BAY. - What Is the Right Name? To the Editor. - The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) - 29 Oct 1935 (original) (raw)

Sir,- One would like to know by what

authority the writer of an article on

Shark Bay in your issue of October 25

uses that title and not the ninroi

'Sharks'? Sharks was the name given

to it by Dampier in 1699. He says: 'I

called the mouth of this sound Sharks

Bay. . . The sea fish we saw here are

chiefly sharks. There are abundance of

them in this sound ; which was the reason

I called it Sharks Bay.' (Callander:

Terra Australis Cognita, m pp 82, 84).

The French followed him with Bale de

chiens marins (plural), as the article

itself tells us. This error, which one has

sometimes seen on maps, seems to have

crept in through the carelessness or

ignorance of some cartographer: but in

justice to Dampier and ourselves we

should not allow it to be perpetuated.—

[Our correspondent revives an old con

troversy. The writer of the article was

not responsible for the spelling which

'Inquirer' holds to be erroneous. He

wrote 'Sharks Bay.' and the alteration

was made in his manuscript to conform

to a practice which has been established

on the authority cf the Western Aus

tralian Historical Society. When ques

tioned on the matter yesterday.

Dr. J. S. Battye stated that Dam

pier's own account of the voyage read as

foilows:— 'I give it the title of Shark's

Bay.' However, during the last 30 years.

Dr. Battye added, there had been not

only a tendency, but a decided intention,

supported by the latest -Admiralty charts,

to eliminate the possessive 's.' For in

stance, King George's Sound had become