The _Arthur_ arrives from India
_Francis_ from Norfolk Island
A playhouse opened
Her Majesty's birthday kept
Stills destroyed
_Ceres_ storeship arrives
and _Experiment_ from India
Ship _Otter_ from America
Natives
Harvest got in
Deaths
A hut demolished by the military
A Transport arrives with prisoners from Ireland
A criminal court held
Caesar shot
General court martial
_Otter_ takes away Mr. Muir
_Abigail_ from America arrives
A forgery committed
Works
The _Reliance_
Particulars respecting Mr. Bampton, and of the fate of Captain Hill
and Mr. Carter
A Schooner arrives from Duskey-Bay
Crops bad
Robberies committed
_Supply_ for Norfolk Island
Natives
Bennillong
_Cornwallis_ sails
Gerald and Skirving die
1796.]
January] On the first of this month, the _Arthur_ brig anchored in the
cove from Calcutta. Mr. Barber, who was here in 1794 in the same vessel,
had been induced by the success he then met with to pay us a second
visit, with a cargo similar as to the nature of the articles, but of much
larger value than that which he then sold. He had been thirteen weeks on
his passage, and had heard nothing of the _Britannia_.
It appeared from the information he brought us, that the Cape of Good
Hope might at that time be in the possession of the English. Trincomale
had surrendered to our arms; but of Batavia he could only say, that a
strong party in the French interest existed there.
The _Surprise_, Captain Campbell, had arrived at Bengal after a long
passage of eight months from this port.
In the evening of the following day the colonial vessel returned from
Norfolk Island, having been absent just four weeks. Lieutenant-governor
King continued extremely ill.
In consequence of the order issued last month respecting a reduction in
the price of wheat, the settlers, having consulted among themselves,
deputed a certain number from the different districts to state to the
governor the hardships they should be subjected to by a reduction in the
price of grain, at least for that season. He therefore consented to
purchase their present crops of wheat at ten shillings per bushel; but at
the same time assured them, that a reduction would be made in the ensuing
season, unless some unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances should occur
to render it unnecessary.
The officers who held ground offered to give up two of the number of men
the governor had allowed them, and to take two others off the
provision-store, which proposal was directed to be carried into execution.
Some of the more decent class of prisoners, male and female, having some
time since obtained permission to prepare a playhouse* at Sydney, it was
opened on Saturday the 16th, under the management of John Sparrow, with
the play of The Revenge and the entertainment of The Hotel. They had
fitted up the house with more theatrical propriety than could have been
expected, and their performance was far above contempt. Their motto was
modest and well chosen--'We cannot command success, but will endeavour to
deserve it.' Of their dresses the greater part was made by themselves;
but we understood that some veteran articles from the York theatre were
among the best that made their appearance.
[* The he building cost upwards of one hundred pounds. The names of the
principal performers were, H. Green, J. Sparrow (the manager), William
Fowkes, G. H. Hughes, William Chapman, and Mrs. Davis. Of the men, Green
best deserved to be called an actor.]
At the licensing of this exhibition they were informed, that the
slightest impropriety would be noticed, and a repetition punished by the
banishment of their company to the other settlements; there was, however,
more danger of improprieties being committed by some of the audience than
by the players themselves. A seat in their gallery, which was by far the
largest place in the house, as likely to be the most resorted to, was to
be procured for one shilling. In the payment of this price for admission,
one evil was observable, which in fact could not well be prevented; in
lieu of a shilling, as much flour, or as much meat or spirits, as the
manager would take for that sum, was often paid at the gallery door. It
was feared that this, like gambling, would furnish another inducement to
rob; and some of the worst of the convicts, ever on the watch for
opportunities, looked on the playhouse as a certain harvest for them, not
by picking the pockets of the audience of their purses or their watches,
but by breaking into their houses while the whole family might be
enjoying themselves in the gallery. This actually happened on the second
night of their playing.
The 18th was observed as the day on which her Majesty's birth is
celebrated in England.* The troops fired three volleys at noon, and at
one o'clock the king's ships fired twenty-one guns each, in honour of the
day.
[* The anniversary of her Majesty's birth might with greater propriety be
kept in the colonies, particularly in New South Wales, on the 19th of
May, the day on which it happened, than at any other time; the same
reasons for observing it at a time distant from the king's not existing
there. This is attended to in India.]
Among other objects of civil regulation which required the governor's
attention was one to remedy an evil of great magnitude. Some individuals
formed the strange design of making application to the governor for his
licence to erect stills in different parts of the settlement. On inquiry
it appeared, that for a considerable time past they had been in the
practice of making and vending a spirit, the quality of which was of so
destructive a nature, that the health of the settlement in general was
much endangered.
A practice so iniquitous and ruinous, being not only a direct
disobedience of his Majesty's commands, but destructive of the welfare of
the colony in general, the governor in the most positive manner forbade
all persons on any pretence whatsoever to distil spirituous liquors of
any kind or quality, on pain of such steps being taken for their
punishment as would effectually prevent a repetition of so dangerous an
offence. The constables of the different districts, as well as all other
persons whose duty it was to preserve order, were strictly enjoined to be
extremely vigilant in discovering and giving information where and in
whose possession any article or machine for the purpose of distilling
spirits might then be, or should hereafter be erected in opposition to
this notification of the governor's resolution. Information on this
subject was to be given to the nearest magistrate, who was to send the
earliest notice in his power to the judge-advocate at Sydney.
In pursuance of these directions several stills were found and destroyed,
to the great regret of the owners, who from a bushel of wheat (worth at
the public store ten shillings) distilled a gallon of a new and poisonous
spirit, which they retailed directly from the still at five shillings per
quart bottle, and sometimes more. This was not merely paid away for
labour, as was pretended, but sold for the purposes of intoxication to
whoever would bring ready money.
Little or no attention having been paid to the order issued in October
last respecting removing the paling about the stream, the governor found
it necessary to repeat it, and to declare in public orders, 'to every
description of persons, that when an order was given by him, it was given
to be obeyed.' This had become absolutely necessary, as there were some
who, in open defiance of his directions, not only still opened the
paling, but took with dirty vessels the water which they wanted above the
tanks, thereby disturbing and polluting the whole stream below.
Several attempts had been made by the commissary to ascertain the number
of arms in the possession of individuals; it being feared, that, instead
of their being properly distributed among the settlers for their
protection, many were to be found in the hands of persons who used them
in shooting, or in committing depredations. It was once more attempted to
discover their number, by directing all persons (the military excepted)
who were in possession of arms to bring them to the commissary's office,
where, after registering them, they were to receive certificates signed
by him, of their being permitted to carry such arms.
Some few settlers, who valued their arms as necessary to their defence
against the natives and against thieves, hastened to the office for their
certificate; but of between two and three hundred stands of arms which
belonged to the crown not fifty were accounted for.
The many robberies which were almost daily and nightly committed rendered
it expedient that some steps should be taken to put a stop to an evil so
destructive of the happiness and comfort of the industrious inhabitants.
Caesar was still in the woods, with several other vagabonds, all of whom
were reported, by people who saw them from time to time, to be armed; and
as he had sent us word, that he neither would come in, nor suffer himself
to be taken alive, it became necessary to secure him. Notice was
therefore given, that whoever should secure and bring him in with his
arms should receive as a reward five gallons of spirits. The settlers,
and those people who were occasionally supplied with ammunition by the
officers, were informed, that if they should be hereafter discovered to
have so abused the confidence placed in them, as to supply those common
plunderers with any part of this ammunition, they would be deemed
accomplices in the robberies committed by them, and steps would be taken
to bring them to punishment as accessories.
To relieve the mind from the contemplation of circumstances so irksome to
humanity, on the 23rd the _Ceres_ store-ship arrived from England. It was
impossible that a ship could ever reach this distant part of his
Majesty's dominions, from England, or from any other part of the world,
without bringing a change to our ideas, and a variety to our amusements.
The introduction of a stranger among us had ever been an object of some
moment; for every civility was considered to be due to him who had left
the civilized world to visit us. The personal interest he might have in
the visit we for a while forgot; and from our solicitude to hear news he
was invited to our houses and treated at our tables. If he afterwards
found himself neglected, it was not to be wondered at; his intelligence
was exhausted, and he had sunk into the mere tradesman.
This ship, whose master's name was Hedley, had on board stores and
provisions for the settlement. She sailed from England on the 5th of
August last; took the route of most other ships which had preceded her,
anchoring at Rio de Janeiro on the 18th of October, whence she sailed on
the 22nd of the same month, and made Van Dieman's Land on the 9th
instant, her passage occupying something more than five months.
We found that a ship (the _Marquis Cornwallis_) had sailed for Cork to
take in her convicts three weeks before the _Ceres_ left England; and that
it was reported at Rio de Janeiro, that the Cape of Good Hope was in our
possession.
The _Ceres_, touching at the island of Amsterdam in her way hither, took
off four men, two French and two English, who had lived there three
years, having been left from a brig (the _Emilia_), which was taken on to
China by the _Lion_ man of war. One of the Frenchmen, M. Perron,
apparently deserved a better kind of society than his companions
supplied. He had kept an accurate and neatly-written journal of his
proceedings, with some well-drawn views of the spot to which he was so
long confined. It appeared that they had, in the hope of their own or
some other vessel arriving to take them off, collected and cured several
thousands of seal-skins, which, however, they were compelled to abandon.
M. Perron had subsisted for the last eighteen months on the flesh of seals.
On the day following this arrival the signal was again made; and before
noon the snow _Experiment_, commanded by Mr. Edward McClellan, who was
here in the same vessel in the year before last, from Bengal, and the
ship _Otter_, Mr. Ebenezer Dorr master, from Boston in North America,
anchored in the cove.
Mr. McClellan had on board a large investment of India goods, muslins,
calicoes, chintzes, soap, sugar, spirits, and a variety of small
articles, apparently the sweepings of a Bengal bazar; the sale of which
investment he expected would produce ten or twelve thousand pounds.
The American, either finding the market overstocked, or having had some
other motive for touching here, declared he had nothing for sale; but
that he could, as a favour, spare two hogsheads of Jamaica rum, three
pipes of Madeira, sixty-eight quarter casks of Lisbon wine, four chests
and a half of Bohea tea, and two hogsheads of molasses. He had touched at
the late residence of M. Perron, the island of Amsterdam, and brought off
as many of the sealskins (his vessel being bound to China after visiting
the north-west coast of America) as he could take on board. He had been
five months and three days from Boston, touching no where but at the
abovementioned island.
We had the satisfaction of hearing, through Mr. McClellan, from the
master of the _Britannia_. He had, according to his instructions,
proceeded to Batavia, where judging from his own observation, and by what
he heard, that it was unsafe to make any stay, he after four or five days
left the port, and by that means fortunately escaped being detained,
which, from information that he afterwards received at Bengal, he found
would have happened to him. He was to leave Calcutta about the end of
December.
The report of the Cape of Good Hope being in our possession had reached
that place before the _Experiment_ sailed. On this subject we were rather
anxious, as the armed ships which had lately arrived, the _Reliance_ and
_Supply_, were intended to proceed to that port as soon as the season
would admit, for cattle for the colony.
Bennillong's influence over his countrymen not extending to the natives
at the river, we this month again heard of their violence. They attacked
a man who had been allowed to ply with a passage-boat between the port of
Sydney and the river, and wounded him, (it was feared mortally,) as he
was going with his companion to the settlement; and they were beginning
again to annoy the settlers there.
Notwithstanding the reward that had been offered for apprehending black
Caesar, he remained at large, and scarcely a morning arrived without a
complaint being made to the magistrates of a loss of property supposed to
have been occasioned by this man. In fact, every theft that was committed
was ascribed to him; a cask of pork was stolen from the millhouse, the
upper part of which was accessible, and, the sentinels who had the charge
of that building being tried and acquitted, the theft was fixed upon
Caesar, or some of the vagabonds who were in the woods, the number of
whom at this time amounted to six or eight.
The harvest was all well got in during this month. At Sydney, the
labouring hands were employed in unloading the store-ship; for which
purpose three men from each farm having ten were ordered in to public work.
On the 21st of this month his Majesty's ship the _Reliance_ sailed for
Norfolk Island. In her went Mr. Hibbins, the judge-advocate of that
settlement who arrived from England in the _Sovereign_; and a captain of
the New South Wales corps, to take the command of the troops there.
On the 7th the surgeon's mate of the _Supply_ died of a dysenteric
complaint. He had attended Mr. Barrow to his grave, who died in December
last. On the evening of the 23rd a soldier of the name of Eades, having
gone over to the north shore to collect thatch to cover a hut which he
had built for the comfort of his family, fell from a rock and was
drowned. He left a widow and five small children, mostly females, to
lament his loss. He was a quiet man and a good soldier.
February.] The players, with a politic generosity, on the 4th of this
month performed the play of The Fair Penitent with a farce, for the
benefit of the widow Eades and her family. The house was full, and it was
said that she got upwards of twelve pounds by the night.
A circumstance of a disagreeable nature occurred in the beginning of this
month. John Baughan*, the master carpenter at this place, being at work
in the shed allotted for the carpenters in one of the mill-houses,
overheard himself grossly abused by the sentinel who was planted there,
and who for that purpose had quitted his post, and placed himself within
hearing of Baughan. This sentinel had formerly been a convict, and, while
working as such under Baughan in the line of his business, thought
himself in some circumstance or other ill-treated by him, for which he
'owed him a grudge', and took this way to satisfy his resentment.
Baughan, a man of a sullen and vindictive disposition, perceiving that
the sentinel was without his arms, took them, unobserved by him, from the
post where he had left them, and delivered them to the sergeant of the
guard.
[* John Baughan, alias Buffin, alias Bingham. He had served the term of
his transportation, and had for a considerable time been employed in the
direction of the carpenters and sawyers at this place.]
The sentinel being confined, the company to which he belonged, indignant
at the injury done to their comrade, and too much irritated either to act
with prudence, or to consider the conduct they determined to pursue,
repaired the following morning to Baughan's house (a neat little cottage
which he had built below the hospital), where in a few minutes they
almost demolished his house, out-houses, and furniture, and Baughan
himself suffered much personal outrage.
They were so sudden in the execution of this business, that the mischief
was done before any steps could be taken either by the civil or military
power to prevent it.
Baughan, after some days had elapsed, swearing positively to the persons
of four of the principals in this transaction, a warrant was made out to
apprehend them; but before it could be executed, the soldiers expressing
themselves convinced of the great impropriety of their conduct, and
offering to indemnify the sufferer for the damage they had done him, who
also personally petitioned the governor in their behalf, the warrant was
withdrawn.
It was observed, that the most active of the soldiers in this affair had
formerly been convicts, who, not having changed their principles with
their condition, thus became the means of disgracing their fellow-soldiers.
The corps certainly was not much improved by the introduction of
people of this description among them. It might well have been
supposed, that being taken as good characters from the class of
prisoners, they would have felt themselves above mixing with any of them
afterwards; but it happened otherwise; they had nothing in them of that
pride which is termed _l'esprit du corps_; but at times mixed with the
convicts familiarly as former cornpanions; yet when they chose to quarrel
with, or complain of them, they meanly asserted their superiority as soldiers.
This intercourse had been strongly prohibited by their officers; but
living (as once before mentioned) in huts by themselves, it was carried
on without their knowledge. Most of them were now, however, ordered into
the barracks; but to give this regulation the full effect, a high brick
wall, or an inclosure of strong paling, round the barracks, was
requisite; the latter of these securities would have been put up some
time before, had there not been a want of the labouring hands necessary
to prepare and collect the materials.
On the 11th of this month the ship _Marquis Cornwallis_ anchored in the
cove from Ireland, with two hundred and thirty-three male and female
convicts of that country. We understood from her commander, Mr. Michael
Hogan, that a conspiracy had been formed to take the ship from him; but,
the circumstances of it being happily disclosed in time, he was enabled
to prevent it, and having sufficient evidence of the existence of the
conspiracy, he caused the principal part of those concerned to be
severely punished, first taking the opinions of all the free people who
were on board. A military guard, consisting of two subalterns and a
proportionate number of privates of the New South Wales corps
(principally drafts from other regiments), was embarked in this ship. The
prisoners were in general healthy; but some of those who had been
punished were not quite recovered, and on landing were sent to the
hospital. It appeared that the men were for the most part of the
description of people termed Defenders, desperate, and ripe for any
scheme from which danger and destruction were likely to ensue. The women
were of the same complexion; and their ingenuity and cruelty were
displayed in the part they were to take in the purposed insurrection,
which was the preparing of pulverised glass to mix with the flour of
which the seamen were to make their puddings. What an importation!
A few months provisions for these people, and the remainder* of the
mooring chains intended for his Majesty's ships the _Reliance_ and the
_Supply_, together with a patent under the great seal for assembling
criminal courts at Norfolk Island, arrived in this ship. She sailed from
Cork on the 9th of August last, and touched at the island of St. Helena
and the Cape of Good Hope, which latter place, we had the satisfaction of
hearing, had surrendered to his Majesty's arms, and was in our
possession. General Craig, the commander in chief on shore, and Commodore
Blankett, each sent an official communication of this important
circumstance to Governor Hunter, and stated their desire to assist in any
circumstance that might be of service to the settlement, when the season
should offer for sending the ships under his orders to the Cape for
supplies.
[* Some part had arrived in the _Reliance_ and _Supply_.]
With infinite regret we heard of the death of Colonel Gordon, whose
attentions to this settlement, when opportunities presented themselves,
can never be forgotten. He was a favoured son of science, and liberally
extended the advantages which that science gave him wherever he thought
they could promote the welfare of his fellow-creatures.
On Monday the 15th a criminal court was held for the trial of two
prisoners, William Britton a soldier, and John Reid a convict, for a
burglary in the house of the Rev. Mr. Johnson, committed in the night of
Sunday the 7th of this month. The evidence, though strong, was not
sufficient to convict them, and they were acquitted. While this court was
sitting, however, information was received, that black Caesar had that
morning been shot by one Wimbow. This man and another, allured by the
reward, had been for some days in quest of him. Finding his haunt, they
concealed themselves all night at the edge of a brush which they
perceived him enter at dusk. In the morning he came out, when, looking
round him and seeing his danger, he presented his musket; but before
he could pull the trigger Wimbow fired and shot him. He was taken
to the hut of Rose, a settler at Liberty Plains, where he died in
a few hours. Thus ended a man, who certainly, during his life,
could never have been estimated at more than one remove above the brute,
and who had given more trouble than any other convict in the settlement.
On the morning of the 18th the _Otter_ sailed for the north-west coast of
America. In her went Mr. Thomas Muir (one of the persons sent out in the
_Surprise_ for sedition) and several other convicts whose sentences of
transportation were not expired. Mr. Muir conceived that in withdrawing
(though clandestinely) from this country, he was only asserting his
freedom; and meant, if he should arrive in safety, to enjoy what he
deemed himself to have regained of it in America, until the time should
come when he might return to his own country with credit and comfort. He
purposed practising at the American bar as an advocate; a point of
information which he left behind him in a letter. In this country he
chiefly passed his time in literary ease and retirement, living out of
the town at a little spot of ground which he had purchased for the
purpose of seclusion.
A few days after the departure of this ship, the _Abigail_, another
American, arrived. As several prisoners had found a conveyance from this
place in the _Otter_, the governor directed the _Abigail_ to be anchored
in Neutral Bay (a bay on the north shore, a little below Rock Island),
where he imagined the communication would not be so easy as the ships of
that nation had found it in Sydney Cove. Her master, Christopher
Thornton, gave out that he was bound to Manilla and Canton, having on
board a cargo for those places. For part of that cargo, however, he met
with purchasers at this place, notwithstanding the glut of articles which
the late frequent arrivals must have thrown in. He expected to have found
here a snow, named the _Susan_, which he knew had sailed from Rhode
Island with a cargo expressly laid in for this market. He came direct
from that port without touching any where.
The frequent attacks and depredations to which the settlers situated on
the banks of the Hawkesbury, and other places, were exposed from the
natives, called upon them, for the protection of their families, and the
preservation of their crops, mutually to afford each other their
assistance upon every occasion of alarm, by assembling without delay
whenever any numerous bodies of natives were reported to be lurking about
their grounds; but they seldom or never showed the smallest disposition
to assist each other. Indolent and improvident even for their own safety
and interest, they in general neglected the means by which either could
be secured. This disposition being soon manifested to the governor, he
thought it necessary to issue a public order, stating his expectations
and directions, that all the people residing in the different districts
of the settlemerits, whether the alarm was on their own farms, or on the
farm of any other person, should upon such occasions immediately render
to each other such assistance as each man if attacked would himself wish
to receive; and he assured them, that if it should be hereafter proved,
that any settlers or other persons withdrew or kept back their assistance
from those who might be threatened, or who might be in danger of being
attacked, they would be proceeded against as persons disobeying the rules
and orders of the settlement. Such as had fire-arms were also positively
enjoined not wantonly to fire at, or take the lives of any of the
natives, as such an act would be considered a deliberate murder, and
subject the offender to such punishment as (if proved) the law might
direct to be inflicted. It had been intimated to the governor, that two
white men (Wilson and Knight) had been frequently seen with the natives
in their excursions, and were supposed to direct and assist in those acts
of hostility by which the settlers had lately suffered. He therefore
recommended to every one who knew or had heard of these people, and
particularly to the settlers who were so much annoyed by them, to use
every means in their power to secure them, that they might be so disposed
of as to prevent their being dangerous or troublesome in future. The
settlers were at the same time strictly prohibited from giving any
encouragement to the natives to lurk about their farms; as there could
not be a doubt, that if they had never met with the shelter which some
had afforded them, they would not at this time have furnished so much
cause to complaint.
Those natives who lived with the settlers had tasted the sweets of a
different mode of living, and, willing that their friends and companions
should partake, either stole from those with whom they were living, or
communicated from time to time such favourable opportunities as offered
of stealing from other settlers what they themselves were pleased with.
At this time several persons who had served their term of transportation
were applying for permission to provide for themselves. Of this
description were Wilson and Knight; but they preferred a vagrant life
with the natives; and the consideration that if taken they would be dealt
with in a manner that would prevent their getting among them again, now
led them on to every kind of mischief. They demonstrated to the natives
of how little use a musket was when once discharged, and this effectually
removed that terror of our fire-arms with which it had been our constant
endeavour to inspire them.
Several articles having been brought for sale in the _Marquis
Cornwallis_, a shop was opened on shore. As money, or orders on or by any
of the responsible officers* of the colony, were taken at this shop for
goods, an opportunity was afforded to some knowing ones among the
prisoners to play off, not only base money, as counterfeit Spanish
dollars and rupees, but forged notes or orders. One forged note for ten
pound ten shillings, bearing the commissary's name, was passed at the
shop, but fortunately discovered before the recollection of the persons
who offered it was effaced, though not in time to recover the property.
The whole party was apprehended, and committed for trial.
[* Such as the commissary, paymaster of the corps, and officers who paid
companies.]
Discharging the storeships formed the principal labour of this month;
which being completed, the assistants required from the farms to unload
them were returned.
The bricklayers' gang were employed in erecting a small hut for the
accommodation of an officer within the paling of the guardhouse at
Sydney, the main guard being now commanded by a subaltern officer.
Mr. Henry Brewer, the provost-marshal of the territory, worn out with age
and infirmities, being incapable of the duties of his office, which now
required a very active and a much younger man to execute, and at this
time very much indisposed, the governor appointed to that situation
Mr. Thomas Smyth, then acting as a storekeeper at this place, until
Mr. Brewer should be able to return to the duties of it.
During one or two hot days in this month the shrubs and brushwood about
the west point of the cove caught fire, and burnt within a few yards of
the magazine. On its being extinguished, the powder was removed for a few
days on board the _Supply_, until some security against any future
accident of that kind could be thrown up round the building.
March.] Late in the evening of the 5th of March his Majesty's ship the
_Reliance_ returned from Norfolk Island. In her came Mr. D'Arcy
Wentworth. This person arrived at New South Wales in the _Neptune_
transport, and went immediately to Norfolk Island, where he was employed,
first as a superintendant of convicts, and afterwards as an assistant to
the surgeon at the hospital there, having been bred to that profession.
By letters received from Mr. Bampton, who sailed from his place in the
_Endeavour_ in the month of September last, we now heard, that on his
reaching Dusky Bay in New Zealand his ship unfortunately proved so leaky,
that with the advice and consent of his officers and people she was run
on shore and scuttled. By good fortune the vessel which had been built by
the carpenter of the _Britannia_ (when left there with Mr. John Leith the
mate, and others, in that ship's first voyage hence to the Cape of Good
Hope) being found in the same state as she had been left by them, they
completed and launched her, according to a previous agreement between the
two commanders. It may be remembered, that in addition to the large
number of persons which Mr. Bampton had permission to ship at this port,
nearly as many more found means to secrete themselves on board his ship
and the _Fancy_. For these, as well as his officers and ship's company,
he had now to provide a passage from the truly desolate shores of New
Zealand. He accordingly, after fitting as a schooner the vessel which he
had launched, and naming her the _Providence_, sailed with her and the
_Fancy_ for Norfolk Island, having on board as many of the officers and
people who reached Dusky Bay with him as they could contain, leaving the
remainder to proceed in a vessel which one Hatherleigh (formerly a
carpenter's mate of the _Sirius_, who happened to be with him) undertook
to construct out of the _Endeavour's_ long-boat. The _Fancy_ and
_Providence_ arrived safe at Norfolk Island, whence they sailed for China
on the 31st day of January last.
This unlucky termination of the voyage of the _Endeavour_ brought to our
recollection the difficulties and dangers which Mr. Bampton met with in
the _Shah Hormuzear_, when, on his return to India from this country, he
attempted to ascertain a passage for future navigators between New
Holland and New Guinea.
In the course of this narrative, the different reports received
respecting the fate of the boat which landed on Tate Island have been
stated. In a Calcutta newspaper, brought here by Mr. McClellan in the
_Experiment_, we now found a printed account of the whole of that
transaction, which filled up that chasm in the story which the parties
themselves alone could supply.
By referring to the account given in the month of July 1794, as
communicated by Mr. Dell, it will appear, that the ship, having been
driven to leeward of the island after the boat left her, was three days
before she could work up to it. When Mr. Dell went on shore to search for
Captain Hill and his companions, he could only, at his return, produce,
what he thought incontestable proofs of their having been murdered; such
as their greatcoats, a lanthorn, tomahawk, etc. and three hands, one of
which, from a certain mark, was supposed to have belonged to Mr. Carter.
Of the boat, after the most diligent search round the island, he could
find no trace. By the account now published, and which bore every mark of
authenticity, it appeared, that when the boat, in which these unfortunate
gentlemen were, had reached the island (on the 3rd of July 1793), the
natives received them very kindly, and conducted them to a convenient
place for landing. After distributing some presents among them, with
which they appeared very much satisfied, it was proposed that Mr. Carter,
Shaw (the mate of the _Chesterfield_), and Ascott, should proceed to the
top of a high point of land which they had noticed, and that Captain Hill
should stay by the boat, with her crew, consisting of four seamen
belonging to the _Chesterfield_.
The inland party, taking the precaution to arm, and provide themselves
with a necessary quantity of ammunition, set off. Nothing unfriendly
occurred during their walk, though several little circumstances
happened, which induced Ascott to suspect that the natives had some
design on them; an idea, however, which was scouted by his companions.
On their return from the hill, hostile designs became apparent, and the
natives seemed to be deterred from murdering them merely by the activity
of Ascott, who, by presenting his musket occasionally, kept them off;
but, notwithstanding his activity and vigilance, the natives at length
made their attack. They began by attempting to take Ascott's musket from
him, finding he was the most likely to annoy them; directly after which,
Mr. Carter, who was the foremost of the party, was heard to exclaim, 'My
God, my God, they have murdered me.' Ascott, who still retained his
musket, immediately fired, on which the natives left them and fled into
the bushes. Ascott now had time to look about him, and saw what he justly
deemed a horrid spectacle, Mr. Carter lying bleeding on the ground, and
Mr. Shaw with a large wound in his throat under the left jaw. They were
both however able to rise, and proceed down the hill to the boat. On
their arrival at the beach they called to their companions to fire; but,
to their extreme horror, they perceived Captain Hill and one of the
seamen lying dead on the sand, cut and mangled in a most barbarous
manner. Two others of the seamen they saw floating on the water, with
their throats cut from ear to ear. The fourth sailor they found dead in
the boat, mangled in the same shocking manner. With much difficulty these
unhappy people got into their boat, and, cutting her grapnel, pulled off
from this treacherous shore. While this was performing, they clearly saw
the natives, whom in their account they term voracious cannibals,
dragging the bodies of Captain Hill and the seamen from the beach toward
some large fires, which they supposed were prepared for the occasion,
yelling and howling at the same time most dismally.
These wretched survivors of their companions having seen, from the top of
the hill whither their ill-fated curiosity had led them, a large
sand-bank not far from the island, determined to run under the lee of it,
as they very reasonably hoped that boats would the next morning be sent
after them from the ship. They experienced very little rest or ease that
night, and when daylight appeared found they had drifted nearly out of
sight of the island, and to leeward of the sand-bank.
Deeming it in vain to attempt reaching the bank, after examining what was
left in the boat, (a few of the trifles which they had put into her to
buy the friendship of the natives, and Ascott's greatcoat, but neither a
compass nor a morsel of provisions,) they determined, by the advice of
Shaw, who of these three miserable people was the only one that
understood any thing of navigation, to run direct for Timor, for which
place the wind was then happily fair. To the westward, therefore, they
directed their course, trusting (as the printed account stated) to that
Providence which had delivered them from the cannibals at Tate Island.*
[* The narrative of this most horrible affair, as printed at Calcutta,
was reprinted entire in the _European Magazine_ for May and June 1797.]
Without provisions, destitute of water, and almost without bodily
strength, it cannot be doubted that their sufferings were very great
before they reached a place of safety and relief. They left the island on
the 3rd of July, the day on which their companions were butchered. On the
7th, having the preceding day passed a sand-bank covered with birds, they
providentially, in the morning, found two small birds in the boat, one of
which they immediately divided into three parts, and were considerably
relieved by eating it. On the 8th they found themselves with land on
both sides. Through these straits they passed, and continued their course
to the westward. All that could be done with their wounds was to keep
them clean by opening them occasionally, and washing them with salt
water. On the 11th they saw land, and pushed their boat into a bay, all
agreeing that they had better trust to the chance of being well received
on shore, than to that of perishing in the course of a day or two more at
sea. Here they procured some water and a roasted yam from the natives,
who also gave them to understand that Timor was to the southward of them.
Not thinking themselves quite so safe here as they would be at Coupang,
they again embarked. They soon after found a proa in chase of them, which
they eluded by standing with their boat over a reef that the proa would
not encounter. On the morning of the 13th they saw a point of land ahead,
which, with the wind as it then was, they could not weather. They
therefore ran into a small bay, where the natives received them, calling
out 'Bligh! Bligh!' Here they landed, were hospitably received, and
providentially saved from the horror of perishing by famine.
This place was called by the natives Sarrett, and was distinct from Timor
Land, which was the first place they refreshed at. They were also
informed, that there was another small island to the northward, called by
them Fardatte, but which in some charts was named Ta-na-bor. They also
understood that a proa came yearly from Banda to trade at Tanabor, and
that her arrival was expected in the course of seven or eight months.
They were much gratified with this information, and soon found that they
had fallen into the hands of a hospitable and humane race of people.
On the 25th of July Mr. Carter's wound was entirely healed, after having
had thirteen pieces of the fractured skull taken out. But this gentleman
was fated not long to survive his sufferings. He remained in perfect
health until the 17th of November, when he caught a fever, of which he
died on the 10th of December, much regretted by his two friends (for
adversity makes friends of those who perhaps, in other situations, would
never have shaken hands).
The two survivors waited in anxious expectation for the arrival of the
annual trading proa from Banda. To their great joy she came on the 12th
of March 1794.
For Banda they sailed on the 10th of April, and arrived there on the 1st
of May following, where they were received with the greatest hospitality
by the governor, who supplied them with every thing necessary for people
in their situation, and provided them with a passage on board an Indiaman
bound to Batavia, where they arrived on the 10th of the following
October; adding another to the many instances of escape from the perils
which attend on those whose hard fate have driven them to navigate the
ocean in an open boat.
Hard indeed was the fate of Captain Hill and Mr. Carter. They were
gentlemen of liberal education, qualified to adorn the circles of life in
which their rank in society placed them. How lamentable thus to perish,
the one by the hands and rude weapons of barbarous savages, cut off in
the prime of life and most perfect enjoyment of his faculties, lost for
ever to a mother and sister whom he tenderly loved, his body mangled,
roasted, and devoured by cannibals; the other, after escaping from those
cannibals, to perish* in a country where all were strangers to him,
except his two companions in misery Shaw and Ascott, to give up all his
future prospects in life, never more to meet the cheering eye of
friendship or of love, and without having had the melancholy satisfaction
of recounting his perils, his escape, and sufferings, to those who would
sympathise with him in the tale of his sorrows.
[* It is evident, if this account be true, that Mr. Dell must have been
mistaken in his opinion of having carried on board the _Shah Hormuzear_ a
hand which, from a certain mark on it, he knew to have belonged to Mr.
Carter.]
On the 17th the vessel built by the shipwright Hatherleigh at Dusky Bay
arrived, with some of the people left behind by Mr. Bampton. They were so
distressed for provisions, that the person who had the direction of the
vessel could not bring away the whole; and it was singularly fortunate
that he arrived as he did, for with all the economy that could be used,
his small stock of provisions was consumed to the last mouthful the day
before he made the land.
This vessel, which the officer who commanded her (Waine, one of the mates
of the _Endeavour_) not unappropriately named the _Assistance_, was built
entirely of the timber of Dusky Bay, but appeared to be miserably
constructed. She was of near sixty tons burden, and was now to be sold*
for the benefit of Mr. Bampton.
[* Notwithstanding all her imperfections, she was valued at and sold for
two hundred and fifty pounds.]
The situation of the people still remaining at Dusky Bay was not, we
understood, the most enviable; their dependence for provisions being
chiefly on the seals and birds which they might kill. They had all
belonged to this colony, and one or two happened to be persons of good
character.
On the 10th the American sailed for the north-west coast of America. In
her went Mr. James Fitzpatrick Knaresbro', a gentleman whose hard lot it
was to be doomed to banishment for life from his native country, Ireland,
and the enjoyment of a comfortable fortune which he there possessed. He
arrived here in the _Sugar Cane_ transport, in the year 1793, and had
lived constantly at Parramatta with the most rigid economy and severe
self-denial even of the common comforts of life.
It was seen with concern that the crops of this season proved in general
bad, the wheat being almost every where mixed with a weed named by the
farmers Drake. Every care was taken to prevent this circumstance from
happening in the ensuing season, by cleaning with the greatest nicety not
only such wheat as was intended for seed, but such as was received into
the public store from settlers. It was occasioned by the ground being
overwrought, from a greediness to make it produce golden harvests every
season, without allowing it time to recruit itself from crop to crop, or
being able to afford it manure. Had this not happened, the crops would
most likely have been immense.
At the Hawkesbury, where alone any promise of agricultural advantages was
to be found, the settlers were immersed in intoxication. Riot and madness
marked their conduct; and this was to be attributed to the spirits that,
in defiance of every precaution, found their way thither.
Early in the month a store-room belonging to Captain Paterson was broken
into, and articles to a large amount stolen thereout. A sentinel was
stationed in the front of the house; notwithstanding which, the thieves
had time to remove, through a small hole that they made in a brick wall,
all the property they stole.
In the course of the month Captain Townson, another officer of the corps,
was also robbed. He had that morning received in trust sixty pounds in
dollars; these, together with his watch, were stolen from him in the
following night. His servants were suspected, as were also Captain
Paterson's; but nothing could be fixed upon them that bore the resemblance
of proof.
Robberies were more frequent now than they had been for some time past,
scarcely a night passing without at least an attempt being made. On the
17th, the festival of St. Patrick, the night-watch were assaulted by two
fellows, Matthew Farrel and Richard Sutton, (better known by the title of
the Newgate Bully,) while the latter was pursued by them from a house
which he was endeavouring to break into, to the house of Farrel, who
tried to secrete him, and afford him protection.
A woman was stopped in the street at night, and a piece of callico
forcibly taken from her. A convict being taken up as the man who had
robbed her, she at first was positive to his person, but when brought
before a magistrate, on recollecting that his life might be in danger,
she was ready to swear that, it being very dark at the time, it was not
possible she should know his features. Thus difficult was it too often
found to bring these people to justice.
On the 24th his Majesty's ship _Supply_ sailed for Norfolk Island. The
patent for holding criminal courts there, which was brought hither by the
_Cornwallis_, was sent by this conveyance, together with R. Sutton (the
Newgate Bully) and some other very bad characters, who, it was not
unlikely, would soon entitle themselves to the benefit of the patent
which accompanied them.
Hogs again became such a public nuisance, by running loose in the town,
without rings or yokes, that another order respecting them was given out,
directing the owners either to shut them up, or appoint them to be
watched when at large.
Reports were again received this month of fresh outrages committed by the
natives at the river. The schooner which had been sent round with
provisions saw some of these people off a high point of land named
Portland Head, who menaced them with their spears, and carried in their
appearance every mark of hostility. The governor being at this time on an
excursion to that settlement (by water), one of his party landed on the
shore opposite Portland Head, and saw at a short distance a large body of
natives, who he understood had assembled for the purpose of burning the
corpse of a man who had been killed in some contest among themselves.
About this time Bennillong, who occasionally shook off the habits of
civilized life, and went for a few days into the woods with his sisters
and other friends, sent in word that he had had a contest with his bosom
friend Cole-be, in which he had been so much the sufferer, that until his
wounds were healed he could not with any pleasure to himself appear at
the governor's table. This notification was accompanied with a request,
that his clothes, which he had left behind him when he went away, might
be sent him, together with some victuals, of which he was much in want.
On his coming among us again, he appeared with a wound on his mouth,
which had divided the upper lip and broke two of the teeth of that jaw.
His features, never very pleasing, now seemed out of all proportion, and
his pronunciation was much altered. Finding himself badly received among
the females (although improved by his travels in the little attentions
that are supposed to have their weight with the sex) and not being able
to endure a life of celibacy, which had been his condition from the day
of his departure from this country until nearly the present hour, he made
an attack upon his friend's favourite, Boo-ree-a, in which he was not
only unsuccessful, but was punished for his breach of friendship, as
above related, by Cole-be, who sarcastically asked him, 'if he meant that
kind of conduct to be a specimen of English manners?'
The _Ceres_, having been discharged from government employ, sailed in the
beginning of the month for Canton. Being well manned, the master was not
in want of any hands from this place; but eight convicts found means to
secrete themselves on board a day or two before she sailed. They were
however, by the great vigilance of Mr. Hedley, discovered in time to be
sent back to their labour. Among them we were not surprised to find two
or three of the last importation from Ireland.
We lost four persons by death during this month. On the 6th died of a
severe dysentery, Richard Hudson, the sergeant-major of the New South
Wales corps. At three in the morning of the 16th Mr. Joseph Gerald
breathed his last. A consumption which accompanied him from England, and
which all his wishes and efforts to shake off could not overcome, at
length brought him to that period when, perhaps, his strong enlightened
mind must have perceived how full of vanity and vexation of spirit were
the busiest concerns of this world; and into what a narrow limit was now
to be thrust that frame which but of late trod firmly in the walk of
life, elate and glowing with youthful hope, glorying in being a martyr to
the cause which he termed that of Freedom, and considering as an honour
that exile which brought him to an untimely grave.* He was followed in
three days after by another victim to mistaken opinions, Mr. William
Skirving. A dysentery was the apparent cause of his death, but his heart
was broken. In the hope of receiving remittances from England, which
might enable him to proceed with spirit and success in farming, of which
he appeared to have a thorough knowledge, he had purchased from different
persons, who had ground to sell, about one hundred acres of land adjacent
to the town of Sydney. He soon found that a farm near the sea-coast was
of no great value. His attention and his efforts to cultivate the ground
were of no avail. Remittances he received none; he contracted some little
debts, and found himself neglected by that party for whom he had
sacrificed the dearest connexions in life, a wife and family; and finally
yielded to the pressure of this accumulated weight. Among us, he was a
pious, honest, worthy character. In this settlement his political
principles never manifested themselves; but all his solicitude seemed to
be to evince himself the friend of human nature. _Requiescat in pace_!
[* He was buried in the garden of a little spot of ground which he had
purchased at Farm Cove. Mr. F. Palmer, we understood, had written his
epitaph at large.]