A convict made a free settler
A pleasing delusion
Extraordinary supply of fish
Caesar's narrative
Another convict wounded by the natives
The _Supply_ arrives from Norfolk Island
A large number of settlers sent thither on board the _Sirius_ and
_Supply_
Heavy rains
Scarcity of provisions increasing in an alarming degree
Lieutenant Maxwell's insanity
News brought of the loss of the _Sirius_
Allowance of provisions still further reduced
The _Supply_ sent to Batavia for relief
Robberies frequent and daring
An old man dies of hunger
Rose Hill
Salt and fishing-lines made
The native escapes
Transactions
1790.]
January.] Early in the new year the _Supply_ sailed again for Norfolk
Island with twenty-two male and two female convicts, and one child;
Lieutenant King having in his last letters intimated, that he could very
well find employment for a greater number of people than he then had
under his orders. With those convicts and some stores she sailed on the
7th, and on her return was to touch at Lord Howe island to procure
turtle.
Of the convicts the period of whose sentences of transportation had
expired, and of whom mention was made in the transactions of July last,
one, who signified a wish of becoming a settler, had been sent up to Rose
Hill by the governor; where his excellency, having only waited to learn
with certainty that he had become a free man before he gave him a grant
of land, caused two acres of ground to be cleared of the timber which
stood on them, and a small hut to be built for him. This man had been
bred to the business of a farmer, and during his residence in this
country had shown a strong inclination to be industrious, and to return
to honest habits and pursuits. Rewarding him, therefore, was but holding
out encouragement to such good dispositions. The governor had, however,
another object in view, beside a wish to hold him up as a deserving
character: he was desirous of trying, by his means, in what time an
industrious active man, with certain assistance, would be enabled to
support himself in this country as a settler; and for that purpose, in
addition to what he caused to be done for him at first, he furnished him
with the tools and implements of husbandry necessary for cultivating his
ground, with a proportion of grain to sow it, and a small quantity of
live stock to begin with. He took possession of his ground the 21st of
November 1789, and under some disadvantages. An opinion had prevailed,
and had been pretty generally disseminated, that a man could not live in
this country; and in addition to this discouragement, although he still
received a ration from the public store, yet it was not a ration that
bore any proportion to the labour which his situation required from him.
The man himself, however, resolved to be industrious, and to surmount as
well as he was able whatever difficulties might lie in his way.
The flour which had been brought from England did not serve much beyond
the beginning of this month, and that imported from the Cape now supplied
its place. Every one began to look forward with much anxiety to the
arrival of supplies from England; and as it was reasonable to conclude
that every day might bring them on the coast, Captain Hunter, accompanied
by Mr. Worgan, the surgeon of the _Sirius_, and Mr. White, with six or
eight seamen, having chosen a spot proper for their purpose, erected a
flagstaff on the South Head of this harbour, whence, on the appearance of
a ship in the offing, a signal might be made, as well to convey the
wished-for information to the settlement, as to serve as a mark for the
stranger. An hut was built for their accommodation, and this little
establishment was of such importance, that our walks were daily directed
to a spot whence it could be seen; thus fondly indulging the delusion,
that the very circumstance of looking out for a sail would bring one into
view.
A sufficient quantity of fish having been taken one night in this month,
to admit the serving of two pounds to each man, woman, and child
belonging to the detachment, the governor directed, that a boat should in
future be employed three times in the week to fish for the public; and
that the whole quantity caught should be issued at the above rate to
every person in turn. This allowance was in addition to the ration of
provisions; and was received with much satisfaction several times during
the month.
Caesar, after his escape from and subsequent visit at Garden Island,
found his way up to Rose Hill, whence he was brought on the 30th, very
much wounded by some natives whom he had met with in the woods. Being
fearful of severe punishment for some of his late offences, he reported,
on being brought in, that he had fallen in with our cattle which had been
so long lost; that they were increased by two calves; that they seemed to
be under the care of eight or ten natives, who attended them closely
while they grazed; and that, on his attempting to drive the cattle before
him, he was wounded by another party of the natives. The circumstance of
his being wounded was the only part of his story that met with any
credit, and that could not well be contradicted, as he had several spear
wounds about him in different parts of his body; but every thing else was
looked upon as a fabrication (and that not well contrived) to avert the
lash which he knew hung over him. He was well known to have as small a
share of veracity as of honesty. His wounds however requiring care and
rest, he was secured, and placed under the surgeon's care at the
hospital.
Information was also received at this time from Rose Hill, that a convict
who had been employed to strike the sting ray, with another, on the
flats, having gone on shore, engaged in some quarrel with the natives,
who took all his clothes from him, severely wounded, and would inevitably
have killed him, but for the humane, friendly, and disinterested
interference of one of their own women, who happened to be present. This
accident, and many others of the same nature, could not have happened,
had the orders which he had received, not to land upon any account, been
attended to.
The bricklayers, having finished the judge-advocate's house, were
employed in building a dispensary on the west side contiguous to the
hospital, the medicines and chirurgical instruments being much exposed to
damps in the place where they had hitherto been necessarily kept.
Garden robberies were frequent, notwithstanding the utmost care and
vigilance were exerted to prevent them. A rainy tempestuous night always
afforded a cloak for the thief, and was generally followed in the morning
by some one complaining of his or her garden having been stripped of all
its produce.
February.] The first signal from the flagstaff at the South Head was
displayed on the 10th of February; and though every imagination first
turned toward the expected stranger, yet happening about the time at
which the _Supply_ was expected from Norfolk Island, conjecture soon
fixed on the right object; and the temporary suspence was put an end to,
by word being brought up to the settlement, that the _Supply_, unable to
get into Port Jackson, had borne up for Botany Bay, in which harbour she
anchored in the dusk of the evening. The next morning the letters which
she had brought were received. Lieutenant King wrote, that his people
continued healthy, and his settlement went on well. His wheat had
returned twenty fold, notwithstanding he had had much dry weather. He had
relinquished his intention of throwing up a redoubt on Mount George; but,
instead of that work, had employed his people in constructing a stockade
of piles round his house, inclosing an oblong square of one hundred feet
by one hundred and forty, within which he purposed erecting storehouses,
and a barrack for the military. He stated, that the convicts under his
orders had in general very good gardens, and that many of them would have
a very large produce of Indian corn.
The _Supply_ having in her way to Norfolk Island touched at Lord Howe
Island, Lieutenant Ball left the gunner and a small party to turn turtle,
but they met with no success; so that no dependance was to be placed on
that island for any material relief. The gunner examined the island, and
found fresh water in cavities, but not in any current.
The _Supply_ could not get round from Botany Bay until the 12th, when she
came to anchor in the cove, whence she had been absent just five weeks.
Lieutenant King having constantly written in high terms of the richness
of the soil of Norfolk Island, the governor, on comparing the situation
of the convicts there and in this settlement, where their gardens had not
that fertility to boast of, and where the ration from the store was with
too many hastily devoured, and with most derived but an uncertain and
scanty aid from any other source, determined, and about the middle of the
month announced his determination, to detach thither a large body of
convicts, male and female, together with two companies of the marines.
Some immediate advantages were expected to be derived from this measure;
the garden ground that would be left by those who embarked would be
possessed by those who remained, while the former would instantly on
their arrival at Norfolk Island participate in the produce of luxuriant
gardens, in a more constant supply of fish, and in the assistance that
was occasionally obtained from the birds which settled on Mount Pitt.
At the same time that this intention was made public, the day of their
departure was fixed. The whole were to embark on board the _Sirius_ and
the _Supply_ in the beginning of the following month, and were, if no
ship arrived from England to prevent them, to sail on the 5th. Should,
unfortunately, the necessity of adopting the measure then exist, the
_Sirius_ was to proceed to China directly from Norfolk Island to procure
a supply of provisions for the colony. China was chosen, under an idea
that salt provisions were to be obtained there, and that it was
preferable to sending to any of the islands in those seas, or to the Cape
of Good Hope at this season of the year, when the _Sirius_ and her crew
would have had to encounter the cold and boisterous weather of a winter's
passage thither.
As the numbers on Norfolk Island would be considerably increased by the
arrival of this detachment from hence, the governor judged the presence
of Major Ross necessary there, as lieutenant-governor of the territory.
Lieutenant King was to be recalled and return to this settlement.
Preparations were immediately set on foot for the embarkation of the
marines and other persons who were to quit this colony. It had been a
part of the first determinations on this business, that the _Sirius_
should, as I have mentioned, proceed directly from Norfolk Island on her
voyage to China; but Captain Hunter having represented the absolute
necessity he should be under of touching somewhere to wood and water,
owing to the number he should have on board, that idea was given up, and
Captain Hunter was directed to return with the _Sirius_ to this port for
the above purposes of wooding and watering. An additional reason offered
itself to influence this determination; it was hoped, that before she
could return, the arrival of the expected supplies would have rendered
the voyage altogether unnecessary; and it was but reasonable to suppose
that this would happen. The governor had, in all his dispatches,
uniformly declared the strong necessity there was of having at least two
years provisions in store for some time to come; and as this information,
together with an exact account of the situation of the colony, had been
transmitted by seven different conveyances, if only one had arrived safe,
it could not reasonably be doubted that supplies would be immediately
dispatched. From the length of time too which had elapsed since the
departure of the last ships* that sailed from hence direct for England
(full fifteen months), it was as reasonable to suppose that they might
arrive within the time that the _Sirius_ would be absent.
[* The _Golden Grove_ and the _Fishburn_ sailed from this port the 19th
of November 1788, intending to make their passage round by Cape Horn, to
which the season was most favourable.]
The month passed in the arrangements and preparations requisite on this
occasion, to which the weather was extremely unfavourable, heavy rains,
with gales of wind, prevailing nearly the whole time. The rain came down
in torrents, filling up every trench and cavity which had been dug about
the settlement, and causing much damage to the miserable mud tenements
which were occupied by the convicts. By these rains, a pit which had been
dug for the purpose of procuring clay to plaister the walls of a hut, was
filled with water; and a boy upwards of two years of age, belonging to
one of the female convicts, falling into it, was drowned. The surgeons
tried, but without success, to save his life, using the methods practised
by the Humane Society. Yet bad as the weather was, several gardens were
robbed, and, as at this time they abounded with melons and pumpkins, they
became the object of depredation in common with other productions of the
garden.
A brick building, fifty-nine feet in front, designed for a guard-house,
of which the foundation had been laid a few days before the heavy rains
commenced, suffered much by their continuance. The situation of this
building was on the east side of the cove, at the upper part, contiguous
to the bridge over the run of water, and convenient for detaching
assistance to any part of the place where it might be requisite.
On the 1st of March a reduction in the allowance of spirits took place;
the half pint _per diem_, which had hitherto been issued to each man who
was entitled to receive it, was to be discontinued, and only the half of
that allowance served. Thus was the gradual decrease in our stores
followed by a diminution of our daily comforts and necessaries.
One immediate consequence, and that an evil one, was the effect of the
intended embarkation for Norfolk Island. It being found that great
quantities of stock were killed, an order was immediately given to
prevent the further destruction of an article so essential in our present
situation, until some necessary regulations could be published; but the
officers and people who were about to embark were not included in this
prohibition. The mention of future regulations in this order instantly
begat an opinion among the convicts, that on the departure of the ships
all the live stock in the colony would be called in, or that the owners
would be deprived of the benefits which might result from the possession
of it. Under colour, therefore, of its belonging to those who were
exempted in the late order, nearly all the stock in the settlement was in
the course of a few nights destroyed; a wound being thereby given to the
independence of the colony that could not easily be salved, and whose
injurious effects time and much attention alone could remove.
The expected supplies not having arrived, on the 3rd, the two companies
of marines with their officers and the colours of the corps embarked on
board the _Sirius_ and the _Supply_. With them also embarked the
lieutenant-governor, and Mr. Considen the senior assistant surgeon of the
settlement. On the day following, one hundred and sixteen male and
sixty-eight female convicts, with twenty-seven children, were put on
board; among the male convicts the governor had sent the troublesome and
incorrigible Caesar, on whom he had bestowed a pardon. With these also
was sent, though of a very different description, a person whose exemplary
conduct had raised him from the situation of a convict to the privileges
of a free man. John Irving had since our landing in the country been
employed as an assistant at the hospital. He was bred a surgeon, and in
no instance whatever, since the commission of the offence for which he
was transported, had he given cause of complaint. He was now sent to
Norfolk Island, to act as an assistant to the medical gentlemen there.
On the 5th the _Sirius_ and the _Supply_ left the cove, but did not get to
sea until the following day, when at the close of the evening they were
scarcely to be discerned from the South Head. At the little post at this
place Captain Hunter left the gunner, a midshipman, and six of the
_Sirius's_ people. Mr. Maxwell, one of her lieutenants, having been for a
considerable time past in a melancholy and declining way, and his
disorder pronounced by the surgeons to be insanity, he was discharged
from the ship, and had taken up his residence on shore under the care of
the surgeon, with proper people who were left from the ship to attend
him. This was the second officer whose situation in the _Sirius_ it
became necessary to have filled. Lieutenant King, the commandant of
Norfolk Island, had for some time been discharged from the ship's books;
and Mr. Newton Fowell, a young gentleman of the _Sirius's_ quarter-deck,
being deemed well qualified, was appointed by the governor (as the naval
commanding officer) to succeed him. To fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr.
Maxwell's unfortunate state of health, Mr. Henry Waterhouse, a young
gentleman of promising abilities, was taken from the quarter-deck. Both
these appointments were to wait the confirmation of the lords
commissioners of the admiralty.
Immediately after the departure of these ships, the governor directed his
attention to the regulation of the people who were left at Sydney, and to
the preservation of the stock in the colony. For these purposes, he
himself visited the different huts and gardens whose tenants had just
quitted them, distributing them to such convicts as were either in
miserable hovels, or without any shelter at all. It was true, that by
this arrangement the idle found themselves provided for by the labour of
many who had been industrious; but they were at the same time assured,
that unless they kept in good cultivation the gardens which they were
allowed to possess, they would be turned out from the comforts of a good
hut, to live under a rock or a tree. That they might have time for this
purpose, the afternoon of Wednesday and the whole of Saturday in each
week were given to them. Much room was made every where by the numbers
who had embarked (in all two hundred and eighty-one persons); the
military quarters had a deserted aspect; and the whole settlement
appeared as if famine had already thinned it of half its numbers. The
little society that was in the place was broken up, and every man seemed
left to brood in solitary silence over the dreary prospect before him.
With respect to the stock, his excellency directed, that no hogs under
three months old should be killed, nor were any to be butchered without
information being first given at headquarters.
Those who bred poultry were left at liberty to dispose of it in such
manner as they thought proper; and the commissary was directed to
purchase for the use of the hospital such live stock as the owners were
desirous of selling, complying with the above regulations, and receiving
one shilling a pound as the price.
Some provisions which yet remained in the old large thatched store were
removed for greater security into the store in the marine quarters. It
was strongly suspected, that an attempt had been made to obtain some part
of these provisions in the night; and some convicts were examined before
the judge-advocate on suspicion of having taken some flour from the
store; but nothing appeared that could materially affect them. The
provisions, when all collected together under one roof and into one view,
afforded but a melancholy reflection; it was well that we had even them.
On the 27th of the month, the long-expected signal not having been
displayed, it became necessary to put the colony upon a still shorter
ration of provisions. It was a painful but a necessary duty. The governor
directed that the provisions should in future be served daily; for which
purpose the store was to be opened from one to three in the afternoon.
The ration for the week was to consist of four pounds of flour, two
pounds and a half of pork, and one pound and a half of rice, and these
were to be issued to every person in the settlement without distinction;
but as the public labour must naturally be affected by this reduction,
the working hours were in future to be from sunrise, with a small
interval for breakfast, until one o'clock: the afternoons were to be
allowed the people to receive their provisions and work in their gardens.
These alterations in the ration and in the hours of labour, however, were
not to commence until the 1st of the following month.
At Rose Hill similar regulations were made by the governor. The garden
ground was enlarged; those who were in bad huts were placed in better;
and every thing was said that could stimulate them to be industrious.
This, with a few exceptions, appeared to be the principal labour both
there and at Sydney; and the nightwatch were called upon by the common
interest to be more than ever active and sedulous in their efforts to
protect public and private property; for robberies of gardens and houses
were daily and nightly committed. Damage was also received from the
little stock which remained alive; the owners, not having wherewith to
feed them, were obliged to turn them loose to browse among the grass and
shrubs, or turn up the ground for the fern-root; and as they wandered
without any one to prevent their doing mischief, they but too often found
an easy passage over fences and through barriers which were now grown
weak and perishing. It was however ordered, that the stock should be kept
up during the night, and every damage that could be proved to have been
received during that time was to be made good by the owners of the stock
that might be caught trespassing; or the animals themselves were to be
forfeited.
The carpenters were employed in preparing a roof for a new storehouse,
those which were first erected being now decaying, and having been always
insecure. It was never expected to get up a building of one hundred feet
in front, which this was designed to be, upon so reduced a ration as the
present; but while the people did labour, it was proper to turn that
little labour to the public account.
The working gangs being now so much reduced by the late embarkation, the
hoy was employed in bringing the timber necessary for this building from
the coves where it was cut down and deposited for that purpose. This
vessel, when unemployed for public services, was given to the officers,
and by them sent down the harbour to procure cabbage-tree for their
stock, in the preservation and maintenance of which every one felt an
immediate and anxious concern.
The weather had been very wet during this month; torrents of rain again
laid every place under water; many little habitations, which had
withstood the inundations of the last month, now suffered considerably;
several chimneys fell in; but this was owing, perhaps, as much to their
being built by job or taskwork (which the workmen hurried over in general
to get a day or two to themselves) as to the heavy rains.
April.] The reduced ration and the change in the working hours commenced,
as was directed, on the 1st of this month; much time was not consumed at
the store, and the people went away to dress the scanty allowance which
they had received.
Attention to our religious duties was never omitted. Divine service was
performed in one of our emptied storehouses on the morning of the next
day, being Good Friday; and the convicts were recommended to employ the
remainder of it in their gardens. But, notwithstanding the evident
necessity that existed for every man's endeavouring to assist himself,
very few were observed to be so profitably occupied.
As every saving that could be made in the article of provisions was of
consequence in the present situation of the stores, it was directed on
the 3rd, that such fish as should in future be taken by the public boats
should be issued at the store, in the proportion of ten pounds of fish to
two pounds and a half of pork; and one hundred and fifty pounds of fish,
which had been brought up before the issuing of provisions commenced on
that day, were served out agreeable to that order.
Mr. Maxwell, whose disorder at times admitted of his going out alone, was
fortunately brought up from the lower part of the harbour, where he had
passed nearly two days, without sustenance, in rowing from one side to
the other, in a small boat by himself. He was noticed by a sergeant who
had been fishing, and who observed him rowing under the dangerous rocks
of the middle-head, where he must soon have been dashed to pieces, but
for his fortunate interposition. After this escape he was more narrowly
watched.
While occupied in listening to the tale, of his distresses, the _Supply_
returned from Norfolk Island, with an account that was of itself almost
sufficient to have deranged the strongest intellect among us. A load of
accumulated evils seemed bursting at once upon our heads. The ships that
were expected with supplies were still to be anxiously looked for; and
the _Sirius_, which was to have gone in quest of relief to our
distresses, was lost upon the reef at Norfolk Island, on the 19th of last
month. This was a blow which, as it was unexpected, fell with increased
weight, and on every one the whole weight seemed to have fallen.
This untoward accident happened in the following manner:
Captain Hunter was extremely fortunate in having a short passage hence to
Norfolk Island, arriving there in seven days after he sailed. The
soldiers, and a considerable part of the convicts, were immediately
landed in Cascade Bay, which happened at the time to be the leeward side
of the island. Bad weather immediately ensued, and for several days, the
provisions could not be landed, so high was the surf occasioned by it.
This delay, together with a knowledge that the provisions on the island
were not adequate to the additional numbers that were now to be
victualled, caused him to be particularly anxious to get the provisions
on shore. The bad weather had separated the _Sirius_ from the _Supply_;
but meeting with a favourable slant of wind on the 19th, Captain Hunter
gained the island from which he had been driven, and stood for Sydney
Bay, at the south end of it, where he found the _Supply_; and it being
signified by signal from the shore (where they could form the best
judgment) that the landing might be effected with any boat, he brought to
in the windward part of the bay, with the ship's head off the shore, got
out the boats, and loaded them with provisions. When the boats had put
off from the ship, it being perceived that she settled very much to
leeward, the tacks were got on board, and every sail set that was
possible to get her free from the shore. Notwithstanding which, she could
not weather the reef off the south-west end of the bay, the wind having
at that time very unfavourably shifted two points. The ship was then
thrown in stays, which she missed, being with great difficulty wore clear
of the breakers, and brought to the wind on the other tack, when every
sail was again set. Finding that she still drifted fast upon the shore,
another attempt was made to stay her; but being out of trim, it did not
succeed. All the sheets and hallyards were then ordered to be let fly,
and an anchor to be cut away; but before it reached the ground, she
struck with violence on the reef, very soon bulged, and was irrecoverably
lost. Her officers and people were all saved, having been dragged on
shore, through the surf, on a grating.
This day, which untoward circumstances had rendered so gloomy to us, was
remarkably fine, and at the unfortunate moment of this calamity there was
very little wind. On the next or second day after, permission was given
to two convicts (one of whom, James Brannegan, was an overseer) to get
off to the ship, and endeavour to bring on shore what live hogs they
might be able to save; but with all that lamentable want of resolution
and consideration which is characteristic of the lower order of people
when temptations are placed before them, they both got intoxicated with
the liquor which had escaped the plunder of the seamen, and set the ship
on fire in two places. A light on board the ship being observed from the
shore, several shot were fired at it, but the wretches would neither put
it out, nor come on shore; when a young man of the name of Ascott, a
convict, with great intrepidity went off through the surf, extinguished
the fire, and forced them out of the ship.
The lieutenant-governor, immediately after the loss of the Sirius, called
a council of all the naval and marine officers in the settlement, when it
was unanimously determined that martial law should be proclaimed; that
all private stock, poultry excepted, should be considered as the property
of the state; that justice should be administered by a court-martial to
be composed of seven officers, five of whom were to concur in a sentence
of death; and that there should be two locks upon the door of the public
store, whereof one key was to be in the keeping of a person to be
appointed by Captain Hunter in behalf of the seamen; the other to be kept
by a person to be appointed in behalf of the military. The day following,
the troops, seamen, and convicts, being assembled, these resolutions were
publicly read, and the whole confirmed their engagement of abiding by
them by passing under the king's colour, which was displayed on the
occasion.
In the _Supply_ arrived the late commandant of Norfolk Island, two
lieutenants, four petty officers, twenty-four seamen, and two marines,
lately belonging to the _Sirius_. These officers spoke in high terms of
the activity and conduct of Mr. Keltie the master, Mr. Brooks the
boatswain, and Mr. Donovan a midshipman of the _Sirius_, who ventured off
to the ship in one of the island boats through a very dangerous surf, and
brought on shore the end of the hawser, to which was slung the grating
that saved the lives of the officers and people. They likewise somewhat
blunted the edge of this calamity, by assurances that it was highly
probable, from the favourable appearance of the weather when the _Supply_
left Norfolk Island, that all or at least the greatest part of the
provisions would be landed from the _Sirius_.
The general melancholy which prevailed in this settlement when the above
unwelcome intelligence was made public need not be described; and when
the _Supply_ came to an anchor in the cove every one looked up to her as
to their only remaining hope.
In this exigency the governor thought it necessary to assemble all the
officers of the settlement, civil and Military, to determine on what
measures were necessary to be adopted. At this meeting, when the
situation of the colony was thoroughly weighed and placed in every point
of view, it was determined to reduce still lower what was already too
low; the ration was to be no more then two pounds and a half of flour,
two pounds of pork, one pint of peas, and one pound of rice, for each
person for seven days. This allowance was to be issued to all
descriptions of people in the colony, children under eighteen months
excepted, who were to have only one pound of salt meat. Every exertion
was to be made here, and at Botany Bay, in fishing for the general
benefit. All private boats were to be surrendered to the public use;
every effort was to be put in practice to prevent the robbing of gardens;
and, as one step toward this, all suspicious characters were to be
secured and locked up during the night. People were to be employed to
kill, for the public, the animals that the country afforded; and every
step was to be taken that could save a pound of the salt provisions in
store, It was proposed to take all the hogs in the settlement as public
property; but as it was absolutely necessary to keep some breeding sows,
and the stock being small and very poor, that idea was abandoned.
In pursuance of these resolutions, the few convicts who had been employed
to shoot for individuals were given up for the public benefit; and a
fishery was established at Botany Bay, under the inspection of one of the
midshipmen of the _Sirius_. But this plan, not being found to answer, was
soon relinquished. The quantity of fish that was from time to time taken
was very inconsiderable, and the labour of transporting it by land from
thence was greater than the advantage which was expected to be derived
from it. The boats were therefore recalled, and employed with rather more
success at Sydney.
It was well known, that the integrity of the people employed in fishing
could not be depended upon; the officers of the settlement therefore
voluntarily took upon themselves the unpleasant task of superintending
them; and it became a general duty, which every one cheerfully performed.
The fishing-boat never went out without an officer, either by night or by
day.
On the 7th, about four hundred weight of fish being brought up, it was
issued agreeable to the order; and could the like quantity have been
brought in daily, some saving might have been made at the store, which
would have repaid the labour that was employed to obtain it. But the
quantity taken during this month, after the 7th, was not often much more
than equal to supplying the people employed in the boats with one pound
of fish per man, which was allowed them in addition to their ration. The
small boats, the property of individuals, were therefore returned to
their owners, and the people who had been employed in them, together with
the seamen of the _Sirius_ now here, were placed in the large boats
belonging to the settlement.
Neither was much advantage obtained by employing people to shoot for the
public. At the end of the month only three small kangaroos had been
brought in. The convicts who were employed on this service, three in
number, were considered as good marksmen, and were allowed a ration of
flour instead of their salt provisions, the better to enable them to
sustain the labour and fatigue of traversing the woods of this country.
The necessity of procuring relief became every day more pressing. The
voyage of the _Sirius_ to China was at an end; and nothing had yet
arrived from England, though hourly expected. It was the natural and
general opinion, that our present situation was to be attributed to
accident rather than to procrastination. It was more probable, that the
vessels which had been dispatched by the British government had met with
some distress, that had either compelled them to return or had wholly
prevented them from any further prosecution of the voyage, than that any
delay should have taken place in their departure. The governor,
therefore, determined on sending the _Supply_ armed tender to Batavia;
and, as her commander was most zealously active in his preparations for
the voyage, she was soon ready for sea. Her tonnage, however, was
trifling when compared with our necessities. Lieutenant Ball was,
therefore, directed to procure a supply of eight months provisions for
himself, and to hire a vessel and purchase 200,000 pounds of flour,
80,000 pounds of beef, 60,000 pounds of pork, and 70,000 pounds of rice;
together with some necessaries for the hospital, such as sugar, sago,
hogs lard, vinegar, and dongaree. The expectation of this relief was
indeed distant, but yet it was more to be depended upon than that which
might be coming from England. A given time was fixed for the return of
the _Supply_; but it was impossible to say when a vessel might arrive
from Europe. Whatever might be our distress for provisions, it would be
some alleviation to look on to a certain fixed period when it might be
expected to be removed. Lieutenant Ball's passage lay through the regions
of fine weather, and the hope of every one was fixed upon the little
vessel that was to convey him; yet it was painful to contemplate our very
existence as depending upon her safety; to consider that a rough sea, a
hidden rock, or the violence of elemental strife, might in one fatal
moment precipitate us, with the little bark that had all our hopes on
board, to the lowest abyss of misery. In the well-known ability and
undoubted exertions of her commander however, under God, all placed their
dependance; and from that principle, when she sailed, instead of
predicting mischance, we all, with one wish for her safe return, fixed
and anticipated the period at which it might reasonably be expected.
She sailed on Saturday the 17th of April, having on board Lieutenant
King, the late commandant of Norfolk Island, who was charged with the
governor's dispatches for the secretary of state, and Mr. Andrew Miller,
the late commissary, whose ill state of health obliging him to resign
that employment, the governor permitted him to return to England. and had
appointed Mr. John Palmer, the purser of the _Sirius_, to supply his
place.
Lieutenant Newton Fowell, of the _Sirius_, was, together with the gunner
of that ship, also embarked. The _Supply_ was to touch at Norfolk Island,
if practicable, and take on board Lieutenant Bradley of the _Sirius_,
who, from his knowledge of the coast, was chosen by the governor to
proceed to Batavia, and was to return to this port in whatever vessel
might be freighted by Lieutenant Ball; Mr. Fowell and the gunner were to
be left at the island.
Mr. Palmer received his appointment from his excellency on the 12th of
this month, on which day the following was the state of the provisions in
the public store, viz
Pork 23,851 pounds,) Which was 26th Aug.---4 months 14 days.
Beef 1,280 pounds,) to serve
Rice 24,455 pounds,) at the 13th Sept.--5 months 1 day.
Peas 17 bushels,) ration
Flour 56,884 pounds,) then issued 19th Dec.---8 months 7 days.
Biscuit 1,924 pounds,) until
The duration of the _Supply's_ voyage was generally expected to be six
months; a period at which, if no relief arrived in the mean time from
England, we should be found without salt provisions, rice, and peas.
In the above statement three hundred bushels of wheat, which had been
produced at Rose Hill, were not included, being reserved for seed.
The governor, from a motive that did him immortal honor, in this season
of general distress, gave up three hundred weight of flour which was his
excellency's private property, declaring that he wished not to see any
thing more at his table than the ration which was received in common from
the public store, without any distinction of persons; and to this
resolution he rigidly adhered, wishing that if a convict complained, he
might see that want was not unfelt even at Government house.
On the 20th of the month, the following was the ration issued from the
public store to each man for seven days, or to seven people for one day:
flour, 2½ pounds, rice, 2 pounds, pork, 2 pounds. The peas were all
expended. Was this a ration for a labouring man? The two pounds of pork,
when boiled, from the length of time it had been in store. shrunk away to
nothing; and when divided among seven people for their day's sustenance,
barely afforded three or four morsels to each.
The inevitable consequences of this scarcity of provisions ensued; labour
stood nearly suspended for want of energy to proceed; and the
countenances of the people plainly bespoke the hardships they underwent.
The convicts, however, were employed for the public in the forenoons; and
such labour was obtained from them as their situation would allow. The
guard-house on the east side was finished and taken possession of during
the month.
There being many among the convicts who availed themselves of this
peculiar situation to commit thefts, it became necessary to punish with
severity all who were fully convicted before the court of criminal
jurisdiction. One convict was executed for breaking into a house, and
several others were sentenced to severe corporal punishments. Garden
robberies were the principal offences committed. These people had been
assembled by the governor, and informed that very severe punishment would
follow the conviction of persons guilty of robbing gardens, as a
necessary step toward preventing the continuance of such an evil; and he
strongly inculcated the absolute necessity that existed for every man to
cultivate his own garden, instead of robbing that of another. To the few
who, from never having been industrious, had not any ground sown or
planted with vegetables, he allotted a small but sufficient spot for
their use, and encouraged them in their labour by his presence and
directions; but they preferred any thing to honest industry. These
people, though the major part of them were, during the night, locked up
in the building lately occupied as a guardhouse, were ever on the watch
to commit depredations on the unwary during the hours in which they were
at large, and never suffered an opportunity to escape them. A female
convict, who came down from Rose Hill, was robbed of her week's
provisions; and as it was impossible to replace them from the public
store, she was left to subsist on what she could obtain from the bounty
(never more truly laudable than at this distressing juncture) of others
who commiserated her situation.
One male convict was executed; one female convict and one child died. The
female convict occasioned her own death, by overloading her stomach with
flour and greens, of which she made a mess during the day, and ate
heartily; but, not being satisfied, she rose in the night and finished
it. This was one of the evil effects of the reduced ration.
May.] The expedient of shooting for the public not being found to answer
the expectations which had been formed of it, sixty pounds of pork only
having been saved, the game-killers were called in, and the general
exertion was directed to the business of fishing. The seine and the hooks
and lines were employed, and with various success; the best of which
afforded but a very trifling relief.
As the _Sirius_ was fated not to return to perform her intended voyage to
India, the biscuit which had been baked for that purpose was issued, in
lieu of flour, that article being served again when the biscuit was
expended; and it lasted only through seven days.
It was naturally expected, that the miserable allowance which was issued
would affect the healths of the labouring convicts. A circumstance
occurred on the 12th of this month, which seemed to favor this idea; an
elderly man dropped down at the store, whither he had repaired with
others to receive his day's subsistence. Fainting with hunger, and unable
through age to hold up any longer, he was carried to the hospital, where
he died the next morning. On being opened, his stomach was found quite
empty. It appeared, that not having any utensil of his own wherein to
cook his provisions, nor share in any, he was frequently compelled, short
as his allowance for the day was, to give a part of it to any one who
would supply him with a vessel to dress his victuals; and at those times
when he did not choose to afford this deduction, he was accustomed to eat
his rice and other provisions undressed, which brought on indigestion,
and at length killed him.
It might have been supposed, that the severity of the punishments which
had been ordered by the criminal court on offenders convicted of robbing
gardens would have deterred others from committing that offence; but
while there was a vegetable to steal, there were those who would steal
it, wholly regardless as to the injustice done to the person they robbed,
and of the consequences that might ensue to themselves. For this sort of
robbery the criminal court was twice assembled in the present month. The
clergyman had taken a convict in his garden in the act of stealing
potatoes. Example was necessary, and the court that tried him, finding
that the severity of former courts did not prevent the commission of the
same offence, instead of the great weight of corporal punishment which
had marked their former sentences, directed this prisoner to receive
three hundred lashes, his ration of flour to be stopped for six months,
and himself to be chained for that time to two public delinquents who had
been detected in the fact of robbing the governor's garden, and who had
been ordered by the justices to work for a certain time in irons.
This sentence was carried into execution; but the governor remitted,
after some days trial, that part of it which respected the prisoner's
ration of flour, without which he could not long have existed.
The governor's garden had been the object of frequent depredation;
scarcely a night passed that it was not robbed, notwithstanding that many
received vegetables from it by his excellency's order. Two convicts had
been taken up, who confessed that within the space of a month they had
robbed it seven or eight times, and that they had killed a hog belonging
to an officer. These were the people who were ordered by the justices to
work in irons. A soldier, a man of infamous character, had been detected
robbing the garden while sentinel in the neighbourhood of it, and, being
tried by a court-martial for quitting his post, was sentenced and
received five hundred lashes. Yet all this was not sufficient: on the
evening of the 26th, a seaman belonging to the _Sirius_ got into the
governor's garden, and was fired at by a watchman who had been stationed
there for some nights past, and wounded, as it afterwards appeared, but
so slightly as not to prevent his effecting his escape; leaving, however,
a bag behind him, filled with vegetables. On close examination it was
fixed upon him, and, being brought before a criminal court, he was
sentenced to receive five hundred lashes; but at the same time was
recommended to the governor's clemency, on account of a good character
which had been given him in court. The governor, as it was his garden
that was robbed, attended to the recommendation, remitting four out of
the five hundred lashes which had been ordered him*. Being, after this,
villain enough to accuse some of his shipmates of crimes which he
acknowledged existed only in his own malicious mind, he received, by
order of the justices, a further punishment of fifty lashes.
[* Sixty pounds of flour, which had been offered as a reward for bringing
to justice a garden-thief, were paid to the watchman who fired at him.]
So great was either the villainy of the people, or the necessities of the
times, that a prisoner lying at the hospital under sentence of corporal
punishment having received a part of it, five hundred lashes, contrived
to get his irons off from one leg, and in that situation was caught
robbing a farm. On being brought in, he received another portion of his
punishment.
Among other thefts committed in this season of general distress, was one
by a convict employed in the fishing boats, who found means to secrete
several pounds of fish in a bag, which he meant to secure in addition to
the allowance which was to be made him for having been out on that duty.
To deter others from committing the like offence, which might, by
repetition, amount to a serious evil, he was ordered to receive one
hundred lashes.
At Rose Hill the convicts conducted themselves with much greater
propriety; not a theft nor any act of ill behaviour having been for some
time past heard of among them*.
[* They had vegetables in great abundance.]
At that settlement a kangaroo had been killed of one hundred and eighty
pounds weight; and the people reported that they were much molested by
the native dogs, which had been seen together in great numbers, and,
coming by night about the settlement, had killed some hogs which were not
housed.
The colony had hitherto been supplied with salt from the public stores, a
quantity being always shaken off from the salt provisions, and reserved
for use by the store-keepers; but the daily consumption of salt
provisions was now become so inconsiderable, and they had been so long in
store, that little or none of that article was to be procured. Two large
iron boilers were therefore erected at the east point of the cove; some
people were employed to boil the salt water, and the salt which was
produced by this very simple process was issued to the convicts.
Our fishing tackle began now, with our other necessaries, to decrease. To
remedy this inconvenience, we were driven by necessity to avail ourselves
of some knowledge which we had gained from the natives; and one of the
convicts (a rope-maker) was employed to spin lines from the bark of a
tree which they used for the same purpose.
The native who had been taken in November last convinced us how far
before every other consideration he deemed the possession of his liberty,
by very artfully effecting his escape from the governor's house, where he
had been treated with every indulgence and had enjoyed every comfort
which it was in his excellency's power to give him. He managed his escape
so ingeniously, that it was not suspected until he had completed it, and
all search was rendered fruitless. The boy and the girl appeared to
remain perfectly contented among us, and declared that they knew their
countryman would never return.
During this month the bricklayer's gang and some carpenters were sent
down to the Look-out, to erect two huts for the midshipmen and seamen of
the _Sirius_ who were stationed there, where the stonemason's gang were
employed quarrying stone for two chimneys.
The greatest quantity of fish caught at any one time in this month was
two hundred pounds. Once the seine was full; but through either the
wilfulness or the ignorance of the people employed to land it, the
greatest part of its contents escaped. Upwards of two thousand pounds
were taken in the course of the month, which produced a saving of five
hundred pounds of pork at the store, the allowance of thirty-one men for
four weeks.
Very little labour could be enforced from people who had nothing to eat.
Nevertheless, as it was necessary to think of some preparations for the
next season, the convicts were employed in getting the ground ready both
at Sydney and at Rose Hill for the reception of wheat and barley. The
quantity of either article, however, to be now sown, fell far short of
what our necessities required.