An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island Part 10

17 ounces of pork.

Rice--one pound per ditto.

Children above twelve months old, half the above ratio. Children under twelve months old, one pound and an half of flour and a pound of rice per week. In future, all crimes which may by any three members of the council be considered as not of a capital nature, will be punished at their discretion, by a farther reduction of the present allowance of provisions."

Every day, and during every breeze from the westward, we now looked out upon the sea; but on this unfrequented ocean we could expect nothing to appear but what might be intended for us. Day after day we talked to each other respecting our situation, as no other subject seemed to occupy the mind of any one among us. We were here situated upon an island of only five miles long, and three in breadth, three hundred leagues from the nearest part of the Coast of New South Wales, deprived of every hope of finding any relief by a change of situation, and we had the additional mortification of antic.i.p.ating, in a short time, a farther reduction of our allowance of provisions.

At this particular season we had one advantage, which, when that leaves us, will reduce us to very great distress; I think, then, that many of the convicts (who are indolent to astonishment, and who can, and frequently do, eat at one meal what they are allowed for a week) must, when the resource I am going to mention fails, perish for want, or suffer death for the depredations they are so much inclined, even in times of plenty, to commit upon others.

In the month of April we found that Mount Pitt, which is the highest ground on the island, was, during the night, crowded with birds. This hill is as full of holes as any rabbit warren; in these holes at this season these birds burrow and make their nests, and as they are an aquatic bird, they are, during the day-time, frequently at sea in search of food; as soon as it is dark, they hover in vast flocks over the ground where their nests are. Our people, (I mean seamen, marines, and convicts) who are sent out in parties to provide birds for the general benefit, arrive upon the ground soon after dusk, where they light small fires, which attract the attention of the birds, and they drop down out of the air as fast as the people can take them up and kill them: when they are upon the ground, the length of their wings prevents their being able to rise, and until they can ascend an eminence, they are unable to recover the use of their wings; for this purpose, nature has provided them with a strong, sharp, and hooked bill, and in their heel a sharp spur, with the a.s.sistance of which, and the strength of their bill, they have been seen to climb the stalk of a tree sufficiently high to throw themselves upon the wing. This bird, when deprived of its feathers, is about the size of a pigeon, but when cloathed, is considerably larger, for their feathers are exceedingly thick; they are webb-footed, and of a rusty black colour; they make their holes upon the hills for breeding their young in; they lay but one egg, and that is full as large as a duck's egg.

They were, at the end of May, as plentiful as if none had been caught, although for two months before there had not been less taken than from two to three thousand birds every night; most of the females taken in May were with egg, which really fills the whole cavity of the body, and is so heavy that I think it must fatigue the bird much in flying. This _bird of Providence_, which I may with great propriety call it, appeared to me to resemble that sea bird in England, called the puffin: they had a strong fishy taste, but our keen appet.i.tes relished them very well; the eggs were excellent*.

[* For a further description, and an engraving of this bird, see the Norfolk-Island Petrel, in Phillip's Voyage, 4to Edition.]

We were highly indebted to Providence for this vast resource; but as these singular advantages could only be for a season, we reflected, with pain, that they must have an end, and that in all probability this would be the case before we got a relief. Fish was generally mentioned by Governor Phillip, when speaking of this island, as an inexhaustible resource; he also mentioned the vast quant.i.ty of birds (tropic birds and gannets) which were to be caught here upon the two small islands (Mount Pitt was not then known to be the resource we have found it).

If the governor had ever been here himself, or spent a winter upon Norfolk Island, as I have done, he certainly would not have laid any stress upon resources so very precarious as we had found them; and consequently not to be depended upon as a certain advantage. I have seen the weather so stormy, and the surf so high for near a month together, that a boat could not be launched more than twice during that period, and then only for a few hours; and even when they had got out, they would sometimes bring in a hundred fish of from two to four pounds weight, and at other times only five or six fish: so that this supply was very uncertain and very trifling, when it was considered that we were above 500 people.

The procurement of the birds upon the small islands was attended with the same disadvantages, by the difficulty of landing, from the constant surf.

In the end of May the wreck of the s.h.i.+p still held together, but the beams and knees were all either broken or loose; she was so much out of the reach of the surf when it was very heavy, that it broke with considerable less force upon her than formerly.

Every time that the weather would admit, a few sailors were sent on board to save whatever articles could be got at, and to send them on sh.o.r.e.

Our distress did not occasion us to forget that the 4th of June was the birth-day of our much beloved sovereign. On the morning of this day the colours were displayed, and at noon three vollies of musquetry were fired by the marines; as an acknowledgment that we were Britons, who, however distant and distressed, revered our king, and loved our country.

The seamen, having but little to do on the wreck, were now employed in clearing ground for a garden, that they might have a few vegetables to lengthen out their pittance of provisions.

About the middle of this month I sent some sailors on board to see if any alteration had taken place in the wreck, that might render it possible to get at the best bower and sheet cables, or any cask from the hold; but it was found impracticable, from the orlop and lower decks lying down on the contents of the hold.

On the 6th of July, a convict man who had been out in search of birds, reported, that he had been robbed of his s.h.i.+rt by three other convicts, who, being too lazy to work, had left the business they had been employed at, and had taken shelter in the woods: and as it became necessary to check an evil of so dangerous a nature as early as possible, lest from any inattention to it many of the very worthless characters, which were now upon the island, might be encouraged to a.s.semble in considerable numbers, to the very great annoyance of the more industrious part of the settlement, the lieutenant-governor directed two small parties of marines, and expressed a wish that I would also order two parties of the seamen, who might probably be less suspected of any design, to apprehend them. Each man sent upon this duty was provided with a s.h.i.+p's pistol, and a few charges of powder and ball: in the evening of the same day on which the parties went out, the culprits were brought in, pinioned by two of the seamen who had been sent after them. A few days after, a court-martial was a.s.sembled for the trial of the above convicts, and they were sentenced to receive 300 lashes each.

The Sirius's men were now wholly employed, when the weather would admit, in fis.h.i.+ng for the settlers; and when the surf was too high, in making fis.h.i.+ng-lines and hooks. A party of marines, and all the convicts, were employed in clearing ground for corn and potatoes. On the 24th of July, there being at that time no more than ten or twelve days salt provisions left, at the short allowance before-mentioned, and as birds, though growing scarce, were yet still to be had, it was judged necessary by the lieutenant-governor and council to stop the salt provisions entirely during the time which birds were to be caught; so that the ratio now was three pounds of flour, and one pint of rice per week, or in lieu of the flour, the same quant.i.ty of Indian corn meal, or wheat ground, with the husks and bran in the meal.

The people in general were now reduced so low in bodily strength for want of a sufficiency of food, that much work could not be expected; however, it was absolutely necessary that something should be done to get seed into the ground. A considerable portion of the cleared land was planted with potatoes, as the first thing from which we could expect any relief.

On the 4th of August, one of the seamen who had been walking towards the south-east part of the island, casting his eyes towards the sea, _saw a sail_; without waiting a moment to examine her particularly, he ran back with as much speed as possible, calling out as he ran, A s.h.i.+p! a s.h.i.+p! This news was all over the settlement in a few minutes, and men, women, and children were hastening in different directions to welcome the expected relief. I took a spy gla.s.s in my hand, and went to the place from whence the s.h.i.+p had been seen, and there, to my very great happiness, I observed a s.h.i.+p with an English ensign flying, not more than six or seven miles off sh.o.r.e.

The wind at this time blowing strong from south-west, it was not possible for her to appear off Sydney-Bay, she therefore wore, and seemed to intend going under the lee of the island, in order to land a boat there. Captain Johnstone, of the marines, and myself, agreed to walk across the island and receive them. We set off, and when we arrived at the sea-side, it is impossible for me to describe our feelings, when we observed the s.h.i.+p before the wind, and making sail from the island. We did all we could to show ourselves, but they did not think proper to speak to us.

The effect this disappointment had upon every individual on the island will be easier to conceive than to express by words.

Every one agreed in opinion, that it would have been much better if no s.h.i.+p had been seen. There surely was an appearance of a great want of the common feelings of humanity in the commander of this s.h.i.+p: for although we afterwards knew that he had no relief for us, he had it in his power to have given us some comfort, some hope of relief being at no great distance; that would, in a considerable degree, have relieved the anxiety of mind under which we had laboured for five months past, and he would not have lost two hours in doing it.

As Captain Johnstone and I were on our way home, lamenting our disappointment, it struck me that this s.h.i.+p must be from Port Jackson, and that the commander was bound to China; had nothing on board for the island, and therefore did not choose to lose any time; but if this conjecture should be just, he must have known from our friends what the probable state of this island was, and therefore might readily suppose that five minutes conversation would have been a vast relief to our anxiety.

After having determined to believe that he was from Port Jackson, and that we should soon have something from thence, we kept a very good look-out, and, to our great happiness, on the 7th, a s.h.i.+p was discovered in the offing, and towards the evening, another appeared in sight; the surf being low, a boat was sent immediately off to go on board the nearest: they proved to be the Justinian and the Surprize, from Port Jackson, with provisions for the relief of this island, and with an addition to the number of convicts, of about 200. The masters informed us, that five s.h.i.+ps had arrived in New South Wales with 980 convicts, and provisions for the settlement, and that they had been arrived about two months; a delay of great length, when it is considered that our situation, when the governor last heard from us, was rather an alarming one: nothing had then been saved out of the wreck of the Sirius, so that there was no certainty that we had been able to exist. Such were the reflections which I made during a moment of anxiety, and which, in a period of quiet, I do not wish to repeat.

We received information, by these s.h.i.+ps, of the unfortunate accident which befel his Majesty's s.h.i.+p Guardian, in her pa.s.sage to this country, with provisions and stores; and also that the Gorgon was fitting, to bring farther supplies, with another lieutenant-governor, who commanded a corps that had been raised for this particular service, the marines being ordered for England.

The Justinian and Surprize, by the good fortune of an uncommon time of fine weather, were cleared in little more than three weeks, and proceeded upon their voyage to China on the 30th. If these s.h.i.+ps had been here two months before they did arrive, the weather was such that they could not have been cleared two days before the time that they were. We were now looking eagerly for the arrival of the Gorgon, which s.h.i.+p, the governor informed me by letter, was to take the Sirius's crew and marines off this spot, which has cost me so much distress.

As soon as the above s.h.i.+ps arrived, and we had communication with them; for their safety, as well as for the more expeditiously landing the provisions, I sent Lieutenant Bradley on board the one, he being now perfectly acquainted with the set of the tides, their uncertainty, and all the other dangers around the island; I also sent Mr. Donovan, a mids.h.i.+pman, on board the other, he having been near two years upon duty on this island, and was well acquainted with the above particulars: this a.s.sistance enabled them at all proper times to make more free with the sh.o.r.e. Mr. Keltie, the master of the Sirius, and Mr.

Brooks, the boatswain, attended with me the whole day at the landing-place.

The boats employed on this business were manned by the Sirius's crew; so that every possible attention to prevent danger or accident was used: but, notwithstanding which, on the 17th of August, in what was considered as good landing, one of the boats, in coming into the pa.s.sage, was overtaken by a succession of heavy surfs, which threw her on one of the reefs, where she parted in less than two minutes, and seven people were drowned. I was with several other officers within twenty yards of them, and with at least thirty people beside, and could render them very little a.s.sistance.

Of the persons who were drowned, there were two of the boat's crew, who belonged to the Sirius; three women convicts, who were coming from the s.h.i.+p in this boat, a child, and one convict man, who went off with many others to try to save the women. There were two women brought on sh.o.r.e, by the exertions of the people on the reef, who were, when landed, apparently dead, but recovered by the surgeons; one was mother of the child which was lost; one convict man, who was exerting himself to save others, was himself brought on sh.o.r.e apparently drowned, but was also brought to again. The people who were lost, were carried out by the outset from the sh.o.r.e, which at a certain time of tide is so strong that a boat can scarcely pull a-head against it, even when calm.

This serves to convince me of the unfounded illiberality of an observation which I have seen in a certain publication, lately come out from England, wherein it is mentioned, when speaking of this island, that there was a boat's crew drowned at a certain time, but that it was occasioned by the imprudence of the mids.h.i.+pman, who did not attend to the orders which were given him: yet certain it is every officer here, at this time, was fully satisfied it had not been in his power to obey, owing to the out-set above-mentioned: and therefore it is equally certain, the reflection upon that gentleman's conduct was highly unjust.

If there had been any act of imprudence committed at that time, it was not by the mids.h.i.+pman, whose duty it was to obey orders, but by sending in that narrow and intricate pa.s.sage, one boat to meet another, where they must be in each other's way, and subject, by that means, (if a surf should rise at the moment) to very great danger.

I found it necessary, in unloading the s.h.i.+ps which arrived at this time, (in consequence of seeing the boats going out and meeting those coming in considerably endangered by the entangling their oars, so narrow is the pa.s.sage in its most dangerous part,) to give orders that no boat should put off from the sh.o.r.e, when a loaded boat was near in, nor indeed until such loaded boat was safely landed.

The arrival of supplies for our relief at this very critical juncture, was truly comfortable, and a strong instance of the kindness of Divine Providence to us: for our great and indeed only resource began to fail us very fast,--the Mount Pitt birds, on which it may justly be said we had for a very considerable time princ.i.p.ally lived, were now very scarce; many people who went out to catch them, were frequently, after remaining a whole night on the ground, where they were, during the plentiful season, so very numerous, contented to bring in six or eight birds, and were sometimes unable to find one. The fish also failed us entirely; for the s.h.i.+ps, during the time they were cruizing about the island and landing the provisions, did not catch one fish: it will therefore appear, that had not these supplies arrived so timefully, or had they been detained six weeks longer, through any accident, or other cause, what a deplorable situation we should have been reduced to.

Thank G.o.d, such consequences as must have attended it, were prevented by this providential relief, and the dejected gloom, and pale sickly look, which was to be seen in every countenance, now gave way to a chearful and happy appearance of satisfaction.

In the month of January, 1791, finding it impossible to get any of the remaining stores out, which were under the lower and orlop decks of the wreck, I determined to attempt getting the guns out, which, until then, I did not incline to try; the gun deck being in so infirm a state, I was suspicious, that by moving the guns, which had hitherto (being housed) hung chiefly by the bolts in the side, it might cause the deck to fall in, as the beams, from the opening of the s.h.i.+p's sides, did but barely keep hold of the clamp, the bolts of the knees being all broken: had this deck fallen in upon the others, it would have prevented every endeavour to save such stores as were under it, and which, from time to time, by the alterations which every heavy surf made on the wreck, we were sometimes enabled to get at: however, after every thing, which there was any possibility of getting at, was saved, we began with the guns, and in a few days got every gun and carriage on sh.o.r.e, by means of a traveller upon a nine inch hawser; there were only of our ordnance two carronades lost, which were carried away by the fall of the masts.

We had just compleated this business of the guns, when a sail was discovered in the offing, which we all believed to be the Gorgon, that we had so long expected; but upon her nearer approach, we discovered it to be the Supply armed tender. She had been, upon her return from Norfolk Island with the account of our misfortune, immediately dispatched to Batavia; where Lieutenant Ball was directed to endeavour to hire a vessel, and to load her with such articles of provisions as he could procure, for the relief of the settlement: this service Mr. Ball succeeded in; having procured a Dutch snow, of about 300 tons, and put on board such provisions as he could procure; consisting of beef, pork, flour, rice, and various hospital stores. The season, at Batavia, while the Supply was there, was very sickly; he lost many of his men by fevers, and among the number was Mr. Newton Fowell, the second lieutenant of the Sirius, who had been put on board to a.s.sist in bringing the vessel, which might be hired, to Port Jackson. I was exceedingly concerned for the loss of this young gentleman, who was a good, well disposed, and promising young man.

Mr. Ross, the gunner of the Sirius, who had been left at Port Jackson on duty, when she sailed for Norfolk Island, died also at Batavia: he had been put on board the Supply, in order to be landed at Norfolk Island, if she should be able to reach that place in her way to Batavia.

After the return of the Supply to Port Jackson, she was found to require some repairs, which having been compleated, she was ordered upon the service wherein we now found her, viz. bringing a few stores for Norfolk Island, with orders to embark the remaining officers and crew of the Sirius, and to return with them to Port Jackson.

This information I received with joy, as our situation was now become exceedingly irksome: we had been upon this small island eleven months, and during great part of that time, through various causes, had been oppressed by feelings more distressing than I can find words to express. On the 11th of February, I embarked, with the officers and s.h.i.+p's company, on board the Supply, having taken my leave of a place which had cost me so much distress and vexation. We had fine weather during our pa.s.sage to Port Jackson, where we arrived on the 27th, and were kindly and hospitably received by all our friends there.

I now understood from the governor, that he had entered into a contract with the master of the Dutch snow, for carrying the officers and s.h.i.+p's company of the Sirius to England; a piece of information which I did not by any means feel a pleasure in hearing: for, anxious as I was to reach England as soon as possible, I should with much patience rather have waited the arrival of an English s.h.i.+p, than to have embarked under the direction, or at the disposal, of a foreigner: however, preparations were then making for sending us off as fast as possible.

As I have spent so much time upon an island, which has of late been much spoken of, and of which many flattering accounts seem to have been given, it will be expected that I should say something concerning it.

NORFOLK ISLAND.

Mount Pitt, or the highest land, lies in Lat.i.tude 29 02'

south. Longitude 168 05' east of the meridian of Greenwich.

s.h.i.+ps, on making Norfolk Island*, may stand boldly in, there not being any thing farther out than half a mile from the sh.o.r.e to take them up. If the wind is west to south or south-east, there is generally too much surf in Sydney-Bay for boats to land, which circ.u.mstance is signified from the sh.o.r.e by not hoisting any flag at the lower flag-staff; in which case you will generally find good landing in Cascade-Bay, where I think there would not be any difficulty in landing provisions from a s.h.i.+p.

[* The remarks and directions for Norfolk Island and Sydney-Bay were made by Captain Bradley.]

If she should put in here, she might always be getting her cargo out either there or at Sydney-Bay, as the winds that prevent landing in Cascade-Bay generally make smooth water in Sydney-Bay. People may at times be landed in Ball-Bay, Duncombe-Bay, and Anson's-Bay, but neither stores nor provisions can be landed, on account of the perpendicular hills that surround them. The ground of the north side of the island is clearer of rocks than in Sydney-Bay.

Great attention should be paid to the tides, and on the south side of the island particularly; with southerly and south-east winds I have known the tide s.h.i.+ft six points, at different times, in the s.p.a.ce of half an hour; and if you cannot lie up south-south-west, standing off upon the larboard tack, the ebb tide will heave you in upon the sh.o.r.e. There is a mud bank to the north-east by north of Nepean's island, where a s.h.i.+p might safely anchor in westerly winds, and prevent being driven off Norfolk Island.

SYDNEY BAY*,

Lies in lat.i.tude 29 05' south; longitude 168 02'

east; and variation 11 00' east. The tide flows full, and changes at three quarters past seven, and rises from five to seven feet: the flood runs to the south-west by south; and the ebb to the north-east by north.

[* For Sydney-Bay, Norfolk Island, upon a large scale, see Phillip's Voyage.]