(MR. WALKER'S PARTY.)
PARTY SENT IN SEARCH FROM PERTH.
I arrived at Perth on the 21st of April and not a moment was lost in
preparing a party to go in search of the men I had left with Mr. Walker,
and who, it will be recollected, were instructed to proceed along the
coast until they made the Moore River, where assistance was to be sent
out to them from Perth.
SEARCH FOR THE OTHER PARTY.
Accordingly on the 23rd of April Lieutenant Mortimer of the 21st regiment
and Mr. Spofforth, with four soldiers, left Perth and arrived on the
Moore River in two days; but after traversing its banks in vain for two
days more they abandoned all hope of finding those they were in search of
there, and pursued a straight course about 25 miles further north, when
they fell in with another river where they formed a depot, and detours
were made in various directions for several days without any avail.
RETURN WITH CHARLES WOODS.
At length, on one of these excursions, the seaman Charles Woods, one of
my party, was found by Mr. Spofforth, lying on the beach, wrapped in his
blanket and fast asleep. He soon awoke and was not a little delighted to
recognise Mr. Spofforth whom he had seen before at Fremantle. By the
account Woods gave it appears that from the period of my departure much
disorder and discontent at the direction of their course prevailed among
the men. They frequently left the beach and wandered inland to procure
water and food, not sufficiently exerting themselves to advance
southward. They had succeeded, he said, in procuring upon the whole about
a dozen birds, a crab, and eighteen fish. On the 21st of April Mr.
Walker, who had frequently exerted himself in procuring firewood and
water for the weaker of the party, divided two dough cakes still
remaining in his possession among them all. They were then upon the
beach, and though still at a great distance from the appointed place of
rendezvous the men were very unwilling to distress themselves to reach
it, being persuaded they should be tracked, wherever they might be, by
the natives whom I should send to their help. Woods, being dissatisfied
with their slow progress, now quitted them at a place where, he says,
they had to go round two very deep bays close together, which took him a
whole day; and it was owing to his having obeyed my instructions more
strictly than the others that he was found by Mr. Spofforth. Woods, who
seemed to have a singularly accurate idea of the distance he was from
Perth when found, added that he thought he could have walked to it had he
not been discovered, although he had nothing to eat but a few native
figs; and that he thought the whole of the party were getting more
accustomed to native food and were latterly better than they had been at
first; he said he felt so himself.
SECOND PARTY IN SEARCH, UNDER MR. ROE.
Lieutenant Mortimer's party, having made every exertion but in vain to
find the five remaining persons, were compelled at the end of a fortnight
by want of provisions to return to Perth, where they arrived on the 6th
of May; and early the next morning the Surveyor-General, Mr. Roe,
accompanied by Mr. Spofforth (who again volunteered his services) four
men, and two native youths, with five horses, set out in search of those
still missing.
ARRIVAL OF MR. WALKER AT PERTH. JOURNAL OF MR. WALKER'S PARTY.
On the 9th of May, two days after the departure of Mr. Roe's party, Mr.
Walker came into Perth alone, and from his statement, together with what
was gleaned subsequently from the other men, I shall here briefly narrate
what befel them after my departure on the 10th of April.
NARRATIVE OF THEIR PROCEEDINGS FROM WATER PEAK.
On the next day they started at dawn and soon came to a great deal of
scrub; this was the belt of thick wood mentioned in my journal. Mr.
Walker says the men, being disheartened at this, they went down to the
beach and halted about a mile from it; Water Peak Hill being distant
about fifteen miles. Woods said much discontent was caused amongst the
men by its being conceived that they were following a bad course; or,
according to Ruston's expression, that "the steering was very bad."
April 12.
They found a river with pools of water in coarse gravel in which they
caught here two small fish, and travelled six miles through the scrub
along a native path.
April 13.
They started and went down towards the beach. The men cut and cooked some
greens but found no water. Travelled twelve or fourteen miles along the
beach.
Sunday April 14.
They shot a pigeon, two red-bills, and a hawk. In the afternoon it
rained, and they travelled along the beach and got some cockles, and
found a fine stream of water running out from under the rocks. They then
got under the scrub to keep the rain off, having made about eight miles.
April 15.
They again came out on the beach and kept along it. Good travelling. Made
a march of nearly twenty miles.
EXTREME DISTRESS FROM HUNGER AND THIRST.
April 16.
They continued on the beach till they came to a good place for fishing
and caught eighteen. Mr. Walker shot a bird. After eating the fish, they
were all very thirsty.
April 17.
Went into the interior about midday and found a native well six miles
inland; also a large cave in the rocks. The party here procured and ate
some Zamia nuts.
April 18.
They were all sick from the nuts, and turned back to the beach about four
miles but did not reach it.
April 19.
This morning they reached the beach and travelled on until they came to
some high rocks from whence they saw an immense tract of sand. Again this
evening they went into the interior to find water. Boiled some young
trees and ate them.
April 20.
They were travelling into the interior along the steep banks of a river
running nearly east. Got plenty of green stuff to eat. They had now two
guns and the means of getting fire, but the powder and shot was nearly
expended. The axe I left with them had been lost soon after.
April 21.
Woods left the others to proceed alone.
April 22.
Being the day after Woods left they went into the interior about six
miles from the coast and there found a river, which Mr. Walker and Mr.
Smith thought was the Karpan (the Moore). This river was standing in
pools, and there was a great rush of water from the hills; they traced
the bed up for two or three miles, where it came out from some very high
hills, when Mr. Smith said he was certain that it was not the Karpan.
They then made a south by west course, and thought where they came out
was 12 miles below where Woods left them; and that the river was nearly
halfway between these two points.
They now again turned into the interior, being, as they thought, at the
bay to the south of Jurieu Bay.
April 23.
They returned and kept along the beach, made about fifteen miles, when
they halted close to it.
April 24.
They went on for five or six miles, then halted and made a fire with the
end of a spar.
April 25.
They travelled two or three hundred yards. Mr. Walker went back for the
end of the spar and Mr. Smith cut some firewood. There they halted,
catching fish and crabs.
April 26 and 27.
Still halted at this spot, fishing, and caught parrot-fish, rock-cod,
etc.; so that they had as much fish as they could use, and found fresh
water in the holes of the rocks.
April 28.
They started at dawn and went on for a mile. Ruston was taken ill from
the number of crabs he had eaten, and Mr. Walker stopped with him whilst
the other three went on a mile ahead and got fish and periwinkles. Mr.
Smith, Stiles, and Clotworthy had a little water left; Ruston and Mr.
Walker had canteens half-full. Ruston got better in the evening but they
did not proceed until the next morning.
April 29.
Mr. Walker moved on with Ruston about a mile and there found Mr. Smith
clambering up some rocks, and having plenty of periwinkles, of which he
gave them some. Clotworthy had stopped up all night and had picked up
enough for four or five days. At night at low tide they got nearly fresh
water running out from under the rocks.
April 30.
They still halted, living on the periwinkles; but this evening the water
was more salt.
May 1.
This day the party separated into two portions and did not meet again
until the 2nd, on which day Mr. Walker left them by agreement, he being
the strongest of the party. His object was to proceed as expeditiously as
he could to Fremantle and send from thence a boat and fresh water for the
relief of the rest. The party he left behind having agreed to keep a
constant look out on the beach and hoist concerted signals.
For two days after Mr. Walker left them it appears they wandered about to
look for water and then fished. They fortunately fell in with a cask of
water, washed up on the beach, from which they filled their canteens,
roasted the fish and started on again, but made no distance. This lasted
for several days. They subsisted by picking up a few shellfish and some
dead birds which had been washed ashore, and they ate a sort of cane that
grows near the beach, and the Hottentot fig.
DEATH OF MR. SMITH.
Mr. Smith now gradually became exhausted, and at last one evening sat
down on a bank, and said he could not go on. He was behind the party with
Ruston, who thought he was dying, and went on and told the other men. The
next morning Ruston went back to try and find where Mr. Smith was, but
was so weak that (as he thought) he did not go far enough, and did not
find him. Mr. Smith seems to have crawled up into the bush, a little on
one side of their route, and there died.
TIMELY DISCOVERY OF THE REST BY MR. ROE. MR. ROE'S REPORT.
Four days after the rest were picked up by Mr. Roe's party, whose
proceedings I shall now relate from his own interesting report; premising
that the men had then been three days without water and four days without
food, and had nothing to eat but the sweet cane that grows near the
beach.
MR. ROE PROCEEDS IN SEARCH OF THE MISSING MEN.
Mr. Roe says:
Leaving Perth early on the 8th instant, accompanied by Mr. E. Spofforth
and four men, with the native youths Warrup and Wyip, and five horses, we
travelled in a north by west direction along a chain of beautiful lakes,
from three to ten miles apart, and surrounded by good soil and grass to a
short distance; and in the middle of the third day reached Neergabby on
the Garban River, about 52 miles distant. Giving our horses an hour's
rest, I rode forward twelve miles with Mr. Spofforth and Warrup to the
mouth of the river, where we hoped to find some traces of the absentees;
but to our disappointment and regret not a footmark was to be seen on the
sand except those of Woods, and the written directions which had been
placed conspicuously on sticks so as to intercept the track of the
wanderers were either untouched or washed down by the high tides.
Replacing these with full instructions how to proceed, we returned to our
camp at Neergabby, where we were joined by some natives of the district,
from whom however no information whatever could be obtained respecting
the objects of our search. Inferring from these circumstances that they
could not yet have reached so far south, and that they might probably
have quitted the beach for the purpose of seeking fresh water inland, we
lost no time in pushing on to the northward, and at sunset of the 11th
took up our bivouac at Barrumbur on the Moore River, seventeen miles in
advance, where excellent water was found in deep pools and our horses
revelled in luxuriant pasturage. Between the two rivers there is a great
extent of level country, so much under water in wet weather as to be then
totally impassable with horses or carts, and the beds of the rivers (near
which there is generally good cattle feed) assume the form of deep sandy
pools, a few yards apart and grooved to the depth of 25 or 30 feet below
the level of the banks.
Being desirous of penetrating the country further to the north before we
again visited the beach, which was computed to be about fifteen miles
distant with no water or feed for our horses in the intermediate space,
we buried half our provisions, etc., in a hole beneath our temporary
shelter, which was then fired in order to lull the suspicion of the
natives; and our sable companions having secreted the pannier-baskets and
packsaddles among the adjoining bushes in such a way as to defy
discovery, we trusted to Providence for the result, and next morning
resumed our northern route. Leaving the extensive shallow lakes of
Garbanup, at this time quite dry, about two miles on our left, we
traversed a more hilly and dry sandy district than before, and had an
elevated mountainous country fifteen or twenty miles to the eastward. We
had now entered upon the inhospitable tract in which Mr. Grey and his
party had been so much distressed for water on the homeward journey, and
their feet-marks were distinctly recognised by our natives around a
swampy space in search of some. At the end of sixteen miles we reached
Nowergup, a small rushy lake, at this time quite dry and dusty at the
surface, but having at its north end a small well, seven feet deep,
containing about a gallon of stinking water. Although this proved very
palatable after a dry day's journey, it was by no means adapted to the
wants of five horses, and we gladly accepted the services of one of the
natives of the district to conduct us to a larger quantity. Our way to it
led over a mile and a quarter of nearly level country, entirely under
water in winter, and covered with rushes and tea-trees. At the lowest
level was a well with abundance of water two feet below the surface, near
which we immediately took up our quarters and learnt that the spot was
called by them Bookernyup. We were also given to understand that the
country to the northward and westward was at this time of the year
entirely without water, and that none was to be found nearer than a river
"far away" in the north-east.
This account by no means lessened our fears for the poor fellows of whom
we were in search, and led us to determine on leaving the party here, and
making a forced march of two or three days to the north-west with the
smallest possible supplies, in the hope of reaching the spot where the
absentees had been left by Woods, and which we supposed to be the
vicinity of Jurieu Bay.
SUCCEEDS IN FINDING THEIR TRACES.
Previous however to putting this plan into execution, it was considered
advisable to visit the beach again, fifteen or sixteen miles distant, on
doing which next morning, with Mr. Spofforth and Warrup, we had the
satisfaction to find the feet-marks of five men on the sand, taking a
southerly direction. Warrup having pronounced them to be without doubt
the footsteps of white men, and not more than two or three days old, we
followed them eagerly along the shore for a mile, and then came to an
empty cask that had been washed on shore, together with several broken
bottles and a stone jar. On further examination part of the head of the
cask was found much cut with a knife, as if used for a plate, and near
the extinct embers of a small fire lay the bones of a fish, which Warrup
concluded had been picked on the morning of the previous day. Rejoiced at
having now got upon the right track, and being unwilling to lose time by
following it up from this spot, we took a good look round and returned to
our camp at Bookernyup by sunset, from whence we next morning started
early in a southerly direction, took up safely everything we had
concealed on the Moore River, and shortly after dark had completed 24
miles to a place called Kadjelup, where we halted on some deep pools
similar to those at Barrumbur.
Breakfasting early on the 15th, the baggage was despatched forward to
Neergabby, and at daybreak Mr. Spofforth, Kinchela (a private of the 21st
regiment) and Warrup accompanied me on horseback to the beach, which we
found eleven miles off, but to our great disappointment a very high tide
had totally obliterated all marks from the sand and left us in perplexity
and doubt. Concluding however that the missing party must be in advance
of us, and that they could not fail to observe the papers which had been
offered to their notice at the mouth of the Garban River, we turned our
steps that way; left a paper of directions in the event of their being
behind us, and carefully examined both beach and sandhills, as well as
the country immediately in rear of them. Twelve miles brought us to the
mouth of the river, and there we found everything as we had placed
it--not a mark near the beach except the footsteps of the native dog
prowling about the sandhills, and nothing which could lead to a belief
that the spot had been visited since we last left it. Somewhat
disappointed, although rejoicing in having now hemmed the unfortunate
absentees up into a narrow limit, within which we knew they MUST be
wandering towards Perth, we joined our party at Neergabby shortly after
dark, and observed on our way the traces of five natives who were
confidently said by Warrup to be Perth natives, sent to look after us
with intelligence. They had come along the coast from the south as far as
the mouth of the river, and had struck inland to the south-east on their
return. The conclusions of this intelligent lad on the occasion were
afterwards found to be strictly correct, even to the names of the men who
composed the party.
PROVIDENTIAL DISCOVERY OF THEM.
The early morning of the 16th found us all in busy preparation for the
day's proceedings and relying with reasonable confidence on a successful
issue to our exertions. The remainder of the party were sent back with
one horse to Kadjelup, whilst my indefatigable companion Mr. Spofforth
accompanied me, with Kinchela and the two natives and four horses, to
resume our examination of the beach to the north. Fifteen miles in a
north-west direction brought us to the desired spot, but still no sign
was apparent of its having been visited by any human being since
ourselves; we however commenced a close examination to the northward, and
at the end of a mile and a half had the infinite satisfaction of falling
in with three of the missing party, in the persons of Ruston, Stiles, and
Clotworthy, who had formed a portion of the wrecked boats' crews.
THEIR MISERABLE CONDITION.
The state of distress and exhaustion in which they were found on the
beach was truly pitiable and moving. With scarcely strength to drag one
foot after the other they had marched about a mile and a half that
morning until they encountered the bold rocky projection of land at which
we discovered them, and the passing of which they had given up as utterly
hopeless from want of sufficient strength to climb over it. Having been
three days without water except their own and the seawater, the former of
which they had saved in their canteens, and emptied out before us, and
their only food being such nourishment as they could obtain from chewing
a coarse rushy plant which grew about high-water mark, it cannot be
matter of surprise that they were almost frantic after water, and that
the portions of it which we sparingly administered to them, mixed with a
little brandy, were most eagerly seized. Indeed the greatest firmness and
forbearance were necessary on our part to prevent the unfortunate
sufferers from committing fatal excesses. They declared their extremity
to have been so great that no chance had appeared to them of surviving
the next awful night, or of getting a foot beyond their present position;
and, to his credit be it said, one of them* had been on his knees only
ten minutes before they were rescued, supplicating with uplifted hands
that aid and assistance which had thus, through Divine Providence, been
so opportunely afforded them.
(*Footnote. Ruston.)
SEARCH FOR MR. SMITH.
In answer to our anxious enquiries respecting Mr. Walker and Mr. Smith we
learnt that the former, being much the strongest of the party, had, at
their request, made the best of his way towards Perth ten days since, in
order to send them out assistance, and that Mr. Smith, having been
totally unable to proceed with them any further, had remained behind, in
a dying state, four days ago. Touched by this distressing intelligence,
and sensibly alive to the value of time, we lost not a moment in lifting
our three light weights on our horses, and by supporting them in their
seats conveyed them over the sandhills to the more level space behind,
where sufficient brushwood was scattered about for maintaining a fire.
Here Mr. Spofforth kindly undertook their charge, while I should proceed
with Kinchela and Warrup in search of poor Smith.
Ruston having expressed himself very anxious to accompany us, and fearing
that we might not otherwise accomplish our object, after receiving some
suitable refreshment, he was mounted, and we all set off at as quick a
pace as he could manage. At the end of three miles a good view of the
coast to the northward was opened to us from the summit of a rising
ground, and Ruston pointed out, at the distance of 24 miles, an island
near which he said young Smith had been left. As this was far beyond the
six or seven miles of which they had at first spoken, and totally
precluded the possibility of my returning that night with the water-kegs
which I had taken to be filled at some wells which they had seen in the
vicinity, I relinquished all idea of proceeding, while the sun was then
touching the horizon, and we accordingly rejoined Mr. Spofforth and his
charge. We were now perfectly satisfied of the wandering inconsistency in
the conversation of the three rescued men, who were evidently to a
considerable extent delirious or light-headed. Being too sore in body and
excited in mind to admit much sleep to their assistance, they were full
of their expressions of thankfulness for their timely deliverance, and at
length terminated a long and weary night.
DISCOVERY OF HIS BODY.
The morrow's dawn found me on my way with Kinchela and Warrup to search
for poor Smith, while Mr. Spofforth proceeded with the three rescued men
and Wyip to join our party at Kadjelup, 12 miles off. At the distance of
a mile and a half we found the guns of Mr. Walker and Mr. Smith, which
the men had buried among the sandhills from inability to carry them any
further. A close scrutiny of the beach brought us, at the end of ten
miles, to a spot where Warrup observed the traces of feet in the sand.
Following them up, they ascended a bare sandhill to the height of twelve
or fourteen feet, turned short round to the left, and there terminated at
the unfortunate object of our search, extended on his back, lifeless, in
the midst of a thick bush, where he seemed to have laid himself down to
sleep, half-enveloped in his blanket. The poor fellow's last bed appeared
to have been selected by himself; and at the distance of three or four
yards from him lay all the trifling articles which had constituted his
travelling equipage. These were his wooden canteen, his brown felt hat,
and haversack, containing his journal, shoes, tinder, steel, gun-screw, a
few small canvas bags which he had used for carrying shellfish, and a
small bag with thread, needles, and buttons. Life seemed to have been
extinct rather more than two days; and from the position of the head,
which had fallen considerably below the level of the body, we were led to
conclude that a rush of blood into the brain had caused his death, and at
last without much suffering.
BURIAL OF MR. SMITH.
With the help of the soldier and Warrup we made a grave with our hands
and buried poor Smith deep in a sandhill near the shore, about
seventy-six miles to the north of Swan River. Even Warrup,
notwithstanding the general apathy of the native character, wept like a
child over the untimely fate of this young man, from whom he had formerly
received kindness. Smoothing over his solitary bed, and placing at the
head of his grave a piece of wood found upon the beach, we pursued our
melancholy way half a mile to the northward, where we found the water to
which we had been directed by digging 12 inches in the sand at the
commencement of a considerable sheet of bare sand, extending at least
four miles into the interior. In the course of the evening we rejoined
our party on the Moore River. Next day we halted at Kadjelup; and on the
19th we separated at Neergabby once more, Mr. Spofforth to conduct the
remainder of the party home with as much celerity as they could travel,
whilst I proceeded with Kinchela and Warrup to examine the coast from the
mouth of the Moore River for any traces of Mr. Walker, of whose fate we
were in total ignorance. By noon of the 22nd we had arrived within 12
miles of Perth without remarking the least trace of the supposed
absentee, when we were met by Mr. Hunt the constable with the pleasing
intelligence that Mr. Walker had reached Perth on the 9th instant. In the
evening we arrived at the same place, and found that Mr. Spofforth had
brought in his charge the day before.
...
CONCLUSION OF THE EXPEDITION.
If Mr. Roe's party had been delayed only a few hours there is every
probability that from the debilitated state in which the men were found
they would all have perished.
I deeply regretted the death of poor Frederic Smith, who had come out
from England expressly for the purpose of joining me, led solely by the
spirit of enterprise, and not with any view of settling. He was the most
youthful of the party, being only 18 years of age, and thence was less
capable than the others of bearing up against long-continued want and
fatigue, and the excessive heat of the climate, under which he gradually
wasted away until death terminated his sufferings. When aroused by danger
or stimulated by a sense of duty he was as bold as a lion, whilst his
manner to me was ever gentleness itself, as indeed it was to all.*
(*Footnote. He was the eldest son of Octavius Smith, Esquire, of Thames
Bank, and grandson of the late William Smith, Esquire, long known in
political life as Member for Norwich.)
Upon the final return of the expedition a desire was expressed by some
gentlemen of the colony of Western Australia to remove Mr. Smith's
remains to Perth; but upon mature reflection I declined their friendly
proposal, preferring rather to let him rest close by the spot where he
died, having given the name of my ill-fated friend to a river which hides
itself in the sandy plains near where he fell so early a sacrifice to his
gallant and enterprising spirit.