After So Long A Confinement, On A Service So Peculiarly Disgusting
And Troublesome, It Cannot Be Matter Of Surprise That We Were Overjoyed
At The Near Prospect Of A Change Of Scene.
By sunset we had passed between
the rocks, which Captain Furneaux named the Mewstone and Swilly.
The former bears a very close resemblance to the little island near Plymouth,
whence it took its name:
Its latitude is 43 deg 48 min south, longitude
146 deg 25 min east of Greenwich.
In running along shore, we cast many an anxious eye towards the land,
on which so much of our future destiny depended. Our distance, joined to
the haziness of the atmosphere, prevented us, however, from being able
to discover much. With our best glasses we could see nothing but hills
of a moderate height, cloathed with trees, to which some little patches
of white sandstone gave the appearance of being covered with snow.
Many fires were observed on the hills in the evening.
As no person in the ship I was on board had been on this coast before,
we consulted a little chart, published by Steele, of the Minories, London,
and found it, in general, very correct; it would be more so, were not
the Mewstone laid down at too great a distance from the land, and one object
made of the Eddystone and Swilly, when, in fact, they are distinct.
Between the two last is an entire bed of impassable rocks, many of them
above water. The latitude of the Eddystone is 43 deg 53 1/2 min,
longitude 147 deg 9 min; that of Swilly 43 deg 54 min south, longitude
147 deg 3 min east of Greenwich.
In the night the westerly wind, which had so long befriended us, died away,
and was succeeded by one from the north-east. When day appeared we had
lost sight of the land, and did not regain it until the 19th,
at only the distance of 17 leagues from our desired port. The wind was now
fair, the sky serene, though a little hazy, and the temperature of the air
delightfully pleasant: joy sparkled in every countenance, and congratulations
issued from every mouth. Ithaca itself was scarcely more longed for
by Ulysses, than Botany Bay by the adventurers who had traversed
so many thousand miles to take possession of it.
"Heavily in clouds came on the day" which ushered in our arrival.
To us it was "a great, an important day," though I hope the foundation,
not the fall, of an empire will be dated from it.
On the morning of the 20th, by ten o'clock, the whole of the fleet
had cast anchor in Botany Bay, where, to our mutual satisfaction, we found
the Governor, and the first division of transports. On inquiry, we heard, that
the 'Supply' had arrived on the 18th, and the transports only the preceding day.
Thus, after a passage of exactly thirty-six weeks from Portsmouth,
we happily effected our arduous undertaking, with such a train of unexampled
blessings as hardly ever attended a fleet in a like predicament.
Of two hundred and twelve marines we lost only one; and of seven hundred and
seventy-five convicts, put on board in England, but twenty-four perished
in our route. To what cause are we to attribute this unhoped for success?
I wish I could answer to the liberal manner in which Government supplied
the expedition. But when the reader is told, that some of the necessary
articles allowed to ships on a common passage to West Indies,
were withheld from us; that portable soup, wheat, and pickled vegetables
were not allowed; and that an inadequate quantity of essence of malt
was the only antiscorbutic supplied, his surprise will redouble at the result
of the voyage. For it must be remembered, that the people thus sent out
were not a ship's company starting with every advantage of health
and good living, which a state of freedom produces; but the major part
a miserable set of convicts, emaciated from confinement, and in want
of cloaths, and almost every convenience to render so long a passage tolerable.
I beg leave, however, to say, that the provisions served on board were good,
and of a much superior quality to those usually supplied by contract:
they were furnished by Mr. Richards, junior, of Walworth, Surrey.
CHAPTER VIII.
From the Fleet's Arrival at Botany Bay to the Evacuation of it;
and taking Possession of Port Jackson. Interviews with the Natives;
and an Account of the Country about Botany Bay.
We had scarcely bid each other welcome on our arrival, when an expedition
up the Bay was undertaken by the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor,
in order to explore the nature of the country, and fix on a spot to begin
our operations upon. None, however, which could be deemed very eligible,
being discovered, his Excellency proceeded in a boat to examine the opening,
to which Mr. Cook had given the name of Port Jackson, on an idea that
a shelter for shipping within it might be found. The boat returned
on the evening of the 23rd, with such an account of the harbour and advantages
attending the place, that it was determined the evacuation of Botany Bay
should commence the next morning.
In consequence of this decision, the few seamen and marines who had been landed
from the squadron, were instantly reimbarked, and every preparation made
to bid adieu to a port which had so long been the subject of our conversation;
which but three days before we had entered with so many sentiments
of satisfaction; and in which, as we had believed, so many of our future hours
were to be passed. The thoughts of removal banished sleep, so that I rose
at the first dawn of the morning. But judge of my surprize on hearing from
a serjeant, who ran down almost breathless to the cabin where I was dressing,
that a ship was seen off the harbour's mouth.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 8 of 24
Words from 7126 to 8128
of 24415
