An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales Volume I Part 28

The Spanish s.h.i.+ps sail The _Chesterfield_ returns from Norfolk Island A contract entered into for bringing cattle from India to this country Provisions embarked on board the Bengal s.h.i.+p for Norfolk Island The _Daedalus_ arrives Cattle lost Discoveries by Captain Vancouver Two natives of New Zealand brought in Bengal s.h.i.+p sails Phenomenon in the sky The hours of labour and ration altered Lead stolen Detachment at Parramatta relieved Accident at that settlement Lands cleared by officers Mutiny on board the _Kitty_ The _Kitty_ sails for England His Majesty's birthday State of the provision store The _Britannia_ arrives Loss of cattle General account of cattle purchased, lost in the pa.s.sage, and landed in New South Wales Natives

April.] The Spanish officers having nearly completed the astronomical observations which the commodore thought it necessary to make in this port, that officer signified his intention of shortly putting to sea on the further prosecution of the instructions and orders which he had received from his court. Previous to their departure, however, the lieutenant-governor, with the officers of the settlement and of the corps, were entertained first on board the _Descuvierta_, and the next day on board the _Atrevida_, the lieutenant-governor being each day received with a salute of nine guns, with the Spanish flag hoisted on the foretopmast-head, being the compliment that is paid in the Spanish service to a lieutenant-general. The dinner was prepared and served up after their own custom, and bore every appearance of having been furnished from a plentiful market.* The healths of our respective sovereigns, being united in one wish, were drank with every token of approbation, under a discharge of cannon; and 'Prosperity to the British colonies in New South Wales' concluded the ceremonials of each day.

[* A small cow from Monterrey was sacrificed on the occasion]

The commodore presented the lieutenant-governor with two drawings of this settlement, and one of Parramatta, done in Indian ink, by F. Brambila; together with a copy of the astronomical observations which had been made at the observatory, and at Parramatta. From these it appeared that the longitude of the observatory which they had erected at the Point, deduced from forty-two sets of distances of the sun and moon, taken on the morning of the 2nd of this month, was 151 degrees 18 minutes 8 seconds E from Greenwich; and the lat.i.tude, 33 degrees 51 minutes 28 seconds S. The lat.i.tude of the governor's house at Parramatta was 33 degrees 48 minutes 0 seconds S; and the distance west from the observatory about nineteen miles.

The commodore left a packet with dispatches for the Spanish amba.s.sador at the court of London, to be forwarded by the first s.h.i.+p which should depart hence direct for England; and on the 12th both s.h.i.+ps sailed. Their future route was never exactly spoken of by them; but, from what the officers occasionally threw out, it appeared that they expected to be in Europe in about fourteen months from their departure. They spoke of visiting the Society and Friendly Islands, and of proceeding again to the coast of South America.

As it had been the general wish to render the residence of these strangers among us as pleasant as our situation would allow, we received with great satisfaction the expressions of regret which they testified at their departure, a regret that was at least equally felt on our part. Our society was very small; we could not therefore but sensibly feel the departure of these gentlemen, who united to much scientific knowledge those qualities of the heart which render men amiable in society; and the names of Malaspina, Bustamante, Tova, Espinosa, Concha, Cevallos, Murphy*, Robredo, Quintano, Viana, Novales, Pineda**, Bauza, Heencke***, Nee***, Ravenet****, and Brambila****, were not likely to be soon forgotten by the officers of this settlement. During their stay here, the greatest harmony subsisted between the seamen of the two s.h.i.+ps and our people, the latter in but few instances exercising their nimble-fingered talents among them; such, however, as did choose to hazard a display, and were detected, were severely punished.

[* This gentleman was of Irish extraction.]

[** Brother of D. A. Pineda.]

[*** The botanists.]

[**** The limner, and landscape-painter.]

A few days before these s.h.i.+ps left us, the _Chesterfield_ returned (after an absence of only thirty days) from Norfolk Island, where she landed safely every thing she had on board for that settlement. Mr. Alt anch.o.r.ed for some days in Cascade Bay, where Governor King had constructed a wharf, and had hopes of making the landing more convenient that could ever be practicable at Sydney Bay. This was truly a desideratum, as few s.h.i.+ps had gone to this island without having in the course of their stay either been blown off, or been in some danger on the sh.o.r.e. It was understood that scarcely any thing less than a miracle could have saved the _Kitty_ from being wrecked on a rock just off the reef.

The master of the _Shah Hormuzear_ having laid before the lieutenant-governor some proposals for bringing cattle to this country, they were taken into consideration; and as the introducing cattle into the colony was a most desirable object, and Bengal had been pointed out as the settlement from which they were to be procured, after some days a contract was entered into between Mr. Bampton on his own part, and the lieutenant-governor on behalf of the crown, wherein it was covenanted, that Mr. Bampton should freight at some port in India a s.h.i.+p with one hundred head of large draught cattle; one hundred and fifty tons of the best provision rice, and one hundred and fifty tons of dholl, both articles to be equal in quality to samples then produced and approved of, and one hundred tons of the best Irish cured beef or pork; or, in lieu of the salt provisions, fifty tons of rice. For the cattle, it was covenanted on the part of the crown that Mr. Bampton should receive at the rate of thirty-five pounds sterling per head for all that he should land in a merchantable condition in the colony; for the rice he was to be paid twenty-six pounds sterling, and for the dholl eighteen pounds sterling, for every merchantable ton which should be landed; and, lastly, for the salt provisions he was to receive four-pence halfpenny per pound for all that should be landed in proper condition. In this contract there were several conditions and restrictions, and the master was bound in one thousand five hundred pounds penalty to fulfil them.

The lieutenant-governor, wis.h.i.+ng to send a supply to Norfolk Island sufficient to place that settlement, as far as depended upon him, in a comfortable state in point of provisions, engaged the _Shah Hormuzear_ to carry two hundred and twenty tons of provisions thither for the sum of 220; and the quant.i.ty now sent, added to what the _Kitty_ and _Chesterfield_ had already conveyed, insured to Governor King provisions for more than twelve months for all his people at the full ration.

Mr. Bampton engaging the _Chesterfield_ to carry some part of these provisions, both s.h.i.+ps began taking them in, and by the 19th had quitted the cove, intending to sail the following morning; but the signal being made for a sail at daylight, they waited to see the event.

At the close of the evening of the 10th the _Daedalus_ stores.h.i.+p anch.o.r.ed in the cove, from the north-west coast of America. The _Daedalus_ left England with a cargo of provisions and stores, consisting chiefly of articles of traffic, for the use of the vessels under the command of Captain Vancouver, whom she joined at Nootka Sound on the north-west coast of America, and it was designed that she should, after delivering her cargo, be dispatched to this colony with such stock as she might be able to procure from the different islands whereat she might touch, and be afterwards employed as the service might require, should Captain Vancouver not make any application for her return; which was thought probable, as well as that he might require some a.s.sistance from the colony.

Captain Vancouver, after taking out as much of the cargo as could be received on board the vessels under his command, dispatched her according to his orders, although not so early as he could have wished, owing to particular circ.u.mstances; and he was now obliged to send with her a requisition for the remainder of the provisions and stores being returned to him, together with a certain quant.i.ty of provisions from the colony; the whole to be dispatched from hence so as to join him either at Nootka, or some of the Sandwich islands, in the month of October next.

The agent Lieutenant Richard Hergist, who left England in this s.h.i.+p, was unfortunately killed, together with a Mr. Gootch (an astronomer, on his way to join Captain Vancouver) and one seaman, at Wahool one of the Sandwich Islands, where they touched to procure refreshments. Captain Vancouver had replaced this officer, by Lieutenant James Hanson, of the _Chatham_ armed-tender, who now arrived in the s.h.i.+p.

On board of the _Daedalus_ were embarked at Monterrey, a Spanish settlement at a short distance from Nootka, six bulls, twelve cows, six rams, and eight ewes; and at Otaheite, Lieutenant Hanson took on board upwards of one hundred hogs (most of them, unluckily, barrows) of all which stock four sheep and about eighty hogs only survived the pa.s.sage.

The loss of the cattle was attributed to their having been caught wild from the woods, and put on board without ever having tasted dry food. The major part of the hogs, apparently of a fine breed, arrived in very poor condition.

Lieutenant Hanson, having touched at the northernmost island of New Zealand, brought away with him two natives of that country, having received directions to that effect for the purpose of instructing the settlers at Norfolk Island in the manufacture of the flax plant. They were both young men, and, as they arrived before the departure of the _Shah Hormuzear_, the lieutenant-governor determined to send them at once to Norfolk Island.

Captain Vancouver transmitted by Lieutenant Hanson a chart and drawings of a s.p.a.cious harbour, which he discovered on the southwest coast of this country, and which he named King George the Third's Sound. Its situation was without the line prescribed as the boundary of the British possessions in this country, being in the lat.i.tude of 35 degrees 05 minutes 30 seconds South, and longitude 118 degrees 34 minutes 0 seconds E. He also sent an account of the discovery of a dangerous cl.u.s.ter of rocks, which he named the Snares, the largest of which was about a league in circuit, and lay in lat.i.tude 48 degrees 03 minutes S and longitude 166 degrees 20 minutes East, bearing from the South-end of New Zealand S 40 degrees W true, twenty leagues distant; and from the southernmost part of the Traps (rocks discovered by Captain Cook) S 67 degrees W true, twenty leagues distant. The largest of these rocks, which was the highest and the northeasternmost, might be seen in clear weather about eight or nine leagues: the whole cl.u.s.ter was composed of seven barren rocks, extending in a direction about N 70 degrees E and S 70 degrees W true, occupying the s.p.a.ce of about three leagues.

The _Chatham_, being separated in a gale of wind from the _Discovery_, fell in with an island, which was named 'Chatham Island,' and along the north-side of which she sailed for twelve leagues. Its inhabitants much resembled the natives of New Zealand, and it was situated in lat.i.tude 43 degrees 48 minutes S and longitude 183 degrees 02 minutes East.

We learned from Lieutenant Hanson, that the _Matilda_ whaler, which sailed hence in the latter end of the year 1791, on her fis.h.i.+ng voyage, was wrecked on a reef in 22 degrees South lat.i.tude, and 138 degrees 30 minutes West longitude. The master and people reached Otaheite, from whence some were taken by an American vessel, and some by Captain Bligh of the Providence. Five sailors only remained on the island, with one runaway convict from this place, when the _Daedalus_ touched there in her route hither, and of that number one sailor only could be prevailed on to quit it.

We had now the satisfaction of learning that Captain Bligh had sailed for Jamaica in July last, with ten thousand breadfruit plants on board in fine order; having so far accomplished the object of this his second mission to that island.

The natives from New Zealand having been put on board the _Shah Hormuzear_ at the last moment of her stay in port, Lieutenant Hanson remaining with them until the s.h.i.+p was without the Heads, she sailed, together with the _Chesterfield_, on the 24th.

Mr. Bampton purposed making his pa.s.sage to India through the straits at the south end of New Guinea, known by the name of Torres Straits. Captain Hill, of the New South Wales corps, took his pa.s.sage to England by the way of India with Mr. Bampton.

But few convicts were allowed to quit the colony in these s.h.i.+ps; four men and one woman only, whose terms of transportation were expired, being received on board.

Gray, who had absconded from the hospital in February last, made his appearance about the latter end of this month at Toongabbie, where he was detected in stealing Indian corn.

Richard Sutton was stabbed with a knife in the belly by one Abraham Gordon, at the house of a female convict, on some quarrel respecting the woman, and at a time when both were inflamed with liquor. In the struggle Sutton was also dangerously cut in the arm; and when the surgeon came to dress him, he found six inches of the omentum protruding at the wound in his belly. Gordon was taken into custody.

Some people were taken up at Parramatta on suspicion of having murdered one of the watchmen belonging to that settlement; the circ.u.mstances of which affair one of them had been overheard relating to a fellow convict, while both were under confinement for some other offence. A watchman certainly had been missing for some time past; but after much inquiry and investigation nothing appeared that could furnish matter for a criminal prosecution against them.

A soldier, who had been sentenced by a court-martial to receive three hundred lashes, on being led out to receive his punishment, attempted to cut his throat, wounding himself under the ear with a knife. The punishment was put off until the evening, when he declared that he was the person who killed the watchman at Parramatta, which he effected by shooting him; and that he would lead any one to the place where the body lay. This, however, not preventing his receiving as much of his punishment as he could bear, he afterwards declared that he knew nothing of the murder, and had accused himself of perpetrating so horrid a crime solely in the hope of deferring his punishment.

The natives, who now and then showed themselves about the distant settlements, toward the latter end of the month wounded a convict who was taking provisions from Parramatta to a settler at Prospect Hill. The wound was not dangerous; but it occasioned the loss of the provisions with which he was entrusted.

The rains of this month came too late to save the Indian corn of the season, which now wore a most unpromising appearance. A grain had been lately introduced into the settlement, and grown at Toongabbie, and other places, which promised to answer very well for stock. It was the caffre corn of Africa, and had every appearance of proving a useful grain.

An extraordinary appearance in the sky was observed by several people between five and six o'clock in the evening of Friday the 12th of this month. It was noticed in the north-west, and appeared as if a ray of forked lightning had been stationary in that quarter of the sky for about fifteen minutes, which was the time it was visible. It was not to be discerned, however, after the sun had quitted the horizon.

May.] The days being considerably shortened, and the weather having lately been bad, it became necessary to alter the hours of labour. On the first of May, therefore, the lieutenant-governor directed that the convicts employed in cultivation, those employed under the master bricklayer, and those who worked at the brick carts and timber carriages, should labour from seven in the morning until ten, rest from that time until three in the afternoon, and continue at their work till sunset. The carpenters, whose business mostly lay within doors, and who were therefore not exposed to the weather, were directed to work one hour more in the afternoon, beginning at one instead of two o'clock.

On the 4th the weekly ration was altered, the male convicts receiving (instead of seven) four pounds of flour, to which were added four pounds of wheat and four pounds of maize; the allowance of salt provisions continued the same; but, the oil being expended, six ounces of sugar were issued in lieu of that article. The wheat was that received from Bengal, and the maize was issued the first week sh.e.l.led, but unground; on the second the people received it in the cob, getting six pounds in that state in lieu of four sh.e.l.led. This was unquestionably a good ration, and when a sufficient number of mills were put up to grind the maize and the wheat, the people themselves allowed it to be so.

With a ration that they admitted to be a good one, with about six hours labour during five days of the week, and with the advantages of gardens and good huts, the situation of the convicts might at this period be deemed comfortable, and such as precluded all excuse for misconduct.

Garden robberies were, notwithstanding, often committed at Sydney; and at the other settlements the maize which was still in the field suffered considerable depredation.

A distinction was made in the ration served to the civil and military, they receiving weekly six instead of eight pounds of flour, two pounds of wheat, and four pounds of maize _per_ man.

About the middle of the month the weather was remarkably bad. In the forenoon of the 15th a report was spread, in the midst of a most violent squall of wind and rain, that a s.h.i.+p was coming in. The wind having blown from the southward for some days before favoured the story, and, every one who heard it believing it to be true, the town was soon in motion notwithstanding the storm; for, although it was not so rare as it had been to hear of a s.h.i.+p, yet there was always something cheering and grateful, and perhaps ever will be, in entertaining the idea that our society was perhaps about to be increased, and that we were on the point of receiving intelligence from our connections, or information of what was doing in that world from which we felt ourselves almost severed. On this occasion, however, we were disappointed; for, on the return of a boat which had been sent to the South Head, we were informed that the signal had not been made, nor a s.h.i.+p seen to occasion it. But we had been well trained in New South Wales to meet and endure disappointment!

On the night of this day, during the very heavy rain which fell, some person or persons found means to take off, undiscovered by the sentinel at the store on the east side, five hundred weight of sheet lead, which had been landed from the _Daedalus_, and rolled to the storehouse door, where, being an article not likely from its weight to become an easy object of depredation, it was supposed to be perfectly safe. A very diligent search was made, but without success; and it remained undiscovered until the 27th, when a seaman belonging to the _Kitty_ transport, on the ebbing of a spring tide, perceived it lying on the sh.o.r.e at low-water mark, opposite to the spot where the _Daedalus_ lay at anchor. From this circ.u.mstance suspicion fell upon the people belonging to that s.h.i.+p; but as any design they could have in stealing it was not very obvious it was more probable that some of the convicts had dropped it there for the purpose of secreting it till a future day, when it would have been got up, and cast into shot for those who are allowed to kill game.

About the end of the month the detachment of the New South Wales corps on duty at Parramatta was relieved. The party that remained there was placed under the command of Lieutenant Macarthur, the officer charged with the direction of the civil duties of that settlement. The relief took place by land, the party from Sydney marching up in about seven hours, and that from Parramatta arriving at their quarters in Sydney in something more than six. The computed distance by land is between seventeen and eighteen miles.

On the 29th our colours were displayed at the fort, in grateful remembrance of the restoration of monarchy in England.

Information was the same day received from Parramatta, that on the evening of Sat.u.r.day the 24th a settler of the name of Lisk, having been drinking at the house of Charles Williams with Rose Burk (a woman with whom he cohabited) until they were very much intoxicated, as he was returning to his farm through the town of Parramatta, a dispute arose between him and the woman, during which a gun that he had went off, and the contents lodged in the woman's arm below the elbow, shattering the bones in so dreadful a manner as to require immediate amputation; which Mr. Arndell, being fortunately at home, directly performed. The unhappy woman acquitted her companion of any intention to do her so shocking an injury, and when the account reached Sydney she was in a favourable way.

In this accident Williams, it is true, had no further share than what he might claim from their having intoxicated themselves at his house; but that, however, established him more firmly in the opinion of those who could judge of his conduct as a public nuisance.

The princ.i.p.al labour in hand at Sydney at this time was what the building of the barracks occasioned; and at the other settlements the people were chiefly employed in getting into the ground the grain for the ensuing season, and in preparing for sowing the maize. This article of subsistence having in the late season proved very unprofitable, the average quant.i.ty being not more than six bushels per acre in the whole, the lieutenant-governor determined to sow with wheat as much of the public grounds as he could; and every settler who chose to apply was permitted to draw as much wheat from the public granary as his ground required, proper care being taken to insure its being applied solely to that use. At Toongabbie no addition had been made to the public ground since Governor Phillip's departure; but by a survey made at the latter end of this month it appeared, that the officers to whom lands had been granted, had cultivated and cleared two hundred and thirty-three acres, and had cut down the timber from two hundred and nineteen more. All the settlers of a different description had added something to their grounds; and there were many who might be p.r.o.nounced to be advancing fast toward the comfortable situation of independent farmers.

The quant.i.ty of land granted since the governor's departure amounted to one thousand five hundred and seventy-five acres, eight hundred and thirty of which lay between the towns of Sydney and of Parramatta, the lieutenant-governor wis.h.i.+ng and purposing to form a chain of farms between these settlements. The advantages to be derived from this communication were, the opening of an extent of country in the neighbourhood of both towns.h.i.+ps, and the benefit that would ultimately accrue to the colony at large from the cultivation of a track of as good land as any that had been hitherto opened; by some indeed it was deemed superior to the land immediately about Parramatta or Toongabbie. In this chain, on the Parramatta side, were placed those settlers who came out in the _Bellona_; and although they had only taken possession of their farms about the middle of February, they had got some ground ready for wheat, and by their industry had approved themselves deserving of every encouragement.

June.] The _Kitty_ transport, which, since her arrival from Norfolk Island on the 21st of April last, had been fitting for her return to England, at length hauled out of the cove on the 1st of this month, it being intended that she should sail on the following morning. Her departure, however, was delayed by the appearance of a mutiny among the sailors at the very moment of being ordered to get the anchor up and proceed to sea. The master, George Ramsay, had frequently complained of some of the sailors belonging to the s.h.i.+p for various offences, and several of them had been punished on sh.o.r.e; one in particular, Benjamin Williams, for resisting Mr. Ramsay's authority as master of this s.h.i.+p, had been punished with one hundred lashes. This man, and four or five of the other sailors, having procured half a gallon of liquor from a man who (his term of transportation having expired) was permitted to return to England, were found by the master drinking, and with a light burning in the forecastle, at the late and improper hour of twelve o'clock on the night preceding their intended sailing. On being ordered to put out the light, they refused, Williams declaring with an oath, that if the master extinguished it, he would light it again. This, however, the master effected; but on his afterwards going forward for the purpose of discovering if they had procured another light, he was seized by Williams and the other sailors, and thrown clear of the s.h.i.+p into the water.

Fortunately he could swim, a circ.u.mstance unknown to these miscreants, and he reached the s.h.i.+p's side, whence, the mate coming to his a.s.sistance, he was, though with some difficulty, being a very heavy man, got into the s.h.i.+p. The master, notwithstanding the outrage which he had thus experienced at their hands, would have contented himself with making a deposition of the circ.u.mstance, and have put to sea the next morning; but when he ordered the topsails to be hoisted, and the s.h.i.+p got under way, Williams stood forward, and, for himself and the rest, declared with much insolence, that the anchor should not be moved until the proper number of hands belonging to the s.h.i.+p were on board*. The anchor, however, was got up by the a.s.sistance of the pa.s.sengers and some people who had boats from the settlement alongside, and with the wind at west she dropped gradually down the harbour. The lieutenant-governor, on being informed by some officers who were present of the dangerous and alarming temper which the seamen manifested on board, resolved, by taking a firm and very active part, to crush the disorder at once, He accordingly went on board in person, with some soldiers, and, ordering the s.h.i.+p to be brought to an anchor, returned with Williams, and two others who were pointed out by the master as his confederates, not only in refusing the duty of the s.h.i.+p, but in throwing him overboard during the preceding night. This resolute step was instantly followed up by their being taken to the public parade, and there punished, Williams with one hundred and fifty, and his companions with one hundred lashes each, by the drummers of the New South Wales corps. At the place and in the moment of punishment Williams's courage forsook him, and the spirit which he had displayed on board the _Kitty_ was all evaporated**. He would have said or done any thing to have averted the lash.

[* She was deficient three men and two boys. The latter had run away the night before.]

[** He pretty well knew what a flogging was; for he was recognised by a soldier of the New South Wales corps, who had seen him flogged from s.h.i.+p to s.h.i.+p at Spithead for a similar offence.]

The appearance of a mutiny is at all times and in every situation to be dreaded; but in this country nothing could be more alarming. The lieutenant-governor saw the affair in that light; and with a celerity and firmness adapted to the exigency of the case restored tranquillity and safety to all those who were concerned in the fate of the _Kitty_. The day following several depositions were taken by the judge-advocate, for the purpose of being transmitted to the navy-board, and the three seamen who had been taken out of the _Kitty_ being replaced by two convicts and one seaman lately discharged from the _Daedalus_, she sailed at daylight on the morning of the 4th instant, and by twelve o'clock at noon was not to be seen from the South Head.