The _Lady Juliana_ transport arrives from England
_The Guardian_
His Majesty's birthday
Thanksgiving for His Majesty's recovery
The _Justinian_ storeship arrives
Full ration ordered
Three transports arrive
Horrid state of the convicts on board
Sick landed
Instance of sagacity in a dog
A convict drowned
Mortality and number of sick on the 13th
Convicts sent to Rose Hill
A town marked out there
Works in hand at Sydney
Instructions respecting grants of land
Mr. Fergusson drowned
Convicts' claims on the master of the _Neptune_
Transactions
Criminal Court
Whale
June.] The first and second days of this month were exceedingly
unfavourable to our situation; heavy rain and blowing weather obstructed
labour and prevented fishing. But it was decreed that on the 3rd we
should experience sensations to which we had been strangers ever since
our departure from England. About half past three in the afternoon of
this day, to the inexpressible satisfaction of every heart in the
settlement, the long-looked-for signal for a ship was made at the South
Head. Every countenance was instantly cheered, and wore the lively
expressions of eagerness, joy, and anxiety; the whole settlement was in
motion and confusion. Notwithstanding it blew very strong at the time,
the governor's secretary, accompanied by Captain Tench and Mr. White,
immediately went off, and at some risk (for a heavy sea was running in
the harbour's mouth) reached the ship for which the signal had been made
just in time to give directions which placed her in safety in Spring
Cove. She proved to be the _Lady Juliana_ transport from London, last
from Plymouth; from which latter place we learned, with no small degree
of wonder and mortification, that she sailed on the 29th day of last July
(full ten months ago) with two hundred and twenty-two female convicts on
board.
We had long conjectured, that the non-arrival of supplies must be owing
either to accident or delays in the voyage, and not to any backwardness
on the part of government in sending them out. We now found that our
disappointment was to be ascribed to both misfortune and delay. The _Lady
Juliana_, we have seen, sailed in July last, and in the month of
September following his majesty's ship _Guardian_, of forty-four guns,
commanded by Lieutenant Edward Riou, sailed from England, having on
board, with what was in the _Lady Juliana_, two years provisions, viz
295,344 pounds of flour, 149,856 pounds of beef, and 303,632 pounds of
pork, for the settlement; a supply of clothing for the marines serving on
shore, and for those belonging to the _Sirius_ and _Supply_; together
with a large quantity of sails and cordage for those ships and for the
uses of the colony; sixteen chests of medicines; fifteen casks of wine; a
quantity of blankets and bedding for the hospital; and a large supply of
unmade clothing for the convicts; with an ample assortment of tools and
implements of agriculture.
At the Cape of Good Hope Lieutenant Riou took on board a quantity of
stock for the settlement, and completed a garden which had been prepared
under the immediate direction of Sir Joseph Banks, and in which there
were near one hundred and fifty of the finest fruit trees, several of
them bearing fruit.
There was scarcely an officer in the colony that had not his share of
private property embarked on board of this richly freighted ship; their
respective friends having procured permission from government for that
purpose.
But it was as painful then to learn, as it will ever be to recollect,
that on the 23rd day of December preceding, the _Guardian_ struck against
an island of ice in latitude 45 degrees 54 minutes South, and longitude
41 degrees 30 minutes East, whereby she received so much injury, that
Lieutenant Riou was compelled, in order to save her from instantly
sinking, to throw overboard the greatest part of her valuable cargo both
on the public and private account. The stock was all killed, (seven
horses, sixteen cows, two bulls, a number of sheep, goats, and two deer,)
the garden destroyed, and the ship herself saved only by the
interposition of Providence, and the admirable conduct of the commander.
The _Guardian_ was a fast-sailing ship, and would probably have arrived
in the latter end of January or the beginning of February last. At that
period the large quantity of live stock in the colony was daily
increasing; the people required for labour were, comparatively with their
present state, strong and healthy; the necessity of dividing the
Convicts, and sending the _Sirius_ to Norfolk Island, would not have
existed; the ration of provisions, instead of the diminutions which had
been necessarily directed, would have been increased to the full
allowance; and the tillage of the ground consequently proceeded in with
that spirit which must be exerted to the utmost before the settlement
could render itself independent of the mother country for subsistence.
But to what a distance was that period now thrown by this unfortunate
accident, and by the delay which took place in the voyage of the _Lady
Juliana_! Government had placed a naval officer in this transport,
Lieutenant Thomas Edgar*, for the purpose of seeing justice done to the
convicts as to their provisions, cleanliness, etc. and to guard against
any unnecessary delays on the voyage. Being directed to follow the route
of the _Sirius_ and her convoy, he called at Teneriffe and St. Iago, stayed
seven weeks at Rio de Janeiro, and one month at the Cape of Good Hope;
completing his circuitous voyage of ten months duration by arriving here
on the 3rd day of June 1790.
[* He had sailed with the late Captain Cook.]
On Lieutenant Edgar's arrival at the Cape he found the _Guardian_ lying
there, Lieutenant Riou having just safely regained that port, from which
he had sailed but a short time, with every fair prospect of speedily and
happily executing the orders with which he was entrusted, and of
conveying to this colony the assistance of which it stood so much in
need. Unhappily for us, she was now lying a wreck, with difficulty and at
an immense expense preserved from sinking at her anchors.
Beside the common share which we all bore in this calamity, we had to
lament that the efforts of our several friends, in amply supplying the
wants that they concluded must have been occasioned by an absence of
three years, were all rendered ineffectual, the private articles having
been among the first things that were thrown overboard to lighten the
ship*.
[* The private property of the officers was all stowed, as the best and
safest place in the ship, in the gun-room. Some officers were great
losers.]
Government had sent out in the _Guardian_ twenty-five male convicts, who
were either farmers or artificers, together with seven persons engaged to
serve as superintendants of convicts, for three years from their landing,
at salaries of forty pounds per annum each. Of these, two, who were
professed gardeners, were supposed to be drowned, having left the ship
soon after she struck, with several other persons in boats, and not been
heard of when the _Lady Juliana_ left the Cape. The superintendants who
remained came on in the transport; but the convicts, of whose conduct
Lieutenant Riou spoke in the highest terms, were detained at the Cape.
A clergyman also was on board the _Guardian_, the Rev. Mr. Crowther, who
had been appointed, at a salary of eight shillings per diem, to divide
the religious duties of the settlement with Mr. Johnson. This gentleman
left the ship with the master and purser in the long-boat, taking
provisions and water with them; and of five boats which were launched on
the same perilous enterprise, this was the only one that conducted her
passengers into safety. They were fortunately, after many days sailing,
picked up by a French ship, which took them into the Cape, and thence to
Europe.
One-third of the stores and provisions intended for the colony were put
on board the transport, the remaining two-thirds were on board the
_Guardian_; none of which it was supposed would ever reach the
settlement, the small quantity excepted (seventy-five barrels of flour)
which was put on board the transport at the Cape. The Dutch at that place
were profiting by our misfortune, their warehouses being let out at an
immense expense to receive such of the provisions and stores as remained
on board the _Guardian_ when she got in.
In addition to the above distressing circumstances, we learned that one
thousand convicts of both sexes were to sail at the latter end of the
last year, and that a corps of foot was raising for the service of this
country under the command of a major-commandant, Francis Grose esq. from
the 29th foot, of which regiment, he was major. The transports which
sailed hence in May, July, and November 1788 (the _Friendship_ excepted)
arrived in England within a very short time of each other; and their
arrival relieved the public from anxiety upon our account.
The joy that was diffused by the arrival of the transports was
considerably checked by the variety of unpleasant and unwelcome
intelligence which she brought. We learned that our beloved Sovereign had
been attacked and for some months afflicted with a dangerous and alarming
illness, though now happily recovered. Our distance from his person had
not lessened our attachment, and the day following the receipt of this
information being the anniversary of his Majesty's birth, it was kept
with every mark of distinction that was in our power. The governor
pardoned all offenders who were under confinement, or under sentence of
corporal punishment; the ration was increased for that day, that every
one might rejoice; at the governor's table, where all the officers of the
settlement and garrison were met, many prosperous and happy years were
fervently wished to be added to his Majesty's life; and Wednesday the
9th was appointed for a public thanksgiving on occasion of his recovery.
The _Lady Juliana_ was, by strong westerly winds and bad weather,
prevented from reaching the cove until the 6th, when, the weather
moderating, she was towed up to the settlement. The convicts on board her
appeared to have been well treated during their long passage, and
preparations for landing them were immediately made; but, in the
distressed situation of the colony, it was not a little mortifying to
find on board the first ship that arrived, a cargo so unnecessary and
unprofitable as two hundred and twenty-two females, instead of a cargo of
provisions; the supply of provisions on board her was so inconsiderable
as to permit only an addition of one pound and a half of flour being made
to the weekly ration. Had the _Guardian_ arrived, perhaps we should never
again have been in want.
On the 9th, being the day appointed for returning thanks to Almighty God
for his Majesty's happy restoration to health, the attendance on divine
service was very full. A sermon on the occasion was preached by the Rev.
Mr. Johnson, who took his text from the book of Proverbs, 'By me kings
reign.' The officers were afterwards entertained at the governor's, when
an address on the occasion of the meeting was resolved to be sent to his
Majesty.
When the women were landed on the 11th, many of them appeared to be
loaded with the infirmities incident to old age, and to be very improper
subjects for any of the purposes of an infant colony. Instead of being
capable of labour, they seemed to require attendance themselves, and were
never likely to be any other than a burden to the settlement, which must
sensibly feel the hardship of having to support by the labour of those
who could toll, and who at the best were but few, a description of people
utterly incapable of using any exertion toward their own maintenance.
When the women were disembarked, and the provisions and stores landed, it
was found that twenty casks of flour (from the unfitness of the ship to
perform such a voyage, being old and far from tight) were totally
destroyed. This was a serious loss to us, when only four pounds of flour
constituted the allowance of that article for one man for seven days.
From this situation of distress, however, we were in a short time
afterwards effectually relieved, and the colony might be pronounced to be
restored, by the arrival (on the 20th) of the _Justinian_ storeship, Mr.
Benjamin Maitland master, from England, after a short passage of only
five months. Mr. Maitland, on the 2nd of this month, the day preceding
the arrival of the _Lady Juliana_, was off the entrance of this harbour,
and would certainly have been found by that ship at anchor within the
heads, had he not, by a sudden change of the wind, aided by a current,
been driven as far to the northward as Black Head, in latitude 32 degrees
S. where he was very nearly lost in an heavy gale of wind; but which he
providentially rode out, having been obliged to come to an anchor, though
close in with some dangerous rocks. The wind was dead on the shore, and
the rocks so close when he anchored, that the rebound of the wave
prevented him from riding any considerable strain on his cable. Had that
failed him, we should never have seen the _Justinian_ or her valuable
cargo, which was found to consist of stores and provisions, trusted, it
was true, to one ship; but as she had happily arrived in safety, and was
full, we all rejoiced that we had not to wait for the arrival of a second
before the colony could be restored to its former plenty.
We now learned that three transports might be hourly expected, having on
board the thousand convicts of whose destination we had received some
information by the _Lady Juliana_, together with detachments of the corps
raised for the service of this country. The remainder of this corps
(which was intended to consist of three hundred men) were to come out in
the _Gorgon_ man of war, of forty-four guns. This ship was also to bring
out Major Grose, who had been appointed lieutenant-governor of the
territory in the room of Major Ross, which officer, together with the
marines under his command, were intended to return to England in that
ship.
Of the change which had been effected in the system of government in
France we now first received information, and we heard with pleasure that
it was not likely to interrupt the tranquillity of our own happy
nation--happy in a constitution which might well excite the admiration
and become the model of other states not so free.
The _Justinian_ had sailed on the 17th of last January from Falmouth, and
touched only at St. Iago, avoiding, as she had not any convicts on board,
the circuitous passage by the Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope.
On the day following her arrival, every thing seemed getting into its
former train; the full ration was ordered to be issued; instead of daily,
it was to be served weekly as formerly; and the drum for labour was to
beat as usual in the afternoons at one o'clock. How general was the wish,
that no future necessity might ever occasion another deduction in the
ration, or an alteration in the labour of the people!
That Norfolk Island, whose situation at this time every one was fearful
might call loudly for relief, should as quickly as possible reap her
share of the benefit introduced among us by these arrivals, it was
intended to send the _Lady Juliana_ thither; and as she required some
repairs, without which she could not proceed to sea, some carpenters from
the shore were sent on board her, and employed to sheath her bends, which
were extremely defective.
A shop was opened on shore by the master of this ship, at the hut lately
occupied as a bakehouse for the _Supply_, for the sale of some articles
of grocery, glass, millinery, perfumery, and stationary; but the risk of
bringing them out having been most injudiciously estimated too highly,
as was evident from the increase on the first cost, which could not be
disguised, they did not go off so quickly as the owners supposed they
would.
A report having been circulated soon after the establishing of this
settlement, that a considerable sum of money had been subscribed in
England, to be expended in articles for the benefit of the convicts who
embarked for this country, which articles had been entrusted to the Rev.
Mr. Johnson, to be disposed of according to the intention of the
subscribers after our arrival, Mr. Johnson wrote to his friends in
England to confute this report; and by accounts lately received, it
appeared that no such public collection had ever been made; at Mr.
Johnson's request, therefore, the governor published a contradiction of
the above report in the general orders of the settlement. The convicts
had hitherto imagined that they had a right to the articles which had
from time to time been distributed among them; but Mr. Johnson now
thought it necessary that they should know it was to his bounty they were
indebted for them, and that consequently the partakers of it were to be
of his own selection.
The female convicts who had lately arrived attending at divine service on
the first Sunday after their landing, Mr. Johnson, with much propriety,
in his discourse, touched upon their situation, and described it so
forcibly as to draw tears from many who were the least hardened among
them.
Early in the morning of the 23rd, one of the men at the Lookout discerned
a sail to the northward, but, the weather coming on thick, soon lost
sight of it. The bad weather continuing, it was not seen again until the
25th, when word was brought up to the settlement, that a large ship,
apparently under jury-masts, was seen in the offing; and on the following
day the _Surprise_ transport, Nicholas Anstis master (late chief mate of
the _Lady Penrhyn_) anchored in the cove from England, having on board
one captain, one lieutenant, one surgeon's mate, one serjeant, one
corporal, one drummer, and twenty-three privates of the New South Wales
corps; together with two hundred and eighteen male convicts. She sailed
on the 19th of January from Portsmouth in company with two other
transports, with whom she parted between the Cape of Good Hope and this
place.
We had the mortification to learn, that the prisoners in this ship were
very unhealthy, upwards of one hundred being now in the sick list on
board. They had been very sickly also during the passage, and had buried
forty-two of these unfortunate people. A portable hospital had
fortunately been received by the _Justinian_, and there now appeared but
too great a probability that we should soon have patients enough to fill
it; for the signal was flying at the South Head for the other transports,
and we were led to expect them in as unhealthy a state as that which had
just arrived.
On the evening of Monday the 28th, the _Neptune_ and _Scarborough_
transports anchored off Garden Island, and were warped into the cove the
following morning.
We were not mistaken in our expectations of the state in which they might
arrive. By noon the following day, two hundred sick had been landed from
the different transports. The west side afforded a scene truly
distressing and miserable; upwards of thirty tents were pitched in front
of the hospital, the portable one not being yet put up; all of which, as
well as the hospital and the adjacent huts, were filled with people, many
of whom were labouring under the complicated diseases of scurvy and the
dysentery, and others in the last stage of either of those terrible
disorders, or yielding to the attacks of an infectious fever.
The appearance of those who did not require medical assistance was lean
and emaciated. Several of these miserable people died in the boats as
they were rowing on shore, or on the wharf as they were lifting out of
the boats; both the living and the dead exhibiting more horrid spectacles
than had ever been witnessed in this country. All this was to be
attributed to confinement, and that of the worst species, confinement in
a small space and in irons, not put on singly, but many of them chained
together. On board the _Scarborough_ a plan had been formed to take the
ship, which would certainly have been attempted, but for a discovery
which was fortunately made by one of the convicts (Samuel Burt) who had
too much principle left to enter into it. This necessarily, _on board
that ship_, occasioned much future circumspection; but Captain Marshall's
humanity considerably lessened the severity which the insurgents might
naturally have expected. On board the other ships, the masters, who had
the entire direction of the prisoners, never suffered them to be at large
on deck, and but few at a time were permitted there. This consequently
gave birth to many diseases. It was said, that on board the _Neptune_
several had died in irons; and what added to the horror of such a
circumstance was, that their deaths were concealed, for the purpose of
sharing their allowance of provisions, until chance, and the
offensiveness of a corpse, directed the surgeon, or some one who had
authority in the ship, to the spot where it lay.
A contract had been entered into by government with Messrs. Calvert,
Camden, and King, merchants of London, for the transporting of one
thousand convicts, and government engaged to pay £17 7s 6d per head for
every convict they embarked. This sum being as well for their provisions
as for their transportation, no interest for their preservation was
created in the owners, and the dead were more profitable (if profit alone
was consulted by them, and the credit of their house was not at stake)
than the living.
The following accounts of the numbers who died on board each ship were
given in by the masters:
Men Women Children
On board the _Lady Juliana_ 0 5 2
On board the _Surprise_ 42 0 0
On board the _Scarborough_ 68 0 0
On board the _Neptune_ 151 11 2
-----------------
Total 261 16 4
-----------------
All possible expedition was used to get the sick on shore; for even while
they remained on board many died. The bodies were taken over to the north
shore, and there interred.
Parties were immediately sent into the woods to collect the acid berry of
the country, which for its extreme acetosity was deemed by the surgeons a
most powerful antiscorbutic. Among other regulations, orders were given
for baking a certain quantity of flour into pound loaves, to be
distributed daily among the sick, as it was not in their power to prepare
it themselves. Wine and other necessaries being given judiciously among
those whose situations required such comforts, many of the wretches had
recourse to stratagem to obtain more than their share by presenting
themselves, under different names and appearances, to those who had the
delivery of them, or by exciting the compassion of those who could order
them.
Blankets were immediately sent to the hospital in sufficient numbers to
make every patient comfortable; notwithstanding which, they watched the
moment when any one died to strip him of his covering (although dying
themselves) and could only be prevented by the utmost vigilance from
exercising such inhumanity in every instance.
The detachment from the New South Wales corps, consisting of one captain,
three subalterns, and a proportionate number of non-commissioned officers
and privates, was immediately disembarked, and room being made in the
marine barracks, they took possession of the quarters allotted for them.
Lieutenant Shapcote, the naval agent on board the _Neptune_, died between
the Cape of Good Hope and this place. A son of this gentleman arrived in
the _Justinian_, to which ship he belonged, and received the first
account of his father's death, on going aboard the _Neptune_ to
congratulate him on his arrival.
An instance of sagacity in a dog occurred on the arrival of the
_Scarborough_, too remarkable to pass unnoticed; Mr. Marshall, the master
of the ship, on quitting Port Jackson in May 1788, left a Newfoundland
dog with Mr. Clark (the agent on the part of the contractor, who remained
in the colony), which he had brought from England. On the return of his
old master, Hector swam off to the ship, and getting on board, recognised
him, and manifested, in every manner suitable to his nature, his Joy at
seeing him; nor could the animal be persuaded to quit him again,
accompanying him always when he went on shore, and returning with him on
board.
At a muster of the convicts which was directed during this month, one man
only was unaccounted for, James Haydon. Soon after the muster was over,
word was brought to the commissary, that his body had been found drowned
in Long Cove, at the back of the settlement. Upon inquiry into the cause
of his death, it appeared that he had a few days before stolen some
tobacco out of an officer's garden in which he had been employed, and,
being threatened with punishment, had absconded. He was considered as a
well-behaved man; and if he preferred death to shame and punishment,
which he had been heard to declare he did, and which his death seemed to
confirm, he was deserving a better fate.
The total number of sick on the last day of the month was three hundred
and forty-nine.
July.] The melancholy scenes which closed the last month appeared
unchanged at the beginning of this. The morning generally opened with the
attendants of the sick passing frequently backwards and forwards from the
hospital to the burying-ground with the miserable victims of the night.
Every exertion was made to get up the portable hospital; but, although we
were informed that it had been put up in London in a very few hours, we
did not complete it until the 7th, when it was instantly filled with
patients. On the 13th, there were four hundred and eighty-eight persons
under medical treatment at and about the hospital--a dreadful sick list!
Such of the convicts from the ships as were in a tolerable state of
health, both male and female, were sent up to Rose Hill, to be employed
in agriculture and other labours. A subaltern's detachment from the New
South Wales corps was at the same time sent up for the military duty of
that settlement in conjunction with the marine corps.
There also the governor in the course of the month laid down the lines of
a regular town. The principal street was marked out to extend one mile,
commencing near the landing-place, and running in a direction west, to
the foot of the rising ground named Rose Hill, and in which his
excellency purposed to erect a small house for his own residence whenever
he should visit that settlement. On each side of this street, whose width
was to be two hundred and five feet, huts were to be erected capable of
containing ten persons each, and at the distance of sixty feet one from
the other; and garden ground for each hut was allotted in the rear. As
the huts were to be built of such combustible materials as wattles and
plaster, and to be covered with thatch, the width of the street, and the
distance they were placed from each other, operated as an useful
precaution against fire; and by beginning on so wide a scale the
inhabitants of the town at some future day would possess their own
accommodations and comforts more readily, each upon his own allotment,
than if crowded into a small space.
While these works were going on at Rose Hill, the labouring convicts at
Sydney were employed in constructing a new brick storehouse, discharging
the transports, and forming a road from the town to the brick-kilns, for
the greater ease and expedition in bringing in bricks to the different
buildings.
Our stores now wore a more respectable appearance than they had done for
some time. In addition to the provisions put on board the transports in
England, Lieutenant Riou had forwarded by those ships four hundred
tierces of beef and two hundred tierces of pork, which he had saved from
the wreck of the _Guardian_, and which we had the satisfaction to find
were nothing the worse for the accident which befel her. These, with the
seventy-five casks of flour which were brought on by the _Lady Juliana_,
formed the amount of what we were now to receive of the large cargo of
that unfortunate ship.
Lieutenant Riou also sent by these ships the twenty male convicts which
had been selected as artificers and put on board the _Guardian_ in
England; and with them he sent the most pointed recommendations in their
favour, describing their conduct, both before and after the accident
which happened to the ship under his command, in the strongest terms of
approbation.
The _Lady Juliana_ being found on inspection to require such extensive
repairs as would too long delay the dispatching the necessary supplies to
Norfolk Island, the governor directed the _Surprise_ transport and
_Justinian_ storeship to proceed thither.
By the 19th, the _Justinian_ was cleared of her cargo, excepting about
five hundred casks of provisions, which were not to be taken out
until she arrived at Norfolk Island; and both that ship and the
_Surprise_ were preparing with all expedition for sailing. The
_Justinian_, however, from the circumstance of retaining some part of her
large cargo on board, was ready first, and sailed on the 28th. The
master, Mr. Benjamin Maitland, was directed to follow his former orders
after landing his stores and provisions at Norfolk Island, and proceed to
Canton to freight home with teas upon account of government. She was
hired by the month at fifteen shillings and sixpence per ton, and was to
be in government employ until her return to Deptford. By this ship the
governor sent dispatches to the secretary of state.
The _Lady Juliana_, having received some repairs by the carpenters of the
colony at the time when it was designed she should to Norfolk Island,
and some others by the assistance of her own carpenters, sailed a day or
two after the _Justinian_ for Canton. From the extravagant price set on
his goods by the master, his shop had turned out badly; and it was said
that he took many articles to sea, which he must of necessity throw
overboard before he reached Canton.
The governor received by these ships dispatches from the secretary of
state, containing, among other articles of information, instructions
respecting the granting of lands and the allotting of ground in
townships. Soon after their arrival it was declared in public orders:
That, in consequence of the assurances that were given to the
non-commissioned officers and men belonging to the detachment of marines,
on their embarking for the service of this country, that such of them as
should behave well should be allowed to quit the service on their return
to England, or be discharged abroad upon the relief, and permitted to
settle in the country; his Majesty had been graciously pleased to direct
the following terms to be held out as an encouragement to such
non-commissioned officers and private men of the marines as might be
desirous of becoming settlers in this country, or in any of the islands
comprised within the government of the continent* of New South Wales, on
the arrival of the corps raised and intended for the service of this
country, and for their relief, viz.
[* Now so called officially for the first time.]
To every non-commissioned officer, an allotment of one hundred and thirty
acres of land if single, and one hundred and fifty if married.
To every private man, eighty acres of land if single, one hundred if
married; and ten acres of land for each child at the time of granting the
allotment; free of all fees, taxes, quit-rents, and other
acknowledgments, for the term of five years; at the expiration of which
term to be liable to an annual quit-rent of one shilling for every fifty
acres.
As a further encouragement, a bounty was offered of three pounds per man
to every non-commissioned officer and private man who would enlist in the
new corps (to form a company to be officered from the marines) and an
allotment of double the above proportion of land if they behaved well for
five years, to be granted them at the expiration of that time; the said
allotments not to be subject to any fee or tax for ten years, and then to
be liable to an annual quit-rent of one shilling for every fifty acres.
And upon their discharge at either of the above periods they were to be
supplied with clothing and one year's provisions, with feed grain,
tools, and implements of agriculture. The service of a certain number of
convicts was to be assigned to them for their labour when they could make
it appear that they could maintain, feed, and clothe them. In these
instructions no mention was made of granting lands to officers; and to
other persons who might emigrate and be desirous of settling in this
country, no greater proportion of land was to be allotted than what was
to be granted to a non-commissioned officer of the marines.
Government, between every allotment, reserved to itself a space on either
side, which, as crown land, was equal to the largest grant, not to be
granted, but leased only to individuals for the term of fourteen years.
Provision was made for the church, by allotting in each township which
should be marked out four hundred acres for the maintenance of a
minister; and half of that number was to be allotted for the maintenance
of a school master.
If the allotments should happen to be made on the banks of any navigable
river or creek, care was to be taken that the breadth of each track did
not extend along the banks thereof more than one-third of the length of
such track, in order that no settler should engross more than his
proportion of the benefit which would accrue from such a situation. And
it was also directed, that the good and the bad land should be as equally
divided as circumstances would allow.
No new regulations were directed to take place in respect of granting
lands to convicts emancipated or discharged; the original instructions,
under which each male convict if single was to have thirty, if married
fifty, and ten acres for every child he might have at the time of
settling, remained in force.
The particular conditions required by the crown from a settler were, the
residing upon the ground, proceeding to the improvement and cultivation
of his allotment, and reserving such of the timber thereof as might be
fit for naval purposes for the use of his Majesty.
The period fixed by government for victualling a settler from the public
stores, twelve months, was in general looked upon as too short, and it
was thought not practicable for any one at the end of that period to
maintain himself, unless during that time he should have very great
assistance given him, and be fortunate in his crops.
About the latter end of this month a spermaceti whale was seen in the
harbour, and some boats from the transports went after it with harpoons;
but, from the ignorance of the people in the use of them, the fish
escaped unhurt. In a few days afterwards word was received that a punt
belonging to Lieutenant Poulden had been pursued by a whale and overset,
by which accident young Mr. Ferguson (a midshipman of the _Sirius_) and
two soldiers were unfortunately drowned. The soldiers, with another of
their companions, who saved his life by swimming, had been down the
harbour fishing, and, calling at the Look-out, took in Mr. Ferguson, who
had sat up all the preceding night to write to his father, Captain James
Ferguson, lieutenant-governor of Greenwich hospital, and was now bringing
his letters to Sydney for the purpose of sending them by the _Justinian_.
Mr. Ferguson was a steady well-disposed young man, and the service, in
all probability, by this extraordinary accident, lost a good officer.
The _Scarborough_ was cleared this month, and, being discharged from
government employ, the master was left at liberty to proceed to Canton,
where he was to load home with teas.
Much irregularity was committed by the seamen of the transports, who
found means to get on shore at night, notwithstanding the port orders;
and one, a sailor from the _Neptune_, was punished with twenty-five lashes
for being found on shore without any permission at eleven o'clock at
night.
The sick list, now consisting of only three hundred and thirty-two
persons, was found to be daily decreasing, and the mortality was
infinitely less at the end, than at the beginning of the month.
August.] The _Surprise_ transport sailed on the first of August for
Norfolk Island, having on board thirty-five male and one hundred and
fifty female convicts, two of the superintendants lately arrived, and one
deputy commissary, Mr. Thomas Freeman, appointed such by the governor's
warrant. There came out in the _Neptune_ a person of the name of
Wentworth, who, being desirous of some employment in this country, was
now sent to Norfolk Island to act as an assistant to the surgeon there,
being reputed to have the necessary requisites for such a situation.
On the 8th, the _Scarborough_ sailed for Canton, and the _Neptune_ was
preparing to follow her as soon as she could be cleared of the cargo she
had on board upon account of government. While this was delivering, some
of the convicts who came out in that ship put in before the
judge-advocate their claims upon the master, Mr. Donald Trail, not only
for clothing and other articles, but for money, which they stated to have
been taken from them at the time of their embarkation, and had never
since been returned to them. Many of these claims were disputed by Mr.
Trail, and others were settled to the satisfaction of the claimants; but
of their clothing, knives, buckles, etc. he could give no other account,
than that he was directed by the naval agent, Lieutenant Shapcote, to
destroy them at their embarkation for obvious reasons, tending to the
safety of the ship and for the preservation of their healths.
On the 19th the _Neptune_ was cleared and discharged the service, having
landed the cargo she brought out on government account in good
condition. Preparatory to her sailing for China, she quitted the cove on
the 22nd; soon after which, information being received that several
convicts purposed to attempt making their escape in her from the colony,
a small armed party of soldiers was sent on board her, under the
direction of Lieutenant Long* of the marines, to search the ship, when
one man and one woman were found on board. The man was one who had just
arrived in the colony, and, being soon tired of his situation, had
prevailed on some of the people to secrete him among the fire-wood which
they had taken on board. In the night another person swam off to the
ship, and was received by the guard. He pleaded being a free man, but as
he had taken a very improper mode of quitting the colony, he was, by
order of the governor, punished the day following, together with the
convict who had been found concealed among the fire-wood. The _Neptune_
sailed on the 24th, leaving behind her one mate Mr. Forfar, and two
seamen; and the cove was once more without a ship.
[* Appointed by Governor Plillip, after the arrival of the New South
Wales corps, to do the duty of town-adjutant.]
An excursion into the country had been undertaken this month by Captain
Tench and some other officers. They were absent six days, and on their
return we learned, that they had proceeded in a direction SSW of Rose
Hill; that they met with fresh water running to the northward; found the
traces of natives wherever they went, and passed through a very bad
country intersected every where with deep ravines. They had reason to
think, that in rainy weather the run of water which they met with rose
above its ordinary level between thirty and forty feet. They saw a flock
of emus twelve in number.
It having been found that the arms and ammunition which were entrusted to
the convicts residing at the distant farms for their protection against
the natives, were made a very different use of, an order was given
recalling them, and prohibiting any convicts from going out with arms,
except McIntire, Burn, and Randall, who were licensed game-killers.
The clergyman complaining of non-attendance at divine service, which it
must be observed was generally performed in the open air, alike
unsheltered from wind and rain, as from the fervor of the summer's sun,
it was ordered that three pounds of flour should be deducted from the
ration of each overseer, and two pounds from that of each labouring
convict, who should not attend prayers once on each Sunday, unless some
reasonable excuse for their absence should be assigned.
Toward the latter end of the month a criminal court was held for the
trial of Hugh Low, a convict, who had been in the _Guardian_, and who was
in custody for stealing a sheep, the property of Mr. Palmer the
commissary. Being most clearly convicted of the offence by the evidence
of an accomplice and others, he received sentence of death, and, the
governor not deeming it advisable to pardon an offence of that nature,
suffered the next day, acknowledging the commission of the fact for which
he died.
The preservation of our stock was an object of so much consequence to the
colony, that it became indispensably necessary to protect it by every
means in our power. Had any lenity been extended to this offender on
account of his good conduct in a particular situation, it might have been
the cause of many depredations being made upon the stock, which it was
hoped his punishment would prevent.
On the 28th a pair of shoes were served to each convict. The female
convicts were employed in making the slops for the men, which had been
now sent out unmade. Each woman who could work at her needle had
materials for two shirts given her at a time, and while so employed was
not to be taken for any other labour.
The storehouse which was begun in July was finished this month, and was
got up and covered in without any rain. Its dimensions were one hundred
feet by twenty-two.
At Rose Hill the convicts were employed in constructing the new town
which had been marked out, building the huts, and forming the principal
street. The governor, who personally directed all these works, caused a
spot of ground for a capacious garden to be allotted for the use of the
New South Wales corps, contiguous to the spot whereon his excellency
meant to erect the barracks for that corps.
In addition to the flagstaff which had been erected on the South Head of
the harbour, the governor determined to construct a column, of a height
sufficient to be seen from some distance at sea, and the stonemasons were
sent down to quarry stone upon the spot for the building.
The body of one of the unfortunate people who were drowned at the latter
end of July last with Mr. Ferguson was found about the close of this
month, washed on shore in Rose Bay, and very much disfigured. The whale
which occasioned this accident, we were informed, had never found its way
out of the harbour, but, getting on shore in Manly Bay, was killed by the
natives, and was the cause of numbers of them being at this time
assembled to partake of the repasts which it afforded them.