An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume I Part 13

The duration of the _Supply's_ voyage was generally expected to be six months; a period at which, if no relief arrived in the mean time from England, we should be found without salt provisions, rice, and peas.

In the above statement three hundred bushels of wheat, which had been produced at Rose Hill, were not included, being reserved for seed.

The governor, from a motive that did him immortal honor, in this season of general distress, gave up three hundred weight of flour which was his excellency's private property, declaring that he wished not to see any thing more at his table than the ration which was received in common from the public store, without any distinction of persons; and to this resolution he rigidly adhered, wis.h.i.+ng that if a convict complained, he might see that want was not unfelt even at Government house.

On the 20th of the month, the following was the ration issued from the public store to each man for seven days, or to seven people for one day: flour, 2 pounds, rice, 2 pounds, pork, 2 pounds. The peas were all expended. Was this a ration for a labouring man? The two pounds of pork, when boiled, from the length of time it had been in store. shrunk away to nothing; and when divided among seven people for their day's sustenance, barely afforded three or four morsels to each.

The inevitable consequences of this scarcity of provisions ensued; labour stood nearly suspended for want of energy to proceed; and the countenances of the people plainly bespoke the hards.h.i.+ps they underwent.

The convicts, however, were employed for the public in the forenoons; and such labour was obtained from them as their situation would allow. The guard-house on the east side was finished and taken possession of during the month.

There being many among the convicts who availed themselves of this peculiar situation to commit thefts, it became necessary to punish with severity all who were fully convicted before the court of criminal jurisdiction. One convict was executed for breaking into a house, and several others were sentenced to severe corporal punishments. Garden robberies were the princ.i.p.al offences committed. These people had been a.s.sembled by the governor, and informed that very severe punishment would follow the conviction of persons guilty of robbing gardens, as a necessary step toward preventing the continuance of such an evil; and he strongly inculcated the absolute necessity that existed for every man to cultivate his own garden, instead of robbing that of another. To the few who, from never having been industrious, had not any ground sown or planted with vegetables, he allotted a small but sufficient spot for their use, and encouraged them in their labour by his presence and directions; but they preferred any thing to honest industry. These people, though the major part of them were, during the night, locked up in the building lately occupied as a guardhouse, were ever on the watch to commit depredations on the unwary during the hours in which they were at large, and never suffered an opportunity to escape them. A female convict, who came down from Rose Hill, was robbed of her week's provisions; and as it was impossible to replace them from the public store, she was left to subsist on what she could obtain from the bounty (never more truly laudable than at this distressing juncture) of others who commiserated her situation.

One male convict was executed; one female convict and one child died. The female convict occasioned her own death, by overloading her stomach with flour and greens, of which she made a mess during the day, and ate heartily; but, not being satisfied, she rose in the night and finished it. This was one of the evil effects of the reduced ration.

May.] The expedient of shooting for the public not being found to answer the expectations which had been formed of it, sixty pounds of pork only having been saved, the game-killers were called in, and the general exertion was directed to the business of fis.h.i.+ng. The seine and the hooks and lines were employed, and with various success; the best of which afforded but a very trifling relief.

As the _Sirius_ was fated not to return to perform her intended voyage to India, the biscuit which had been baked for that purpose was issued, in lieu of flour, that article being served again when the biscuit was expended; and it lasted only through seven days.

It was naturally expected, that the miserable allowance which was issued would affect the healths of the labouring convicts. A circ.u.mstance occurred on the 12th of this month, which seemed to favor this idea; an elderly man dropped down at the store, whither he had repaired with others to receive his day's subsistence. Fainting with hunger, and unable through age to hold up any longer, he was carried to the hospital, where he died the next morning. On being opened, his stomach was found quite empty. It appeared, that not having any utensil of his own wherein to cook his provisions, nor share in any, he was frequently compelled, short as his allowance for the day was, to give a part of it to any one who would supply him with a vessel to dress his victuals; and at those times when he did not choose to afford this deduction, he was accustomed to eat his rice and other provisions undressed, which brought on indigestion, and at length killed him.

It might have been supposed, that the severity of the punishments which had been ordered by the criminal court on offenders convicted of robbing gardens would have deterred others from committing that offence; but while there was a vegetable to steal, there were those who would steal it, wholly regardless as to the injustice done to the person they robbed, and of the consequences that might ensue to themselves. For this sort of robbery the criminal court was twice a.s.sembled in the present month. The clergyman had taken a convict in his garden in the act of stealing potatoes. Example was necessary, and the court that tried him, finding that the severity of former courts did not prevent the commission of the same offence, instead of the great weight of corporal punishment which had marked their former sentences, directed this prisoner to receive three hundred lashes, his ration of flour to be stopped for six months, and himself to be chained for that time to two public delinquents who had been detected in the fact of robbing the governor's garden, and who had been ordered by the justices to work for a certain time in irons.

This sentence was carried into execution; but the governor remitted, after some days trial, that part of it which respected the prisoner's ration of flour, without which he could not long have existed.

The governor's garden had been the object of frequent depredation; scarcely a night pa.s.sed that it was not robbed, notwithstanding that many received vegetables from it by his excellency's order. Two convicts had been taken up, who confessed that within the s.p.a.ce of a month they had robbed it seven or eight times, and that they had killed a hog belonging to an officer. These were the people who were ordered by the justices to work in irons. A soldier, a man of infamous character, had been detected robbing the garden while sentinel in the neighbourhood of it, and, being tried by a court-martial for quitting his post, was sentenced and received five hundred lashes. Yet all this was not sufficient: on the evening of the 26th, a seaman belonging to the _Sirius_ got into the governor's garden, and was fired at by a watchman who had been stationed there for some nights past, and wounded, as it afterwards appeared, but so slightly as not to prevent his effecting his escape; leaving, however, a bag behind him, filled with vegetables. On close examination it was fixed upon him, and, being brought before a criminal court, he was sentenced to receive five hundred lashes; but at the same time was recommended to the governor's clemency, on account of a good character which had been given him in court. The governor, as it was his garden that was robbed, attended to the recommendation, remitting four out of the five hundred lashes which had been ordered him*. Being, after this, villain enough to accuse some of his s.h.i.+pmates of crimes which he acknowledged existed only in his own malicious mind, he received, by order of the justices, a further punishment of fifty lashes.

[* Sixty pounds of flour, which had been offered as a reward for bringing to justice a garden-thief, were paid to the watchman who fired at him.]

So great was either the villainy of the people, or the necessities of the times, that a prisoner lying at the hospital under sentence of corporal punishment having received a part of it, five hundred lashes, contrived to get his irons off from one leg, and in that situation was caught robbing a farm. On being brought in, he received another portion of his punishment.

Among other thefts committed in this season of general distress, was one by a convict employed in the fis.h.i.+ng boats, who found means to secrete several pounds of fish in a bag, which he meant to secure in addition to the allowance which was to be made him for having been out on that duty.

To deter others from committing the like offence, which might, by repet.i.tion, amount to a serious evil, he was ordered to receive one hundred lashes.

At Rose Hill the convicts conducted themselves with much greater propriety; not a theft nor any act of ill behaviour having been for some time past heard of among them*.

[* They had vegetables in great abundance.]

At that settlement a kangaroo had been killed of one hundred and eighty pounds weight; and the people reported that they were much molested by the native dogs, which had been seen together in great numbers, and, coming by night about the settlement, had killed some hogs which were not housed.

The colony had hitherto been supplied with salt from the public stores, a quant.i.ty being always shaken off from the salt provisions, and reserved for use by the store-keepers; but the daily consumption of salt provisions was now become so inconsiderable, and they had been so long in store, that little or none of that article was to be procured. Two large iron boilers were therefore erected at the east point of the cove; some people were employed to boil the salt water, and the salt which was produced by this very simple process was issued to the convicts.

Our fis.h.i.+ng tackle began now, with our other necessaries, to decrease. To remedy this inconvenience, we were driven by necessity to avail ourselves of some knowledge which we had gained from the natives; and one of the convicts (a rope-maker) was employed to spin lines from the bark of a tree which they used for the same purpose.

The native who had been taken in November last convinced us how far before every other consideration he deemed the possession of his liberty, by very artfully effecting his escape from the governor's house, where he had been treated with every indulgence and had enjoyed every comfort which it was in his excellency's power to give him. He managed his escape so ingeniously, that it was not suspected until he had completed it, and all search was rendered fruitless. The boy and the girl appeared to remain perfectly contented among us, and declared that they knew their countryman would never return.

During this month the bricklayer's gang and some carpenters were sent down to the Look-out, to erect two huts for the mids.h.i.+pmen and seamen of the _Sirius_ who were stationed there, where the stonemason's gang were employed quarrying stone for two chimneys.

The greatest quant.i.ty of fish caught at any one time in this month was two hundred pounds. Once the seine was full; but through either the wilfulness or the ignorance of the people employed to land it, the greatest part of its contents escaped. Upwards of two thousand pounds were taken in the course of the month, which produced a saving of five hundred pounds of pork at the store, the allowance of thirty-one men for four weeks.

Very little labour could be enforced from people who had nothing to eat.

Nevertheless, as it was necessary to think of some preparations for the next season, the convicts were employed in getting the ground ready both at Sydney and at Rose Hill for the reception of wheat and barley. The quant.i.ty of either article, however, to be now sown, fell far short of what our necessities required.

CHAPTER X

The _Lady Juliana_ transport arrives from England _The Guardian_ His Majesty's birthday Thanksgiving for His Majesty's recovery The _Justinian_ stores.h.i.+p arrives Full ration ordered Three transports arrive Horrid state of the convicts on board Sick landed Instance of sagacity in a dog A convict drowned Mortality and number of sick on the 13th Convicts sent to Rose Hill A town marked out there Works in hand at Sydney Instructions respecting grants of land Mr. Fergusson drowned Convicts' claims on the master of the _Neptune_ Transactions Criminal Court Whale

June.] The first and second days of this month were exceedingly unfavourable to our situation; heavy rain and blowing weather obstructed labour and prevented fis.h.i.+ng. But it was decreed that on the 3rd we should experience sensations to which we had been strangers ever since our departure from England. About half past three in the afternoon of this day, to the inexpressible satisfaction of every heart in the settlement, the long-looked-for signal for a s.h.i.+p was made at the South Head. Every countenance was instantly cheered, and wore the lively expressions of eagerness, joy, and anxiety; the whole settlement was in motion and confusion. Notwithstanding it blew very strong at the time, the governor's secretary, accompanied by Captain Tench and Mr. White, immediately went off, and at some risk (for a heavy sea was running in the harbour's mouth) reached the s.h.i.+p for which the signal had been made just in time to give directions which placed her in safety in Spring Cove. She proved to be the _Lady Juliana_ transport from London, last from Plymouth; from which latter place we learned, with no small degree of wonder and mortification, that she sailed on the 29th day of last July (full ten months ago) with two hundred and twenty-two female convicts on board.

We had long conjectured, that the non-arrival of supplies must be owing either to accident or delays in the voyage, and not to any backwardness on the part of government in sending them out. We now found that our disappointment was to be ascribed to both misfortune and delay. The _Lady Juliana_, we have seen, sailed in July last, and in the month of September following his majesty's s.h.i.+p _Guardian_, of forty-four guns, commanded by Lieutenant Edward Riou, sailed from England, having on board, with what was in the _Lady Juliana_, two years provisions, viz 295,344 pounds of flour, 149,856 pounds of beef, and 303,632 pounds of pork, for the settlement; a supply of clothing for the marines serving on sh.o.r.e, and for those belonging to the _Sirius_ and _Supply_; together with a large quant.i.ty of sails and cordage for those s.h.i.+ps and for the uses of the colony; sixteen chests of medicines; fifteen casks of wine; a quant.i.ty of blankets and bedding for the hospital; and a large supply of unmade clothing for the convicts; with an ample a.s.sortment of tools and implements of agriculture.

At the Cape of Good Hope Lieutenant Riou took on board a quant.i.ty of stock for the settlement, and completed a garden which had been prepared under the immediate direction of Sir Joseph Banks, and in which there were near one hundred and fifty of the finest fruit trees, several of them bearing fruit.

There was scarcely an officer in the colony that had not his share of private property embarked on board of this richly freighted s.h.i.+p; their respective friends having procured permission from government for that purpose.

But it was as painful then to learn, as it will ever be to recollect, that on the 23rd day of December preceding, the _Guardian_ struck against an island of ice in lat.i.tude 45 degrees 54 minutes South, and longitude 41 degrees 30 minutes East, whereby she received so much injury, that Lieutenant Riou was compelled, in order to save her from instantly sinking, to throw overboard the greatest part of her valuable cargo both on the public and private account. The stock was all killed, (seven horses, sixteen cows, two bulls, a number of sheep, goats, and two deer,) the garden destroyed, and the s.h.i.+p herself saved only by the interposition of Providence, and the admirable conduct of the commander.

The _Guardian_ was a fast-sailing s.h.i.+p, and would probably have arrived in the latter end of January or the beginning of February last. At that period the large quant.i.ty of live stock in the colony was daily increasing; the people required for labour were, comparatively with their present state, strong and healthy; the necessity of dividing the Convicts, and sending the _Sirius_ to Norfolk Island, would not have existed; the ration of provisions, instead of the diminutions which had been necessarily directed, would have been increased to the full allowance; and the tillage of the ground consequently proceeded in with that spirit which must be exerted to the utmost before the settlement could render itself independent of the mother country for subsistence.

But to what a distance was that period now thrown by this unfortunate accident, and by the delay which took place in the voyage of the _Lady Juliana_! Government had placed a naval officer in this transport, Lieutenant Thomas Edgar*, for the purpose of seeing justice done to the convicts as to their provisions, cleanliness, etc. and to guard against any unnecessary delays on the voyage. Being directed to follow the route of the _Sirius_ and her convoy, he called at Teneriffe and St. Iago, stayed seven weeks at Rio de Janeiro, and one month at the Cape of Good Hope; completing his circuitous voyage of ten months duration by arriving here on the 3rd day of June 1790.

[* He had sailed with the late Captain Cook.]

On Lieutenant Edgar's arrival at the Cape he found the _Guardian_ lying there, Lieutenant Riou having just safely regained that port, from which he had sailed but a short time, with every fair prospect of speedily and happily executing the orders with which he was entrusted, and of conveying to this colony the a.s.sistance of which it stood so much in need. Unhappily for us, she was now lying a wreck, with difficulty and at an immense expense preserved from sinking at her anchors.

Beside the common share which we all bore in this calamity, we had to lament that the efforts of our several friends, in amply supplying the wants that they concluded must have been occasioned by an absence of three years, were all rendered ineffectual, the private articles having been among the first things that were thrown overboard to lighten the s.h.i.+p*.

[* The private property of the officers was all stowed, as the best and safest place in the s.h.i.+p, in the gun-room. Some officers were great losers.]

Government had sent out in the _Guardian_ twenty-five male convicts, who were either farmers or artificers, together with seven persons engaged to serve as superintendants of convicts, for three years from their landing, at salaries of forty pounds per annum each. Of these, two, who were professed gardeners, were supposed to be drowned, having left the s.h.i.+p soon after she struck, with several other persons in boats, and not been heard of when the _Lady Juliana_ left the Cape. The superintendants who remained came on in the transport; but the convicts, of whose conduct Lieutenant Riou spoke in the highest terms, were detained at the Cape.

A clergyman also was on board the _Guardian_, the Rev. Mr. Crowther, who had been appointed, at a salary of eight s.h.i.+llings per diem, to divide the religious duties of the settlement with Mr. Johnson. This gentleman left the s.h.i.+p with the master and purser in the long-boat, taking provisions and water with them; and of five boats which were launched on the same perilous enterprise, this was the only one that conducted her pa.s.sengers into safety. They were fortunately, after many days sailing, picked up by a French s.h.i.+p, which took them into the Cape, and thence to Europe.

One-third of the stores and provisions intended for the colony were put on board the transport, the remaining two-thirds were on board the _Guardian_; none of which it was supposed would ever reach the settlement, the small quant.i.ty excepted (seventy-five barrels of flour) which was put on board the transport at the Cape. The Dutch at that place were profiting by our misfortune, their warehouses being let out at an immense expense to receive such of the provisions and stores as remained on board the _Guardian_ when she got in.

In addition to the above distressing circ.u.mstances, we learned that one thousand convicts of both s.e.xes were to sail at the latter end of the last year, and that a corps of foot was raising for the service of this country under the command of a major-commandant, Francis Grose esq. from the 29th foot, of which regiment, he was major. The transports which sailed hence in May, July, and November 1788 (the _Friends.h.i.+p_ excepted) arrived in England within a very short time of each other; and their arrival relieved the public from anxiety upon our account.

The joy that was diffused by the arrival of the transports was considerably checked by the variety of unpleasant and unwelcome intelligence which she brought. We learned that our beloved Sovereign had been attacked and for some months afflicted with a dangerous and alarming illness, though now happily recovered. Our distance from his person had not lessened our attachment, and the day following the receipt of this information being the anniversary of his Majesty's birth, it was kept with every mark of distinction that was in our power. The governor pardoned all offenders who were under confinement, or under sentence of corporal punishment; the ration was increased for that day, that every one might rejoice; at the governor's table, where all the officers of the settlement and garrison were met, many prosperous and happy years were fervently wished to be added to his Majesty's life; and Wednesday the 9th was appointed for a public thanksgiving on occasion of his recovery.

The _Lady Juliana_ was, by strong westerly winds and bad weather, prevented from reaching the cove until the 6th, when, the weather moderating, she was towed up to the settlement. The convicts on board her appeared to have been well treated during their long pa.s.sage, and preparations for landing them were immediately made; but, in the distressed situation of the colony, it was not a little mortifying to find on board the first s.h.i.+p that arrived, a cargo so unnecessary and unprofitable as two hundred and twenty-two females, instead of a cargo of provisions; the supply of provisions on board her was so inconsiderable as to permit only an addition of one pound and a half of flour being made to the weekly ration. Had the _Guardian_ arrived, perhaps we should never again have been in want.

On the 9th, being the day appointed for returning thanks to Almighty G.o.d for his Majesty's happy restoration to health, the attendance on divine service was very full. A sermon on the occasion was preached by the Rev.

Mr. Johnson, who took his text from the book of Proverbs, 'By me kings reign.' The officers were afterwards entertained at the governor's, when an address on the occasion of the meeting was resolved to be sent to his Majesty.

When the women were landed on the 11th, many of them appeared to be loaded with the infirmities incident to old age, and to be very improper subjects for any of the purposes of an infant colony. Instead of being capable of labour, they seemed to require attendance themselves, and were never likely to be any other than a burden to the settlement, which must sensibly feel the hards.h.i.+p of having to support by the labour of those who could toll, and who at the best were but few, a description of people utterly incapable of using any exertion toward their own maintenance.