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Dawe's Point (NSW)
Western point of Sydney Cove. Named 'Point Maskelyne' in 1788 by First Fleet officer Lieut. William Dawes (1762-1836) after Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811), the Astronomer Royal; but subsequently became known as 'Dawe's Point'. Originally called 'Tarra' by the indigenous people of Sydney, the Cadigal. Pronounced 'Tar-ra' as recorded in the notebooks of Lieut. Dawes.

Deal (Kent, England)
Coastal town, serving the anchorage in the Downs (also adjacent to the shifting Goodwin Sands, which lie approx. 5 miles offshore). No harbour facilities, only a steep shingle beach.

Deptford (Kent, England)
Located on the Thames River, south of Rotherhithe. The district developed in the eighteenth century to become a small town, so that by 1801 the population already numbered 18,000.

Derwent (VDL, Tasmania)
The name for the port of Hobart Town, and used in shipping reports and clearances, rather than the town it supported (similarly, Port Jackson was used rather than Sydney); gradually however the city names supplanted the old port names.

Devil's Back (NSW)
Near Cecil Park, on the road from Liverpool to Mulgoa.

Diego Ramirez [Islas Diego Ramírez] (Chile)
Rocky island group off the coast of Chile, 60 miles SW of Cape Horn, southernmost of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Named by Bartolomeo de Nodal, in 1619, after a cosmographer who accompanied his expedition.

Downs, The (Kent, England)
The Downs was an area of sea off the east coast of Kent between the Straits of Dover and the Thames estuary. It was protected from westerly winds by the land, and from easterly winds by the Goodwin Sands. Ships would congregate in the Downs awaiting an easterly wind to carry them down the Channel or round the North Foreland and enter the estuary to move up to London.

The Downs could also be a dangerous area - for the Goodwin Sands were constantly shifting, and were not always adequately marked; storms could cause ships in the Downs to be driven onto the shore or upon the sandbanks. There was no natural harbour in the vicinity of the Downs, though Ramsgate Harbour provided some protection for merchant shipping, especially in southerly winds.

Dungeness (Kent, England)
Great expanse of shingle jutting out into the English Channel off the southern tip of Kent, extremity of Romney Marsh (formerly called Denge Marsh). Located midway between Hastings and Dover.

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