The _Daedalus_ sails for Nootka
A temporary church founded
Criminal court
The colonial vessel launched
A scheme to take a longboat
Two soldiers desert
Counterfeit dollars in circulation
A soldier punished
The _Boddingtons_ arrives from Cork
General Court Martial held
The _Britannia_ hired and chartered for Bengal
The new church opened
Accident
Provisions in store
Corn purchased from settlers
The _Britannia_ sails for Bengal, and the _Francis_ Schooner for New Zealand
Irish convicts steal a boat
The _Sugar Cane_ arrives
Intended mutiny on board prevented
Excursion to the westward
Public works
July.] On the first of this month the _Daedalus_ sailed to convey to
Captain Vancouver the provisions and stores which had been required by
that officer. Lieutenant Hanson, the naval agent on board, received the
most pointed orders for the ship to return to this port immediately after
having executed the service on which she was then going. The _Daedalus_
was considered as a colonial ship; and nothing but Captain Vancouver's
express requisition to have the stores and provisions which were on board
her (the stores being chiefly articles of traffic) sent back to him, to
enable him to fulfil the instructions he had received, would have induced
the lieutenant-governor, in the present state of the colony, to have
parted with her, when it was not improbable that her services might be
wanting to procure supplies, and at no very distant period, if ships did
not arrive.
The _Daedalus_ being, like other ships which had preceded her, short of
hands, the master was permitted to recruit his numbers here, and took
with him six convicts, who had served their several terms of
transportation, and were of good character; and two seamen, who had been
left behind from other ships. The extensive population of the islands at
some of which the _Daedalus_ might have occasion to touch rendered it
absolutely necessary that she should be completely manned; as we well
knew the readiness with which, at all times, their inhabitants availed
themselves of any inferiority or weakness which they might discover
among us.
On board of the _Daedalus_ also was embarked a native of this country,
who was sent by the lieutenant-governor for the purpose of acquiring our
language. Lieutenant Hanson was directed by no means to leave him at
Nootka, but, if he survived the voyage, to bring him back safe to his
friends and countrymen. His native names were Gnung-a gnung-a,
Mur-re-mur-gan; but he had for a long time entirely lost them, even among
his own people, who called him 'Collins,' after the judge-advocate, whose
name he had adopted on the first day of his coming among us. He was a man
of a more gentle disposition than most of his associates; and, from the
confidence he placed in us, very readily undertook the voyage, although
he left behind him a young wife (a sister of Bennillong who accompanied
Governor Phillip) of whom he always appeared extremely fond.
On Saturday the 6th the intended change took place in the ration; and it
being a week on which pork was to be issued, three pounds of that
article were served instead of four. The other articles remained the
same.
The clergyman, who suffered as much inconvenience as other people from
the want of a proper place for the performance of divine service, himself
undertook to remove the evil, on finding that, from the pressure of other
works it was not easy to foresee when a church would be erected. He
accordingly began one under his own inspection, and chose the situation
for it at the back of the huts on the east side of the cove. The front
was seventy-three feet by fifteen; and at right angles with the centre
projected another building forty feet by fifteen. The edifice was
constructed of strong posts, wattles, and plaster, and was to be
thatched.* Much credit was due to the Rev. Mr. Johnson for his personal
exertions on this occasion.
[* The expense of building it was computed to be about forty pounds]
Representation having been made to the lieutenant-governor, that several
of the soldiers had been so thoughtless as to dispose of the sugar and
tobacco which had been served out to them by their officers since the
arrival of the _Britannia_, almost as soon as they had received those
articles, and that some artful people had availed themselves of their
indiscretion, in many instances bartering a bottle of spirits (Cape
brandy) for six times its value, he judged it necessary to give notice,
that any convict detected in exchanging liquor with the soldiers for any
article served out to them by their officers, would immediately be
punished, and the articles purchased taken away: and further (now become
a most necessary restriction), that any persons attempting to sell liquor
without a licence might rely on its being seized, and the houses of the
offending parties pulled down.
About the middle of the month all the wheat which was to be sown on the
public account was got in at and near Toongabbie; the quantity of ground
was about three hundred and eighty acres. The wheat of last season being
now nearly thrashed out, some judgment was formed of its produce, and it
was found to have averaged between seventeen and eighteen bushels an
acre. A large quantity of wheat was also sown this season by individuals,
amounting to about one thousand three hundred and eighty-one bushels,
every encouragement having been given to them to sow their grounds with
that grain.
Several houses having been lately broken open, the criminal court of
judicature was assembled on the 15th, when Samuel Wright, a convict who
arrived in 1791, was tried for breaking into a hut in the day-time, and
stealing several articles of wearing apparel; of which offence being
found guilty, he received sentence of death, and was to have been
executed on the Monday following; but the court having recommended him to
mercy on account of his youth, being only sixteen years of age, the
lieutenant-governor as readily forgave as the court had recommended him;
but, that the prisoner might have all the benefit of so awful a
situation, the change in his fate was not imparted to him until the very
moment when he was about to ascend the ladder from which he was to be
plunged into eternity. He had appeared since his conviction as if devoid
of feeling; but on receiving this information, he fell on his knees in an
agony of joy and gratitude. The solemn scene appeared likewise to make a
forcible impression on all his fellow prisoners, who were present.
The weather of this winter having been colder than any that we had before
experienced, great exertions were made to clothe all the labouring
convicts; and for that purpose the work of the tailors had for some time
been confined to them. Every male convict received one cloth jacket, two
canvas frocks, one pair of shoes, and one leathern cap. The females also
had been clothed.
The vessel which had been received in frame by the _Pitt_ was now
completed, and, to avoid the labour which would have attended her being
launched in the usual manner, Mr. Raven, the master of the _Britannia_,
offered his own services and the assistance of his ship to lay her down
upon her bilge, and put her into the water on rollers. This mode having
been adopted, in the forenoon of Wednesday the 24th of this month she was
safely let down upon the rollers, and by dusk, with the assistance of the
_Britannia_, was hove down to low-water mark, whence, at a quarter before
eight o'clock, she floated with the tide, and was hauled safely alongside
the _Britannia_. The ceremony of christening her was performed at sunrise
the next morning, when she was named _The Francis_, in compliment to the
lieutenant-governor's son, whose birthday this was; and, Mr. Raven
coinciding with the general opinion that she would be much safer if
rigged as a schooner than as a sloop, for which she had been originally
intended, the carpenters were directed to fit her accordingly; and that
gentleman very obligingly supplied a spar, which he had procured for the
_Britannia_ at Dusky Bay, to make her a foremast.
The command of this little vessel, of whose utility great expectations
were formed, was given by the lieutenant-governor to Mr. William House,
late boatswain of the _Discovery_, who arrived here in the _Daedalus_ for
the purpose of proceeding to England as an invalid; but being strongly
recommended by Captain Vancouver as an excellent seaman, with whom he was
very unwilling to part, and signifying a wish to be employed in this
country, the command of this vessel was given to him, with the same
allowance that is made to a superintendant; on which list he was placed.
The two boys who were left behind from the _Kitty_ were also entered for
her, and she was ordered to be fitted forthwith for sea. As it was well
known that many people had their eyes upon this vessel as the means of
their escaping from the colony, it was intended, in addition to other
precautions, that none but the most trusty people should ever be employed
in her.
On the last day of the month a plan to take off one of the longboats was
revealed to the lieutenant-governor. The principal parties in it were
soldiers; and their scheme was, to proceed to Java, with a chart of which
they had by some means been furnished. If their plan had been put into
execution, the evil would have carried with it its own punishment; for,
had they survived the voyage, they would never have been countenanced by
the Dutch, who were always very jealous of strangers coming among them,
and had, no doubt, heard of the desertion of Bryant and his associates
from this settlement. Two of the soldiers were immediately put into
confinement; and in the night two others, one a corporal, went off into
the woods, taking with them their arms, about one hundred rounds of
powder and ball, which they collected from the different pouches in the
barrack, their provisions and necessaries.
The principal works in hand by the people at Sydney were, erecting
kitchens and storerooms for the officers' new barracks, bringing in
timber for rollers for the sloop, and constructing huts at Petersham for
convicts. At Toongabbie the Indian corn was not all gathered, and housing
of that, and preparing the ground for the reception of the next season's
crop, occupied the labouring convicts at that settlement.
Some counterfeit dollars were at this time in circulation; but the
manufacturers of them were not discovered.
August.] The two soldiers who were put into confinement on suspicion of
being parties in a plan to seize one of the long-boats, were tried by a
regimental court-martial on the first day of this month, and one was
acquitted; but Roberts, a drummer, who was proved to have attempted to
persuade another drummer to be of the party, was sentenced to receive
three hundred lashes, and in the evening did receive two hundred and
twenty-five of them. While smarting under the severity with which his
punishment was inflicted, he gave up the names of six or eight of his
brother soldiers as concerned with him, among whom were the two who had
absented themselves the preceding evening. These people, the day
following their desertion, were met in the path to Parramatta, and told
an absurd story of their being sent to the Blue Mountains. They were next
heard of at a settler's (John Nicholls) at Prospect Hill, whose house
they entered forcibly, and, making him and a convict hutkeeper prisoners,
passed the night there. At another settler's they took sixteen pounds of
flour, which they sent by his wife to a woman well known to one of them,
and had them baked into small loaves. They signified a determination not
to be taken alive, and threatened to lie in wait for the game-killers, of
whose ammunition they meant to make themselves masters. These
declarations manifested the badness of their hearts, and the weakness of
their cause; and the lieutenant-governor, on being made acquainted with
them, sent out a small armed party to secure and bring them in, rightly
judging that people who were so ready at expressing every where a
resolution to part with their lives rather than be taken, would not give
much trouble in securing them.
This desertion, and the disaffection of those who meant to take off a
long-boat, was the more unaccountable, as the commanding officer had
uniformly treated them with every indulgence, putting it entirely out of
their power to complain on that head. Spirits and other comforts had been
procured for them; he had distinguished them from the convicts in the
ration of provisions; he had allowed them to build themselves comfortable
huts, permitting them while so employed the use of the public boats; he
had indulged them with women; and, in a word, have never refused any of
them a request which did not militate against the rules of the service,
or of the discipline which he had laid down for the New South Wales
corps; at the same time, however, to prevent these indulgencies from
falling into contempt, they were counterbalanced by a certainty of their
being withdrawn when abused, and flagrant offenders were sure of meeting
with punishment: yet there were many among them who were so ungrateful
for the benefits which they received, and so unmindful of their own
interest and accommodation, that they behaved ill whenever they had an
opportunity.
The parties who had been sent after the runaways, by dividing themselves,
fell in with them near Toongabbie on the 6th. and secured them without
any opposition.
There were at this time in the New South Wales corps, distributed among
the different companies, thirty recruits who had been selected from among
the convicts as people of good characters, and, having formerly been in
the army, were permitted to enlist. These people had conducted themselves
with remarkable propriety, one man only excepted, who had some time since
been punished by the sentence of a court-martial, and who afterwards
misbehaving was discharged from the corps. They were in general enlisted
for life, a condition to which they subscribed on being attested; and
such as had a long time to serve under their sentence, were emancipated
on the above condition.
On the 7th the _Boddingtons_ transport anchored in the cove from Ireland,
having sailed from Cork on the 15th of February last, with one hundred
and twenty-four male, and twenty female convicts of that kingdom on
board, provisions calculated to serve them nine months* after their
arrival, and a proportion of clothing for twelve months. As a guard,
there was embarked a subaltern's party of the New South Wales corps; and
this precaution was found to have been very necessary, the ignorance of
the Irish convicts having displayed itself in an absurd scheme to take
the ship; but which was happily frustrated by the vigilance and activity
of the master** and the officers.
[* Two hundred and twenty-eight barrels of flour; one hundred and eight
tierces of pork, and fifty-four tierces of beef, twenty-eight bales and
thirteen cases of stores.]
[* Captain Robert Chalmers, on the captain's half pay of the marines.]
Mr. Richards jun, who had the contract for supplying the ships which
sailed for this country in 1788 and the _Lady Juliana_ transport, was
employed again by government; a circumstance of general congratulation
among the colonists on its being made known. On the present occasion he
had contracted to furnish two ships to bring out three hundred male and
female convicts from Ireland, with stores and provisions. The
_Boddingtons_, being the first ready, sailed alone; the _Sugar Cane_ (the
second ship) was at Deptford ready to drop down to Gravesend when her
intended companion was about leaving Ireland. Government were to pay four
pounds four shillings per ton for such stores as should be put on board,
and for the convicts at the rate of twenty-two pounds per head. This
mode of payment was complained of in the contract made formerly with
Messrs. Calvert and Co.; but in the present instance the evil attending
that contract was avoided, by a part of the above sum (five pounds) being
left to be paid by certificate for every convict which should be landed.
No ship, however, could have brought out their convicts in higher order,
nor could have given stronger proofs of attention to their health and
accommodation, than did this vessel. Each had a bed to himself, and a new
suit of clothes to land in. On the part of the crown also, to see justice
done to the convicts, there was a surgeon of the navy on board, Mr. Kent,
as a superintendant; and on the part of the contractor, a gentleman who
had visited us before with Mr. Marshall, in the second voyage of the
_Scarborough_ to this country, Mr. A. Jac. Bier, a surgeon also. They had
not any sick list, and had lost only one man on the passage.
Captain Chalmers informed us, that on his arrival at Rio de Janeiro, in
which port he anchored on the 10th of last April, he heard that the
_Atlantic_ transport had sailed thence about three weeks, and had made
her passage from this country round Cape Horn to Rio de Janeiro in
fifty-eight days. He learned from the gentlemen about the palace, that
his excellency Governor Phillip when he touched there appeared to be in
perfect health. He had there too heard of the agitated state of Europe;
and understanding that in all probability the Channel would be infested
with French privateers, he purchased some guns, to strengthen the force
which he had already on board the _Atlantic_.
Advices were received by this ship, that administration intended to make
arrangements for our being supplied from Bengal with live cattle: and
this became a favourite idea with every person in the colony; for the
sheep, though small, were found to be very productive, breeding twice in
the year, and generally bringing two lambs at a birth. The climate was
also found to agree well with the cattle of the buffalo species which had
been received.
The convicts received by the _Boddingtons_ were disembarked a day or two
after her arrival, and sent up to Toongabbie. On quitting the ship they
with one voice bore testimony to the humane treatment they had received
from Captain Chalmers, declaring that they had not any complaints to
prefer, and cheering him when the boats which carried them put off from
her side.
It being necessary to mark with some degree of severity the offence which
had been committed by the two soldiers, a general court-martial was
assembled for their trial on the 12th. The lieutenant-governor, with much
humanity, forebore to charge them with a capital offence; bringing them
to trial for absenting themselves from head-quarters without leave,
instead of the more serious crime of desertion.
By the mutiny act, a general court-martial may, in Africa, consist of
less than thirteen commissioned officers, but not less than five; the
like provision was also extended to New South Wales; and nine officers
formed the court now assembled for the first time in this colony.
Captain Collins officiated as deputy judge-advocate. The prisoners did
not deny the crime they were charged with; and the court, after reducing
the corporal to the ranks, sentenced him to receive five hundred lashes,
and the private soldier eight hundred. The sentence, being approved by
the lieutenant-governor, was in part carried into execution on Saturday
the 17th, the corporal receiving two hundred and seventy-five, and the
soldier three hundred lashes.
The _Britannia_ being now nearly ready for sea, having had some very
necessary articles of repair done to her, and which the master declared
had been as well executed by the artificers of the colony as if the ship
had been in England, she was tendered to be employed for the service of
the settlement wherever the lieutenant-governor might think it necessary
to send her. In the charter-party of the _Boddingtons_, a clause was
inserted, empowering the governor to send her to Norfolk Island, or
elsewhere, should he have occasion, the crown paying the same hire as was
paid for the _Atlantic_ transport (fifteen shillings and sixpence per ton
per month) during the time she should be so employed. The _Britannia_ was
tendered at one shilling per ton less, and had moreover the advantage of
being a coppered ship.
It has been seen that the supply brought by the _Boddingtons_ was very
inconsiderable. No greater quantity was expected with any degree of
certainty by the _Sugar Cane_. The salt provisions remaining in store (by
a calculation made up to the 28th) were sufficient for only fourteen
weeks at the full ration, including what had been received by the
_Boddingtons_, and some surplus provisions which had been purchased of
the agent to the contractor, and one hundred casks of pork, which had
been omitted by an oversight in the last account taken in May a few days
before the _Kitty_ sailed. When it was considered that our supplies would
always be affected by commotions at home, and that if a war should take
place between England and any other nation, which at the departure of the
_Boddingtons_ was hourly expected, they might be retarded, or taken by
the enemy, the lieutenant-governor determined, while he had in his own
hands the means of supplying himself, to employ them; and on the 26th
chartered the _Britannia_ for India. Our principal want was salt
provisions; of flour we well remembered that Bengal produced none, and a
coming crop was before us on our own grounds. The _Britannia_ was
therefore to proceed to Bengal, to be freighted by the government of that
presidency with salt provisions, Irish beef or pork; and in the event of
its not being possible to procure them, the ship was to return loaded
with sugar, rice, and dholl, these being the articles which, next to salt
provisions, were the most wanted in the colony.
Mr. Raven, the master of the _Britannia_, having, as was before observed,
left a mate and some of his people at Dusky Bay in New Zealand, the
lieutenant-governor directed the _Francis_ to be got ready with all
expedition, purposing that she should accompany the _Britannia_ as far on
her way as that harbour, where she had permission to touch; and Mr. Raven
was directed to transmit by the master all such information respecting
that extensive bay, and the seal-fishery in its vicinity, as he should be
of opinion might in anywise tend to the present or future benefit of his
Majesty's service as connected with these settlements.
The clergyman having completed the building which he began in July last,
divine service was performed in it for the first time on Sunday the 25th
of this month; and for a temporary accommodation it appeared likely to
answer very well. Mr. Johnson in his discourse, which was intended to
impress the minds of his audience with the necessity of holiness in every
place, lamented that the urgency of public works had prevented any
undertaking of the kind before, and had thus thrown it upon him; he
declared that he had no other motive for standing forward in the
business, than that of establishing a place sheltered from bad weather,
and from the summer heats, where public worship might be performed. He
said, that the uncertainty of a place where they might attend had
prevented many from coming; but he now hoped the attendance would be full
whenever he preached there. The place was constructed to hold five
hundred people.
It appeared by an estimate which Mr. Johnson afterwards gave in, for the
purpose of being reimbursed what it had cost him, that the expense of
this building considerably exceeded his first calculation, the whole
amount of it being £67 12s 11½d; of which Mr. Johnson paid to the
different artificers he had employed £59 18s in dollars; twenty gallons
and a half of spirits; one hundred and sixteen pounds of flour; fifty-two
pounds of salt provisions; three pounds of tobacco; and five ounces of
tea. Spirits were at this time sold in the colony at ten shillings per
gallon; but Mr. Johnson observed in his estimate that he only charged
that and other articles at the prices which they had actually cost him.
This account Mr. Johnson requested might be transmitted to the secretary
of state, and he accompanied it with a letter stating his reasons for
having undertaken the building?
The _Boddingtons_ were cleared of her cargo, and discharged from
Government employ on the 26th. The cargo, when landed, was found in most
excellent condition, not a single article being damaged; far different
from that received by the _Bellona_, where the ship was overloaded. Had
the _Boddingtons_ been coppered, no ship could have been better
calculated for the transport of provisions to this country from any part
of the world.
A remarkable instance of fecundity in a female goat occurred at the house
of one of the superintendants at Sydney. She produced five kids, three
females and two males, all of which died (a blow which the animal
received bringing them before their time) excepting the first which was
kidded, a female. The same goat in March last brought four kids, three
males and one female, all of which lived. She was a remarkably fine
creature.
Much apprehension was now entertained for the wheat, which began to look
yellow and parched for want of rain. Toward the latter end of the month,
however, some rain fell during three days and nights, which considerably
refreshed it. But there being no fixed period at which wet weather was to
be expected in this country, it might certainly be pronounced too dry for
wheat.
An unpleasant accident occurred at the lieutenant-governor's farm. A
convict of good character, who had the care of the sheep, was found dead
in the woods. He had declined coming in to his breakfast, and was left
eating some bread made of Indian corn and coarse-ground wheat. His body
was opened, but no cause for his sudden dissolution could be assigned
from its appearance.
At the Ponds, a district of settlers in the neighbourhood of Parramatta,
John Richards, in possession of a grant of thirty acres of land, died of
intoxication. This was the first death which had occurred among any of
the people of that description.
By an account taken of the provisions remaining in store on the 28th of
the month, it appeared that we had, calculating each article at the
established ration for two thousand eight hundred and forty-five persons,
the numbers victualled at Sydney and Parramatta,
Flour, to last 4 weeks, -- or 91,040 lbs
Beef, to last 3 weeks, -- or 59,745 lbs
Pork, to last 11 weeks, -- or 125,180 lbs
Wheat, to last 1 week, -- or 22,760 lbs
Gram and Peas, to last 8 weeks, -- or 68,280 lbs
Sugar, to last 3 weeks, -- or 3,200 lbs
Paddy, 43,000 lbs
September.] Unproductive as the Indian corn proved which was sown last
year on the public grounds, the settlers must have had a better crop;
for, after reserving a sufficiency for seed for the ensuing season, and
for their domestic purposes, a few had raised enough to enable them to
sell twelve hundred bushels to Government, who, on receiving it into the
public stores, paid five shillings per bushel to the bringer. Government,
however, was not resorted to in the first instance by the settler, who
preferred disposing of his corn where he could receive spirits in payment
(which he retailed for labour) to bringing it to the commissary for five
shillings a bushel; but at this price, from whose hands soever it might
come, it was received into the public stores.
The _Britannia_ and _Francis_ schooner sailed on Sunday. the 8th for
Dusky Bay. The _Francis_ was manned with seamen and boys who had been
left here from ships, and the master had for his assistant as mate Robert
Watson, who formerly belonged to his Majesty's ship _Sirius_, and was
afterwards a settler at Norfolk Island; but his allotment having been
erroneously surveyed, he, being obliged to resign a part of it, gave up
the whole, and gladly returned to his former way of life. One of the
three seamen who had been taken out of the _Kitty_, and punished, was
permitted to enter on board the schooner; another of them was taken by
the captain of the _Boddingtons_; Williams, the principal, remained in
the colony, not bearing that sort of character which would recommend him
to any master of a ship.
Captain Nicholas Nepean, the senior captain in the New South Wales corps,
having been for some time past in an ill state of health, obtained the
lieutenant-governor's leave to return to England by the way of Bengal,
and quitted the colony in the _Britannia_. Three men and one woman also
received permission to leave the settlement.
It might have been supposed, that the fatal consequences of endeavouring
to seek a place in the woods of this country where they might live
without labour had been sufficiently felt by the convicts who arrived
here in the _Queen_ transport from Ireland, to deter others from rushing
into the same error, as they would, doubtless, acquaint the new comers
with the ill success which attended their schemes of that nature. Several
of those, however, who came out in the _Boddingtons_ went off into the
woods soon after their landing; and a small party, composed of some
desperate characters, about the same time stole a boat from Mr. Schaffer,
the settler, with which, as they were not heard of for some days after,
it was supposed they had either got out of the harbour, or were lying
concealed until, being joined by those who had taken to the woods, they
could procure a larger and a safer conveyance from the country.
A slight change took place in the ration this month; the sugar being
expended, molasses was ordered to be served in lieu of that article, in
the proportion of a pint of molasses to a pound of sugar.
On Sunday the 15th died James Nation, a soldier in the New South Wales
corps, into which he had entered from the marine detachment. He sunk
under an inflammatory complaint brought on by hard drinking. With this
person Martha Todd cohabited at the time of her decease, which, as before
related, was occasioned by the same circumstance, and which, together
with her death, Nation had been frequently heard to say was the cause of
much unhappiness to him.
On Tuesday the 17th the signal was made at the South Head, and about six
o'clock in the evening the _Sugar Cane_ transport anchored in the cove
from Cork, whence she sailed the 13th of last April, having on board one
hundred and ten male and fifty female convicts, with a sergeant's party
of the New South Wales corps as a guard. Nothing had happened on board
her until the 25th of May, when information was given to Mr. David Wake
Bell, the agent on the part of Government, that a mutiny was intended by
the convicts, and that they had proceeded so far as to saw off some of
their irons. Insinuations were at the same time thrown out, of the
probability of their being joined by certain of the sailors and of the
guard. The agent, after making the necessary inquiry, thought it
indispensable to the safety of the ship to cause an instant example to
be made, and ordered one of the convicts who was found out of irons to
be executed that night. Others he punished the next morning; and by
these measures, as might well be expected, threw such a damp on the
spirits of the rest, that he heard no more during the voyage of attempts
or intentions to take the ship.
Since the arrival of the _Boddingtons_ many circumstances respecting the
intended mutiny in that ship had been disclosed by the convicts
themselves which were not before known. They did not hesitate to say,
that all the officers were to have been murdered, the first* mate and the
agent excepted, who were to be preserved alive for the purpose of
conducting the ship to a port, when they likewise were to be put to
death.
[* Mr. Duncan McEver. He belonged to the _Atlantic_, which ship he
quitted at Bengal.]
As intentions of this kind had been talked of in several ships, the
military guard should never have been less than an officer's command, and
that guard (especially when embarked for the security of a ship full of
wild lawless Irish) ought never to have been composed either of young
soldiers, or of deserters from other corps.
This ship had a quick passage from Rio de Janeiro, arriving here in
sixty-five days from that port. She brought the following quantity of
provisions and stores for the colony:
Beef 46 tierces 15,496 ) 31,496 pounds;
Shipped at Cork 80 barrels 16,000 )
Pork 92 tierces 29,440 ] 45,440 pounds;
Shipped at Cork 80 barrels 16,000 ]
Flour 192 barrels, 64,512 pounds;
Lime-stone, shipped at Cork 44 tons;
Clothing and necessaries 17 bales and 5 cases
The convicts arrived in a very healthy state, nor was any one lost by
sickness during the voyage.
Captain Paterson, of the New South Wales corps, an account of whose
journeys in Africa appeared in print some years ago, conceiving that he
might be able to penetrate as far as, or even beyond, the western
mountains (commonly known in the colony by the name of the Blue
Mountains, from the appearance which land so high and distant generally
wears), set off from the settlement with a small party of gentlemen
(Captain Johnston, Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Laing the assistant-surgeon) well
provided with arms, and having provisions and necessaries sufficient for
a journey of six weeks, to make the attempt. Boats were sent round to
Broken Bay, whence they got into the Hawkesbury, and the fourth day
reached as far as Richmond Hill. At this place, in the year 1789, the
governor's progress up the river was obstructed by a fall of water, which
his boats were too heavy to drag over. This difficulty Captain Paterson
overcame by quitting his large boats, and proceeding from Richmond Hill
with two that were smaller and lighter. He found that this part of the
river carried him to the westward, and into the chasm that divided the
high land seen from Richmond Hill. Hither, however, he got with great
difficulty and some danger, meeting in the space of about ten miles with
not less than five waterfalls, one of which was rather steep, and was
running at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour. Above this part the
water was about fifteen yards from side to side, and came down with some
rapidity, a fall of rain having swollen the stream. Their navigation was
here so intricate, lying between large pieces of rock that had been borne
down by torrents, and some stumps of trees which they could not always
see, that (after having loosened a plank in one boat, and driven the
other upon a stump which forced its way through her bottom) they gave up
any further progress, leaving the western mountains to be the object of
discovery at some future day. It was supposed that they had proceeded ten
miles farther up the river than had ever before been done, and named that
part of it which until then had been unseen, 'the Grose;' and a high peak
of land, which they had in view in the chasm, they called 'Harrington
Peak.'
Captain Paterson, as a botanist, was amply rewarded for his labour and
disappointment by discovering several new plants. Of the soil in which
they grew, he did not, however, speak very favourably.
He saw but few natives, and those who did visit them were almost
unintelligible to the natives of this place who accompanied him. He
entertained a notion that their legs and arms were longer than those of
the inhabitants of the coast. As they live by climbing trees, if there
really was any such difference, it might perhaps have been occasioned by
the custom of hanging by their arms and resting on their feet at the
utmost stretch of the body, which they practise from their infancy. The
party returned on the 22nd, having been absent about ten days.
In their walk to Pitt Water, they met with the boat which had been stolen
by some of the Irish convicts; and a few days after their return some of
those who had run into the woods came into Parramatta, with an account of
two of their party having been speared and killed by the natives. The men
who were killed were of very bad character, and had been the principals
in the intended mutiny on board the _Boddingtons_. Their destruction was
confirmed by some of the natives who lived in the town.
The foundation of another barrack for officers was begun in this month.
For the privates one only was yet erected; but this was not attended with
any inconvenience, as all those who were not in quarters had built
themselves comfortable huts between the town of Sydney and the
brick-kilns. This indulgence might be attended with some convenience to
the soldiers; but it had ever been considered, that soldiers could no
where be so well regulated as when living in quarters, where, by frequent
inspections and visitings, their characters would be known, and their
conduct attended to. In a multiplicity of scattered huts the eye of
vigilance would with difficulty find its object, and the soldier in
possession of a habitation of his own might, in a course of time, think
of himself more as an independent citizen, than as a subordinate soldier.
On the 23rd the first part of the cargo of the _Sugar Cane_ was
delivered, and in a very few days all that she had on board on account of
government was received into the store, together with some surplus
provisions of the contractor's. The convicts which she brought out were,
very soon after her arrival, sent to the settlements up the harbour. At
these places the labouring people were employed, some in getting the
Indian corn for the ensuing season into such ground as was ready, and
others in preparing the remainder. At the close of the month, through the
favourable rains which had fallen, the wheat in general wore the most
flattering appearance, giving every promise of a plenteous harvest. At
Toongabbie the wheat appeared to bid defiance to any accident but fire,
against which some precautions had however been judiciously and timely
taken. From this place, and from the settlers, a quantity of corn
sufficient to supply all our numbers for a twelvemonth was expected to be
received into the public granaries, if those who looked so far forward,
and took into their calculation much corn not yet in ear, were not too
sanguine in their expectations.