GOVERNOR HUNTER.
Admiral Phillip's work was, as we have said, the founding of Australia;
that of Hunter is mainly important for the service he did under Phillip.
From the time he assumed the government of the colony until his return to
England, his career showed that, though he had "the heart of a true
British sailor," as the old song says, he somewhat lacked the head of a
governor.
John Hunter was born at Leith in 1737, his father being a well-known
shipmaster sailing out of that port, while his mother was of a good
Edinburgh family, one of her brothers having served as provost of that
city. Young Hunter made two or three voyages with his father at an age so
young that when shipwrecked on the Norwegian coast a peasant woman took
him home in her arms, and seeing what a child he was, put him to bed
between two of her daughters.
He had an elder brother, William, who gives a most interesting account of
himself in vol. xii. of the _Naval Chronicle_ (1805). William saw some
very remarkable service in his forty-five years at sea in the royal and
merchant navies. Both brothers knew and were friendly with Falconer, the
sea-poet, and John was shipmate in the _Royal George_ with Falconer, who
was a townsman of theirs. The brothers supplied many of the particulars of
the poet's life, written by Clarke, and the name Falconer in connection
with both Hunters often occurs in the _Naval Chronicle_.
After Hunter, senior, was shipwrecked, John was sent to his uncle, a
merchant of Lynn, who sent the boy to school, where he became acquainted
with Charles Burney, the musician. Dr. Burney wanted to make a musician of
him, and Hunter was nothing loth, but the uncle intended the boy for the
Church, and sent him to the Aberdeen University. There his thoughts once
more turned to the sea, and he was duly entered in the _Grampus_ as
captain's servant in 1754, which of course means that he was so rated on
the books in the fashion of the time. After obtaining his rating as A.B.,
and then as midshipman, he passed his examination as lieutenant in
February, 1760; but it was not until twenty [Sidenote: 1760]
years later, when he was forty-three, that he received his lieutenant's
commission, having in the interval served in pretty well every quarter of
the globe as midshipman and master's mate. In 1757 he was under Sir
Charles Knowles in the expedition against Rochefort; in 1759 he served
under Sir Charles Saunders at Quebec; in 1756 he was master of the
_Eagle_, Lord Howe's flagship, so skilfully navigating the vessel up the
Delaware and Chesapeake and in the defence of Sandy Hook that Lord Howe
recommended him for promotion in these words:--
"Mr. John Hunter, from his knowledge and experience in all the
branches of his profession, is justly entitled to the character of
a distinguished officer."
It was some years, however, before Hunter was given a chance, which came
to him when serving in the West Indies, under Sir George Rodney, who
appointed him a lieutenant, and the appointment was confirmed by the
Admiralty.
In 1782 he was again under Lord Howe as first lieutenant of the _Victory_,
and soon after was given the command of the _Marquis de Seignelay_. Then
came the Peace of Paris, and Hunter's next appointment was to the
_Sirius_. There is very little doubt from a study of the _Naval
Chronicle's_ biographies and from the letters of Lord Howe that, if that
nobleman had had his way, Hunter would have been the first governor of New
South Wales, and it is equally likely that, if Hunter had been appointed
to the chief command, the history of the expedition would have had to be
written very differently, for brave and gallant as he was, he was a man
without method.
When Phillip was appointed to govern the colonizing expedition and to
command the _Sirius_, Hunter was posted as second captain of the frigate,
in order that the ship, when Phillip assumed his shore duties, should be
commanded by a post-captain. A few days after the arrival of the fleet
Hunter set to work, and in the ship's boats thoroughly surveyed Port
Jackson. He was a keen explorer, and besides being one of the party who
made the important discovery of the Hawkesbury river, he charted Botany
and Broken Bays; and his charts as well as land maps, published in a
capital book he wrote giving an account of the settlement, show how well
he did the work.[C]
[Footnote C: _An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson,
etc., etc.,_ by John Hunter, Esq., Post-Captain R.N. (London, 1793.)]
In September, 1788, Hunter sailed from Port Jackson [Sidenote: 1788]
for the Cape of Good Hope, to obtain supplies for the half-starving
colony. On the voyage he formed the opinion that New Holland was separated
from Van Diemen's Land by a strait, an opinion to be afterwards confirmed
in its accuracy by Bass.
The poor old _Sirius_ came in for some bad weather on the trip, and a
glimpse of Hunter's character is given to us in a letter written home by
one of the youngsters (Southwell) under him, who tells us that Hunter,
knowing the importance of delivering stores to the half-famished settlers,
drove the frigate's crazy old hull along so that--
"we had a very narrow escape from shipwreck, being driven on that
part of the coast called Tasman's Head in thick weather and hard
gales of wind, and embay'd, being twelve hours before we got
clear, the ship forced to be overpressed with sail, and the hands
kept continually at the pumps, and all this time in the most
destressing anxiety, being uncertain of our exact situation and
doubtful of our tackling holding, which has a very long time been
bad, for had a mast gone, or topsail given way, there was nothing
to be expected in such boistrous weather but certain death on a
coast so inhospitable and unknown. And now to reflect, if we had
not reached the port with that seasonable supply, what could have
become of this colony? 'Twould have been a most insupportable
blow, and thus to observe our manifold misfortunes so attemper'd
with the Divine mercy of these occasions seems, methinks, to
suggest a comfortable lesson of resignation and trust that there
are still good things in store, and 'tis a duty to wait in a
moderated spirit of patient expectation for them. 'Tis worthy of
remark, the following day (for we cleared this dreaded land about
2 in the morning, being April the 22nd, 1789), on examining the
state of the rigging, &c., some articles were so fearfully chafed
that a backstay or two actually went away or broke."
Soon after came the end of the old ship. She had been sent to Norfolk
Island, with a large proportion of the settlers at Port Jackson, to
relieve the strain on the food supply. The contingent embarked with a
marine guard under Major Ross in the _Sirius_ and the Government brig
_Supply_, and sailed on the 6th of March, 1790. Young Southwell, the
signal midshipman stationed at the solitary look-out on the south head of
Port Jackson, shall tell the rest of the story:--
[Illustration: CAPTAIN JOHN HUNTER. From an engraving in the "Naval
Chronicle" for 1801.] _To face p. 96._
"Nothing more of these [the two ships] were seen 'till April the
5th, when the man who takes his station there at daybreak soon
came down to inform me a sail was in sight. On going up I saw her
coming up with the land, and judged it to be the _Supply_, but was
not a little surprised at her returning so soon, and likewise,
being alone, my mind fell to foreboding an accident; and on
going down to get ready to wait on the gov'r [Sidenote: 1790]
I desired the gunner to notice if the people mustered thick on her
decks as she came in under the headland, thinking in my own mind,
what I afterwards found, that the _Sirius_ was lost. The _Supply_
bro't an account that on the 19th of March about noon the _Sirius_
had, in course of loading the boats, drifted rather in with the
land. On seeing this they of course endeavoured to stand off, but
the wind being dead on the shore, and the ship being out of trim
and working unusually bad, she in staying--for she would not go
about just as she was coming to the wind--tailed the ground with
the after-part of her keel, and, with two sends of the vast surf
that runs there, was completely thrown on the reef of dangerous
rocks called Pt. Ross. They luckily in their last extremity let go
both anchors and stopper'd the cables securely, and this, 'tho it
failed of the intention of riding her clear, yet caused her to go
right stern foremost on the rocks, by which means she lay with her
bow opposed to the sea, a most happy circumstance, for had she
laid broadside to, which otherwise she would have had a natural
tendency to have done, 'tis more than probable she must have
overset, gone to pieces, and every soul have perish'd.
"Her bottom bilged immediately, and the masts were as soon cut
away, and the gallant ship, upon which hung the hopes of the
colony, was now a complete wreck. They [the _Supply_] brought a
few of the officers and men hither; the remainder of the ships
company, together with Captain Hunter, &c., are left there on
acc't of constituting a number adequate to the provision, and
partly to save what they possibly can from the wreck. I understand
that there are some faint hopes, if favor'd with extraordinary
fine weather, to recover most of the provision, for she carried a
great quantity there on the part of the reinforcement. The whole
of the crew were saved, every exertion being used, and all
assistance received from the _Supply_ and colonists on shore. The
passengers fortunately landed before the accident, and I will just
mention to you the method by which the crew were saved. When they
found that the ship was ruined and giving way upon the beam right
athwart, they made a rope fast to a drift-buoy, which by the surf
was driven on shore. By this a stout hawser was convey'd, and
those on shore made it fast a good way up a pine-tree. The other
end, being on board, was hove taut. On this hawser was placed the
heart of a stay (a piece of wood with a hole through it), and to
this a grating was slung after the manner of a pair of scales. Two
lines were made fast on either side of the heart, one to haul it
on shore, the other to haul it on board. On this the shipwreck'd
seated themselves, two or more at a time, and thus were dragged on
shore thro' a dashing surf, which broke frequently over their
heads, keeping them a considerable time under water, some of them
coming out of the water half drowned and a good deal bruised.
Captn. Hunter was a good deal hurt, and with repeated seas knock'd
off the grating, in so much that all the lookers-on feared greatly
for his letting go; but he got on shore safe, and his hurts are by
no means dangerous. Many private effects were saved, the sea
driving them on shore when thrown overboard, but 'twas not always
so courteous. Much is lost, and many escaped with nothing more
than they stood in."
Hunter and his crew were left at Norfolk Island [Sidenote: 1792]
for many weary months before a vessel could be obtained in which to send
them to England, and it was not until the end of the following March--a
year after the loss of their ship--that they sailed from Sydney in the
_Waaksamheyd_, a small Dutch _snow_.[D]
[Footnote D: A favourite rig of that period. A snow was similar to a brig,
except that she carried upon a small spar, just abaft the mainmast, a kind
of trysail, then called the spanker.]
In this miserable little vessel Hunter made a remarkable voyage home, of
which he gives an account in his book. His official letter to the
Secretary of the Admiralty, dated Portsmouth, April 23rd, 1792, tells in a
few words what sort of a passage could be made to England in those days.
He writes:--
"You will be pleased to inform their lordships that upon my
arrival from Norfolk Island at Port Jackson (26th February, 1791)
I found that Governor Phillip had contracted with the master of a
Dutch _snow_, which had arrived at that port from Batavia with a
cargo of provisions purchased there for the use of the settlement,
for a passage to England for the remaining officers and company of
His Majestie's late ship the _Sirius_, under my command, in
consequence of which agreement I was directed to embark, and we
sail'd from Port Jackson on the 27th of March, victuall'd for
sixteen weeks, and with fifty tons of water on board. We were in
all on board 123 people, including those belonging to the
vessel.... We steer'd to the northward, and made New Caledonia 23
April, and passed to the westward of it. As the master did not
feel himself qualified to navigate a ship in these unknown seas,
he had, upon our leaving Port Jackson, requested my assistance,
which he had. In sailing to the northward we fell in with several
islands and shoals, the situations of which we determined.... No
ship that I have heard of having sail'd between New Britain and
New Ireland since that passage was discovered by Captain Carteret
in H.M. sloop _Swallow_, I was the more desirous to take that rout
from his having found two very accessable harbours in New Ireland,
where we hoped to get a supply of water....
"We passed thro' the Strait of Macassar, and arrived at Batavia on
the 27th of September, after a most tedious and destressing
passage of twenty-six weeks, during a great part of which time we
had been upon a very small ration of provision. We buried on the
passage Lieutenant George William Maxwell and one seaman of the
_Sirius_, with one belonging to the _snow_. My transactions at
Batavia will be fully seen in the narrative. I left that place on
the 20th October, and arrived at the Cape on the 17th December,
but being unable to reach the proper anchorage, I was on the 20th
driven to sea again, with the loss of two anchors and cables. On
the 22nd we again reached the bay, with a signal of distress
flying, and thro' the exertions of Captain Bligh, who was there in
the _Providence_, we were got into safety, and receiv'd anchors
and cables from the shore. My people being very sickly, the
effects of that destructive place Batavia, their slow progress in
recovery detained me at the Cape longer than I intended to have
staid. I sailed from Table Bay 18th January, but left five sick
behind me; anchored at St. Helena 4th February, to complete our
water, left that island the 13th, and arrived here late last
night."
On the way home the _Waaksamheyd_ got into trouble with the natives of
Mindanao, one of the Dutch Archipelago. The rajah of the place would not
supply refreshment to the vessel, and her master threatened to fire upon
the native canoes, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Hunter. In the
course of the dispute the rajah lost his temper and attacked the
shipmaster, whose life was saved by Hunter, but the quarrel resulted in a
regular engagement between the natives and people on the ship, in which
the crew of the _Sirius_, for their own safety, were compelled to take
part. The canoes were ultimately driven off, with great loss of life to
the people in them, and the Europeans escaped unhurt.
Hunter's experience on this voyage taught him that the proper route home
from Australia was not north about, nor _viâ_ the Cape of Good Hope, but
round the Horn, and he wrote to the Admiralty to that effect, but it was
years later before sailors woke up to the fact. At the Cape of Good Hope
a number of English shipwrecked sailors were prisoners of the Dutch, and
Hunter's spirited remonstrance brought about their release, and for this
he was thanked by the Admiralty. A court-martial was duly held, and Hunter
and the ship's company honourably acquitted of all blame for the loss of
the _Sirius_.
When it became apparent that Phillip's health would not permit him to
return to New South Wales, Hunter (in October, 1793), who was serving as a
volunteer captain in Lord Howe's flagship, the _Queen Charlotte_, applied
for the position of governor of the colony, and four months later he was
given the appointment. Lord Howe, who had been his constant patron, thus
satisfying his desire to give Hunter an important command, and thereby
depriving the sea service of a very able naval officer, neither to the
advantage of Hunter nor the colony he was sent to govern.
[Illustration: ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN THE CREW OF THE WAAKSAMHEYD TRANSPORT
AND THE NATIVES OF AN ISLAND NEAR MINDANAO. CAPTAIN HUNTER, R.N. From the
"Naval Chronicle" for 1801. _To face p_. 102.]
In the interval between Phillip's departure for England (December, 1792)
and Hunter's arrival in the colony on September 7th, 1795, the settlement
was governed successively by two lieutenant-governors. These two officers
were Major Grose, the commandant of the New South Wales Corps, who ruled
until December, 1794, and Captain Paterson, of the same regiment, who had
charge until the arrival of Hunter. The New South Wales Corps had such an
influence on the lives of these naval governors of Australia that in the
next chapter it will be necessary to give a sketch of this remarkable
regiment; meanwhile it may be merely mentioned that the commanding officer
of the military, during the period of the four New South Wales naval
governors, held a commission as lieutenant-governor, and so took command
in the absence of the governor.
Upon Hunter's arrival he did not at all like the state of affairs. Major
Grose had permitted to grow up a system of trade in which his officers had
secured monopolies, and, as a leading article of this commerce was rum, it
can easily be understood in what a state of disorder Hunter found the
colony. Instead of the prisoners being kept at work cultivating the
ground, the officers of the New South Wales Regiment employed more than a
proper proportion of them in their private affairs; and the consequence
was, the settlement had made little or no progress on the road to
independence--that is, of course, independence in the matter of growing
its food supply, not its politics. Further than this, Grose's methods of
governing a colony and administering its laws were the same as those he
employed in commanding his regiment. He was not able to rise above this;
and under him martial law was practically, if not nominally, the form of
the colony's government. Paterson, his successor, passively carried on
until the arrival of Hunter the same lines as his predecessor; and the
consequence was, the colony existed for the benefit of the officers of the
regiment, who, by huckstering in stores, were rapidly acquiring fortunes.
A few free settlers had already arrived in the colony, and by degrees
emancipated prisoners and emigrants from Great Britain were forming a
small free population, and were beginning to have "interests." Thus there
were slowly growing the elements of a pretty quarrel, a triangular duel,
in which officials, free emigrants, and emancipated convicts had all
interests to serve, and which for many long years after was the constant
bugbear of the governor of the colony.
By the time Hunter arrived there were a number of time-expired prisoners
in the settlement, and these became an increasing and constant danger.
Retreating into the back country, and herding with the blacks, or
thieving from the farmers, they merged into what were known later on as
bushrangers. From these men and the ill-disciplined and gaol-bird soldiers
of the New South Wales Corps the peaceably disposed inhabitants were in
much greater danger than they ever were from the aborigines.
But although Hunter's despatches are full of complaints of the soldiers,
of the want of stores, and the need of honest, free men to cultivate the
soil by way of a leaven to the hundreds of convicts who were arriving
every year, he, like Phillip, believed that New South Wales would
ultimately become a prosperous colony. More than this, it was under Hunter
that Bass and Flinders did most of their surveying; that Shortland
discovered Newcastle; and to no governor more than to Hunter is credit due
for the interest he took in exploration.
Here is a picture of the colony in the time of Hunter's governorship,
painted by certain missionaries who had been driven by the natives of
Tahiti from their island, and who had taken refuge in New South Wales:--
"His Majesty's ship the _Buffalo_, Captain Kent, being on the eve
of sailing from the colony for the Cape of Good Hope, we embrace
the opportunity of confirming our letter to you of the 1st
September, 1798, by the _Barwell_. Here we have to contend with
the depravity and corruptions of the human heart heightened and
confirmed in all its vicious habits by long and repeated
indulgences of inbred corruption, each one following the bent of
his own corrupt mind, and countenancing his neighbour in the
pursuit of sensual gratifications. Here iniquity abounds, and
those outward gross sins which in Europe would render a person
contemptible in the public eye, and obnoxious to the civil law,
are become fashionable and familiar--adultery, fornication, theft,
drunkenness, extortion, violence, and uncleanness of every kind,
the natural concomitants of deism and infidelity, which have
boldly thrown off the mask, and stalk through the colony in the
open face of the sun, so that it is no uncommon thing to hear a
person say, 'When I was a Christian, I thought so and so.'"
This is strong, but it is true.
This letter was addressed to the directors of the London Missionary
Society, and many of similar purport written by Johnson and Marsden, the
chaplains of the settlement, are to be found in the records. All these
writers agree on one point: the colony had fallen from grace under the
military administration. Phillip had left it in good order, and Hunter at
the time, these witnesses testified, was doing his best to improve
matters.
Lang (not a reliable authority in many things, but to be believed when
not expressing opinions), in his _History of New South Wales_, tells an
anecdote of Hunter which is worth retelling. Captain Hunter was on one
occasion the subject of an anonymous letter addressed by some disreputable
colonist to the Duke of Portland, then Home Secretary. (There was no
Colonial Secretary in those days.) The Duke sent back the letter without
comment to Hunter, who one day handed it to an officer who was dining with
him. "You will surely notice this?" said the officer. "No," replied
Hunter. "The man has a family, and I don't want to ruin them."
It was this good-nature, this disinclination to fight his enemies to the
bitter end, that ultimately had much to do with Hunter's recall. A certain
Captain John MacArthur, of the New South Wales Corps, of whom we shall
presently hear very much, was, when Hunter arrived, filling the civil post
of Inspector of Public Works. He was also a settler in the full meaning of
the word, owning many acres and requiring many assigned servants to work
them and to look after his flocks and herds, and from some cause connected
with these civil occupations he came into collision with the governor.
This presently led to much correspondence between the Home Office, the
governor, and MacArthur. In these letters Hunter and his subordinate say
very unkind things of each other, which nowadays may well be forgotten.
The settlement was so small, the life was such an uneventful one, that it
would be wonderful indeed if men did not quarrel, and these two men were
naturally antagonistic to each other.
Hunter was an old-fashioned naval officer, sixty years of age, and fifty
of those years had been spent in disinterested service to his country, "a
pleasant, sensible old man," says a young ship's officer, writing home to
his father; and in another letter, published in a newspaper of 1798, we
are told that "much may be expected from Captain Hunter, whose virtue and
integrity is as conspicuous as his merit."
MacArthur was a comparatively young man, who had come to the colony less
with the intention of soldiering than of making himself a home. He was an
excellent colonist and a perfectly honourable man, but he was the very
worst kind of a subordinate that a man with Hunter's lack of strong
personality could have under him. MacArthur wanted to develop the
resources of the colony and improve his farm at the same time, and that he
had it in him to do these things is proved by after-events. The name of
MacArthur, the father of the merino wool industry, is the best-remembered
name in Australia to-day; but poor old Hunter could not recognise the
soldier man's merits, and so he added to his legitimate quarrel with the
meaner hucksters of his officials the quarrel with the enterprising
MacArthur; and, although there is no written evidence to prove it, there
is little doubt that MacArthur's letters to England had due effect upon
the minds of the home authorities.
The Duke of Portland wrote to Hunter early in 1799 requesting him to
afford the fullest refutation of a number of charges that had been made
against the administration of the colony. Wrote the Duke:--
"I proceed to let you know that it is asserted that the price of
necessary articles is of late doubled; that the same wheat is
received into the Government stores at ten shillings per bushel
which the settler is under the necessity of selling to the
huckster at three shillings; that spirits or other articles are
purchased by the officers of His Majesty's forces in New South
Wales, and retailed by them at the most exorbitant prices to the
lowest order of the settlers and convicts; that the profit on such
articles is often at the rate of one hundred shillings for one;
that this sort of traffic is not confined to the officers, but is
carried on in the Government House, although it is not affirmed
that you have any participation in such proceedings; that the
officers and favoured individuals are allowed to send large
quantities of grain into the Government stores, whilst those who
have only the ability to raise small crops are refused, and
consequently are obliged to sell their produce to hucksters at the
low rate above mentioned."
Now many of these allegations were true, for Hunter himself had written
repeatedly complaining of the existence of such abuses, and had been
answered, "Well, put a stop to them." Then he would publish a "Public
Order" or some similar document telling the hucksters they were not to do
these things; the offenders would go on offending, and Hunter would go on
publishing more "Public Orders."
Hunter received the above letter from Portland in November, 1799. Before
he could write a reply to it, the Duke wrote him another letter. There
were several pages relating to details of administration; but it might
have been written by a woman, for the last paragraph contained the
all-important part in these words:--
"Having now made all the observations which appear to me to be
necessary on the points contained in your several despatches which
are now before me, it is with my very sincere concern that I find
myself obliged to add that I feel myself called upon by the sense
of the duty which I owe to the situation in [Sidenote: 1800]
which I have the honour to be placed to express my disapprobation
of the manner in which the government of the settlement has been
administered by you in so many respects; that I am commanded to
signify you the King's pleasure to return to this kingdom by the
first safe conveyance which offers itself after the arrival of
Lieutenant-Governor King, who is authorized by His Majesty to take
upon him the government of that settlement immediately on your
departure from it."
The poor old governor was very indignant. He denounced in strong language
the "anonymous assassin" who he thinks accused him to His Grace of
conniving at the trading he was endeavouring to suppress.
"Can it be suppos'd, my lord, that a man at my time of life,
holding the rank I have the honour to be arriv'd at in the
profession I have been bred in, and to which I have risen by
virtue of a character never yet stain'd by one mean, base, or
dishonourable action--can it be conceived that after having by a
life truly and sincerely devoted to the service of my sovereign,
after having spent forty-six years of that life in constant and
active employment in all the quarters of the world, during which I
have risen thro' all the ranks and gradations of my profession and
at last arriv'd at the highly flattering and exalted office of
being appointed the representative of His Majesty in this remote
part of his dominions--can it be believ'd, my lord, that a man
possessing a single spark of virtuous principles could be
prevailed on thro' any latent object, any avaricious view, by any
act so mean, so low, so contemptible, as that of which this
anonymous villain has dared to suppose me capable, to bring
disgrace upon that elevated situation? No, my lord, I thank God I
possess a share of pride sufficient to keep me far above any mean
or degrading action. I am satisfied with what the Crown allows me,
altho' that, in my situation in this expensive country, is small
enough, yet, my lord, I am satisfied, nor do I conceive it
consistent with the dignity of my office to endeavour in any way
whatever to gain more, were it even in a less censurable manner
than that which has been mention'd. Let me live upon bread and
water with a pure and unpolluted conscience, a fair and
respectable character, in preference to rolling in wealth obtained
by such infamous, such shameful, such ignominious means as this
letter-writer alludes to."
It is a long while ago since this letter was written by a rough old
sailor, and its quaint wording may raise a smile, but Hunter was very much
in earnest; and if his failure to govern convicts and "officers and
gentlemen" who traded in rum is to count against him, leaving but a
contemptuous pity for a weak old man as an impression on the mind, go back
to his sea-days, when he fought the crazy old _Sirius_ through a hurricane
to bring food to these shore-people, and remember him for this closing
anecdote of his life:--
In 1801, soon after his arrival in England, Hunter [Sidenote: 1801-1821]
commanded the _Venerable_ (74). He was cruising off Torbay, when a man
fell overboard. Hunter attempted to put the ship about to pick him up; she
missed stays, ran ashore, and became a wreck. At the court-martial (at
which Hunter was honourably acquitted) he was asked whether he thought he
was justified in putting the ship about in such circumstances, to which
question he replied, "I consider the life of a British seaman of more
value than any ship in His Majesty's navy."
When he returned to England, he was granted a pension, for his services as
governor, of £300 per annum; was promoted rear-admiral in October, 1807,
and became vice-admiral of the Red in July, 1810. He died in Judd Street,
London, in March, 1821, aged eighty-three, and was buried in Hackney
churchyard, where a tombstone with a long inscription records his
services.