View of Port Jackson, taken from the South Head
So soon as the anchor was dropped, I went on shore to wait upon his Excellency Philip Gidley King, Esq., governor of New South Wales, and senior naval officer upon the station; to whom I communicated a general account of our discoveries and examinations upon the South Coast, and delivered the orders from the Admiralty and Secretary of State. These orders directed the governor to place the brig Lady Nelson under my command, and not to employ the Investigator on other service than that which was the object of the voyage; and His Excellency was pleased to assure me that every assistance in the power of the colony to render should be given to forward a service so interesting to his government, and to himself. The Lady Nelson was then lying in Sydney Cove; but her commander, lieutenant Grant, had requested permission to return to England, and had sailed six months before.
Besides the Lady Nelson, there were in the port His Majesty's armed vessel Porpoise, the Speedy, south-whaler, and the Margaret privateer; also the French national ship Le Naturaliste, commanded by captain Hamelin, to whom I communicated captain Baudin's intention of coming to Port Jackson so soon as the bad weather should set in. Le Géographe's boat had been picked up in Bass' Strait by Mr. Campbell of the brig Harrington, and the officers and crew were at this time on board Le Naturaliste.
MAY 1802
The duties required to fit the ship for prosecuting the voyage with success being various and extensive, Cattle Point, on the east side of Sydney Cove, was assigned to us by the governor for carrying on some of our employments, whilst others were in progress on board the ship and in the dockyard. On the morning after our arrival we warped to a convenient situation near the point, and sent on shore the tents, the sailmakers and sails, and the cooper with all the empty casks. Next day the observatory was set up, and the time-keepers and other astronomical instruments placed there under the care of lieutenant Flinders, who, with Mr. Franklin, his assistant, was to make the necessary observations and superintend the various duties carrying on at the same place; and a small detachment of marines was landed for the protection of the tents.
I had found the barricade of the quarter deck to stand so high, as to be not only an obstacle to beating to windward, but a great inconvenience to surveying the coast; for when the wind was on the side next to the land, there were no means of taking bearings over it but by standing on the top of the binnacle; or otherwise by removing the compass to different places, which I had found could not be done without materially changing the variation. These inconveniences being stated to the governor, his permission was obtained to reduce it so low as that it might be overlooked in all cases; and an order was given that four convict carpenters, and such other assistance from the dockyard should be furnished as was necessary.
To supply the place of the cutter we had lost at the entrance of Spencer's Gulf, I contracted for a boat to be built after the model of that in which Mr Bass made his long and adventurous expedition to the strait. It was twenty-eight feet seven inches in length over all, rather flat floored, head and stern alike, a keel somewhat curved, and the cut-water and stern post nearly upright; it was fitted to row eight oars when requisite, but intended for six in common cases. The timbers were cut from the largest kind of banksia, which had been found more durable than mangrove; and the planking was of cedar. This boat was constructed under the superintendance of Mr. Thomas Moore, master builder to the colony; and proved, like her prototype, to be excellent in a sea, as well as for rowing and sailing in smooth water. The cost at Port Jackson was no more than £30.; but this was owing to some of the materials being supplied from the public magazines.
Whilst these branches of our refitment were going on, a thorough examination was made and survey taken of all the ship's stores; as well for the purpose of sending away those unserviceable and replacing them with others so far as they could be obtained, as with a view to enable the warrant officers to pass their accounts and obtain their pay up to this time; a precaution which the nature of our voyage rendered more peculiarly necessary. After the surveys were ended, the seamen were employed in stripping and re-rigging the masts, and preparing the hold to receive a fresh stock of provisions and water; the naturalist and his assistants, as also the two painters, made excursions into the interior of the country; and my time was mostly occupied in constructing the fair charts of our discoveries and examinations upon the south coast, for the purpose of their being transmitted to the secretary of the Admiralty.