An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island Part 4

During the whole of this month, the weather was cloudy and hazy, with light showers of rain, and sometimes distant thunder; the wind chiefly, though from the north-east and south-east, and during the night, westerly, or land winds. The thermometer from 63 to 112.

The thermometer, as marked for these last four months, was in the open air occasionally exposed to the sun and wind.

I judged it better, while mentioning the weather during the different months, to go on with that by itself, and not to mix it with any other occurrences: I must, therefore, return back as far as the beginning of March, at which time, as the two French s.h.i.+ps already spoken of were preparing to leave this coast, I determined to visit Monsieur de la Perouse before he should depart; I accordingly, with a few other officers, sailed round to Botany-Bay, in the Sirius's long-boat. We staid two days on board the Bussole, and were most hospitably and politely entertained, and very much pressed to pa.s.s a longer time with them.

When I took my leave the weather proved too stormy to be able to get along the coast in an open boat; I therefore left the long-boat on board the Bussole, took my gun, and, with another officer and two seamen, travelled through the woods and swamps, of which there were many in our route. We directed our course by a pocket compa.s.s, which led us within a mile of our own encampment; the distance from Botany-Bay to Port Jackson, across the land, and near the sea sh.o.r.e, is, in a direct line, eight or nine miles; and the country about two miles to the southward of Port Jackson abounds with high trees, and little or no underwood; but between that and Botany-Bay, it is all thick, low woods or shrubberies, barren heaths, and swamps; the land near the sea, although covered in many places with wood, is rocky from the water-side to the very summit of the hills.

Whilst walking on sh.o.r.e with the officers of the French s.h.i.+ps at Botany-Bay, I was shown by them a little mount upon the north sh.o.r.e, which they had discovered, and thought a curiosity; it was quite rocky on the top, the stones were all standing perpendicularly on their ends, and were in long, but narrow pieces; some of three, four, or five sides, exactly (in miniature) resembling the Giants Causeway in the north of Ireland.

The Bussole and Astrolabe sailed from Botany-Bay the 11th of March.

As I have mentioned something of the country between Botany-Bay and Port Jackson, I must farther observe, that in the neighbourhood of Sydney Cove, which is that part of this harbour in which Governor Phillip has fixed his residence, there are many spots of tolerably good land, but they are in general of but small extent; exclusive of those particular spots, it is rather a poor steril soil, full of stones; but near, and at the head of the harbour, there is a very considerable extent of tolerable land, and which may be cultivated without waiting for its being cleared of wood; for the trees stand very wide of each other, and have no underwood: in short, the woods on the spot I am speaking of resemble a deer park, as much as if they had been intended for such a purpose; but the soil appears to me to be rather sandy and shallow, and will require much manure to improve it, which is here a very scarce article; however, there are people whose judgment may probably be better than mine, that think it good land; I confess that farming has never made any part of my studies. The gra.s.s upon it is about three feet high, very close and thick; probably, farther back there may be very extensive tracts of this kind of country, but we, as yet, had no time to make very distant excursions into the interior parts of this new world.

On the 6th of May, three of the transports, which were chartered by the East-India Company to load tea at China, sailed from this port; the Supply also sailed for Lord Howe Island.

The carpenter of the Sirius, with his crew, had been constantly employed on sh.o.r.e since our arrival in this country, a.s.sisting in erecting store-houses, and other necessary buildings. The s.h.i.+p's company were variously employed out of the s.h.i.+p upon the business of the settlement. The scurvy had, for some time past, appeared more amongst the seamen, marines, and convicts, than when on board the s.h.i.+ps, which will appear strange, after having enjoyed the advantage of being much upon the land, and eating various vegetable productions; but this the gentlemen of the faculty say is no uncommon thing, particularly when men are under the necessity of continuing the same salt diet; setting aside this, and a few with dysenteries, the health of the people cannot be said to be bad.

About the middle of this month a convalescent, who had been sent from the hospital to gather wild spinach, or other greens, was murdered by the natives; there were two of them together, the one escaped, but was wounded, the other has never been heard of since; but as some part of his cloaths were found which were b.l.o.o.d.y, and had been pierced by a spear, it was concluded he had been killed. A short time after this accident, a report prevailed, that part of the bones of a man had been found near a fire by which a party of the natives had been regaling themselves; this report gave rise to a conjecture, that as this man had been killed near this place, the people who had committed the murder had certainly ate him.

Whether any of the natives of this country are cannibals is yet a matter on which we cannot speak positively; but the murder of two other men, as related immediately after this, seems to contradict the conjecture that they are cannibals, as the men were left on the spot where they were killed: however, the following circ.u.mstance may, in some degree, incline us to believe, that although the natives in general do not eat human flesh, yet that that horrid custom is sometimes practised. I was one day present when two native children were interrogated on the subject of the quarrels of their countrymen; they were particularly asked, what the different chiefs did with those they killed; they mentioned some who burnt and buried the slain, but they also particularly named one who ate those he killed.

Some short time after the before-mentioned accident happened, two convicts who had been employed at a little distance up the harbour, in cutting rushes for thatching, were found murdered by the natives. It has been strongly suspected that these people had engaged in some dispute or quarrel with them, and as they had hatchets and bill-hooks with them, it is believed they might have been rash enough to use violence with some of the natives, who had, no doubt, been numerous there; be that as it might, the officer who went to look after those unfortunate men, and to see what work they had done, after hailing some time for them without any reply, set his boat's crew upon the search, who, having found a considerable quant.i.ty of blood near their tent, suspected what they soon found to be the case: for they discovered the two men immediately after, lying in different places, both dead; the one had his brains beat out with a club or stone, besides several other wounds; the other had many wounds, and part of a spear, which had been broke, sticking quite through his body. Their tent, provisions, and cloaths remained, but most of the tools were taken away.

The 4th of June being the birth-day of our much beloved sovereign, and the first we had seen in this most distant part of his dominions, it was celebrated by all ranks with every possible demonstration of loyalty, and concluded with the utmost chearfulness and good order.

Having at this time of the year much bad weather, and very heavy gales of wind, I must observe, that I had, as well as many others, believed till now, that the gales had never blown upon the coast in such a direction, but that a s.h.i.+p, on being close in with the land when such a gale commenced, might gain an offing on one tack or the other; but we now found, that those gales are as variable in their direction upon this coast as any other during the winter season: I would, therefore, recommend it to s.h.i.+ps bound to any port here to the southward of lat.i.tude 30 00'

south, at this time of the year to get in or near the parallel of their port, before they attempt to make the land; as in that case, if a gale from the eastward should take them when near the land, they would have their port under their lee, for it would be next to an impossibility for a s.h.i.+p to keep off the land with such a sea as these gales occasion.

In the month of July, our s...o...b..tic patients seemed to be rather worse; the want of a little fresh food for the sick was very much felt, and fish at this time were very scarce: such of the natives as we met seemed to be in a miserable and starving condition from that scarcity. We frequently fell in with families living in the hollow part of the rocks by the sea-side, where they eagerly watched every opportunity of moderate weather to provide sh.e.l.l or other fish for their present subsistence: if a bird was shot, and thrown to them, they would immediately pluck off the feathers, put it upon the fire without taking out the intestines, and eat the whole; sometimes they did not pull off the feathers, and, if it were a small bird, did not even throw the bones away.

This season, in which fish is so scarce, subjects these poor creatures to great distress, at least we were apt to believe so; they were frequently found gathering a kind of root in the woods, which they broiled on the fire, then beat it between two stones until it was quite soft; this they chew until they have extracted all the nutritive part, and afterwards throw it away. This root appears to be a species of the orchis, or has much of its nutritive quality.

Large fires were frequently seen in this season upon some of the hills, and we had been much at a loss to know for what purpose they were so frequently lighted, at this time of the year; but in going down the harbour one day, with an intention to get upon the North Head, for the purpose of ascertaining its exact lat.i.tude, we observed on a hill near that point, one of those large fires, which (with the first lieutenant and surgeon who were with me) we determined to visit; and as we thought it might probably be some funeral ceremony, which we were very desirous of seeing, we took our guns, and intended getting up amongst them unperceived; but when we arrived at the place, to our very great disappointment, not a person was to be seen: I believe there were not less than three or four acres of ground all in a blaze; we then conjectured that these fires were made for the purpose of clearing the ground of the shrubs and underwood, by which means they might with greater ease get at those roots which appear to be a great part of their subsistence during the winter. We had observed that they generally took the advantage of windy weather for making such fires, which would of course occasion their spreading over a greater extent of ground.

On the 14th of July four transports, under the command of Lieutenant Shortland, sailed for England; they intended going to the northward, and pa.s.sing through the streights of Maca.s.sar and Sunda, the season being too early either to attempt going round Van Diemen's land, and to endeavour to get to the westward by that tract, or to go to the eastward by Cape Horn.

The 12th of August being the birth-day of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, a salute of 21 guns was fired from the Sirius and Supply, and the officers of the settlement and s.h.i.+ps dined with the governor, as on His Majesty's birth-day.

We began at this time to take equal alt.i.tudes for ascertaining the exact rate of the time-keeper. On the 17th, the governor directed two boats from the Sirius, with a proper officer in each, to go up the harbour; one to take the north, the other the south side; they were to enter every cove in their way up, in order to ascertain, as exactly as possible, the number of canoes and natives within the harbour of Port Jackson; for the same purpose, two other boats went down the harbour; in one of which the governor went, and I proceeded in the other; in the lower or north part of the harbour there was a considerable number of canoes, some of which were then employed in catching fish.

Upon my going round the coves, they all left their work and pushed with great precipitation for the land, which convinced me that they were women who were thus employed; as they had always shown a desire, as much as possible, to avoid us. I did every thing in my power to prevent their being alarmed, or in any respect uneasy, by keeping at a distance from them, and making every friendly signal I could, but to no purpose; for although there was no other boat in company, they did not seem disposed to trust us near them: there were many men upon the sh.o.r.e, who spoke to us in their usual familiar and chearful manner, and invited us with much apparent earnestness and friends.h.i.+p to come on sh.o.r.e, which, however, I declined, in order to prosecute the business I was engaged in; although I own I thought the counting them from the boat was a very uncertain method of coming at their numbers.

It blew fresh, and there was so much surf on sh.o.r.e, that it was impossible to land where the people stood, without the danger of hurting the boat, otherwise it is probable that I, together with Lieutenant George Johnston, of the marines, who was in the boat with me, should have landed: we went as near as possible to the sh.o.r.e, I believe within twenty yards, and whilst in friendly conversation with them, and lying upon our oars, we observed one of them place his lance upon the throwing-stick, but had no idea that he meant to throw it amongst us, after so friendly an invitation as we had received from them to land: but I was now convinced, that they only wanted us within their reach, no doubt from an opinion that we had no fire arms, as they did not appear: as soon as they thought that they could throw it with effect, a lance was discharged, which pa.s.sed about six feet over our heads; I saw the lance in the air, and immediately s.n.a.t.c.hed up my gun, which, as they run off the moment they had shown their hostile intention, I was determined to discharge amongst them, and should probably have killed one of their number, if my gun had not missed fire. Mr. Johnston, upon my gun having missed, immediately discharged his into the bushes in which they had sheltered themselves from our sight; but as it was charged only with small shot, I think it could not have hurt any of them.

What reason they could have had for this treacherous kind of conduct, I am wholly at a loss to guess, for nothing hostile or mischievous had appeared on our part; on the contrary, the most friendly disposition had been manifested in every thing we said or did; even when their women took the alarm upon our approach, I spoke to them, and made such signs of friends.h.i.+p as we judged they would understand, and went round at a distance to prevent their apprehension of any insult. It was perhaps fortunate that my gun did not go off; as I was so displeased at their treachery, that it is highly probable I might have shot one of them.

On comparing the accounts, which were taken by the different boats employed upon this business, it appeared that we had seen--Canoes 67--men 94--women 34--children 9,--which is by no means a just account of the numbers who, at that time, lived in and about this harbour; for I have since seen in one part of the harbour more than that number.

On the 27th, the Supply tender arrived from Norfolk Island, where she had been with a quant.i.ty of provisions and stores for that settlement; she brought the melancholy account of the loss of Mr. James Cunningham, and four others, who were drowned in the surf, by their boat being overset in landing the stores from the Supply; so exceedingly difficult of access is the sh.o.r.e of that island, from an almost continual surf breaking on a reef which encompa.s.ses the coast on that part where the settlement is formed.

In this month a report prevailed in the settlement, which seemed at first to gain some credit:--It was, that one -Dailey_, a convict, had discovered a piece of ground, wherein he had found a considerable quant.i.ty of a yellow coloured ore, which, upon its being tried, appeared to have a certain proportion of gold in it; at this time the governor happened to be absent on a short excursion into the country, to the northward: the report having been made to the lieutenant-governor, he, of course, examined the man, who had made the discovery, and who told his story with so much plausibility, that it was not doubted but an ore of some kind had been sound.

Dailey was interrogated as to the place, but this he refused to give any information of until the return of the governor, to whom he would give a full account of the discovery, provided he would grant him what the discoverer considered as but a small compensation for so valuable an acquisition; this reward was, (as there were s.h.i.+ps upon the point of sailing) his own and a particular woman convict's enlargement, and a pa.s.sage in one of the s.h.i.+ps to England, together with a specified sum of money, which I do not now recollect. The lieutenant-governor insisted, that as he had already mentioned the discovery he had made, he should also show what part of the country it was in, otherwise he might expect punishment, for daring to impose upon those officers to whom he had related this business: the fear of punishment disposed him to incline a little, though apparently with much reluctance; he proposed to the lieutenant-governor, that an officer should be sent down the harbour with him, for the mine, which, he said, was in the lower part of the harbour, and near the sea sh.o.r.e, and he would show the place to the officer.

Accordingly, an officer, with a corporal and two or three private soldiers were sent with him; he landed where he said the walk would be but short, and they entered the wood in their way to the mine; soon after they got among the bushes, he applied for permission to go to one side for a minute upon some necessary occasion, which was granted him; the officer continued there some hours without seeing the discoverer again, who, immediately on getting out of his sight, had pushed off for the camp by land, for he knew the road very well, and he had cunning enough to persuade the officer to send the boat away as soon as they had landed, as he supposed he would not choose to quit the place until a good guard came down; for which purpose, the officer was to have dispatched a man by land, as soon as he arrived at the place, and was satisfied that it merited attention.

The convict arrived in camp pretty early in the afternoon, and informed the lieutenant-governor, that he had left the officer who went down with him in full possession of the gold mine; he then got a few things out of his own tent, and disappeared; the party, after waiting for some hours hooping and searching through the woods for the cheat, left their stations and marched round to the camp, where they arrived at dusk, heartily tired, and not a little chagrined at the trick the villain had played them. The want of provisions soon brought him from his concealment, and a severe punishment was the necessary consequence of this imposition: however, he still gave out, that he had made the discovery which he before had mentioned, and that his reasons for quitting the officer who went with him was, that he thought, if he gave the information to the governor himself, he should certainly get what he had asked.

When the governor returned, another officer was sent with him, although every person now believed that there was no truth in what he had hitherto reported. This officer informed him, in going down in the boat, that he would not suffer him to go three yards from him when landed, and that he would certainly shoot him if he attempted to run from him; for which purpose he showed him, that he was loading his gun with ball: this so terrified the cheat, that he acknowledged he knew of no gold mine. He was then interrogated respecting the ore which he had produced, and he confessed he had filed down part of a yellow metal buckle, and had mixed with it some gold filed off a guinea, all which had been blended with some earth, and made hard. The man who tried the ore was bred a silversmith, and upon separating the different parts, he discovered that it contained a small quant.i.ty of gold: the inventor was, of course, well punished for his trick.

[The observations which I made here, both for the lat.i.tude and longitude, as well as those that were made by Lieutenant Bradley, were the same as are inserted in the following tables.]

[The tablse are included in the HTML version]

Chapter IV

A VOYAGE TO CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

September 1788 to January 1789

The Sirius leaves Port Jackson.--Sails for the Cape of Good Hope, by the Eastern Pa.s.sage.--Falls in with many large islands of ice.--Casts anchor at Robin's Island.--Tables of the winds, weather, etc.-

In the month of September, Governor Phillip signified to me, that it was his intention very soon to dispatch the Sirius to the Cape of Good Hope, in order to purchase such quant.i.ty of provisions as she might be capable of taking on board; and that she might be made as light as possible for that purpose, he desired I would land eight or ten of her guns and carriages, with any other articles which I judged the s.h.i.+p could spare, for the time she might be absent, and which might answer the purpose of lightening the s.h.i.+p and the making of room.

In consequence of this order, eight guns, with their carriages, and 24 rounds of shot for each gun, 20 half barrels of powder, a spare anchor, and various other articles, were put on sh.o.r.e at Sydney-cove: he also directed that I should leave the s.h.i.+p's long-boat behind for the use of the settlement: this order I confess I with reluctance obeyed, as the want of such a boat has often been very severely felt; at the same time I was desired to endeavour, on my arrival at the Cape, to purchase such a boat for the settlement; and that written directions for that and other purposes would be given me, when I received my final instructions. Whilst upon this subject, I thought it a proper opportunity to represent, that the Sirius was (except in the carpenter's department,) perfectly ready for sea; but the carpenter's crew, together with the carpenter of the s.h.i.+p himself, having all been employed constantly on the business of the settlement, since our arrival in this country, the s.h.i.+p had, in consequence, been much neglected in that department; and as she was soon to go to sea, it was highly necessary that those people should be immediately sent on board to prepare her for a voyage.

We had, it is true, (upon my representing the absolute necessity of having the s.h.i.+p's decks and sides caulked,) employed an old man, the carpenter's yeoman, and a convict caulker, upon the weather work of the s.h.i.+p; but that work, we had afterwards reason to know, had not been so well executed as it might have been, had the carpenter of the s.h.i.+p been permitted to stay on board and attend so necessary a duty.

On Tuesday the 30th of September, I received my final orders, and on Wednesday the Ist of October, unmoored the s.h.i.+p; the governor and his family dined on board, and the wind being easterly, we got under weigh and worked down to the lower anchorage, where we came to, intending to take advantage of the land wind in the morning to put to sea. The Golden Grove store-s.h.i.+p also came down and anch.o.r.ed below, having on board provisions and other stores, for Norfolk Island; she had also on board a number of men and women convicts for that island; I think twenty men and twelve women, together with six marines and three seamen from the Sirius. In the evening, the governor and the other gentlemen who were with him took their leave, and early in the morning of the 2d, with the wind at south-west, we sailed out of the harbour.

As I have not at any time, when speaking of this harbour, given any description of it, or any directions for sailing into it, I will take this opportunity.

The entrance of the harbour of Port Jackson has nothing in its appearance, when six leagues from the land, by which it may be known; your lat.i.tude will be your most infallible guide to this harbour, or indeed to any other upon this coast. Steer in for the land, which here lies about north by east half east and south by west half west; keep as near as you can in lat.i.tude 33 50'

south; the entrance, when you come near, will show itself, by the heads on each side, which are high, steep, perpendicular cliffs, of a light reddish colour; a s.h.i.+p bound in here, may run in without fear between the heads, which are distant from each other one mile and three quarters; there is nothing in the way, and the sh.o.r.e pretty steep to on each side; the sea breaking, which it does even in fine weather, will show any rocks which may lie near under the sh.o.r.e. Steer in between the heads for a high bluff point, which is called Middle Cape or Head, and is steep to, until you open to the southward of you a very extensive arm of the harbour.

If the wind be sufficiently large to run up this branch, (which lies by compa.s.s south-west by south) on either sh.o.r.e, haul round the east-most point of this arm, which is called the Inner or South Head; it is a low rocky point; give it a birth of two-thirds of a cable, and steer right in for the first sandy cove above it, on the same side, called Camp Cove; keep at a convenient, but small distance from the sh.o.r.e, in three and a half and four fathoms, and observe, that right off this cove, and near mid-channel, lies a patch of rocks, which appear at half-tide; the shoaling toward them is gradual all round, upon a smooth sandy bottom; it is rocky only about half a cable's length from the dry part; you may keep near the upper point of Camp Cove, in six and seven fathoms, and from thence steer directly up the harbour. If you intend to go on the west sh.o.r.e, and to leave this patch of rocks to the eastward of you, steer in as before for Middle Head, and when within a cable's length of it, steer up for the next point above it, on the same side, observing not to make too free with that point, as it is rocky something more than half a cable's length off. In this channel, which is much the best, being rather broader than the eastern channel, you will have four, four and a half, and five fathoms. When you are above this second point, on the west sh.o.r.e, you may take what part of the channel you please, or anchor wherever you wish, there being nothing in the way from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e.

The chart will certainly be the best guide in going in. If the wind should be southerly, a stranger would not venture to work up, but he might anchor with safety in the north part of the harbour, which he will perceive by the chart, to which I would refer him, rather than to a written description*.

[* For an accurate survey of this harbour, see a Chart of Port Jackson, by Captain Hunter, in Phillip's Voyage, 4to. Edition.]

We were no sooner clear of the harbour, than the wind veered more to the southward, and began to blow strong, with thick, hazy, and dirty weather; and, what gave me privately a good deal of concern, the carpenter reported, that the s.h.i.+p, which had hitherto been very tight, now made water. This piece of information, with such a voyage as the Sirius was now entered upon, was no doubt very unwelcome; and more particularly so, when it was considered, that the s.h.i.+p's company, from having been long upon salt diet, without the advantage of any sort of vegetables, were not so healthy and strong as a leaky s.h.i.+p might require.

I had often observed, that when this voyage, upon which we were now entered, was the subject of conversation, in company with the governor, he always spoke in favour of the pa.s.sage round Van Diemen's land, and to the westward; but when I signified a wish that he would direct by what route I should endeavour to perform the voyage, he declined that; and said that I should be governed by circ.u.mstances, and that he should leave it to my discretion and judgment; at the same time expressing his opinion strongly in favour of the western route; which I confess I was a little surprised at, as it had never yet been attempted, not even by s.h.i.+ps employed in that kind of service which leaves it in their power to make experiments.

I do not say that the pa.s.sage from Van Diemen's land to the Cape of Good Hope, by the westward, is impracticable, as that remains yet to be tried; but from my own experience of the prevalence of strong westerly winds across that vast ocean, I am inclined to think it must be a long and tedious voyage; and at the same time so very uncertain, that the time for which the Sirius was victualled, (for four months, and of some articles not more than two weeks, for the number of men on board; having left a considerable quant.i.ty of our provision for the use of the settlement,) and the nature of the service she was going upon, which was no doubt of considerable consequence to the colony, was not an opportunity for trying such an experiment; as the consequence of a disappointment would have been, that I must have returned again to Port Jackson for a fresh supply of provisions, and the season for another pa.s.sage would have been too far advanced. I therefore determined, judging from the experience of those who had before made the eastern pa.s.sage, to pa.s.s to the southward of New Zealand and round Cape Horn.

We stood off to the eastward, determined as early as possible to get an offing of fifty or sixty leagues; the wind continued to the southward, with the same hazy and squally weather, until the 5th, when it s.h.i.+fted to south-south-east; by this time we were about 70 leagues from the coast, which enabled us to tack and stand to the south-west: with this change of wind from the south-west to the south-east quarter, the same squally and unsettled weather continued. The s.h.i.+p upon the larboard tack made much more water than on the starboard, so much as to render it necessary to pump her every two hours, to prevent too long a spell; she made in general from ten to twelve inches in two hours.