At this particular season we had one advantage, which, when that leaves us, will reduce us to very great distress; I think, then, that many of the convicts (who are indolent to astonishment, and who can, and frequently do, eat at one meal what they are allowed for a week) must, when the resource I am going to mention fails, perish for want, or suffer death for the depredations they are so much inclined, even in times of plenty, to commit upon others.
In the month of April we found that Mount Pitt, which is the highest ground on the island, was, during the night, crowded with birds. This hill is as full of holes as any rabbit warren; in these holes at this season these birds burrow and make their nests, and as they are an aquatic bird, they are, during the day-time, frequently at sea in search of food; as soon as it is dark, they hover in vast flocks over the ground where their nests are. Our people, (I mean seamen, marines, and convicts) who are sent out in parties to provide birds for the general benefit, arrive upon the ground soon after dusk, where they light small fires, which attract the attention of the birds, and they drop down out of the air as fast as the people can take them up and kill them: when they are upon the ground, the length of their wings prevents their being able to rise, and until they can ascend an eminence, they are unable to recover the use of their wings; for this purpose, nature has provided them with a strong, sharp, and hooked bill, and in their heel a sharp spur, with the assistance of which, and the strength of their bill, they have been seen to climb the stalk of a tree sufficiently high to throw themselves upon the wing. This bird, when deprived of its feathers, is about the size of a pigeon, but when cloathed, is considerably larger, for their feathers are exceedingly thick; they are webb-footed, and of a rusty black colour; they make their holes upon the hills for breeding their young in; they lay but one egg, and that is full as large as a duck's egg.
They were, at the end of May, as plentiful as if none had been caught, although for two months before there had not been less taken than from two to three thousand birds every night; most of the females taken in May were with egg, which really fills the whole cavity of the body, and is so heavy that I think it must fatigue the bird much in flying. This bird of Providence, which I may with great propriety call it, appeared to me to resemble that sea bird in England, called the puffin: they had a strong fishy taste, but our keen appetites relished them very well; the eggs were excellent*.
[* For a further description, and an engraving of this bird, see the Norfolk-Island Petrel, in Phillip's Voyage, 4to Edition.]
We were highly indebted to Providence for this vast resource; but as these singular advantages could only be for a season, we reflected, with pain, that they must have an end, and that in all probability this would be the case before we got a relief. Fish was generally mentioned by Governor Phillip, when speaking of this island, as an inexhaustible resource; he also mentioned the vast quantity of birds (tropic birds and gannets) which were to be caught here upon the two small islands (Mount Pitt was not then known to be the resource we have found it).
If the governor had ever been here himself, or spent a winter upon Norfolk Island, as I have done, he certainly would not have laid any stress upon resources so very precarious as we had found them; and consequently not to be depended upon as a certain advantage. I have seen the weather so stormy, and the surf so high for near a month together, that a boat could not be launched more than twice during that period, and then only for a few hours; and even when they had got out, they would sometimes bring in a hundred fish of from two to four pounds weight, and at other times only five or six fish: so that this supply was very uncertain and very trifling, when it was considered that we were above 500 people.
The procurement of the birds upon the small islands was attended with the same disadvantages, by the difficulty of landing, from the constant surf.
In the end of May the wreck of the ship still held together, but the beams and knees were all either broken or loose; she was so much out of the reach of the surf when it was very heavy, that it broke with considerable less force upon her than formerly. Every time that the weather would admit, a few sailors were sent on board to save whatever articles could be got at, and to send them on shore.
Our distress did not occasion us to forget that the 4th of June was the birth-day of our much beloved sovereign. On the morning of this day the colours were displayed, and at noon three vollies of musquetry were fired by the marines; as an acknowledgment that we were Britons, who, however distant and distressed, revered our king, and loved our country.
The seamen, having but little to do on the wreck, were now employed in clearing ground for a garden, that they might have a few vegetables to lengthen out their pittance of provisions. About the middle of this month I sent some sailors on board to see if any alteration had taken place in the wreck, that might render it possible to get at the best bower and sheet cables, or any cask from the hold; but it was found impracticable, from the orlop and lower decks lying down on the contents of the hold.