An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 by David Collins

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These wretched survivors of their companions having seen, from the top of
the hill whither their ill-fated curiosity had led them, a large
sand-bank not far from the island, determined to run under the lee of it,
as they very reasonably hoped that boats would the next morning be sent
after them from the ship. They experienced very little rest or ease that
night, and when daylight appeared found they had drifted nearly out of
sight of the island, and to leeward of the sand-bank.

Deeming it in vain to attempt reaching the bank, after examining what was
left in the boat, (a few of the trifles which they had put into her to
buy the friendship of the natives, and Ascott's greatcoat, but neither a
compass nor a morsel of provisions,) they determined, by the advice of
Shaw, who of these three miserable people was the only one that
understood any thing of navigation, to run direct for Timor, for which
place the wind was then happily fair. To the westward, therefore, they
directed their course, trusting (as the printed account stated) to that
Providence which had delivered them from the cannibals at Tate Island.*

[* The narrative of this most horrible affair, as printed at Calcutta,
was reprinted entire in the _European Magazine_ for May and June 1797.]

Without provisions, destitute of water, and almost without bodily
strength, it cannot be doubted that their sufferings were very great
before they reached a place of safety and relief. They left the island on
the 3rd of July, the day on which their companions were butchered. On the
7th, having the preceding day passed a sand-bank covered with birds, they
providentially, in the morning, found two small birds in the boat, one of
which they immediately divided into three parts, and were considerably
relieved by eating it. On the 8th they found themselves with land on
both sides. Through these straits they passed, and continued their course
to the westward. All that could be done with their wounds was to keep
them clean by opening them occasionally, and washing them with salt
water. On the 11th they saw land, and pushed their boat into a bay, all
agreeing that they had better trust to the chance of being well received
on shore, than to that of perishing in the course of a day or two more at
sea. Here they procured some water and a roasted yam from the natives,
who also gave them to understand that Timor was to the southward of them.
Not thinking themselves quite so safe here as they would be at Coupang,
they again embarked. They soon after found a proa in chase of them, which
they eluded by standing with their boat over a reef that the proa would
not encounter. On the morning of the 13th they saw a point of land ahead,
which, with the wind as it then was, they could not weather. They
therefore ran into a small bay, where the natives received them, calling
out 'Bligh! Bligh!' Here they landed, were hospitably received, and
providentially saved from the horror of perishing by famine.

This place was called by the natives Sarrett, and was distinct from Timor
Land, which was the first place they refreshed at. They were also
informed, that there was another small island to the northward, called by
them Fardatte, but which in some charts was named Ta-na-bor. They also
understood that a proa came yearly from Banda to trade at Tanabor, and
that her arrival was expected in the course of seven or eight months.

They were much gratified with this information, and soon found that they
had fallen into the hands of a hospitable and humane race of people.

On the 25th of July Mr. Carter's wound was entirely healed, after having
had thirteen pieces of the fractured skull taken out. But this gentleman
was fated not long to survive his sufferings. He remained in perfect
health until the 17th of November, when he caught a fever, of which he
died on the 10th of December, much regretted by his two friends (for
adversity makes friends of those who perhaps, in other situations, would
never have shaken hands).

The two survivors waited in anxious expectation for the arrival of the
annual trading proa from Banda. To their great joy she came on the 12th
of March 1794.

For Banda they sailed on the 10th of April, and arrived there on the 1st
of May following, where they were received with the greatest hospitality
by the governor, who supplied them with every thing necessary for people
in their situation, and provided them with a passage on board an Indiaman
bound to Batavia, where they arrived on the 10th of the following
October; adding another to the many instances of escape from the perils
which attend on those whose hard fate have driven them to navigate the
ocean in an open boat.

Hard indeed was the fate of Captain Hill and Mr. Carter. They were
gentlemen of liberal education, qualified to adorn the circles of life in
which their rank in society placed them. How lamentable thus to perish,
the one by the hands and rude weapons of barbarous savages, cut off in
the prime of life and most perfect enjoyment of his faculties, lost for
ever to a mother and sister whom he tenderly loved, his body mangled,
roasted, and devoured by cannibals; the other, after escaping from those
cannibals, to perish* in a country where all were strangers to him,
except his two companions in misery Shaw and Ascott, to give up all his
future prospects in life, never more to meet the cheering eye of
friendship or of love, and without having had the melancholy satisfaction
of recounting his perils, his escape, and sufferings, to those who would
sympathise with him in the tale of his sorrows.

[* It is evident, if this account be true, that Mr. Dell must have been
mistaken in his opinion of having carried on board the _Shah Hormuzear_ a
hand which, from a certain mark on it, he knew to have belonged to Mr.
Carter.]

On the 17th the vessel built by the shipwright Hatherleigh at Dusky Bay
arrived, with some of the people left behind by Mr. Bampton. They were so
distressed for provisions, that the person who had the direction of the
vessel could not bring away the whole; and it was singularly fortunate
that he arrived as he did, for with all the economy that could be used,
his small stock of provisions was consumed to the last mouthful the day
before he made the land.

This vessel, which the officer who commanded her (Waine, one of the mates
of the _Endeavour_) not unappropriately named the _Assistance_, was built
entirely of the timber of Dusky Bay, but appeared to be miserably
constructed. She was of near sixty tons burden, and was now to be sold*
for the benefit of Mr. Bampton.

[* Notwithstanding all her imperfections, she was valued at and sold for
two hundred and fifty pounds.]

The situation of the people still remaining at Dusky Bay was not, we
understood, the most enviable; their dependence for provisions being
chiefly on the seals and birds which they might kill. They had all
belonged to this colony, and one or two happened to be persons of good
character.

On the 10th the American sailed for the north-west coast of America. In
her went Mr. James Fitzpatrick Knaresbro', a gentleman whose hard lot it
was to be doomed to banishment for life from his native country, Ireland,
and the enjoyment of a comfortable fortune which he there possessed. He
arrived here in the _Sugar Cane_ transport, in the year 1793, and had
lived constantly at Parramatta with the most rigid economy and severe
self-denial even of the common comforts of life.

It was seen with concern that the crops of this season proved in general
bad, the wheat being almost every where mixed with a weed named by the
farmers Drake. Every care was taken to prevent this circumstance from
happening in the ensuing season, by cleaning with the greatest nicety not
only such wheat as was intended for seed, but such as was received into
the public store from settlers. It was occasioned by the ground being
overwrought, from a greediness to make it produce golden harvests every
season, without allowing it time to recruit itself from crop to crop, or
being able to afford it manure. Had this not happened, the crops would
most likely have been immense.

At the Hawkesbury, where alone any promise of agricultural advantages was
to be found, the settlers were immersed in intoxication. Riot and madness
marked their conduct; and this was to be attributed to the spirits that,
in defiance of every precaution, found their way thither.

Early in the month a store-room belonging to Captain Paterson was broken
into, and articles to a large amount stolen thereout. A sentinel was
stationed in the front of the house; notwithstanding which, the thieves
had time to remove, through a small hole that they made in a brick wall,
all the property they stole.

In the course of the month Captain Townson, another officer of the corps,
was also robbed. He had that morning received in trust sixty pounds in
dollars; these, together with his watch, were stolen from him in the
following night. His servants were suspected, as were also Captain
Paterson's; but nothing could be fixed upon them that bore the resemblance
of proof.

Robberies were more frequent now than they had been for some time past,
scarcely a night passing without at least an attempt being made. On the
17th, the festival of St. Patrick, the night-watch were assaulted by two
fellows, Matthew Farrel and Richard Sutton, (better known by the title of
the Newgate Bully,) while the latter was pursued by them from a house
which he was endeavouring to break into, to the house of Farrel, who
tried to secrete him, and afford him protection.

A woman was stopped in the street at night, and a piece of callico
forcibly taken from her. A convict being taken up as the man who had
robbed her, she at first was positive to his person, but when brought
before a magistrate, on recollecting that his life might be in danger,
she was ready to swear that, it being very dark at the time, it was not
possible she should know his features. Thus difficult was it too often
found to bring these people to justice.

On the 24th his Majesty's ship _Supply_ sailed for Norfolk Island. The
patent for holding criminal courts there, which was brought hither by the
_Cornwallis_, was sent by this conveyance, together with R. Sutton (the
Newgate Bully) and some other very bad characters, who, it was not
unlikely, would soon entitle themselves to the benefit of the patent
which accompanied them.

Hogs again became such a public nuisance, by running loose in the town,
without rings or yokes, that another order respecting them was given out,
directing the owners either to shut them up, or appoint them to be
watched when at large.

Reports were again received this month of fresh outrages committed by the
natives at the river. The schooner which had been sent round with
provisions saw some of these people off a high point of land named
Portland Head, who menaced them with their spears, and carried in their
appearance every mark of hostility. The governor being at this time on an
excursion to that settlement (by water), one of his party landed on the
shore opposite Portland Head, and saw at a short distance a large body of
natives, who he understood had assembled for the purpose of burning the
corpse of a man who had been killed in some contest among themselves.

About this time Bennillong, who occasionally shook off the habits of
civilized life, and went for a few days into the woods with his sisters
and other friends, sent in word that he had had a contest with his bosom
friend Cole-be, in which he had been so much the sufferer, that until his
wounds were healed he could not with any pleasure to himself appear at
the governor's table. This notification was accompanied with a request,
that his clothes, which he had left behind him when he went away, might
be sent him, together with some victuals, of which he was much in want.

On his coming among us again, he appeared with a wound on his mouth,
which had divided the upper lip and broke two of the teeth of that jaw.
His features, never very pleasing, now seemed out of all proportion, and
his pronunciation was much altered. Finding himself badly received among
the females (although improved by his travels in the little attentions
that are supposed to have their weight with the sex) and not being able
to endure a life of celibacy, which had been his condition from the day
of his departure from this country until nearly the present hour, he made
an attack upon his friend's favourite, Boo-ree-a, in which he was not
only unsuccessful, but was punished for his breach of friendship, as
above related, by Cole-be, who sarcastically asked him, 'if he meant that
kind of conduct to be a specimen of English manners?'

The _Ceres_, having been discharged from government employ, sailed in the
beginning of the month for Canton. Being well manned, the master was not
in want of any hands from this place; but eight convicts found means to
secrete themselves on board a day or two before she sailed. They were
however, by the great vigilance of Mr. Hedley, discovered in time to be
sent back to their labour. Among them we were not surprised to find two
or three of the last importation from Ireland.

We lost four persons by death during this month. On the 6th died of a
severe dysentery, Richard Hudson, the sergeant-major of the New South
Wales corps. At three in the morning of the 16th Mr. Joseph Gerald
breathed his last. A consumption which accompanied him from England, and
which all his wishes and efforts to shake off could not overcome, at
length brought him to that period when, perhaps, his strong enlightened
mind must have perceived how full of vanity and vexation of spirit were
the busiest concerns of this world; and into what a narrow limit was now
to be thrust that frame which but of late trod firmly in the walk of
life, elate and glowing with youthful hope, glorying in being a martyr to
the cause which he termed that of Freedom, and considering as an honour
that exile which brought him to an untimely grave.* He was followed in
three days after by another victim to mistaken opinions, Mr. William
Skirving. A dysentery was the apparent cause of his death, but his heart
was broken. In the hope of receiving remittances from England, which
might enable him to proceed with spirit and success in farming, of which
he appeared to have a thorough knowledge, he had purchased from different
persons, who had ground to sell, about one hundred acres of land adjacent
to the town of Sydney. He soon found that a farm near the sea-coast was
of no great value. His attention and his efforts to cultivate the ground
were of no avail. Remittances he received none; he contracted some little
debts, and found himself neglected by that party for whom he had
sacrificed the dearest connexions in life, a wife and family; and finally
yielded to the pressure of this accumulated weight. Among us, he was a
pious, honest, worthy character. In this settlement his political
principles never manifested themselves; but all his solicitude seemed to
be to evince himself the friend of human nature. _Requiescat in pace_!

[* He was buried in the garden of a little spot of ground which he had
purchased at Farm Cove. Mr. F. Palmer, we understood, had written his
epitaph at large.]

CHAPTER XXXI

Slops served
Orders
Licences granted
The _Supply_ returns from Norfolk Island
The _Susan_ from North America and the _Indispensable_ from England
A Criminal and Civil Court held
Sick
Thefts committed
The _Britannia_ arrives from Bengal
Mr. Raven's opinion as to the time of making a passage to India
A Civil Court
The _Cornwallis_ and _Experiment_ sail for India
Caution to masters of ships
A Wind-mill begun
Thefts committed
State of the settlers
The Governor goes to Mount Hunter
Regulations
Public works
Deaths

April.] In the beginning of this month a very liberal allowance of slops
was served to the prisoners male and female. As it had been too much the
practice for these people to sell the clothing they received from
government as soon as it was issued to them, the governor on this
occasion gave it out in public orders, that whenever it should be proved
that any person had either sold or otherwise made away with any of the
articles then issued, the buyer and seller or receiver thereof would both
subject themselves to corporal or other punishment. Orders, however, had
never yet been known to have much weight with these people.

Thefts were still nightly committed. At the Hawkesbury the corn store was
broken into, and a quantity of wheat and other articles stolen; and two
people were apprehended for robbing the deputy-surveyor's fowl-house. All
these depredations were chiefly committed by those public nuisances the
people off the stores.

Toward preventing the indiscriminate sale of spirits which at this time
prevailed in all the settlements, the governor thought that granting
licences to a few persons of good character might have a good effect. Ten
persons were selected by the magistrates, and to them licences for twelve
months, under the hands of three magistrates, were granted. The
principals were bound in the usual penalties of twenty pounds each, and
obliged to find two sureties in ten pounds: and as from the very frequent
state of intoxication in which great numbers of the lower order of people
had for some time past been seen, there was much reason to suspect that a
greater quantity of spirituous liquors had been landed from the different
ships which had entered this port than permits had been obtained for, it
became highly necessary to put a stop, as early as possible, to a
practice which was pregnant with all kinds of mischief. The governor
judged it necessary, the more effectually to suppress the dangerous
practice of retailing spirits in this indiscriminate way, not only to
grant licences under the restrictions abovementioned, but to desire the
aid of all officers, civil and military, and in a more particular manner
of all magistrates, constables, etc. as they regarded the good of his
Majesty's service, the peace, tranquillity, and good order of the colony,
to use their utmost exertions for putting an end to a species of traffic,
from which the destruction of health and the ruin of all industry were to
be expected; and urged them to endeavour to discover who those people
were, that, self-licenced only, had presumed to open public houses for
this abominable purpose.

He also informed those who might, after knowing his intentions, be daring
enough to continue to act in opposition to them, that the house of every
offender should be pulled down as a public nuisance, and such other steps
be taken for his further punishment as might be deemed necessary.

In the evening of the 18th his Majesty's ship _Supply_ returned from
Norfolk Island, having been absent only three weeks and four days, the
quickest passage that had yet been made to and from that island. At night
word was sent up from the Look-out, that another vessel was off, and on
the following evening the snow _Susan_ arrived from Rhode Island, having
been at sea two hundred and thirty-one days, not touching any where on
her passage.

The Americans were observed to make these kind of voyages from motives of
frugality, sailing direct for this port; but they were at the same time
observed to bring in their people extremely healthy. On our enquiring
what methods they took so to secure the health of their seamen, they told
us that in general they found exercise the best preventive against the
scurvy, and considered idleness as the surest means of introducing it. In
addition to exercise, however, they made frequent use of acids in the
diet of their seamen, and of fumigations from tobacco in their
between-decks. Certain it was that none of our ships, which touched in
their way out at other ports, arrived so generally healthy.

A Mr. Trotter was the master of this vessel. He was an Irishman by
birth, but but had for some time been a citizen of the United States.
Strong currents and foul winds had been his enemies in the late voyage.
His cargo consisted of spirits, broad-cloth, and a variety of useful and
desirable articles, adapted to the necessities of this country.

On the last day of this month the _Indispensable_ transport arrived from
England, with one hundred and thirty-one female convicts, and a small
quantity of provisions on board for their consumption.

Mr. Wilkinson, who commanded this ship, we found, to our great regret,
had not touched at the Cape of Good Hope; he had stopped only at the port
of Rio de Janeiro. This was unfortunate, as it was intended that the
king's ships should sail early in the ensuing month of September for that
part of the world. That the war still raged in Europe we heard with
concern, feeling as every humane mind must do for the sufferings of its
fellow-creatures; but it was in the highest degree gratifying to us to
know that our situation was not wholly forgotten at home, proof enough of
which we experienced in the late frequent arrivals of ships from England.

At a criminal court which was held in this month four prisoners were
tried for forging, and uttering with a forged endorsement, the note which
had been passed at Mr. Hogan's store in February last, when James
McCarthy was convicted of the same, and received sentence of death; the
others who were tried with him were acquitted. This trial had been
delayed some time, McCarthy having found means to break out of the cells,
and remain for some weeks sheltered at the Hawkesbury, the refuge of all
the Sydney rogues when in danger of being apprehended.

Three prisoners were tried for stealing some articles out of the store at
the river, one of whom was found guilty, viz James Ashford, a young lad
who had been formerly drummed out of the New South Wales corps. He was
sentenced to seven years labour at Norfolk Island. One soldier was
accused by an old man, a settler at the river, of an unnatural crime, but
acquitted.

Two people off the store were found guilty of stealing some geese, the
property of Mr. Charles Grimes, the deputy-surveyor, and sentenced to
receive corporal punishment. Another of the same class was found guilty
of cutting and wounding a servant of the commissary, who had prevented
his committing a theft, and was sentenced to receive eight hundred
lashes; and one man, George Hyson, for an attempt to commit the
abominable crime of bestiality, was sentenced to stand three times in the
pillory, an hour each time.

How unpleasing were the reflections that arose from this catalogue of
criminals and their offences! No punishment however exemplary, no reward
however great, could operate on the minds of these unthinking people.
Equally indifferent to the pain which the former might occasion, and the
gratification that the other might afford, they blindly pursued the
dictates of their vicious inclinations, to whatever they prompted; and
when stopped by the arm of justice, which sometimes reached them, they
endured the consequences with an hardened obstinacy and indifference that
effectually checked the sensations of pity which are naturally excited by
the view of human sufferings.

A civil court also was assembled this month, by which some writs and some
probates of wills were granted.

At the Hawkesbury, where the settlers were consuming their subsistence in
drunkenness, a very excellent barrack was erecting for the use of the
commandant, on a spot which had been selected sufficiently high to
preclude any danger of the building being affected by a flood.

In this and the preceding month many people, adults as well as children,
were again afflicted with inflammations in the eyes. Having been visited
by this disorder in the month of April 1794, about which time we had the
same variable weather as was now experienced, we attributed its
appearance among us at this time to the same cause. The medical gentlemen
could not account for it on any other principle. One man, Sergeant-major
Jones of the New South Wales corps, died.

May.] Sixty of the women received by the _Indispensable_ were sent up to
Parramatta, there to be employed in such labour as was suited to their
sex and strength. The remainder were landed at this place.

On the 4th the governor notified in public orders his appointment of Mr.
D'Arcy Wentworth to the situation of assistant-surgeon to the settlement,
in the room of Mr. Samuel Leeds, the gentleman who came out with Governor
Hunter, he being permitted to return to England for the recovery of his
health.

Daily experience proved, that those people whose sentences of
transportation had expired were greater evils than the convicts
themselves. It was at this time impossible to spare the labour of a
single man from the public work. Of course, no man was allowed to remove
himself from that situation without permission. But, notwithstanding this
had been declared in public orders, many were known to withdraw
themselves from labour and the provision-store on the day of their
servitude ceasing. On their being apprehended, punished for a breach of
the order, and ordered again to labour, they seized the first opportunity
of running away, taking either to the woods to subsist by depredations,
or to the shelter which the Hawkesbury settlers afforded to every
vagabond that asked it.