30th October.
Commenced the erection of a shed to protect the stores, as it is necessary to land the cargo of the schooner to effect repairs. The keelson is broken seven feet before the mainmast, three of the deck beams are broken in the centre, and the knees are strained, and the bolts drawn; there is also reason to think that the floor timbers are fractured, and some of the timbers broken in her bends.
31st October.
Messrs. Wilson, Baines, and Mueller, with the party in charge of the sheep, arrived at 7 a.m., bringing the remainder of the sheep, twenty-six in number, eleven having been drowned from want of proper care in bailing the boat, which consequently sunk during the night. Such of the party as are not otherwise engaged are employed in the erection of the store shed. Being desirous to examine the river above Steep Head, commenced fitting the portable boat, but found that the heat of the climate had destroyed the seams of three of the air cells, and the boat is therefore unserviceable. The general character of the materials of which inflated boats are constructed precludes any effectual repairs, as the intense heat of the sun decomposes the varnish with which the canvas is covered; it first becomes soft and adhesive, and then changes to a substance like tar, which does not consolidate with a lower temperature. Adjusted the aneroid barometer.
1st November.
S. Macdonald was reported for being asleep on his watch during last night; reprimanded him for this neglect of duty. Several of the sheep escaped from the fold last night; some have been found, but eight are missing. Commenced thatching the store; landed maize, bran, and other stores from the schooner. Though the thermometer stood at 100 degrees in the shade, yet a westerly breeze renders it cool enough to work. Mr. Baines employed repairing the portable boat; Richards clearing a plot of ground near the spring for a garden.
DAMAGE TO PROVISIONS.
2nd November.
Continued to discharge the cargo of the schooner; at the request of the master of the Tom Tough, examined sixteen small and four large casks of bread, which had been damaged by salt-water; the whole of this bread was found to be quite destroyed and unfit for use. Although the large casks had been carefully coopered in Sydney, yet the hot climate had opened the joints, and as there were three to five feet of water in the vessel when aground in the lower part of the river, the bread was completely saturated. The leakage of the schooner has been much reduced, and now only requires pumping every six hours. The dryness of the air has increased from 10 to 20 degrees of evaporation, and the heat is not so oppressive, though the mean temperature exceeds 85 degrees. Heavy thunder-clouds are visible on the horizon, and the lightning is frequent in the early part of the night, especially to the east. Since the spring tides the river has gradually fallen, and is now four feet lower than low water at the full and change, and it does not vary more than one and a half feet in the twenty-four hours. A small spring of water has been found below high-water mark close to the landing place.
3rd November.