An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume I Part 12

February.] The first signal from the flagstaff at the South Head was displayed on the 10th of February; and though every imagination first turned toward the expected stranger, yet happening about the time at which the _Supply_ was expected from Norfolk Island, conjecture soon fixed on the right object; and the temporary suspence was put an end to, by word being brought up to the settlement, that the _Supply_, unable to get into Port Jackson, had borne up for Botany Bay, in which harbour she anch.o.r.ed in the dusk of the evening. The next morning the letters which she had brought were received. Lieutenant King wrote, that his people continued healthy, and his settlement went on well. His wheat had returned twenty fold, notwithstanding he had had much dry weather. He had relinquished his intention of throwing up a redoubt on Mount George; but, instead of that work, had employed his people in constructing a stockade of piles round his house, inclosing an oblong square of one hundred feet by one hundred and forty, within which he purposed erecting storehouses, and a barrack for the military. He stated, that the convicts under his orders had in general very good gardens, and that many of them would have a very large produce of Indian corn.

The _Supply_ having in her way to Norfolk Island touched at Lord Howe Island, Lieutenant Ball left the gunner and a small party to turn turtle, but they met with no success; so that no dependance was to be placed on that island for any material relief. The gunner examined the island, and found fresh water in cavities, but not in any current.

The _Supply_ could not get round from Botany Bay until the 12th, when she came to anchor in the cove, whence she had been absent just five weeks.

Lieutenant King having constantly written in high terms of the richness of the soil of Norfolk Island, the governor, on comparing the situation of the convicts there and in this settlement, where their gardens had not that fertility to boast of, and where the ration from the store was with too many hastily devoured, and with most derived but an uncertain and scanty aid from any other source, determined, and about the middle of the month announced his determination, to detach thither a large body of convicts, male and female, together with two companies of the marines.

Some immediate advantages were expected to be derived from this measure; the garden ground that would be left by those who embarked would be possessed by those who remained, while the former would instantly on their arrival at Norfolk Island partic.i.p.ate in the produce of luxuriant gardens, in a more constant supply of fish, and in the a.s.sistance that was occasionally obtained from the birds which settled on Mount Pitt.

At the same time that this intention was made public, the day of their departure was fixed. The whole were to embark on board the _Sirius_ and the _Supply_ in the beginning of the following month, and were, if no s.h.i.+p arrived from England to prevent them, to sail on the 5th. Should, unfortunately, the necessity of adopting the measure then exist, the _Sirius_ was to proceed to China directly from Norfolk Island to procure a supply of provisions for the colony. China was chosen, under an idea that salt provisions were to be obtained there, and that it was preferable to sending to any of the islands in those seas, or to the Cape of Good Hope at this season of the year, when the _Sirius_ and her crew would have had to encounter the cold and boisterous weather of a winter's pa.s.sage thither.

As the numbers on Norfolk Island would be considerably increased by the arrival of this detachment from hence, the governor judged the presence of Major Ross necessary there, as lieutenant-governor of the territory.

Lieutenant King was to be recalled and return to this settlement.

Preparations were immediately set on foot for the embarkation of the marines and other persons who were to quit this colony. It had been a part of the first determinations on this business, that the _Sirius_ should, as I have mentioned, proceed directly from Norfolk Island on her voyage to China; but Captain Hunter having represented the absolute necessity he should be under of touching somewhere to wood and water, owing to the number he should have on board, that idea was given up, and Captain Hunter was directed to return with the _Sirius_ to this port for the above purposes of wooding and watering. An additional reason offered itself to influence this determination; it was hoped, that before she could return, the arrival of the expected supplies would have rendered the voyage altogether unnecessary; and it was but reasonable to suppose that this would happen. The governor had, in all his dispatches, uniformly declared the strong necessity there was of having at least two years provisions in store for some time to come; and as this information, together with an exact account of the situation of the colony, had been transmitted by seven different conveyances, if only one had arrived safe, it could not reasonably be doubted that supplies would be immediately dispatched. From the length of time too which had elapsed since the departure of the last s.h.i.+ps* that sailed from hence direct for England (full fifteen months), it was as reasonable to suppose that they might arrive within the time that the _Sirius_ would be absent.

[* The _Golden Grove_ and the _Fishburn_ sailed from this port the 19th of November 1788, intending to make their pa.s.sage round by Cape Horn, to which the season was most favourable.]

The month pa.s.sed in the arrangements and preparations requisite on this occasion, to which the weather was extremely unfavourable, heavy rains, with gales of wind, prevailing nearly the whole time. The rain came down in torrents, filling up every trench and cavity which had been dug about the settlement, and causing much damage to the miserable mud tenements which were occupied by the convicts. By these rains, a pit which had been dug for the purpose of procuring clay to plaister the walls of a hut, was filled with water; and a boy upwards of two years of age, belonging to one of the female convicts, falling into it, was drowned. The surgeons tried, but without success, to save his life, using the methods practised by the Humane Society. Yet bad as the weather was, several gardens were robbed, and, as at this time they abounded with melons and pumpkins, they became the object of depredation in common with other productions of the garden.

A brick building, fifty-nine feet in front, designed for a guard-house, of which the foundation had been laid a few days before the heavy rains commenced, suffered much by their continuance. The situation of this building was on the east side of the cove, at the upper part, contiguous to the bridge over the run of water, and convenient for detaching a.s.sistance to any part of the place where it might be requisite.

On the 1st of March a reduction in the allowance of spirits took place; the half pint _per diem_, which had hitherto been issued to each man who was ent.i.tled to receive it, was to be discontinued, and only the half of that allowance served. Thus was the gradual decrease in our stores followed by a diminution of our daily comforts and necessaries.

One immediate consequence, and that an evil one, was the effect of the intended embarkation for Norfolk Island. It being found that great quant.i.ties of stock were killed, an order was immediately given to prevent the further destruction of an article so essential in our present situation, until some necessary regulations could be published; but the officers and people who were about to embark were not included in this prohibition. The mention of future regulations in this order instantly begat an opinion among the convicts, that on the departure of the s.h.i.+ps all the live stock in the colony would be called in, or that the owners would be deprived of the benefits which might result from the possession of it. Under colour, therefore, of its belonging to those who were exempted in the late order, nearly all the stock in the settlement was in the course of a few nights destroyed; a wound being thereby given to the independence of the colony that could not easily be salved, and whose injurious effects time and much attention alone could remove.

The expected supplies not having arrived, on the 3rd, the two companies of marines with their officers and the colours of the corps embarked on board the _Sirius_ and the _Supply_. With them also embarked the lieutenant-governor, and Mr. Considen the senior a.s.sistant surgeon of the settlement. On the day following, one hundred and sixteen male and sixty-eight female convicts, with twenty-seven children, were put on board; among the male convicts the governor had sent the troublesome and incorrigible Caesar, on whom he had bestowed a pardon. With these also was sent, though of a very different description, a person whose exemplary conduct had raised him from the situation of a convict to the privileges of a free man. John Irving had since our landing in the country been employed as an a.s.sistant at the hospital. He was bred a surgeon, and in no instance whatever, since the commission of the offence for which he was transported, had he given cause of complaint. He was now sent to Norfolk Island, to act as an a.s.sistant to the medical gentlemen there.

On the 5th the _Sirius_ and the _Supply_ left the cove, but did not get to sea until the following day, when at the close of the evening they were scarcely to be discerned from the South Head. At the little post at this place Captain Hunter left the gunner, a mids.h.i.+pman, and six of the _Sirius's_ people. Mr. Maxwell, one of her lieutenants, having been for a considerable time past in a melancholy and declining way, and his disorder p.r.o.nounced by the surgeons to be insanity, he was discharged from the s.h.i.+p, and had taken up his residence on sh.o.r.e under the care of the surgeon, with proper people who were left from the s.h.i.+p to attend him. This was the second officer whose situation in the _Sirius_ it became necessary to have filled. Lieutenant King, the commandant of Norfolk Island, had for some time been discharged from the s.h.i.+p's books; and Mr. Newton Fowell, a young gentleman of the _Sirius's_ quarter-deck, being deemed well qualified, was appointed by the governor (as the naval commanding officer) to succeed him. To fill the vacancy occasioned by Mr.

Maxwell's unfortunate state of health, Mr. Henry Waterhouse, a young gentleman of promising abilities, was taken from the quarter-deck. Both these appointments were to wait the confirmation of the lords commissioners of the admiralty.

Immediately after the departure of these s.h.i.+ps, the governor directed his attention to the regulation of the people who were left at Sydney, and to the preservation of the stock in the colony. For these purposes, he himself visited the different huts and gardens whose tenants had just quitted them, distributing them to such convicts as were either in miserable hovels, or without any shelter at all. It was true, that by this arrangement the idle found themselves provided for by the labour of many who had been industrious; but they were at the same time a.s.sured, that unless they kept in good cultivation the gardens which they were allowed to possess, they would be turned out from the comforts of a good hut, to live under a rock or a tree. That they might have time for this purpose, the afternoon of Wednesday and the whole of Sat.u.r.day in each week were given to them. Much room was made every where by the numbers who had embarked (in all two hundred and eighty-one persons); the military quarters had a deserted aspect; and the whole settlement appeared as if famine had already thinned it of half its numbers. The little society that was in the place was broken up, and every man seemed left to brood in solitary silence over the dreary prospect before him.

With respect to the stock, his excellency directed, that no hogs under three months old should be killed, nor were any to be butchered without information being first given at headquarters.

Those who bred poultry were left at liberty to dispose of it in such manner as they thought proper; and the commissary was directed to purchase for the use of the hospital such live stock as the owners were desirous of selling, complying with the above regulations, and receiving one s.h.i.+lling a pound as the price.

Some provisions which yet remained in the old large thatched store were removed for greater security into the store in the marine quarters. It was strongly suspected, that an attempt had been made to obtain some part of these provisions in the night; and some convicts were examined before the judge-advocate on suspicion of having taken some flour from the store; but nothing appeared that could materially affect them. The provisions, when all collected together under one roof and into one view, afforded but a melancholy reflection; it was well that we had even them.

On the 27th of the month, the long-expected signal not having been displayed, it became necessary to put the colony upon a still shorter ration of provisions. It was a painful but a necessary duty. The governor directed that the provisions should in future be served daily; for which purpose the store was to be opened from one to three in the afternoon.

The ration for the week was to consist of four pounds of flour, two pounds and a half of pork, and one pound and a half of rice, and these were to be issued to every person in the settlement without distinction; but as the public labour must naturally be affected by this reduction, the working hours were in future to be from sunrise, with a small interval for breakfast, until one o'clock: the afternoons were to be allowed the people to receive their provisions and work in their gardens.

These alterations in the ration and in the hours of labour, however, were not to commence until the 1st of the following month.

At Rose Hill similar regulations were made by the governor. The garden ground was enlarged; those who were in bad huts were placed in better; and every thing was said that could stimulate them to be industrious.

This, with a few exceptions, appeared to be the princ.i.p.al labour both there and at Sydney; and the night.w.a.tch were called upon by the common interest to be more than ever active and sedulous in their efforts to protect public and private property; for robberies of gardens and houses were daily and nightly committed. Damage was also received from the little stock which remained alive; the owners, not having wherewith to feed them, were obliged to turn them loose to browse among the gra.s.s and shrubs, or turn up the ground for the fern-root; and as they wandered without any one to prevent their doing mischief, they but too often found an easy pa.s.sage over fences and through barriers which were now grown weak and peris.h.i.+ng. It was however ordered, that the stock should be kept up during the night, and every damage that could be proved to have been received during that time was to be made good by the owners of the stock that might be caught trespa.s.sing; or the animals themselves were to be forfeited.

The carpenters were employed in preparing a roof for a new storehouse, those which were first erected being now decaying, and having been always insecure. It was never expected to get up a building of one hundred feet in front, which this was designed to be, upon so reduced a ration as the present; but while the people did labour, it was proper to turn that little labour to the public account.

The working gangs being now so much reduced by the late embarkation, the hoy was employed in bringing the timber necessary for this building from the coves where it was cut down and deposited for that purpose. This vessel, when unemployed for public services, was given to the officers, and by them sent down the harbour to procure cabbage-tree for their stock, in the preservation and maintenance of which every one felt an immediate and anxious concern.

The weather had been very wet during this month; torrents of rain again laid every place under water; many little habitations, which had withstood the inundations of the last month, now suffered considerably; several chimneys fell in; but this was owing, perhaps, as much to their being built by job or taskwork (which the workmen hurried over in general to get a day or two to themselves) as to the heavy rains.

April.] The reduced ration and the change in the working hours commenced, as was directed, on the 1st of this month; much time was not consumed at the store, and the people went away to dress the scanty allowance which they had received.

Attention to our religious duties was never omitted. Divine service was performed in one of our emptied storehouses on the morning of the next day, being Good Friday; and the convicts were recommended to employ the remainder of it in their gardens. But, notwithstanding the evident necessity that existed for every man's endeavouring to a.s.sist himself, very few were observed to be so profitably occupied.

As every saving that could be made in the article of provisions was of consequence in the present situation of the stores, it was directed on the 3rd, that such fish as should in future be taken by the public boats should be issued at the store, in the proportion of ten pounds of fish to two pounds and a half of pork; and one hundred and fifty pounds of fish, which had been brought up before the issuing of provisions commenced on that day, were served out agreeable to that order.

Mr. Maxwell, whose disorder at times admitted of his going out alone, was fortunately brought up from the lower part of the harbour, where he had pa.s.sed nearly two days, without sustenance, in rowing from one side to the other, in a small boat by himself. He was noticed by a sergeant who had been fis.h.i.+ng, and who observed him rowing under the dangerous rocks of the middle-head, where he must soon have been dashed to pieces, but for his fortunate interposition. After this escape he was more narrowly watched.

While occupied in listening to the tale, of his distresses, the _Supply_ returned from Norfolk Island, with an account that was of itself almost sufficient to have deranged the strongest intellect among us. A load of acc.u.mulated evils seemed bursting at once upon our heads. The s.h.i.+ps that were expected with supplies were still to be anxiously looked for; and the _Sirius_, which was to have gone in quest of relief to our distresses, was lost upon the reef at Norfolk Island, on the 19th of last month. This was a blow which, as it was unexpected, fell with increased weight, and on every one the whole weight seemed to have fallen.

This untoward accident happened in the following manner:

Captain Hunter was extremely fortunate in having a short pa.s.sage hence to Norfolk Island, arriving there in seven days after he sailed. The soldiers, and a considerable part of the convicts, were immediately landed in Cascade Bay, which happened at the time to be the leeward side of the island. Bad weather immediately ensued, and for several days, the provisions could not be landed, so high was the surf occasioned by it.

This delay, together with a knowledge that the provisions on the island were not adequate to the additional numbers that were now to be victualled, caused him to be particularly anxious to get the provisions on sh.o.r.e. The bad weather had separated the _Sirius_ from the _Supply_; but meeting with a favourable slant of wind on the 19th, Captain Hunter gained the island from which he had been driven, and stood for Sydney Bay, at the south end of it, where he found the _Supply_; and it being signified by signal from the sh.o.r.e (where they could form the best judgment) that the landing might be effected with any boat, he brought to in the windward part of the bay, with the s.h.i.+p's head off the sh.o.r.e, got out the boats, and loaded them with provisions. When the boats had put off from the s.h.i.+p, it being perceived that she settled very much to leeward, the tacks were got on board, and every sail set that was possible to get her free from the sh.o.r.e. Notwithstanding which, she could not weather the reef off the south-west end of the bay, the wind having at that time very unfavourably s.h.i.+fted two points. The s.h.i.+p was then thrown in stays, which she missed, being with great difficulty wore clear of the breakers, and brought to the wind on the other tack, when every sail was again set. Finding that she still drifted fast upon the sh.o.r.e, another attempt was made to stay her; but being out of trim, it did not succeed. All the sheets and hallyards were then ordered to be let fly, and an anchor to be cut away; but before it reached the ground, she struck with violence on the reef, very soon bulged, and was irrecoverably lost. Her officers and people were all saved, having been dragged on sh.o.r.e, through the surf, on a grating.

This day, which untoward circ.u.mstances had rendered so gloomy to us, was remarkably fine, and at the unfortunate moment of this calamity there was very little wind. On the next or second day after, permission was given to two convicts (one of whom, James Brannegan, was an overseer) to get off to the s.h.i.+p, and endeavour to bring on sh.o.r.e what live hogs they might be able to save; but with all that lamentable want of resolution and consideration which is characteristic of the lower order of people when temptations are placed before them, they both got intoxicated with the liquor which had escaped the plunder of the seamen, and set the s.h.i.+p on fire in two places. A light on board the s.h.i.+p being observed from the sh.o.r.e, several shot were fired at it, but the wretches would neither put it out, nor come on sh.o.r.e; when a young man of the name of Ascott, a convict, with great intrepidity went off through the surf, extinguished the fire, and forced them out of the s.h.i.+p.

The lieutenant-governor, immediately after the loss of the Sirius, called a council of all the naval and marine officers in the settlement, when it was unanimously determined that martial law should be proclaimed; that all private stock, poultry excepted, should be considered as the property of the state; that justice should be administered by a court-martial to be composed of seven officers, five of whom were to concur in a sentence of death; and that there should be two locks upon the door of the public store, whereof one key was to be in the keeping of a person to be appointed by Captain Hunter in behalf of the seamen; the other to be kept by a person to be appointed in behalf of the military. The day following, the troops, seamen, and convicts, being a.s.sembled, these resolutions were publicly read, and the whole confirmed their engagement of abiding by them by pa.s.sing under the king's colour, which was displayed on the occasion.

In the _Supply_ arrived the late commandant of Norfolk Island, two lieutenants, four petty officers, twenty-four seamen, and two marines, lately belonging to the _Sirius_. These officers spoke in high terms of the activity and conduct of Mr. Keltie the master, Mr. Brooks the boatswain, and Mr. Donovan a mids.h.i.+pman of the _Sirius_, who ventured off to the s.h.i.+p in one of the island boats through a very dangerous surf, and brought on sh.o.r.e the end of the hawser, to which was slung the grating that saved the lives of the officers and people. They likewise somewhat blunted the edge of this calamity, by a.s.surances that it was highly probable, from the favourable appearance of the weather when the _Supply_ left Norfolk Island, that all or at least the greatest part of the provisions would be landed from the _Sirius_.

The general melancholy which prevailed in this settlement when the above unwelcome intelligence was made public need not be described; and when the _Supply_ came to an anchor in the cove every one looked up to her as to their only remaining hope.

In this exigency the governor thought it necessary to a.s.semble all the officers of the settlement, civil and Military, to determine on what measures were necessary to be adopted. At this meeting, when the situation of the colony was thoroughly weighed and placed in every point of view, it was determined to reduce still lower what was already too low; the ration was to be no more then two pounds and a half of flour, two pounds of pork, one pint of peas, and one pound of rice, for each person for seven days. This allowance was to be issued to all descriptions of people in the colony, children under eighteen months excepted, who were to have only one pound of salt meat. Every exertion was to be made here, and at Botany Bay, in fis.h.i.+ng for the general benefit. All private boats were to be surrendered to the public use; every effort was to be put in practice to prevent the robbing of gardens; and, as one step toward this, all suspicious characters were to be secured and locked up during the night. People were to be employed to kill, for the public, the animals that the country afforded; and every step was to be taken that could save a pound of the salt provisions in store, It was proposed to take all the hogs in the settlement as public property; but as it was absolutely necessary to keep some breeding sows, and the stock being small and very poor, that idea was abandoned.

In pursuance of these resolutions, the few convicts who had been employed to shoot for individuals were given up for the public benefit; and a fishery was established at Botany Bay, under the inspection of one of the mids.h.i.+pmen of the _Sirius_. But this plan, not being found to answer, was soon relinquished. The quant.i.ty of fish that was from time to time taken was very inconsiderable, and the labour of transporting it by land from thence was greater than the advantage which was expected to be derived from it. The boats were therefore recalled, and employed with rather more success at Sydney.

It was well known, that the integrity of the people employed in fis.h.i.+ng could not be depended upon; the officers of the settlement therefore voluntarily took upon themselves the unpleasant task of superintending them; and it became a general duty, which every one cheerfully performed.

The fis.h.i.+ng-boat never went out without an officer, either by night or by day.

On the 7th, about four hundred weight of fish being brought up, it was issued agreeable to the order; and could the like quant.i.ty have been brought in daily, some saving might have been made at the store, which would have repaid the labour that was employed to obtain it. But the quant.i.ty taken during this month, after the 7th, was not often much more than equal to supplying the people employed in the boats with one pound of fish per man, which was allowed them in addition to their ration. The small boats, the property of individuals, were therefore returned to their owners, and the people who had been employed in them, together with the seamen of the _Sirius_ now here, were placed in the large boats belonging to the settlement.

Neither was much advantage obtained by employing people to shoot for the public. At the end of the month only three small kangaroos had been brought in. The convicts who were employed on this service, three in number, were considered as good marksmen, and were allowed a ration of flour instead of their salt provisions, the better to enable them to sustain the labour and fatigue of traversing the woods of this country.

The necessity of procuring relief became every day more pressing. The voyage of the _Sirius_ to China was at an end; and nothing had yet arrived from England, though hourly expected. It was the natural and general opinion, that our present situation was to be attributed to accident rather than to procrastination. It was more probable, that the vessels which had been dispatched by the British government had met with some distress, that had either compelled them to return or had wholly prevented them from any further prosecution of the voyage, than that any delay should have taken place in their departure. The governor, therefore, determined on sending the _Supply_ armed tender to Batavia; and, as her commander was most zealously active in his preparations for the voyage, she was soon ready for sea. Her tonnage, however, was trifling when compared with our necessities. Lieutenant Ball was, therefore, directed to procure a supply of eight months provisions for himself, and to hire a vessel and purchase 200,000 pounds of flour, 80,000 pounds of beef, 60,000 pounds of pork, and 70,000 pounds of rice; together with some necessaries for the hospital, such as sugar, sago, hogs lard, vinegar, and dongaree. The expectation of this relief was indeed distant, but yet it was more to be depended upon than that which might be coming from England. A given time was fixed for the return of the _Supply_; but it was impossible to say when a vessel might arrive from Europe. Whatever might be our distress for provisions, it would be some alleviation to look on to a certain fixed period when it might be expected to be removed. Lieutenant Ball's pa.s.sage lay through the regions of fine weather, and the hope of every one was fixed upon the little vessel that was to convey him; yet it was painful to contemplate our very existence as depending upon her safety; to consider that a rough sea, a hidden rock, or the violence of elemental strife, might in one fatal moment precipitate us, with the little bark that had all our hopes on board, to the lowest abyss of misery. In the well-known ability and undoubted exertions of her commander however, under G.o.d, all placed their dependance; and from that principle, when she sailed, instead of predicting mischance, we all, with one wish for her safe return, fixed and antic.i.p.ated the period at which it might reasonably be expected.

She sailed on Sat.u.r.day the 17th of April, having on board Lieutenant King, the late commandant of Norfolk Island, who was charged with the governor's dispatches for the secretary of state, and Mr. Andrew Miller, the late commissary, whose ill state of health obliging him to resign that employment, the governor permitted him to return to England. and had appointed Mr. John Palmer, the purser of the _Sirius_, to supply his place.

Lieutenant Newton Fowell, of the _Sirius_, was, together with the gunner of that s.h.i.+p, also embarked. The _Supply_ was to touch at Norfolk Island, if practicable, and take on board Lieutenant Bradley of the _Sirius_, who, from his knowledge of the coast, was chosen by the governor to proceed to Batavia, and was to return to this port in whatever vessel might be freighted by Lieutenant Ball; Mr. Fowell and the gunner were to be left at the island.

Mr. Palmer received his appointment from his excellency on the 12th of this month, on which day the following was the state of the provisions in the public store, viz

Pork 23,851 pounds,) Which was 26th Aug.---4 months 14 days.

Beef 1,280 pounds,) to serve Rice 24,455 pounds,) at the 13th Sept.--5 months 1 day.

Peas 17 bushels,) ration Flour 56,884 pounds,) then issued 19th Dec.---8 months 7 days.

Biscuit 1,924 pounds,) until