the barracks at five o’clock in the evening. He held a consultation with his officers, and the upshot of this was that Johnston, as lieutenant-governor of the colony, demanded the instant release of MacArthur from gaol. The gaoler complied, and MacArthur went straight to the barracks, where a requisition to Johnston to place Bligh under arrest was arranged, at the suggestion of MacArthur, on the ground “that the present alarming state of the colony, in which every man’s property, liberty, and life are endangered, induces us most earnestly to implore you instantly to assume the command of the colony. We pledge ourselves at a moment of less agitation to come forward to support the measure with our lives and fortunes.” This was signed by several of the principal Sydney inhabitants, and then Johnston proceeded to carry out their and his own and the other rum-traffickers’ designs.
The drums beat to arms; the New South Wales Corps–most of the men primed with the original cause of the trouble–formed in the barrack square, and with fixed bayonets, colours flying, and band playing, marched to Government House, led by Johnston. It was about half-past six on an Australian summer evening, and broad daylight. The Government House guard waited to prime and load, then joined their drunken comrades, and the house was surrounded.
Mrs. Putland, the governor’s brave daughter (widow of a lieutenant in the navy, who had only been buried a week before), stood at the door, and endeavoured to prevent the soldiers from entering. She was pushed aside, and the house was soon full of soldiers, who, according to what some of them said, found Bligh hiding under his bed–a statement which, there is not the slightest doubt, was an infamous lie, suggested by the position in which the governor really was found, viz., standing behind a cot in a back room, where he was endeavouring to conceal some [Sidenote: 1808] private papers.
Bligh surrendered to Johnston, who announced that he intended to assume the government “by the advice of all my officers and the most respectable of the inhabitants.” Johnston caused Bligh’s commission and all his papers to be sealed up, informed the governor that he would be kept a prisoner in his own house, and leaving a strong guard of soldiers, marched the rest of his inebriated command back to barracks, with the same parade of band-playing and pretence of dignity.
The colony was now practically under martial law, and Johnston appointed a new batch of civil officials, dismissing from office the others, including the Judge-Advocate, Atkins. MacArthur was then–humorously enough–tried by the court as newly constructed, and, of course, unanimously acquitted, Johnston then appointing him a magistrate and secretary of the colony. To complete the business, the court then took it upon themselves to try the Provost-Marshal, and gave him four months’ gaol for having “falsely sworn that the officers of the New South Wales Corps intended to rescue his prisoner” (MacArthur), and at the same time the court sentenced the attorney who drew the indictment, and managed the legal business for Atkins, to a long term of imprisonment.
In July, Lieutenant-Colonel Foveaux arrived from England, and was surprised to find the existing state of affairs. By virtue of seniority, he succeeded Johnston as lieutenant-governor, and appointed another man in place of MacArthur, but did not interfere in any other way, contenting himself with sending to England a full report of the affair. Foveaux was in turn succeeded by Colonel Paterson, who arrived at the beginning of 1809, and who also declined to interfere in the business, but he granted Johnston leave of absence to proceed to England, MacArthur and two other officers accompanying him.
Meanwhile some of the free settlers had begun to show indications of a desire to help Bligh, who, to prevent accidents, was taken by the rebels from his house and lodged with his daughter a close prisoner in the barracks. Later on, he signed an agreement with Paterson to leave the colony for England in a sloop of war then bound home.
Bligh and his daughter embarked on the vessel, but on the way she put into the Derwent river, in Van Diemen’s Land, where the [Sidenote: 1809] deposed governor landed, and at first thought he would be able to re-establish his authority, but the spirit of rebellion had taken hold; he was compelled to re-embark soon after, but he remained in Tasmanian waters on board ship until Governor Macquarie arrived from England.
For the English Government, in due course, had heard of the state of affairs, and woke up to the necessity for strong action. In December, 1809, there arrived in Sydney Harbour a 50-gun frigate and a transport, bringing Governor Macquarie, with his regiment of Highlanders, the 73rd. His orders were to restore Bligh for twenty-four hours and send home the New South Wales Corps, with every officer who had been concerned in the rebellion under arrest, and the regiment, as we said in a former chapter, was disbanded; Macquarie was himself then to take over the government.
The absence of Bligh from the colony prevented his restoration being literally carried out, but Macquarie issued proclamations which served the purpose, and restored all the officials who had been put out by the rebels. Macquarie soon made himself popular with the colonists, and the best proof of his success is the fact that he governed the colony for twelve years, and his administration, though an important epoch in its history, cannot be gone into here as he was not a naval man.
Bligh, the last of the naval governors, arrived in England in October, was made a rear-admiral, and died in 1817. Johnston was tried by court-martial and cashiered, and returned to the colony, becoming one of its best settlers and the founder of one of Sydney’s most important suburbs. MacArthur was ordered not to return to the colony for eight years. He returned in 1817, bringing with him sons as vigorous as himself. Ultimately he became a member of the Legislative Council, and his services and those of his descendants will justly be remembered in Australia long after the petty annoyances to which he was subjected and the improper manner in which he resisted them have been totally and happily forgotten.
The history of Australia up to, and until the end of Bligh’s appointment, can be summed up in half a dozen sentences. Phillip, during the term of his office, had repeatedly urged upon the home Government the necessity of sending out free men. Convicts without such a leaven could not, in his opinion, successfully lay the foundation of the “greatest acquisition England has ever made.” Time proved the correctness of his judgment. The population of the colony, from something more than 1000 when he landed, had been increased at the close of King’s administration to about 7000 persons. Half a dozen settlements had been formed at places within a few miles of Sydney; advantage had been taken of the discoveries of Bass and Flinders, and settlements made at Hobart and at Port Dalrymple; while an attempt (resulting in failure on this occasion and described later on) was made to colonize Port Phillip. A good deal of country was under cultivation, and stock had greatly increased, so that in the seventeen years that had elapsed some progress had been made, but the state of society at Botany Bay had grown worse rather than better. In the direction of reformation the experiment of turning felons into farmers was not a success. Few free emigrants had arrived in the colony, and those who came out were by no means the best class of people. Nobody worked more than they could help; drinking, gambling, and petty bickering occupied the leisure of most. This was the state of affairs which Captain Bligh was sent to reform, and we have seen how his mission succeeded.
In the case of the mutiny of the _Bounty_, it is reasonably believed that the mutineers were, at any rate, partially incited to their crime by the seductions of Tahiti; in the case of the revolt in New South Wales, it is known that allegiance to constituted authority had no part in the character of Bligh’s subjects. Therefore, notwithstanding that Bligh was the victim of two outbreaks against his rule, posterity, without the most indisputable evidence to the contrary, would have held him acquitted of the least responsibility for his misfortunes. In the case of the _Bounty_ mutiny the evidence of Bligh’s opponents that the captain of the _Bounty_ was a tyrannical officer remains uncontradicted by any authority but that of the _Bounty’s_ captain; in the case of the New South Wales revolt we can only judge of the probabilities, for the witnesses at the Johnston court-martial were of necessity upon one side. But the court-martial, a tribunal not at all likely to err upon the side of mutineers, came to the same conclusion as we have, and, so far as we are aware, most other writers acquainted with the subject have been driven to: that Bligh, to say the least of it, behaved with great indiscretion.
Our references to this matter have been entirely to [Sidenote: 1829] the minutes of the court-martial and to writers who wrote long enough ago to have had a personal knowledge of the subject or acquaintance with actors in the events. The lady whose letter we have quoted in the first pages of this chapter refers us to Lang’s _History_ for a justification of Bligh, and Dr. Lang, as is well known to students of Australian history, wrote more strongly in that governor’s favour than did any other writer. Dr. Lang tells us that the behaviour of certain subordinates towards MacArthur was highly improper, and that MacArthur’s speech in open court was “calculated to give great offence to a man of so exceedingly irritable disposition as Governor Bligh.” Again, Dr. Lang says that Bligh by no means merited unqualified commendation for his government of New South Wales, and that the truth lies between the most unqualified praise and the most unqualified vituperation which the two sides of this quarrel have loaded upon his memory.
Judge Therry, who came to New South Wales in 1829, in a judicial summing up of the causes of this revolt, gives Bligh full credit for his attempt to govern well, and condemns in strong terms the outrageous conduct of the New South Wales Regiment; but he describes Bligh as a despotic man who “had proved his incapacity to govern a ship’s crew whom he had driven to mutiny, yet had been made absolute ruler of a colony.” Says Therry:–
“The extravagant and illegal proceedings to which these men” (the Judge-Advocate and his blackguard attorney) “had recourse contributed perhaps more than even the shortcomings of Bligh himself to the catastrophe that ensued. The governor’s conflicts with many, but especially with MacArthur, were bitter and incessant through his career.”
Says Dr. West, writing in 1852:–
“The governor resolved to bring to trial the six officers, who had repelled the Judge-Advocate, for treasonable practices; and, as a preliminary step, ordered that they should appear before the bench of magistrates, of whom Colonel Johnston, their commander, was one. It was now supposed that Bligh intended to constitute a novel court of criminal jurisdiction, and that he had resolved to carry to the last extremes the hostility he had declared. Colonel Johnston, as a measure of self-defence, was induced to march his regiment to Government House, and place His Excellency under arrest, demanding his sword and his commission as governor. This transaction throughout caused a very strong sensation, both in the colony and at home. Opinions widely differ respecting its origin and its necessity. That it was illegal, it may be [Sidenote: 1811] presumed, no one will deny; that it was wanton is not so indisputable. The unfortunate termination of Bligh’s first expedition to Tahiti, the imputations of harshness and cruelty for ever fastened to his name, and the disreputable agents he sometimes employed in his service made the position of the officers extremely anxious, if not insecure. Bligh had become popular with the expired settlers, who reckoned a long arrear of vengeance to their military taskmasters, and who, with the law on their side or encouragement from the governor, might have been expected to show no mercy. Had Bligh escaped to the interior, the personal safety of the officers might have been imperilled. The settlers, led on by the undoubted representative of the Crown, would have been able to justify any step necessary for the recovery of his authority, and at whatever sacrifice of life.”
The court-martial on Johnston was held at Chelsea Hospital, and lasted from May 11th till June 5th, 1811. Bligh complained that many of his papers had been stolen, and the want of these was detrimental to his case. Johnston, in the course of his defence, said:–
“My justification of my conduct depends upon my having proved to the satisfaction of this honourable court that such was the state of the public mind on the 26th of January, 1808, that no alternative was left for me but to pursue the measures I did or to have witnessed an insurrection and massacre in the colony, attended with the certain destruction of the governor himself. In doing this, I have endeavoured to show not only the fact of Captain Bligh’s general unpopularity, and the readiness of the people to rise against him, and the probability that they would be joined by the soldiery, but also the causes of that unpopularity, founded on the general conduct of the governor.”
The court came to the following decision:–
“The court having duly and maturely weighed and considered the whole of the evidence adduced on the prosecution, as well as what has been offered in defence, are of opinion that Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston is guilty of the act of mutiny as described in the charge, and do therefore sentence him to be cashiered”;
and approval of the sentence is thus recorded:–
“His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, was pleased, under all the circumstances of the case, to acquiesce in the sentence of the court. The court, in passing a sentence so inadequate to the enormity of the crime of which the prisoner has been found guilty, have apparently been actuated by a consideration of the novel and extraordinary circumstances which, by the evidence on the face of the proceedings, may have appeared to them to have existed during the administration of Governor Bligh, both as affecting the tranquillity of the colony and calling for some immediate decision. But although the Prince Regent admits the principle under which the court have allowed the consideration to act in mitigation of the punishment which the crime of [Sidenote: 1811] mutiny would otherwise have suggested, yet no circumstances whatever can be received by His Royal Highness in full extenuation of an assumption of power so subversive of every principle of good order and discipline as that under which Lieutenant-Colonel Johnston has been convicted.”
If Bligh had no part in bringing these disasters upon himself, he was a very unfortunate man (he was never given another command), and his enemies were extremely lucky in coming off so well. Mutineers whom he accused of taking active part against him, instead of getting hanged, rise to high rank in the service of the King; the military leader of an insurrection, in place of being shot on a parade-ground, is mildly dismissed the service, and becomes a prosperous settler upon the soil on which he raised the standard of revolution. But, whatever may have been his faults, arising from his ungovernable temper and arbitrary disposition, the statements of his military traducers reflecting on his personal courage may be dismissed with the contempt they deserve.
CHAPTER XII.
OTHER NAVAL PIONEERS, AND THE PRESENT MARITIME STATE OF AUSTRALIA–CONCLUSION.
Long after Bligh, the last naval governor, was in his grave, the pioneer work of naval officers went on; and if not the chief aid to the settlement of Australia, it played an important part in its development. Begun at the foundation of the colony, when the marine explorer did his work in open boats; carried on, as the settlement grew, in locally built fore-and-aft vessels down to the present, when navigating officers are year in, year out, cruising “among the South Sea Islands,” or on the less known parts of the northern and western Australian coast-line, surveying in up-to-date triple-expansion-engined steam cruisers or in steam surveying yachts, the work of chart-making has always been, and still is, done so thoroughly as to command the admiration of all who understand its [Sidenote: 1793] its meaning, and withal so modestly that the shipmaster, whose Admiralty charts are perhaps little less or even more valuable to him than his Bible, scarcely ever thinks, if he knows, how they are made.
In the earliest days of the colony, Phillip and Hunter were land as well as sea explorers; Dawes and Tench, of the Marines, and Quartermaster Hacking, of the _Sirius_, in 1793 and 1794, made the first attempts to cross the Blue Mountains. Shortlands (father and son), Ball, of the _Supply_, and half a dozen other naval lieutenants, all made discoveries of importance; Vancouver, McClure, and Bligh (the latter twelve years before he was thought of as a governor) each did a share of early charting.
The list might be extended indefinitely. Let us take only one or two names and tell their stories; and these examples, with the narrative of Flinders and Bass, must stand as illustrative of the work of all.
In land exploring the military officers were not behindhand. Beside the work of the marines, a young Frenchman, Francis Louis Barrallier, an ensign of the New South Wales Corps, who came out with King, distinguished himself. King made him artillery and engineer officer, and he did much surveying with Grant in the _Lady Nelson_. Inland he went west until stopped by the Blue Mountains barrier; and King tells us an amusing story of this trip. Paterson, in command of the regiment, told King that he could not spare Barrallier for exploring purposes, so King, to get over the difficulty, appointed him his aide-de-camp, and then sent him on an “embassy to the King of the Mountains.”
Barrallier went home in 1804, and saw a great deal of service in various regiments, distinguishing himself in military engineering, among his works being the erection of Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square. He died in London in 1853.
The _Lady Nelson_ was a little brig of 60 tons burden, one of the first built with a centre-board, or sliding keels, as the idea was then termed. She was designed by Captain Schanck, one of the naval transport commissioners, and when she sailed from Portsmouth to begin her survey service in Australia, she was so deeply laden for her size that she had less than three feet of freeboard.
Lieutenant James Grant was, through the influence of [Sidenote: 1800] Banks, appointed to command this little vessel. He has much to say on the subject of sliding keels, for which see his _Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery_. The _Lady Nelson_ was well built, and Grant showed his respect for her designer by his naming of Cape Schanck in Victoria and Mount Schanck in South Australia. In one of his letters to Banks, Grant says that, with all his stores of every description on board, he could take his vessel into seven feet of water, and could haul off a lee shore, by the use of sliding keels, “equal to any ship in the navy.” On the night of January 23rd, 1800, it blew such a gale in the Channel that six vessels went on shore, and several others were reported missing. This gale lasted for nine days, and during that time the _Lady Nelson_ rode comfortably at her anchor in the Downs.
Grant’s instructions when he left England were to proceed through the newly discovered Bass’ Straits on his way, report himself at Sydney, and then set to work and survey the coast, beginning with the southern and south-western parts of it. The brig sailed, with a crew of seventeen all told, in February, 1800, and arrived on December 16th of the same year, being the first vessel to pass through Bass’ Straits on the way from England to Australia. On the voyage Grant discovered and named many points on the Victorian coast-line; then, as soon as the vessel arrived and received a thorough overhaul, she was sent to sea again to continue the work in company with a small intercolonial vessel, the _Bee_.
They sailed on March 8th, 1801, and were surveying until May 2nd, when Grant sums up the work done in these words:–
“We have now gained a complete survey of the coast from Western Point to Wilson’s Promontory, with the situation of the different islands of the same, and ascertained the latitudes of the same, which from our different observations we have been able to do sufficiently correct…. These points being ascertained so far as lays in our power, I judge it most prudent to make the best of our way to port, keeping the shore well in sight to observe every particular hitherto unknown.”
The portions left out in this extract refer to the latitudes and longitudes, which are so correctly given that the only ascertainable difference between them and the figures in a recent addition of Norrie is in the case of Wilson’s Promontory, which Grant says is [Sidenote: 1801] in longitude between 146 deg. 25′ and 146 deg. 14′, and Norrie’s table gives us 146 deg. 25′ 37″.
On the return of the little vessel, she took part in an interesting ceremony, which the following proclamation by Governor King, dated May 29th, best describes:–
“Thursday next being the anniversary of His Majesty’s birth, will be observed as a holyday. The present Union will be hoisted at sunrise. At a quarter before nine the New South Wales Corps and Association to be under arms, when the Royal Proclamation for the Union between Great Britain and Ireland will be publicly read by the Provost-Marshall, and on the New Union flag being displayed at Dawes Point and on board His Majesty’s armed vessel _Lady Nelson_ the military will fire three rounds, which the batteries will take up, beginning at the main guard, Bennilong and Dawes Points, at the Windmill Hills, and at the barracks. When finished, His Majesty’s armed vessel the _Lady Nelson_ will fire 21 guns, man ship, and cheer. At noon the salute will be repeated from the batteries, New South Wales Corps and Association will fire three rounds, and at one o’clock the _Lady Nelson_ will fire 21 guns in honour of His Majesty’s birthday. The Governor will be ready to receive the compliments of the officers, civil and military, on those happy occasions, at half-past one o’clock.”
King had a high opinion of Grant as a seaman, but he considered him an unscientific man, not suitable for surveying, and wrote to England to that effect. Grant himself confirms this in a letter asking to go home, as from the “little knowledge I have of surveying, … where I may be enabled to be more serviceable to my country.” His faith in sliding keels had been somewhat shaken by this time, and he complained that he could not claw his vessel off a lee shore, and so Flinders found, when Grant with the _Lady Nelson_ kept him company along the Barrier Reef when the _Investigator_ was surveying that part of the coast. The _Nelson_ had been ordered to act as tender to the _Investigator_, but she was so unsuited to the work that Flinders lost patience and sent her back to Sydney, where she did a great deal of surveying in the exploration of the Hunter River and its vicinity. Grant went home, and cut a much better figure as a fighting officer, was promoted commander, and died in 1838. On his way home he took a box of King’s despatches to convey to England, and when the despatch-box was opened it was found to be empty. King, writing of this matter, said:–
“I do not blame Lieutenant Grant so much for the [Sidenote: 1802] villainous transaction respecting the loss of my despatches as I deprecate the infamy of those who had preconcerted the plan. Before the vessel he went in left the colony, it was told me that such an event would happen, and the master’s conduct prior to his leaving this fully justified the report. I would not suffer the vessel to leave the port before a bond of L500 was given that neither Lieutenant Grant or the despatches should be molested. Under these circumstances and Lieutenant Grant’s knowledge of the master, he ought to have been more guarded, as I gave my positive directions that the vessel should be seen a certain way to sea, and the box was not given from my possession before the vessel was under way. However, the plan was too well laid and bound with ill-got gold to fail. Let the villain enjoy the success of his infamy. As to any publication of Mr. Grant’s, I believe nothing new or original can arise from his pen without the aid of auxiliary fiction.”
Lieutenant Murray, of the _Porpoise_, relieved Grant in the _Lady Nelson_, and Murray and his mate. Lieutenant Bowen, further explored Bass’ Straits and the Victorian coast, their chief achievement being the discovery of Port Phillip.
The _Lady Nelson_ was off the heads of Port Phillip on January 5th, 1802, but the weather was too bad to enter, and Bowen was sent to examine the bay in one of the brig’s boats. This he did, and the _Lady Nelson_ entered, and anchored off what is now the quarantine station on February 15th. Murray took possession of the place on March 9th, naming it Port King, and Surveyor Grimes made a survey of it. They left on March 12th. The Frenchman Baudin, with the _Geographe_ and _Naturaliste_, eighteen days later ran along this coast and claimed its discovery, although the Englishmen, Flinders in particular, had already surveyed and named nearly all his discoveries; but Baudin was gracious enough to admit that Port Phillip, which he had only sighted, had been first entered by the _Lady Nelson_. Flinders sailed into the bay on April 26th, thinking that he had made a new discovery, until, on his arrival at Port Jackson, he heard of the _Lady Nelson’s_ prior visit, and that Governor King, with modesty and regard for his old chief, had altered Murray’s name of Port King to Port Phillip.
In consequence of Murray’s services in the _Lady Nelson_, King appointed him acting lieutenant, and strongly recommended the Admiralty should confirm the appointment.
With the recommendation, Murray sent home, through the governor, the following certificate of his services, which is interesting as showing how such certificates were then written, and because of what came of this particular recommendation:–
“In pursuance of the directions of Sir Roger Curtis, Bart., Vice-Admiral of the White and Commander-in-chief of His Majesty’s ships and vessels employed and to be employed at the Cape of Good Hope and the seas adjacent, dated the 8th July, 1800.
“We have examined Mr. John Murray, who appears to be more than 21 years of age, and has been at sea more than six years in the ships and qualities undermentioned, viz.:–
|Ships. |Entry. |Quality. |Discharge. |Y.|M.|W.|D.| |_Duke_ |9 June, 1789 |Able Seaman|2 Dec., 1789 | |5 |2 |2 | |_Polyphemus_|10 Oct., 1794|Midshipman |7 May, 1797 |2 |7 |2 | | |_Apollo_ |8 May, 1797 |Mate |27 Dec., 1797| |8 |1 |3 | |_Blazer_ |2 Jan., 1798 |2nd Master | | | | | | | | | and Pilot|26 July, 1798| |7 |1 |3 | |_Porpoise_ |7 Oct.,1798 |Mate |9 July, 1800 |1 |9 | | | | | | | |6 |1 |3 |1 |
“He produceth journals kept by himself in the _Polyphemus, Apollo_, and _Porpoise_, and certificates from Captains Lumsdine, Manly, and Scott, of his diligence and sobriety. He can splice knots, reef and sail, work a ship in sailing, and shift his tides, keep a reckoning of the ship’s way by plain sailing and Mercator, observe the sun and stars, and find the variation of the compass, and is qualified to do the duty of an able seaman and midshipman.
“Given under our hands on His Majesty’s ship _Adamant_, in Simon’s Bay, Cape of Good Hope, this 9th day of July, 1800.
“J. Motham, \ Captains of / _(Adamant,_ “Thomas Larcom, | His Majesty’s | _Lancaster,_ “Roger Curtis, / ships \ _Rattlesnake_.”
The Secretary to the Admiralty wrote to Governor King on May 5th, 1802, stating that this passing certificate of Mr. Murray’s was “an imposition attempted to be practised in his report of services, and to acquaint you that they will not, in consequence, give him a commission, nor will they allow him to pass for an officer at any future period.” With this letter came an enclosure showing that by Mr. Murray’s passing certificate “it is set forth that he served in the _Duke_ from the 9th June, 1789, to the 2nd December, 1789, but we must observe that the _Duke_ was not in commission in 1789, neither is he found on her books from the 10th of August, 1790, to 2nd August, 1791, when she was in commission, nor is he born on the _Duke_ while she was in ordinary, which time, even admitting he did belong to her, would not have been allowed towards the regular servitude of six years.”
In reply to this charge, Murray told King that he could [Sidenote: 1803] “explain” the circumstance; but he soon after returned to England, and these deponents can find no further trace of him.
Soon after it was decided to colonize the new discovery, and the _Calcutta_, man-of-war, and _Ocean_, transport, sailed from Portsmouth with prisoners and stores on April 26th, 1803, arriving at Port Phillip on October 10th. Collins, now a brevet-lieutenant-colonel, who was Judge-Advocate under Phillip, was in command of the expedition, and was to be the first governor of the settlement.
King, at Port Jackson, had meanwhile sent–in May, 1803–Lieutenant Bowen in the _Lady Nelson,_ with a transport and a party of settlers, to form a settlement at the head of the Derwent in Van Diemen’s Land.
The expedition was made up of 307 male convicts, 17 of their wives, and 7 children; 4 officers and 47 non-commissioned officers and men of the Marines, with 5 women and 1 child; and a party of 11 men and 1 woman, free settlers. Besides these were about 12 civilian officials. By the close of 1803, Collins, with the concurrence of most, if not all, of his officers, decided to abandon Port Phillip, and convey his colonists to the Derwent settlement. His justification for taking this step was the unsuitableness of the land and the difficulty of procuring fresh water near the heads of Port Phillip. This shows that he was not of the same spirit as Governor Phillip, and that he wrote history far better than he made it.
Bowen had already begun the settlement near what was named Hobart Town by him in honour of the Secretary of State, Lord Hobart. In 1881 the “Town” was dropped, and “Hobart” became the official name of the capital of Tasmania. The man acting as mate of the _Lady Nelson_ was one Jorgenson, the “King of Iceland,” whose remarkable story was written by Mr. Hogan, and published by Ward and Downey in 1891, and whose career was a most extraordinary series of adventures. The _Lady Nelson_ pursued her careful and useful voyages until 1827, when she was seized by Maoris on the coast of New Zealand and destroyed.
In 1817 there came out young Phillip Parker King, son of Governor King, who made four voyages round the Australian coast, completing a minute survey in 1822, when he returned to England and [Sidenote: 1822] published an interesting account of his work. Sir Gordon Bremer in the _Tamar_, Sterling in the _Success_, Fitzroy in the _Beagle_, Hodson in the _Rattlesnake_, Captain (afterwards Sir George) Grey on the West Australian coast, Blackwood in the _Fly_, Stokes and Wickham, and scores of other naval officers ought to be mentioned, and no attempt can be made in a work like this to do justice to the merchantmen who, in whalers and sealers or East Indiamen, in a quiet, modest, business-like way of doing the thing, sailed about the coast making discoveries, and often, through the desertion of their seamen, leading to the foundation of settlements.
Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson, and William Charles Wentworth, in Governor Macquarie’s time, were the first men to make an appreciable advance to the west, inland from the sea. Lawson was a lieutenant in the New South Wales Corps, in the Veteran Company of which notorious regiment he remained attached to the 73rd when the “Botany Bay Rangers” went home. Blaxland was an early settler in the colony, and Wentworth was the son of a wealthy Norfolk Island official, who had sent his boy home to be educated, and when these three men went exploring, young Wentworth had just returned to Australia. In 1813, after many hard trials, by keeping to the crown of the range and avoiding the impenetrable gorges which their predecessors had thought would lead to a pass through the barrier, they managed to gain the summit of the main range, and then returned to Sydney. The work had taken a month to perform, and Macquarie promptly sent out a fully equipped party to follow up the discovery. So thoroughly did the governor back up the work of the explorers that by January, 1815, the convict-made road had been completed to Bathurst, and the Blue Mountain ranges were no longer a barrier to the good country of the west.
The Humes, Evans, Oxley, and the rest of the land explorers followed as the years went on, and very soon there was not a mile of undiscovered land in the mother-colony. Attempts to penetrate the interior of the great continent followed, and that work and the opening of the far north, with its too often accompaniments of disaster and death, went on until quite recent times. Occasionally even now we hear much talk of expeditions into the interior, but newspaper-readers who read of such exploring parties can generally take it for granted that stories of hazard and hardship nowadays lose nothing in the telling, especially where mining interests and financial speculation are concerned.
By way of ending to this story of the naval pioneers of Australia, it will perhaps be not amiss to show what the navy was in Australia at the beginning of the century and what it is now at its close. A return issued by Governor King on the 4th of August, 1804, showed that the _Buffalo_, ship of war, with a crew of 84 men, the _Lady Nelson_, a 60-ton brig, with 15 men, were the only men-of-war that could be so described on the station. The _Investigator_, Flinders’ ship, was then being patched up to go home, and she is stated to have 26 men rated on her books. Belonging to the Colonial Government were the _Francis_, a 40-ton schooner, the _Cumberland_, 20-ton schooner, the _Integrity_, a cutter of 59 tons, the _Resource_, a schooner of 26 tons, built from the wrecks of the _Porpoise_ and _Cato_, and some punts and open boats. The crews of all these vessels amounted to 145 men.
A return dated six months later shows that there were 23 merchant vessels owned, or constantly employed, in the colony, of a total tonnage of 660 tons, carrying crews numbering altogether 117. The vessels varied in size from the _King George_, of 185 tons and 25 men, to the _Margaret_, of 7 tons and 2 men.
In the year 1898 the royal naval forces in Australian waters make a squadron, under the command of a rear-admiral, consisting of 17 ships. Of these 15 (including 3 surveying vessels at present attached to the Australian station) are in commission, and 2 in reserve. The total tonnage of the vessels in commission and in reserve amounts to 31,795 tons, armed with the most modern weapons, and carrying crews numbering in the aggregate about 3000, while the naval establishment at Garden Island (so called because about a hundred and twenty years ago it was used as a vegetable garden for the crew of the _Sirius_) is now one of the most important British naval stations.
Seven of these war vessels belong to a special squadron, the maintenance of which is partially paid for by the colonial governments; and, by agreement with the Imperial Government, the ships are to be employed in Australasian waters solely for the defence of Australia and New Zealand. Besides this force, most of the colonial governments maintain a naval reserve of their own, highly efficient, perhaps, as a land force, but, owing to the lack of vessels and of money, scarcely to be considered seriously of value as a naval defence force.
The merchant shipping trade of Australia, measured by the entering and clearing returns from all Australian ports, now reaches about 18,000,000 tons annually, of which about one-third is entered or cleared from the ports of the mother-colony. The returns do not separate purely local tonnage from the other shipping of the British empire, but out of the above 18,000,000 tons some 16,000,000 tons are classed as British, and Australia as a whole contributes no mean proportion of that amount.
Here ends this account of the naval pioneers of Australia. We have already said that this work is biographical rather than historical. All that we have attempted is not to sketch the progress of the colony–as a colony, for the first twenty years of its existence, no element of progress was in it–but to show how certain naval officers, in spite of the difficulties of the penal settlement days, in spite very often of their own unfitness for this to them strange service, did their work well, not perhaps always governing wisely, but holding to ground won in such circumstances and by such poor means as men with more brains and less “grit” would have abandoned as untenable.
Arthur Phillip landed in a desert, obtained a footing on the land, and when he left it, left behind him a habitable country; Hunter and King followed him and held the country, though nearly every man’s hand was against them, and the industrious and the virtuous among their people could be numbered by the fingers of the hand. Yet these men and their officers dotted the coast-line with their discoveries, and by what they wrought in the direction of sea exploration more than made up for what they lacked in the art of civil governing. Bligh honestly endeavoured in a blundering way to accomplish that which only the sharp lesson of his mistake made possible; Macquarie, backed by a regiment, began his administration with concessions, and continued for many years to govern the colony, chiefly for the benefit of the emancipists instead of for its officials. Whatever evils may have come of his methods, it has been said of him that “he found a garrison and a gaol, and left the broad and deep foundations of an empire.” Such foundation was really laid by his successors, who encouraged the emigration of free men who presently demanded that Australia should no longer be used as a place of punishment, and its lands as a reward for felons; that it must be a British colony in the fullest and freest sense. It is to these men, marching forward upon ways cut for them by the naval pioneers, we owe the fulfilment of Phillip’s prediction that “this would be the most valuable acquisition England ever made.”
INDEX
Abbott, Captain, 144, 147, 257.
Abrolhos, 11, 15, 17, 38.
_Adamant_, H.M.S., 288.
Adams, John, 234, 240.
Addison’s _Arithmetical Navigation_, 35. Admiralty Islands, 51.
Adventure Bay, 223.
_Alexander_, 247.
All Saints, Bay of, 34.
_Amazon_, 142.
Anson, 51.
Apia Harbour, 32.
_Apollo_, 287.
Arauco, 241.
_Ariadne_, 76, 137.
Armstrong Channel, 170.
Arnhem’s Land, 184;
discovery of, 9, 16.
_Arnhem_, 9.
Ascension, 39.
_Assistance_, 229.
_Astrolabe_, 138.
Atkin, Mr., 199, 203, 212.
Atkins, Judge-Advocate, 261.
Australia, 59;
belief in the existence, 2;
the Spanish voyages, 4;
the Dutch, 6;
discovery of the south coast, in 1627, 9; the first English naval expedition, 23; first use of the name, 184;
condition of the navy in 1804, 293; in 1898, 294;
merchant shipping trade, 295.
Baffin’s Bay, 65.
Bahio de todos los Santos, or the Bay of All Saints, 34. Ball, Lieutenant, 77, 140, 279.
Banjoewangi, 39.
Banks, Sir Joseph, 53, 67, 73, 149, 154, 158, 168, 182, 208, 222, 223, 249, 251, 252; on establishing a penal colony at Botany Bay, 74; letters from Captain Flinders, 204-206, 212, 213; to Governor King, 209;
to Captain Flinders, 210.
Barham, Lord, 211.
Barrallier, Francis Louis, 279, 280. Barrier Reef, 60, 63, 184, 227, 284.
Barrington, George, 164.
Barrow, Sir John, his _Mutiny of the “Bounty,”_ 218, 231, 232, 238, 245.
Barton, Mr. G.B., his _History of Australia_, 2; _History of New South Wales from the Records_, 87. _Barwell_, 106.
Bashee Islands, 19.
_Basilisk_, 75.
Bass, George, 95, 105, 279;
his work of surveying, 167;
early career, 169;
appointed surgeon to the _Reliance_, 169; discovers the coalfields of New South Wales, 172; explorations, 172-175, 177;
sails in the _Venus_, 179;
last news, 179;
appearance, 181;
mysterious fate, 181;
various reports, 181.
Bass’ Straits, 170, 178, 281, 285. Batavia, 11, 58, 64, 100, 141.
_Batavia_, Wreck of the, 10.
Bath, 89.
Bathampton Church, 89.
Bathurst, 292.
Baudin, M., 157, 286;
his expedition to New South Wales, 158; letter to Captain King, 160.
Baye du Cap, 198, 201.
_Beagle_, 291.
_Bee_, 282.
Belcher, Lady, _Mutineers of the Bounty_, 218, 238. _Bellerophon_, 169.
_Bellona_, 66.
Benevideis, General, 241.
Bennilong Point, 283.
Bergeret, Captain, 199, 212.
Bermudas, 134.
_Berwick_, 77.
Besant, Sir Walter, 45.
Bishop, Charles, 179.
Blackwood, 291.
Blaxland, George, 291.
_Blenheim_, 233.
Bligh, Captain, 100, 163, 169, 211, 277, 279; Governor of New South Wales, 218, 247, 252; his first visit to the South Seas, 221; in command of the _Bounty_, 222;
outbreak of the mutiny, 224;
cast adrift, 225;
his courage and endurance, 226, 246; reaches Timor, 228;
England, 229;
in command of the _Providence_, 229; his version of the mutiny, 242;
responsibility for it, 245;
defence of his conduct, 248-250; instructions, 252;
administration, 254, 296;
dispute with MacArthur, 256;
prohibits the distillation of spirits, 257; proceedings against MacArthur, 259;
surrenders to Major Johnston, 267; Rear-Admiral, 270.
Bligh’s Passage, 227.
Blue Mountains, 82, 157, 279, 292. _Bonaparte_, 133, _note_.
Bootie, 65.
Botany Bay, 57, 58, 94;
proposal to establish a penal colony at, 74; arrival of the fleet, 78;
its unsuitability, 81;
state of society, 271.
Bougainville, 51.
_Bounty, Mutiny of the_, 218;
various books on, 218, 219;
sails for Tahiti, 222;
fittings, 222;
crew, 223;
outbreak of the mutiny, 224;
trial of the mutineers, 232;
sole survivor, 233;
beached and burnt, 234.
_Boussole_, 138.
Bowen, Lieutenant, 285;
forms a settlement at Derwent, 289. Bowles, Captain, 240.
Bowrey, Captain, 37.
Brazils, Viceroy of the, treatment of Captain Cook, 55. Bremen, Jan de, 15.
Bremer, Sir Gordon, 291.
Breton, Cape, 125.
_Bridgewater_, 186, 188;
escapes being wrecked, 189;
deserts the ships, 190.
_Britannia_, 144.
_Briton_, 233.
Britton, Mr., 124.
Broken Bay, 94, 174.
Broome, 39.
Brown, 183, 234.
Buccaneer Archipelago, 20.
Buchan, 53.
_Buffalo_, 105, 293.
Bunker, Mr., 242.
Bunker’s Hill, Battle of, 119, 124. Burney, Charles, 92.
Burney, extract from his _Voyages_, 5. Byron, Mr., 51, 66, 137;
discovers the Falkland Islands, 50. Byron, his poem of “The Island,” 219.
Caen, General de, 199, 201;
his treatment of Captain Flinders, 198, 202; his report, 207.
Calcutta, 242.
_Calcutta_, 289.
Callao, 4, 241, 242.
_Calliope_, 32.
Camden, Lord, 252.
Campbell, Captain, 181.
Campbell, Mr., 201.
Campeachy, Bay of, 19.
Camperdown, Battle of, 248.
_Canada_, 247.
_Canterbury_, 40.
Carnarvon, 39.
Carpentaria, Gulf of, 16, 184.
Carteret, Captain, 100;
in command of the _Swallow_, 50;
his discoveries, 51.
Cascade Bay, 123.
Castle Hill, 152.
Castlereagh, Lord, 250.
_Cato_, 186, 293;
wreck of the, 188-192.
Cavendish, 24.
Celebes, 20.
Chappell, Captain, 217.
Charles II., 37.
Charnock, his _Marine Architecture_, 23; illustration of a sixth-rate vessel, 26; a man-of-war, 27;
his scale of provisions, 30;
dress of sailors, 31.
Chart-making, the work of, 278.
Chastleton, 247.
Chili, 180.
Christian, Fletcher, 224, 225, 234, 242, 244, 250; mystery of his death, 235;
accounts of his revolt, 236, 238. _Cinque Ports_, 42.
_Circassian_, 242.
Clarke, 92.
Clarke Island, 170.
Clerke, Charles, 65;
his career, 66;
captain of the _Discovery_, 66;
extracts from his letters, 67-71. Coalcliff, 172.
Cochrane, Lord, 241.
Coker, East, 19.
Cole, Mr., 244.
Collins, Arthur, 119.
Collins, General Arthur Tooker, 119. Collins, Lieut.-Colonel, on the result of the first voyage to Botany Bay, 78;
the second voyage, 79;
on the settlers of New South Wales, 83; his history of it, 118;
career, 119;
appointed Judge-Advocate, 119;
Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, 120; appearance, 120;
character, 121;
in command of the expedition to colonize Port Phillip, 289. Colnett, Captain, 164.
Convicts, mutiny, 152.
Cook, Captain James, 221, 249;
his early years, 45;
appointed master of the _Mercury_, 45; marine surveyor of Newfoundland, 46;
in command of the expedition to the Pacific, 46; object of his voyage, 52;
commander of the _Endeavour_, 52, 53; his ship’s company, 53;
food supply, 54;
order on the treatment of scurvy, 54; treatment by the Viceroy of the Brazils, 55; at Point Hicks, 57;
Botany Bay, 57;
discovers and surveys the east coast, 58; sails through Torres Strait, 58;
takes possession of the continent, 58; his difficulties, 60;
extracts from his entries, 60-63; on the number of deaths at Batavia, 64; logs of his officers, 65;
accidental discovery of Australia, 71; discovers Norfolk Island, 139;
report, 139.
Coombes, Miss, 165.
Cooper-King, Colonel C, on the punishment of marines, 122. Copenhagen, 142;
battle of, 249.
Cornelis, Jerome, the mutiny of, 11-15. Coupang, 198, 231.
_Courageux_, 66, 119.
_Crescent_, 241.
Crossley, 183.
_Cumberland_, 159, 194, 196, 201, 293. Cunningham, James, 140.
Curtis, Sir Roger, 287, 288.
_Cygnet_, 19.
Cygnet Bay, 20.
_Daedalus_, 144.
_Daily Graphic_, 247;
extract from, 248-250.
Dalrymple, 6, 52;
his jealousy of Captain Cook, 52, 56; _Historical Collection of Voyages_, 56. Dalrymple Port, 271.
Dampier, Captain, 8, 17, 51;
his voyages, 19;
slave “Joey,” 20;
observations on the natives, 21;
in command of the _Roebuck_, 23;
account of his travels, 28;
dedication to the Hon. C. Mountague, 28; his pay, 29;
ill-disciplined crew, 34;
scientific results of the voyage, 35; on Tasman’s draught of the coast, 36;
in Sharks’ Bay, 38;
at New Guinea, 39;
foundering of his ship, 39;
personality, 40;
summary of his work, 41;
dedication to the Earl of Pembroke, 42; in command of a privateering expedition, 42; sails as pilot, 43;
obscure death, 43;
his _Voyage_, 56.
Dampier’s Monument, 21.
Davies, Lieutenant, 152.
Davies, John, 24;
his work on navigation, 35.
Dawes, 118, 279;
Battery, 118;
Point, 283.
De Quiros discovers various islands, 4. Denmark, Matilda, Queen of, 119.
Deptford, 53.
Derwent, settlement at, 289;
River, 268.
Dewar, Mr. W., 70.
_Director_, 248.
Dirk Hartog’s Road, 38.
_Discovery_, 66, 68.
Dixon, Mr., 153.
Doggerbank, 249.
_Dolphin_, 50, 51, 66, 137.
Donington, 168.
Duckett, 59.
_Duff_, 133.
_Duke_, 288.
Duncan, Admiral, 248.
_Duncan_, 214.
Dunton, John, _A New Discovery of Terra Incognita Australis, or the Southern World, by James Sadeur, a Frenchman_, 37. Dusky Bay, 179.
Dutch, their voyages to Australia, 6; East India Company, establishment of the, 7. Duyphen Point, 8.
_Duyphen_, its voyages to New Guinea, 7.
_Eagle_, 45, 93.
East Indies, 71.
Edwards, Captain, 229, 245;
his treatment of the mutineers of the _Bounty_, 230-232. Ellis, Mr. W., 70.
Elphinstone, 229.
Encounter Bay, 184.
_Endeavour_, 48, 52, 179;
sketch of the vessel, 53;
its condition, 60;
goes ashore on the Barrier Reef, 60. Endeavour River, 63.
_Endragt_, 8.
England, state of the navy, 22.
_Esmeralda_, 241.
Etheridge, Mr., 166.
_Europe_, 76, 137.
Evans, 292.
Evelyn, John, extract from, on Captain Dampier, 18. Everard, Cape, 57.
Everett, Captain Michael, 75.
Exmouth Gulf, 16.
Falconer, 92.
Falkland Islands, discovery of, 50. Fish, Rev. Lancelot J., 90.
Fitzmaurice, Lieutenant, 181.
Fitzroy, 291.
Flattery, Cape, 63.
Flinders, Matthew, 59, 105, 279, 284, 286; his work of surveying, 167;
early career, 168;
joins the _Reliance_, 169;
discoveries, 170, 176, 177, 178, 184; in command of the _Norfolk_, 177;
return to England, 178, 182;
on the circumnavigation of Van Diemen’s Land, 182; in command of the _Investigator_, 182; charts of the coast, 184;
on board the _Porpoise_, 186;
wrecked, 187-192;
reaches Sydney, 192;
at Wreck Reef, 196;
his description of the _Cumberland_, 197; letter to Governor King on being taken prisoner, 198-201; tyranny of General de Caen, 202;
imprisonment, 203;
letters to Sir J. Banks, 204-206, 212, 213; to General de Caen, 208, 209;
obtains his freedom, 215;
arrives in England, 216;
_Account of a Voyage to Terra Australia_, 216; his daughter, 217.
Flinders, Samuel, 169, 183.
Flinders, Mrs., 210.
_Fly_, 291.
Folger, Matthew, 233.
Forwood, 65.
Foveaux, Lieutenant-Colonel, 268.
Fowler, Lieutenant, 186, 189.
_Francis_, 176, 194, 196, 197, 293. Franklin, John, 183.
Frazer, Harriet, 119.
Freycinet, De, 8.
Frobisher, extract from, on Australia, 3. Fryer, John, 223, 224, 225, 243.
Funnel, in command of the _Cinque Ports_, 43. Furneaux, Captain, 173, 174.
Furneaux group, 177.
_Gambia_, 241.
Garden Island, 294.
Gascoyne division, 38.
George, St., 42.
George, III., anniversary of his birthday, 283. _Geographe_, 160, 200, 286.
Gerald, 165.
Gilbert, Captain, his duel with Lieutenant MacArthur, 125. _Glatton_, H.M.S., 163, 244, _note_, 249. Good Hope, Cape of, 68, 71, 95, 102, 105, 216. _Gorgon_, 143.
_Grampus_, 92.
Grant, Lieutenant James, 280;
in command of the _Lady Nelson_, 281; his _Narrative of a Voyage of Discovery_, 281; instructions, 281;
survey of the coast, 282.
Green, 53, 65.
Green Cape, 177.
Gregory, Rev. William, 133.
Grey, Sir George, 291.
Grimes, Surveyor, 286.
Grose, Francis, 124.
Grose, Major, 102;
his method of governing New South Wales, 103; offers to form a corps, 123;
manner of raising, 126;
his career, 124;
grants of land to officers, 130;
in temporary command, 143;
cause of offence against Governor King, 145. _Guardian_, wreck of the, 142.
_Gulde Zeepard_, 10.
Guns, table of, 25.
Gunter, 35.
Hacking, Quartermaster, 279.
Hackney Churchyard, 113.
Hadley, his quadrant, 35;
sextant, 50.
Hallett, 243.
Halley, 52.
Hamelin, Captain, of the _Naturaliste_, 8. Hamilton, Mr., 176.
_Harriet_, 215.
_Harrington_, 181.
Harrison, his chronometer, 50.
Hartog, Dirk, in command of the _Endragt_, 8. Hawke, Lord, 52.
Hawkesbury, River, 94, 254.
Hawkesworth, Dr., 45, 58, 60, 81.
Hayes, Sir Henry Browne, 164.
Helena, St., 64, 101.
Henriques, Don, 236.
Henry VIII., 22.
Herbert, Captain, 75.
Heywood, 219, 229, 238, 242, 250;
imprisoned on the _Pandora_, 230; trial, 232;
pardoned, 233.
Hicks, Lieutenant, 64, 65.
Hicks, Point, 57.
Hobart, Lord, 160, 290;
recalls Captain King, 162.
Hobart, 271, 290.
Hodmadods, (Hottentots) of Monomatapa, 21. Hodson, 291.
Hogan, Mr., 290.
Hollandia Nova, 16.
Holt, memoirs of, 118, 156.
_Hope, The_ 192.
Horn, Cape, 71, 101.
Houtman’s Abrolhos, 10.
Howe, Cape, 171.
Howe, Lord, 76, 93, 94, 102, 119, 169, 249. Humes, 292.
Hunter, John, 279, 296;
early years, 91;
at school, 92;
various appointments, 93;
in command of the _Sirius_, 93;
his charts and land maps, 94;
sent to obtain supplies, 95;
character, 95;
shipwrecked, 96-98;
account of his voyage home, 99-101; appointed governor of New South Wales, 102; interest in exploration, 105;
good-nature, 107;
quarrel with Captain MacArthur, 108; charges against him, 109;
letters from the Duke of Portland, 109, 110; recalled, 111, 149;
indignation, 111;
in command of the _Venerable_, 113; death, 113;
on the explorations of Bass and Flinders, 172-176. Hunter, William, 92.
Hunter River, 284.
_Indefatigable_, 240.
_Integrity_, 293.
_Investigator_, 182, 284, 293;
its condition, 185.
Ipswich, 118.
Isle of France, 199, 209.
Jackson, Sir George, 59.
James II., 22.
James’ _Naval History_, 23, 24.
Jamison, Thomas, 140.
Jarvis’ Bay, 173.
“Jeoey, Painted Prince,” 20.
Johnson, 106.
Johnston, Major, 127, 256, 264;
his report of the convict mutiny, 152-154; demands release of MacArthur, 265;
assumes the government, 267;
court-martial on, 270, 275;
cashiered, 270, 276;
defence, 275.
Jorgenson, the “King of Iceland,” 290. Juan Fernandez, 43, 236.
Kemp, Captain, 262.
Kent, Captain, 105, 185.
Keppel, Admiral, 124.
Kew, 186.
Kimberley, West, 20.
King, Philip Gidley, 111, 136, 280, 286; governor of Norfolk Island, 122, 140;
extract from his journal on establishing martial law, 123; statement of his services, 137;
administration, 141;
voyage to England, 141;
recognition of his services, 143; marriage, 143, 165;
return to Norfolk Island, 143;
accompanies the Maoris to New Zealand, 144; gives offence to Major Grose, 145;
suppression of a mutiny, 146-148; governor of New South Wales, 149;
administration, 149, 296;
on the corps, 150;
his indulgences to political prisoners, 151; revolt of convicts, 152-154;
on M. Baudin’s visit, 158-160;
the treatment of the officers, 161; lampoon, 162;
recalled, 163;
defence of his conduct, 163;
famous prisoners, 164;
his son, 165;
on the work of Flinders, 185;
assistance to him, 194;
proclamation, 283;
opinion of Grant, 283;
on his stolen despatches, 285;
sends an expedition to colonize Derwent, 289; his report on the navy, 293.
King, Phillip Parker, 165;
his voyages round the Australian coast, 290. King, Mr., 71.
_King George_, 294.
King’s Island, 159.
King’s Sound, 21.
_Kite_, 137.
Klencke, of Amsterdam, 37.
Knowles, Sir Charles, 93.
Labillardiere, his _Voyage in Search of La Perouse_, 243. Ladrones, 19.
_Lady Nelson_, 183, 184, 280, 281, 283, 284, 285, 289, 293; destroyed by Maoris, 290.
_Lady Shore_, mutiny on board, 132. _Lancaster_, H.M.S., 288.
Lang, Dr., his _History of New South Wales_, 107, 154, 250, 254, 273. Larcom, Thomas, 288.
Lawrence, St., 46.
Lawson, William, 291.
Laycock, Quartermaster, 152, 153.
Ledward, 224.
Leeuwin, Cape, 10, 184.
Leith, 91.
Lima, 181.
Linois, Admiral, 200.
_Lion_, 65.
Lipari Islands, 241.
_Liverpool_, 137.
Longnose Bay, 173.
Lord Howe Island, 140.
Louisiade Archipelago, 4.
Lumsdine, Captain, 287.
MacArthur, Captain John, 107, 150;
character, 108;
quarrel with Captain Hunter, 108; his duels with Captain Gilbert, 125;
with Lieut.-Colonel Paterson, 151; successful wool-growing, 157;
dispute with Captain Bligh, 256;
seizure of his stills, 258;
proceedings against him, 259;
indictment, 261;
objects to be tried by Judge-Advocate Atkins, 262; lodged in gaol, 263;
released, 265;
acquitted, 267;
his return in 1817, 270.
Macassar, Strait of, 100.
Macquarie, Governor, his administration of New South Wales, 269, 296. Magellan Straits, 51.
Major, R.H., _Early Voyages to Australia_, 2, 6, 11-15, 37. Manly, Captain, 287.
_Margaret_, 294.
Margarot, 165.
Marines, expedition to New South Wales, 114; petition for liquor, 115;
officers, 116, 118;
severity of the punishments, 122; granted discharges, 127;
privileges of re-enlistment, 127. _Marquis de Seignelay_, 93.
Marsden, 106.
Marshall, Captain, 80.
Marshall, Mr., 119.
Martin, 234.
Matavai Bay, 223, 229.
Matra, Jean Maria, 74.
Mauritius, 142, 198.
Maxwell, Lieutenant George William, 100. McBride, Admiral, 119.
McBride, Dr., his method of treating scurvy, 54. McClure, 279.
McCoy, 234, 235.
McFarland, Judge, his book on _The Mutiny of the “Bounty,”_ 219. Mercator, Gerald, his chart, 35.
_Mercury_, 46.
Messina, 241.
Middleton, Sir Charles, 211.
Mills, 234.
Mindanao, 20, 101.
Missionaries, on the condition of New South Wales, 105. Molineux, Robert, 65.
Monistrol, Colonel, 203, 207.
Monson, Sir William, _Naval Tracts_, 25. Monte Video, 133.
Moore, Thomas, letter from, 182.
Morley, Roger, 140.
Morrison, 232, 233.
Mosse Island, 134.
Motham, J., 288.
Motherbank, 76.
Moulter, James, 231.
Mountague, Hon. Charles, 28.
Muir, 165.
Mulgrave, Lord, 119.
Murray, Lieutenant, 285, 286;
certificate of his services, 287. Murray, Rear-Admiral, 240.
Murray, Rev. T.B., extract from, on Mr. Nobbs, 240-242. Muspratt, 233.
Naples, 241.
_Naturaliste_, 8, 160, 200, 286.
_Nautical Almanac_, first number of the, 50. _Nautilus_, 177.
_Naval Chronicle_, 92, 94.
_Navigation aux Terres Australes, Histoire des_, 57. Navy, condition of the, in 1688, 22;
in 1769, 48; in 1804, 293; in 1898, 294; officers, 29;
scale of provisions, 30;
dress of sailors, 31;
life on board ship, 32;
improvement in the class of seamen, 48; food and accommodation, 49;
changes in the uniform of officers, 55. Nelson, Lord, 46, 142, 244, 249.
Nelson, the botanist, 224, 228.
Nepean, Captain, 145.
Nepean, Evan, 125.
Nepean, Nicholas, 124.
Nepean River, 125, 254.
_Neptune_, 80, 125.
New Britain, 39, 100.
New Caledonia, 100.
New Guinea, 4, 7, 9, 39, 51, 58, 63. New Hebrides, or Tierra Australis del Espiritu Santo, 4. New Holland, 16, 20, 50, 59, 71, 95.
New Ireland, 51, 100.
New South Wales, 58;
scheme for colonizing, 74;
opinions on the country, 82;
agricultural returns, 83;
convict population, 84;
administration of Captain Phillip, 85; Captain Hunter, 102;
the military, 102;
state of disorder, 103;
the corps, 103;
bushrangers, 105;
the marines, 114;
officers, 116, 118;
formation of the corps, 123;
manner of raising, 126;
maximum strength, 127;
marines granted discharges, 127;
privileges of re-enlistment, 127; emigrants, 128;
emancipated convicts, 128;
the first cargo of rum, 131;
character of the corps, 131;
breaches of discipline, 132;
number of companies, 134;
the veteran, 134;
abolished, 135, 269;
revolt of convicts, 152;
the first newspaper, 157;
administration of Capt. King, 136; discovery of coalfields, 172;
Captain Bligh, 218;
under martial law, 267;
population, 271;
condition of the colony, 271;
Governor Macquarie, 269.
_New South Wales Records_, 67.
New Zealand, 7, 57, 71, 143.
Newcastle, 105;
town of, founded, 157.
Newfoundland, 46.
Nicobar Islands, 20.
Nobbs, Rev. George H., his history, 240-242. _Norfolk_, 177, 178, 183.
Norfolk Island, 96, 99, 128, 235;
establishment of martial law, 122; discovery of, 139;
colonization, 140;
population, 140;
mutiny, 146-148.
Norton, Sir Fletcher, 67.
Nutting, Mary, letter from, on Captain Bligh, 248-250. Nuyts Archipelago, 10.
Nuyts, Peter, 10.
Oakes, Francis, 260.
_Ocean_, 289.
_Oceani_, 242.
Otaheite, 237.
Oxford, Earl of, 29.
Oxley, 292.
Palliser, Sir Hugh, 46.
Palmer, 165.
Palmerston, Lord, 86.
_Pandora_ frigate, 229;
wrecked, 231.
Pandora’s Reef, 231.
_Paramour_, 52.
Paris, Peace of, 93.
Parker, Admiral, 249.
Parramatta, 83, 128, 152.
Pascoe, Lieutenant, 47.
Pasley, 169.
Paterson, Lieut.-Colonel, 103, 104, 125, 268, 280; his duel with Captain MacArthur, 151.
Peckover, William, 224.
Pellew, Sir Edward, 213, 214.
Pelsart, Francis, in command of the _Batavia_, 10. Pembroke, Earl of, 42.
Pepy’s Diary, 18, 22, 31, 32.
Perouse, La, 8, 66, 139, 243.
Peru, 181.
_Pesa_, 9.
Petit, Mr., 161.
Petril, Mrs. Annie, 217.
Philip III. of Spain, 6.
Philippines, The, 20.
Phillip, Captain Arthur, 139, 166, 270, 279; his early career, 75;
in command of the first fleet to New South Wales, 76; number of vessels, 77;
his good management, 79;
Governor-in-Chief and Captain-General, 80; on the unsuitability of Botany Bay, 80; explores the coast, 81;
founds Sydney, 81;
administration, 84, 296;
qualifications, 87;
resignation, 89;
promotions and death, 89.
Pickersgill, 65;
Commander of the _Lion_, 65.
Pindar, Peter, 74.
Pitcairn Island, 51, 233;
character of its population, 234. Pitcairne, Major, 119.
Pitt, William, 164.
Plymouth, 125, 221.
_Polyphemus_, 287.
_Porpoise_, 159, 186, 197, 285, 287, 293; wreck of the, 187-192.
Port Bowen, 187.
Port King, 286.
Port Jackson, 59, 81, 94, 142.
Port Louis, 142, 198, 201.
Port Phillip, 157, 160, 184;
discovery of, 285;
attempt to colonize, 271, 289.
Port Royal, 52.
Port Stephens, 59.
Portland, Duke of, 107, 148, 150, 172; extract of his letters to Captain Hunter, 109-111. _Portland_, 64.
Possession Island, 58.
Preservation Island, 170, 177.
_Princess_, 137.
_Providence_, 100, 169, 229, 249.
Providential Channel, 63.
_Prudent_, 137.
Purchas, extract from, on Australia, 3. Putland, Mrs., 266.
Quebec, 93;
siege of, 46.
_Queen Charlotte_, 102.
Quintall, 234, 235.
_Rattlesnake_, H.M.S., 288, 291.
_Reliance_, 168, 169, 178.
_Renown_, 137.
_Resolution_, 65, 66, 221, 230, 249. _Resource_, 197, 293.
Restoration Island, 227.
Rio de Janeiro, 132.
Riou, Captain, 142.
Robinson, Commander C.N., _The British Fleet_, 28, 31. Rochefort, 93.
Rochester, 119.
Rodney, Sir George, 93.
Rodriguez, Island of, 233
_Roebuck_, H.M.S., 23, 240;
a sixth-rate vessel, 24;
guns, 26;
officers, 29;
scale of provisions, 30;
dress of the sailors, 31;
founders, 39.
Roebuck Bay, 39.
Roeburne, 39.
Rogers, Woodes, 43.
_Rolla_, 194, 196, 197.
Rosemary Isles, 39, 213.
Ross, Major, 96;
on the attempt to colonize New South Wales, 82; commandant and lieutenant-governor, 116; character, 117;
return to England, 117;
establishes martial law at Norfolk Island, 122; in temporary command, 143.
Ross Point, 97.
_Royal George_, 92.
_Royal Prince_, 19.
Russell, Mr. Clark, his sketch of Dampier, 40.
Sadeur, James, 37.
Sailors, dress of, 31;
life on board ship, 32;
compared with the modern, 32, 33; improvement in the class, 48;
food and accommodation, 49.
Sandwich Islands, 51.
Sandwich, Lord, 67, 68.
Sandy Hook, 93.
Santham, Mr. G., 70.
_Sardam_, the frigate, 14.
Saunders, Sir Charles, 93.
_Scarborough_, 80.
Schanck, Cape, 281;
Mount, 281.
Schanck, Captain, 280.
Scilly Isles, 247.
_Scipio_, 169.
Scott, Captain, 287.
Selkirk, Alexander, 43.
Semple, Major, 132.
Shark’s Bay, 8, 36, 38.
Shortland, 105.
Shortlands, 279.
Sierra Leone, 241.
Simon’s Bay, 223, 288.
_Sirius_, 77, 82, 93, 137, 140, 143; wreck of the, 96-98.
Skirving, 165.
Sleaford, 169.
Smith, 234;
his work at Pitcairn, 234.
Smollett, _Roderick Random_, 31.
Solander, Dr., 53, 70.
South Sea Islands, 179.
Southwell, extracts from his letters, 95, 96-98. Spanish, voyages to Australia, 4.
Spencer, Lord, 211.
Spithead, 76, 222, 232.
Spragge, Captain Sir Edward, 19.
Stephens, Mr. Philip, 59.
Sterling, 291.
Stewart, 229;
imprisoned on the _Pandora_, 230; drowned, 231.
Stingray Bay, 57.
_Stirling Castle_, 75.
Stokes, 291.
Storm Bay Passage, 159.
_Success_, 291.
Sunda, Strait of, 242.
_Supply_, 77, 96, 140, 141, 143.
Sutherland, Forby, 57.
_Swallow_, 50, 51, 100, 137.
Swan, Captain, 19.
Swan Point, 21.
_Swiftsure_, 89.
Sydney, 59;
harbour, 81, 184.
_Sydney Cove_, wreck of the, 170, 176. _Sydney Gazette_, the first paper, 157. Sydney, Lord, 76.
Table Bay, 101.
_Tagus_, 233.
Tahiti, 50, 52, 105, 169, 222, 223, 229, 234. _Tamar_, 50, 291.
Tasman, Commander Abel Janszoon, his voyages and discoveries, 7, 15, 37; death at Batavia, 16;
draught of the coast of Australia, 36. Tasmania, 170;
capital of, 290.
Tench, Captain, 137, 279;
his history of New South Wales, 82, 118, 138. Teneriffe, 78, 223.
Therenot, extract from his _Recueil de Voyages Curieux_, 11-15. Therry, Judge, his reminiscences of New South Wales, 154; on the revolt against Captain Bligh, 273, 274. Thompson, 257.
Timor, 20, 39, 198, 226, 228, 249. Tofoa, 224, 226, 228.
_Tom Thumb_, 170.
_Topaz_, 239.
Torbay, 113.
Torres, Luis Vaez de, his explorations, 4. Torres Straits, 6, 8, 16, 58, 184, 227. Trafalgar, battle of, 214.
Transportation, commission of enquiry, 73. Tribulation, Cape, 61.
_True Briton, The_, extract from, 236. Tubuai, 234.
Valparaiso, 181, 241, 242.
Van Diemen, Antonio, Governor-General of Batavia, 7. Van Diemen’s Land, 7, 95, 120, 177, 182, 223; settlement at, 157.
Vancouver, 279;
expedition under, 143.
_Venerable_, 113.
_Venus_, 178.
Vessel, a sixth-rate, 26.
Victoria, 57, 171.
_Victoria_, sailors of the, 33.
_Victory_, 93;
launched in 1765, 48.
Vigo, 66.
_Virginia_, 137.
_Vryheid_, 248.
_Waaksamheyd_, 99, 101.
_Wager_, loss of the, 33;
crew, 49.
Wallis, 51, 65;
in command of the _Dolphin_, 50.
_Warrior_, 247.
Waterhouse, Captain, 179.
Wattamolla Harbour, 171.
Wentworth, William Charles, 291.
West, Dr., extract from, on Governor Bligh, 274. Westall, 183.
Weybehays, 12.
White, on the colony of New South Wales, 83. Wickham, 291.
Wilkinson, 65.
William III., 23, 29.
Williams, 234.
Wilson’s Promontory, 282, 283.
Windmill Hills, 283.
Wouterlos, 14.
Wreck Island, 194, 197.
Wright, Edward, 35.
_Xenophon_, 183.
York, Cape, 5, 8, 58.
York, Duke of, 22.
Young, Admiral Sir George, 74.
Young, 234, 235.
_Zeewigk_, 17.