'Whereas the persons undermentioned and described did, in
the month of November, by force of arms, violently take away
from His Majesty's settlement at Dalrymple a colonial brig
or vessel called the Venus, the property of Mr Robert
Campbell, a merchant of this territory, and the said vessel
then containing stores, the property of His Majesty, and a
quantity of necessary stores, the property of the officers
of that settlement, and sundry other property, belonging to
private individuals.'
Then follows the description of the crew, from which it will be seen that there was every factor towards some criminal deed on board the Venus. First of all the chief mate is mentioned:—
'Benjamin Burnet Kelly, chief mate; says he is an American.
He arrived in this colony as chief mate of the Albion, a
South Sea whaler (Captain Bunker); Richard Edwards, second
mate; Joseph Redmonds, seaman, a mulatto or mestizo of South
America 299 (came out from England in the Venus); Darra,
cook, a Malay man, both ears missing; Thomas Ford and
William Porter Evans, boys of 14 and 16 (Evans is a native
of Rose Hill in this colony); Richard Thompson, a soldier;
Thomas Richard Evans, a convict, formerly a gunner's mate on
H.M.S. Calcutta (sentenced to fourteen years for desertion
and striking an officer); John Lancaster or Lancashire, a
convict, a very dangerous person; Charlotte Badger, convict,
a very corpulent person (has an infant in arms); Kitty
Hegarty, convict, very handsome woman, with white teeth and
fresh complexion, much inclined to smile, a great talker.'
Then comes an official proclamation, signed 'G. Blaxcell, Secretary, Government House, Sydney,' cautioning 'all governors and officers in command at any of His Majesty's ports, and the Honourable East India Company's magistrates or officers in command, at home or abroad, at whatever port the said brig may be taken into, or met with at sea, against any frauds or deceptions that may be practised by the offending parties,' and asking that they might be seized and brought to condign punishment.
The Venus, under the command of Mr S. Rodman Chace, sailed out of Sydney Cove (as Port Jackson was then called) for Twofold Bay at the time before mentioned. Here she remained at anchor for about five weeks, and here it was that the first trouble began.
Captain Chace had been ashore, and about dusk was returning in his boat to the ship, when he heard sounds of great hilarity proceeding from those on board. On coming alongside and gaining the deck, he found that the two convict ladies were entertaining Mr Benjamin Burnet Kelly, the mate, with a dancing exhibition, the musical accompaniment to which was given by Darra, the earless Malayan cook, who was seated on a tub on the main-hatch playing a battered violin. Lying around the deck, in various stages of drunkenness, were the male convicts and some of the crew, and the genial Mr Kelly presided over a bucket of rum, pannikins of which were offered to the ladies at frequent intervals by the two faithful cup-bearers,—Ford and Evans.
Chace at once put an end to the harmony by seizing the bucket of rum and throwing it overboard, and the drunken people about him being incapable of offering much resistance, he put them in irons and tumbled them below. Kelly, who was a big, truculent-looking man, then produced a bowie knife of alarming dimensions and challenged Chace to combat, but was quickly awed by a pistol being placed at his breast by his superior officer. He then promised to return to his duty, provided—here he began to weep, that—the captain did not harm Kitty Hegarty, for whom he professed an ardent attachment.
As the Venus carried despatches for the Governor of Van Diemen's Land, Captain Chace was eager to reach his destination, Port Dalrymple, with all speed, and therefore was in a very anxious state of mind after the disturbance mentioned, particularly as the mate Kelly, and the convicts on board, seemed to have some sort of secret understanding. However, the Venus arrived there safely, and Captain Chace duly delivered his despatches to Lieutenant House, the Marine officer in charge. Feeling sure that there was now no further danger to be apprehended, he spent the night with an old shipmate, the captain of the schooner Governor Hunter. After breakfast, accompanied by Mr House, he got into his boat and set out for his ship. He had left instructions with the mate to get up anchor at six o'clock and come up the river, and about seven o'clock, as he and Mr House were being pulled towards her in the boat, they saw that she was under weigh, and coming up.
'There's not much use in us going down, as your ship is coming up, Chace,' said Mr House. 'Let us go ashore here in this cove and wait for her.'
The master agreed to this, and the boat turned into a little sandy-beached cove, where they lost sight of the ship, which, with the light breeze then blowing, would not pass abreast of the cove for another hour.