D'Entrecasteaux Channel
| D'Entrecasteaux Channel | |
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 D'Entrecasteaux Channel
Location in Tasmania
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South East Tasmania with D'Entrecasteaux Channel highlighted.
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| Location | South East Tasmania |
| Coordinates | 43°13′S 147°17′E / 43.217°S 147.283°ECoordinates: 43°13′S 147°17′E / 43.217°S 147.283°E |
| Type | Channel |
| Etymology | Vice-Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux |
| River sources | Derwent River; Huon River |
| Primary outflows | Tasman Sea |
| Ocean/sea sources | South Pacific Ocean |
| Basin countries | Australia |
| Settlements | Snug, Margate, Kettering, Woodbridge, Flowerpot, Middleton, Gordon |
| References | |
The D'Entrecasteaux Channel /ˌdɒntrəˈkæstoʊ/ is a body of water located between Bruny Island and the south-east of the mainland of Tasmania, Australia. The channel is the mouth for the estuaries of the Derwent and the Huon Rivers and empties into the Tasman Sea of the South Pacific Ocean. It was sighted by Abel Tasman in 1642 and surveyed in 1792 by Bruni d'Entrecasteaux.
Towns on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel include Snug, Margate, Kettering, Woodbridge, Flowerpot, Middleton and Gordon.
According to The Mercury newspaper, the channel "..... was discovered on April 20. 1792, by the celebrated French "Vice-Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux, who, in the ships Recherche and Esperance, was searching for ill-fated La Perouse. Visiting Van Diemen's Land for the first time, he was attempting to find an anchorage in Adventure Bay, when, being himself ill in bed, the ships' navigators entered the channel to the west of Bruny Island, instead of going to the eastward of it. Thus, the discovery of the great channel was due to an accident. This is Labillardiere's account of the matter. A wrong bearing taken of the Mewstone accounts for the French navigator's error."
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Wikipedia